From Bolivia, May 31, 2002
(The post below is from a group email I sent to my friends and family while traveling years ago. I include it in this blog as an archive to my travels. It remains in the the raw state that I originally sent it, foolishness of younger years intact, typos and sics untouched.)
here i am lost in south america, postponing a career, spending every last dollar i have. and i pay good money to climb a kilometer through sketchy mine shafts inhaling asbestos and arsenic, fall off running horses, contract strange singlecelled organisms by eating from food stalls in the streets, climb breathlessly impossible mountains obtaining altitude sickness, etc. i mean this is travel, but also vacation, no? i do this crazy? stupid? pointless? stuff by choice. i know mom, i should just be sitting on a beach sipping piña coladas. but this is south america. and its just what you do when you`re here. thats all i can say to explain it. its really that simple. who knows, maybe it me, but i`m not the only one...
that being said i rented a mountain bike yesterday (some homemade, mix-matched ressemblance to a bike at least) and rode down `death road` the acclaimed most dangerous road in the world. it drops 3400 meters in altitude over a winding, rarely paved 80 km stretch. the road hugs a mountainside the entire way with sheer drops often in the hundreds of meters. you start at over 4700 meters outside of la paz. its cold and above the clouds. the first two hours are paved. you descend as fast as your libido is big through the clouds, seeing only the hill to your left side and the road in front of you for maybe 25 meters. still you try to use the brakes as little as possible. its all about the adrenalin. you clear the clouds and it starts to warm up.
after 2 hours the fun really begins. the road is no longer paved. the final thrre hours you have to stay on the left side, the cliff side, of the road as all the trucks and buses coming uphill hug the hill side. the road is rocky, sometimes bumpy and dusty. traffic (mostly big trucks and buses) doesn`t seem to care about anyone else on the road.
so you fly down this road trying to use the brakes as little as possible (or at least i did) zooming along at speeds of up to 60km/hr one meter from the edge of this huge unrelenting cliff on a road often not wider than 3 meters. it curves a lot. trucks come from both directions. dust trails following them blind you. waterfalls and streams drenching the road and you as you pass.
on average 20 vehicles fall off per year. certain death. an israeli girl on a bicycle just fell off over a month ago. frank an older veternarian from jersey fell off his bike (but not the cliff) five times. he didn`t know how to work the brakes. i tried telling him.
and you don`t even have to sign a liability waiver or release form! i love bolivia!
but i arrived 3400 meters lower in coroico. semi-tropical. the air is thicker and i feel healthy. banana trees and passionfruit vines grow everywhere. they also grow coffee and coca here (although the coffee i`m drinking now is from powder, go figure...). its so quiet. and lush.
off to tackle a nice 700 page novel...
the best of the best to all...
j
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