La Paz and the Death Road

Road from Desaguadero to La Paz

After crossing the border, we thread our way through the stationary trucks.

A strike at the border crossing brought freight truckers to a standstill. There were a few kilometres of trucks on each side of the border. Fortunately, tourists were able to cross unhindered.

La Paz - The cable car

La Paz, at an altitude of 3,640 metres, is the capital of Bolivia. It's also one of my favourite cities in South America.

I came to La Paz in 2005 and the major differences I saw from the moment I arrived were the increase in population and the new cable car overlooking the capital.

The cable car inaugurated in 2014 had just 3 lines, but now since 2019, a total of 10 lines are in service. It's not a tourist attraction, but really a transport service on a par with the bus. Despite this, a ride on the cable car is well worth it, as the view from the air is fantastic.

In La Paz and several other parts of the country, demonstrators regularly block one or more major roads.

Phew! Living so close to the cliff!

El Alto

A logo resembling that of BMW.

In Bolivia, as in the rest of South America, Chinese brands are omnipresent.

Note that motorcycle brands are designed to imitate the colours and logos of the big brands. Even the model names are misleading.

A Chinese Harley-Davidson.

A fake CRF; a model made by Honda with that company's signature red.

The witches' market

The Mercado de las Brujas or Mercado de Hechicería is a must in the capital.

Here you'll find all sorts of esoteric products such as llama fetuses, medicinal plants and herbs, magic potions and souvenirs for tourists.

I like the llamaya and llamasutra t-shirts... There's also a reference to the film 300 (Sparta).

Death Road

The Death Road links La Paz to the village of Corioco in the Bolivian jungle. The most interesting section begins at the Cumbre pass at 4,600 metres and descends more than 3,000 metres over a distance of around 60 kilometres. In bygone days, this dirt road was used by trucks, causing numerous accidents due to the narrow passages and slippery terrain during heavy rains. It was frightening, but also thrilling.

In 2005, I cycled down the Death Road with my Irish friend and had very fond memories. The weather conditions had not been very favourable, with snow and ice at 4,600 metres and lots of rain and fog during the descent. What's more, the road was still used by trucks and buses, and some of the narrow passages gave you goose bumps when you saw the vehicles pass each other.

I've travelled this road in the company of Thierry & Thierry and this time it was rather disappointing. The road is only used by travellers, since now there's a nice asphalt road. What's more, guardrails have been installed on many of the bends. As well as spoiling the scenery, this takes away some of the fear you might have had back then. Finally, when the weather is dry and there's no rain, we lose much of the enchantment of the scenery. Over the years, I've travelled much more dangerous roads.