The Death Road and Witches Market in La Paz

By Mike Holly

We came to La Paz in Bolivia to visit the highest capital city in the world. To ride the death road and to see the heart of Bolivia. It didn’t disappoint. The official altitude of the city is 3,660 metres but as the population expands more and more buildings, well mostly shacks, are being constructed on the hillsides making the city ever higher. Also there is a curious inversion here with the most expensive housing being at lower levels, middle income earners living in the city itself and the poorest up on the hills looking down on the city.

La Paz Station

The city is overlooked by the triple peaked Illimani mountain ( 6.400 m) which is always snow capped and then about an hour to the west of the city lies the Sajama volcano. This sets the scene, but what did we find when we arrived? Well before attempting the death road, we visited San Pedro prison and also went to the witches market.

San Pedro Prison

San Pedro prison must be totally unique in this world. The inmates police themselves, their families visit or live with them and there is a thriving economy within the prison which allows prisoners to, amongst other things, rent their cells and even extend them. We were told that 80% of the those inside are connected to drug crimes and the majority of the inmates are awaiting trial.

The Witches Market.

The witches market. Bolivia has historically suffered from high inflation and all the ills which it brings. To help overcome this a lot of Bolivians developed a side economy based on barter and trade. One of the lasting results of this is the number of markets and street vendors which you see in the city. Amongst these we found the witches market. Although our Spanish wasn’t up to the subleties of magic we could see that one of the most prominent products, hanging in the stalls, was llama fetuses.

The death road was really what we came for. First let me say that we don’t do extreme sports and facing death is not an option for us. By all accounts the old road is relatively safe now with traffic reduced and a regular tourist business in taking bikers down the road.

View of the Death Road 1

So let’s get the facts out of the way first.

You are looking at a descent from 4,650 metres to approximately 1,200 metres over about 38 miles. The road is single lane and the drops over the edge are usually at least 600 metres but often much more. The road was built in 1930 by Paraguayan prisoners of war and the official name is the North Yungas Road.

To help negotiate this extreme road, unique rules were adopted.

Instead of driving on the right you had to drive on the left and cars which were descending had to stop to allow any car going the other way to pass. This allowed the driver of the stopped car to lean out his window and see exactly where his front tire was to the road edge ( there are no railings or barriers on the road).

View of the Death Road 2

What had we heard before attempting the trip? Plenty of talk about paying for more upmarket travel companies to take us on the trip. There were stories about using cheap bikes and the brakes not working and many more suggestions along these lines. In reality we found nothing like this at all. We used the cheapest firm and it was fine. The bikes were safe, everyone was issued with standard over clothes and safety gear. We were fed and watered at regular intervals down the road. The bus which carried the bikes was always at the back of the group and they had a rider at the front. When we got to the end there was a meal and a swimming pool to relax besides.

Jumping on the Death Road!

Was it frightening? The answer is yes if you want it to be. At speed and close to the edges you were taking a gamble. We had heard that a week before a German tourist had gone over the edge and the lure of being a daredevil was strong for some of the guys.But in the group was a couple with a 5 year old boy on an infants bike. So it’s really up to you.

Biking on the Death Road

Note: The journey back uphill, in the bus, was more frightening as it started to snow and the driver was not over concerned about our nerves!

This article was written exclusively for Travelated.com by Mike Holly. Mike’s daughter Gillian was in South America back packing for 7 weeks. Mike lives and works in Northumberland and is currently exploring around Hexham, Northumberland.