Death Road

So 2nd and last day in La Paz was spent as a day bike riding, on what is famously known as Death Road. Our group was picked up and driven up to a spot at the top of some hills some 4600 mts above sea level, where we were kitted out in semi-waterproof top and bottoms, gloves, helmet and bike. We were then told to go for it! The first part was still on bitumen so it was pretty smooth sailing, my front tire blew out within the first 5 mins, but the guides swapped my bike with a spare from the entourage of mini-busses that follwed so it was all good. We passed through two police chechpoints, which were quite close together for soem reason? as well as some slow trucks, a scary experience, and then hit the only up hill part of the ride, which I struggled with, partly cause of altitude, partly because my bike wouldn´t stay in gear, very frustrating. Halfway up we hit thick fog which at times turned into light rain, poor visibility and freezing wet. By the time we got to the top of the hill we hit dirt or rather mud, which officially signified the start of Death Road.
The guides split us up into three groups, i sat in the middle group and off we went. The road is quite narrow, there´s room enough for only one large truck or bus to pass through, on your right is cliff face, on your left is cliff edge. Apparently before the road was widened slightly and rules were applied, there were at least 30 deaths a month! Hence it´s name, now there´s lucky to be 5 deaths a month which seems to be a good thing amoungst the locals!
So still in thick fog we descended down the muddy road, dodging large rocks, bumping and skidding over all the others, we had regular stops to allow sensation and control to return to our hands, along with the stops to allow trucks or busses to pass. We just kept going down, hairpin turn after the other, at some point we passed underneath a small waterfall-more wetness teamed with head to toe muddiness, it was still such an exciting thing you didn´t really notice. Once we had descended far enough to escape the cloud you could really appreciate the view, the area is quite dense rainforest in some parts and in others terraced hill side where mainly coca is farmed. (Coca leaf is leagal in Bolivia, the only place in the world)
Continuing down to drier road we stopped for a quick lunch, getting really sick of ham and cheese sandwiches, and continued to our final stop, the very small town Corioco just 1000mts above sea level. 65 km and 6 hours later, my arms felt like the muscle was going to come away from the bone, my left knee throbbing from a small tumble and freezing wet and muddy but I had finished, survived the Death Road.
We were rewarded with a hot shower and buffet dinner and then the drive home, back up Death Road! (pictures to come)