Well, that isn't exactly how it goes down. The travel agency did say that we would be going down on the "old road" which was very scenic and back on the new highway. What they don't tell you is that the old road is also known as the "Death Road" due to the number of fatalities it has caused.
Strangely, I was the only guest on this tour with a driver and a guide. When we reached the top of the first and highest mountain the driver opened the window and sprinkled alcohol on the road. This practice is an offering asking the spirits for safe passage.
I still didn't grasp the situation until we zipped off the highway onto a tiny gravel road. Here we stopped at a lookout for pictures. You can see the driver standing beside our van.
The guard rail at the lookout was a snake.
That little road over there in the clouds....thats where we are headed.
Soon the guide starts in with "This is the most dangerous road in the world!" and I ask him how he knows that. He tells me it is from National Geographic. Now I am not very happy and where I should be enjoying the views I am sitting with my eyes covered. The guide asks if I would like to sit on the other side of the car but I tell him that if we are going over the side it is quite likely that both sides of the car will be going. So we stay where we are.
We have 35 kms of this road to drive. We are making good time, somewhere between 5 and 20 km/hr. Every once in a while the guide would mention a precipice of note and I could look straight down hundreds of feet to the valley below.
The views were actually beautiful.
This is my cheerful guide.
This road used to be the only road between La Paz and Coroico. In those days trucks and buses went both ways on it and not always successfully. I really would not want to meet a bus on this corner.
Getting a little breather....no cliff here.
The views are lovely.
On and on it goes.
Finally, we are coming to Coroico!
It turns out that there isn't much to see here except typical narrow streets and a market.
A horse with no middle!
A church.
A nice flowering shrub on the square.
After seeing the town we make another little trip down the hill to see some fruit trees. One look at the road and I think "here we go again!" There are a couple of fruit trees and some chickens I will admit that the vegetation is different down at this level though.. There are also some lovely birds but the driver doesn't know what they are. He did point out many fields of coca on the trip though. So much for Eco tour.
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The best part were the views. Too bad the road was so bad I could hardly look.
We stopped for a nice lunch at the Hotel Esmeralda just outside of Coroico. It is a nice hotel with a pool, sauna and relaxing atmosphere with a great view.
From here we headed back to La Paz on the new highway. Here is a view of La Paz from above as we come back to town.
The guide told me that there are a lot of bike tours using the road. They come by van out to the start of the gravel road and they start the ride there, going downhill all the way. Aparently not all the bikes you rent for this ride are in good condition and one needs to be careful about that. I actually think the road would be more enjoyable on a reliable bike than in a car.
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