The World's Most Dangerous Road

The road from La Cumbre to Coroico is boasted as being the World's Most Dangerous Road. Its a very very narrow gravel road with steep cliffs dropping upwards of 2000 ft. An average of 26 vehicles fly off these cliffs every year. It makes perfect sense that this road would become a major Bolivian tourist mountain bike attraction. The ride is about 64 km long starting at 15,400 ft. and ending at 3,937 ft. with the first half being on pavement and the next half a harrowing gravel path. Along the way there are loads of crosses marking the places where both locals traveling in vehicles and tourists on bikes have met their fate.

Here's all the bikes loaded up for the ride.
The beginning
Me taking a breather. Not to be arrogant, but I was in 1st place the entire way down - a few tried to pass, but it was only in vain.
Bikes and buses what a great mix
A view of the pavement section
The mountains along the way
The start of the gravel
A bus coming up while we're going down.
The gang hanging out on the edge.
Another pic of the route
There was a landslide causing us to have to walk our bikes
Some scenery
More scenery
After the ride we went and enjoyed some lunch in the mountains - here's the view

La Paz

La Paz is a busy cheap place located at 3660 m ( 12008 ft). The strangest thing about this city is that all the poor reside on the hilltops (with some amazing views of the Cordillera Real) known as El Alto, and the rich live in the lower parts of the city.

Here´s the view from El Alto

Iglesia de San Francisco

City buses

Another shot of town

Best Cuban food I´ve had in a long while - all this for less than 4 bucks

The police preparing for a wild crowd at the soccer stadium
I went and checked out a few games while I was in town including the pre-World Cup match between Peru and Bolivia. Here´s a series of shots from Bolivar vs. Blooming, which sadly ended in tie (something unheard of in America).


Stand in the Witches Market - carrying all the necessities: llama fetuses, jungle cat pelts, and a wide assortment of other voodoo necessities.
I ran into my friend, Erika, again and enjoyed a very inventive meal at Pronto Dalicatessen.
Lama steak in chocolate sauce
A ravioli dessert.
Bolivia's beer factory making everybody's favorite beverage: Pacena

The street where I was robbed

Santa Cruz

I took a bus from Potosi to Cochabamba, and then went right on thru to Santa Cruz. The trip took around 30+ hours, which is a long time to be on the most basic of Bolivian buses (no toilets and seats that barely recline).

The view was nice though.

Here´s part of the reason the journey took so long - the road got washed out and this dozer had to make a new one.
More scenery
The Cathedral in the center of Santa Cruz

The plaza of Santa Cruz
This guy does quite a business taking photos in the plaza using an earlier Canon model

Mines

Took a tour of the Potosi mines , which turned out to be not only a good experience, but also quite a deal (7 bucks for a 4 hour tour).

The miners and their families live in these projects.
A mine entrance we ended up using
The start of the journey

Threw some coca leaves into my mouth for the real miner experience. I don't drink caffeine, so the leaves got me pretty hopped up, which you can obviously see.
A vein of some precious mineral
Interesting crystals

God rules the Heavens and Uncle Tio(miners never refer to him as the devil) rules under the earth. Every group of miners has their own Uncle Tio whom they give offerings (coca leaves, alcohol, cigarrettes) to on a regular basis.
Going deeper into the mine. The max depth we reached was about 70 meters.

Squirming our way through the tunnels
The very safe and sound support structure of the mine

Miners hard at work removing dirt. They earn about 7 dollars a day.
Me getting a taste for dynamite.
The dynamite is lit and ready to go. I wasn't able to capture the explosion, because I was too busy running away.

Potosi

The city of mines, Potosi, was once rich with silver, which the Spanish monarchy exhausted over a 300 year period. Tin, zinc and lead are now the major minerals of extraction in Potosi´s miner owned cooperatives. Sadly, I was only in the city of Potosi for a few hours and so I missed out on exploring the streets of this very European town.

Where I found a bed, Hostel Compana de Jesus, an old Carmelite monastery. Best chocolate cake of the trip.
Cobblestone street in Potosi

Potosi Market complete with cigaretts, 96% delicious alcohol, coca leaves, and most importantly dynamite. The stuff on top of the coca leaves is used to increase the release of cocaine in the mouth when chewing the leaves. There is lime, salt, and banana flavored extractors.

Anyone with 10 Bolivianos ($1.25) can buy dynamite complete with a fuse and a bag of fertilizer for that extra punch.
Me with a bottle of 96% Bolivian Wine also 10 Bolivianos