Bolivia: La Paz and Death Road

After our amazing salt flats experience, we flew back to La Paz and spent a few days in the city.  La Paz is interesting due largely to its location.  It is on steep hills, with the airport and poorer neighborhoods at the top at about 13,000 feet above sea level.  The neighborhoods become more upscale as you descend to the lower elevation (10,000 feet), where it’s a bit easier to breathe. 

City View

We stayed in a tourist area where there were plenty of markets, shops, and historical churches.  We spent a day looking at the various crafts and taking a tour of the San Francisco Church and Monastery.  An English speaking guide was provided with the entrance fee but he talked so quickly that I think we only understood about 60% of what he told us.  Nonetheless, it was a fun tour.

San Francisco Church

Looking over the city from the monastery rooftop

Narrow passage up to the roof and bell tower

Vegetable Market

Vegetable Market Shopper

We had more time than we needed in La Paz and Simon decided that we should spend one of those extra days mountain biking down Death Road.  There is a good reason the North Yungas Road in Bolivia has been called “Death Road.”  It is estimated, that before an alternative, safer road was built, 200 to 300 people died on the road each year.  The entire road is dirt.  In some parts it is very rocky and in others muddy.  There are portions that are no wider than ten feet, with no guard rails and drop offs of more than 1,800 feet.  Since the 1990s, mountain bike tour groups have been taken down a forty miles stretch of the road, which is mostly downhill.  Not my idea of a good time, but I decided that I’d prefer to join than sit at the hotel room wondering if Simon had fallen off a cliff.

We were geared up with waterproof pants, gloves, and full helmets before being bused out to our starting point at over 15,000 feet above sea level.  The first stretch was not too bad.  It was all downhill on a paved road.  I can almost say it was fun.  Then, we arrived at the police check point, where we paid our fee for using Death Road and boarded the bus again for the first few uphill miles of the road.  Once we got on the bikes again, the real mountain biking began.  Let’s just say that I will not be taking up mountain biking any time soon.  I was not even concerned with the huge cliff I was riding alongside because I was concentrating so hard on not falling off and doing my best to ignore the pain caused by constant bumps and a very hard bike seat.  Simon, however, loved every minute.

When we finished the ride, we had lunch at a hotel and were able to shower and go for a swim.  That was the best part of the day for me.  We had a long three hour drive back to La Paz.  We took the newer, “safer,” road to get back.  It actually has two lanes.  The views of the Andes were spectacular along the way.  We passed through a tiny cliff side town where everyone was gearing up for a big Bolivian Independence Day celebration.  

I survived Death Road and all I got was this t-shirt

Independence Day Parade

Time to relax

Back in La Paz, we were pretty much done with the tourist activities and passed our time by going to the movies.  We managed to find a theatre that played English language movies with Spanish subtitles.  We saw The Dark Knight Rises for about $3.50.  We thought it was such a deal that we went back the next day and saw Friends with Kids, or in Bolivia, “Plan Perfecto.” Unfortunately, our second trip to the movie resulted in the biggest loss of the trip – Simon’s iPhone.  It fell out of his pocket in the theatre and was gone when we went back 15 minutes later to look for it.  I hope it’s making someone in Bolivia very happy right now.