Pics & Video from the Most Dangerous Road

A section of the road clinging to the side of a mountain in the fog.

As always, Sonya succeeded in convincing me to do something involving death defying heights during our vacation. Our guides for the trip down the 40 miles of the world's most dangerous road took pictures and video during the ride. That was nice, since it allowed us to leave our camera on the bus and just concentrate on not flying off the edge! It's sufficiently freaky starting the ride when they tell you they send approximately one rider per week to the hospital due to accidents, and one person died a few months ago from a fall (and we went with by far the safest company in the land!). Our guides were great - very competent and cautious but also fun. Here are some pic/video highlights!

It's a little hard to ID us in pictures, since the gear makes us all look alike. Here are some tips:
Sonya: The only person in the group with both an orange helmet and a white bike.
Jeff: At the beginning when it's cold, you can see my gray hood from my sweatshirt behind my head. At the end when it's warm, I have a brown T-shirt and blue long pants.

Beginning of the ride in the snowy mountains above La Paz at altitude of 15,400 feet. Me on left and Sonya - looking sufficiently bundled up - on right.

Traditional consumption of a little hard liquor for us and for the bikes for good luck (Sonya in front, me in background). Strong stuff at 8:30 in the morning! The local bus drivers always pour a little alcohol on their vehicles as a sacrifice before driving the road.

Sonya coming around a bend in the paved section at the beginning.

Sonya gets a nice close-up in the video clip below - easy to ID her with her big grin. She's the last person in the group to go past, starting at around the 36 second mark. (play button in lower left corner)





Video of riding next to a big cliff. I think I'm the 5th person and Sonya's the 7th person to pass.

Break for lunch. Sonya's sitting and I'm standing on left of pic.

Group photo at a rest point.

Our whole group taking a few turns on a beautiful stretch of road (video taken just after the pic above).

Sonya speeding down the road like a pro!

Video of the most-photographed part of the ride going around a huge, shear cliff. Notice how nice and slow people are going here. See if you can find us! I definitely found Sonya, but I'm not sure which one is me.

The crazy road winding into the distance.

Me splashing through a puddle with Sonya following close behind.

Video of riding through a small stream on some nice, warm, wide road close to the end. I'm the 5th person and Sonya's the 8th person to pass.

Sonya riding into Yolosa at 3,600 feet. That completes a drop of 11,800 feet in altitude over 40 miles of road!



Taking off gear and cleaning up at the animal refuge (both of us in middle).

And from there straight on to the monkeys and parrots!