Going Down...
Trip Start
Apr 14, 2006
1
39
51
Trip End
Oct 27, 2006
La Paz,
Bolivia
Thursday, September 7, 2006
Having arrived Monday evening I spent the following day exploring on foot with a couple of girls I met in the hostel. However, the one thing I really wanted to do in La Paz was to go mountain biking down the world´s most dangerous road. The road gets its name from that fact that it is a single track road (albeit with scattered passing places) down through the mountains with sheer vertical cliff faces straight off the road 400m high, geography which has resulted in many fatalities over the years. However, in view of the minimal width of the road, there is a system for travelling down and up the track. Uphill traffic gets right of way and therefore travels near the wall and away from the cliff. Downhill traffic must pass on the outer edge, and if two vehicles meet on a particularly narrow stretch, the downhill vehicle must reverse back up (watch those left hand side wheels) until both can get by.
The aptly named Gravity Assisted Mountain Biking is the original and if you read the guide books, the best tour operator for this particular trip. I certainly couldn´t fault yesterday´s trip. The guides made sure all the bikes were set up for you (seat, brakes etc, latter obviously very important!) and would explain forthcoming sections of road and talk a little bit about its history. For example, along the 40-odd km of gravel on the WMDR are dotted human traffic lights. When a family died when the vehicle in which they were travelling went over the edge when meeting oncoming traffic around a blind corner, one man took up the cause to stand on the corner with a kind of lollipop stick, one side with some red polythene, the other covered in green, to signal to downhill traffic whether or not it was safe to proceed around the bend. Today there are several such human traffic lights along the route and whilst its an unpaid occupation, Gravity supports their cause. They day was fantastic, with amazing scenery and views (only to be admired when not biking...keep those eyes on that road!), and the opportunity to get a bit more confident on the bike and let those brakes go (occasionally!). Yet after 64km of biking, 40km of which was on pretty bumpy gravel I am aching a bit today, although if I had opted for front suspension rather than a full suspension bike I know it would be hurting a lot more!
The day after was a recovery day and as it seems to rain Coca leaves in this part of the world it only seemed fitting to pay a visit to the Mueso de Coca. The museum is suprisingly good, detailing the importance of coca in traditional Bolivian society, through to the problems of Cocaine production, the war on drugs and the consequences of drug abuse. Overall the museum was balanced and informative, for example, although Coca Cola uses Coca Leaves as flavouring, until 1914, it did apparently contain Cocaine. And as for any of you who are mildly suprised at the drink´s connections with this infamous plant...in the words of an old Rice Crispies advertising slogan ´what on earth did you think it was made from?¨!
By the way, apologies for the lack of photos, I haven´t come across any USB ports in La Paz.
