Most Dangerous Road in the World / El Camino de la Muerte

A title worth of any Indiana Jones Movie, today´s topic was an experience not less adventurous, nor dramatic - a road that hurls itself in a breathtaking drop from the high Andes 3.600 metres into the green lush jungles of the Yungas.

It seems perverse that one of the main roads out of one of the highest cities on Earth should actually climb as it leaves town. But climb it does from La Paz - just short of a lung-sapping five kilometres (three miles) above sea level, where even the internal combustion engine of our bus is forced to toil and splutter.

Then it pauses for a while on the snow-flecked crest of the Andes before pitching - like a giant rollercoaster ride - into the abyss.

The road from Bolivia’s main city, La Paz, to a region known as the Yungas was built by Paraguayan prisoners of war back in the 1930s. Many of them perished in the effort. Afterwards it was mainly Bolivians who died on the road - in their thousands.

In 1995, the Inter American Development Bank officially labelled it the most dangerous road in the world. And, as you start your descent, you begin to see why. The trip starts innocuously enough. On leaving La Paz to La Cumbre, we notice a most curious phenomenon: dogs stand immobile like sentinels at 100m intervals. Camion drivers feed them in the hope that the achachillas - spirits that live in dog shape - will look after them on their way down. At the pass drivers also perform a cha´lla (blessing) for the apus (mountain spirits), sprinkling the vehicle´s tires with alcohol before beginning the descent.

The bird’s eye view is on the left, on the front seat passenger’s side, where the Earth itself seems to open up. A gigantic vertical crack appears. Way below, more than a kilometer below you can see - cradled between canyon walls - a thin silver thread: the Coroico River rushing to join the Amazon.

On the other side there is a sheer rock wall rising to the heavens. There is no margin of error. The road itself is barely three metres wide. That is if you can call it a road. After the initial stretch to the top of the mountain it is just dirt track. And yet - incredibly - it is a major route for trucks and buses.

Hairpin bends

Chewing coca leaves to keep themselves awake, the drivers are off at break-neck speeds in vehicles which should not be on any road, let alone this one. Crosses (the Bolivian equivalent for caution signs) lining the way testify to the frequency of tragedies. Perched on hairpin bends over dizzying precipices, crosses and stone cairns mark the places where drivers prayers went unheeded. Where, for someone - the road ended.

Every year it is estimated 200 to 300 people die on a stretch of road less than 74 km long. In one year alone, 25 vehicles plunged off the road and into the ravine. That is one every two weeks.It is the end of the dry season in Bolivia. Soon the rains will come - cascading down the walls of the chasm. Huge waterfalls will drench the road - turning its surface to slime.

Then will come those heart-stopping moments when wheels skid and brakes fail to grip. There are stories told of truckers too tired - or too afraid - to continue, who pull over for the night, hoping to see out an Andean storm. But they have parked too close to the edge. And as they sleep in their cabs, the road is washed away around them.

This is not the place to drop off. The floor of the valley lies more than a kilometre deeper with nothing in between to stop the fall.

Cliff edge

But for now the road is a ribbon of dust. Every vehicle passing along it churns up a sandstorm in its wake. Choking, blinding clouds obscure the way ahead.

Although Bolivian traffic normally keeps to the right, downhill traffic on the Yungas road passes on the outside, whether that´s the right or the left side of the road. Vehicles heading downhill must maneuver onto the sliver-like turnout ledges bordering the big drop and wait while uphill traffic squeezes past, hugging the inside wall. This ensures that the risk is taken by the driver with the best possible view of the abyss from the drivers seat.

It is a perversity of this road that you can´t hear normal horns well here. They can be heard from far off, but not around the next bent. By the way, mobile phones do not work here either. But in any case, who would you call? There are no emergency services.

High in the Andes, they are building a new road. A bypass, to replace the old one. But this is Bolivia, and it has been 20 years in the making. The road, though not completely finished, is open for public traffic since 7 months. Since then, the original road is only little used, making it possible to cycle what is very likely the craziest downhill ride on this planet. And even without lorries obstructing the path, and a very, very firm hold on the brakes, it was still heartpounding enough.

This may be the most dangerous road in the world, but it also happens to be one of the most beautiful with a breathtaking scenery from high andean mountains to lush green jungles.