Death Wish IV (Not) Starring Charles Bronson


Yungas Road, Bolivia, December 22, 2012

I simply must do something about this apparent death wish gene I possess! It´s like I am the long-lost cousin of Evil Knieval and this backpacking trip is providing me with ample opportunity to perform death-defying stunts jumping over barrels. Case in point: mountain biking down the world´s deadliest road thus declared in 1996 by the Inter-American Development Bank due to the incredibly disturbing number of fatal accidents which take place on this road annually!

Here are a few road factoids: It´s a 64-kilometer ride which starts at an elevation of 4650m at La Cumbre Pass and finishes up at 1200m near the town of Coroico. The road was originally built in the 1930s by Paraguayan prisoners of war and has a bit of a murky past. Apparently countless political prisoners were brought there during the 1940s and executed by simply having them step off the edge and fall to their grisly fate. Furthermore, the notorious Nazi Klaus Barbi once lived in a home along the road. Intimidated yet??

There are numerous companies which offer this thrill-inducing ride such as Vertigo Madness, B-Side Adventures, Gravity-Assisted Mountain Biking, and the one I ultimately ended up choosing, MADNESS Adventures. These are the reputable ones, mind you, which have a relatively sound safety record and use quality equipment (Their brakes work!!) My research, done AFTER the ride, showed that there have been only 12 biker fatalities since companies started offering the ride, but who wants to be unlucky 13??!!

So I ended up joining 3 others - Gareth & June, a newly-engaged couple (He proposed at Angel Falls in Venezuela! Top that you oh-so-romantic fellows!) who hail from Pennsylvania and, as Ron Paul supporters, hold really interesting political views, and a beautiful young lady named Karen, who is a French citizen but was actually born in South Korea and then subsequently adopted. Apparently she recently went back to her homeland in order to seek out her biological mother, but thus far has been unsuccessful. Naturally I told her all about the cousin I never knew I had while growing up whom had been given up for adoption but had sought out his birth mother decades later. My family accepted him with open arms so happy
endings are indeed possible! Hope Karen has a similar experience - fingers & toes crossed for her!

Our leader, Hector, was superb; he encouraged us to use restraint throughout our descent when it comes to speed and carefully explained the four important rules of safety: #1 Bike in a single file, not side-by-side. #2 Always pass on the left on the paved segment and on the right on the dirt segment. #3 Leave at least 5 meters of space between you and the other riders (and)....#4...OOPS!! I´ve already forgotten the final rule!! But you get the idea...He also did a decent job of explaining to us how to use the front/rear brakes properly - understanding this is deadly imperative for it can mean the difference between stopping safely or finding yourself flipping over the bike and then taking a fatal tumble over the edge.

The first 25 kilometers or so is all on paved road and you share the lane with kamikaze trucks, touristic buses and other gringo bikers. Due to it being paved, you also tend to go at a significantly faster pace than the latter half of the journey which is along a rocky dirt road replete with rain puddles and the odd waterfall. But frankly, I very much preferred the paved segment for I felt it was easier to maintain my balance. The dirt road was highly irregular and full of rocks/potholes and I nearly lost my life balance at one point! My butt took some serious knocks to be sure and I found myself softly cursing to myself for having chosen to suffer such unduly derriere damage.

Oh yes! And the bugs! For everyone who travels by (motor)bike knows that they are most definitely running the risk of swallowing a bug because one can´t help but open one´s mouth to, you know, BREATHE. Surprisingly though, I never actually ate a bug during my descent but a few flying creatures did end up smacking me in the face. Better them going SPLAT than me, I say!

All in all I would definitely recommend riding Ël Camino de la Muerte¨, but I strongly advise any and all who feel so inclined, to put your life and limbs in reputable hands. Saving a buck or two ain´t worth losing your life due to faulty brakes, eh?!

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