Mark, Maya, and I had just started our camp host duties at Las Lomas in La Paz, Bolivia, at the end of December 2023 and our Canadian friends Sheri and Jeff were with us in their truck camper. Jeff and I had done a couple of crazy things in South America so far, like jump off a bridge in Baños, Ecuador, and order patitas from a toothless street vendor in La Paz. If you follow our Roaming About page on Facebook, you might remember that shocking food discovery. If not, I suggest you Google what patitas are. 🙂
So, when Jeff was looking for an adventurous buddy to bike down the World’s Most Dangerous Road, which is located near La Paz, the only thing that kept me from joining was the tour price of around US$70. Then I remembered I still had gift money from my parents. The game was on!
Group shot above a valley
The two of us did a bit of research into tour companies (these daytrips range from $60-$120), picked a middle-of-the-road agency with good reviews (Vertigo), and booked our mountain bike tour for December 29th. There was one problem, however: the company needed at least three participants to set out on Death Road. Luckily, we had a full campground by then and I succeeded in arranging a group of seven people to participate: six bicyclists and one sightseer.
The official name of Death Road is North Yungas Road. Its other famous nickname of The World’s Most Dangerous Road was appointed in 1995 after 200 to 300 people died yearly in accidents, usually from vehicles falling off the steep cliffs. The road is gravel and narrow, single-lane in most places, with barely a guardrail or space to pull over.
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