The Muelle del diablo
Just outside La Paz are several natural formations that are easily reachable by minibus.
The closest is the Valley of the Moon formations which has been turned into a tourist attraction with easy walkways through the formations.
Valley de la Luna
The main walk through the formations takes around 45 minutes and gives various perspectives on the formations.
Looking down the valley
The Valley de la Luna park
Another view of the park
A little further afield is the Muelle de Diabolo formation - a very steep walk.
Yep, that's the path up
But offering panoramic views of La Paz and surrounds.
La Paz from the Muelle del Diablo
Looking towards the mountains with the shadow of the Muelle del Diablo
As with many places in La Paz, although the trek up the Muelle de Diabolo is steep, it's relatively easy - unlike the very scary road to get there.
Looking back at the precarious road
In fact, La Paz has one scary road in particular that is very famous - The Death Road, so named because of the number of fatalities that have occurred - usually by cars going over the cliff on this very narrow road.
So, why not cycle down it?
What could possibly go wrong?
There are many bike companies that offer the ride down the road, of varying price and quality. Keeping in mind that there are usually two cyclist deaths per year on the road it's probably better to opt for quality over price. I went with Barracuda biking after it was recommended to me by a friend in Puerto Williams (of all places). The cost was 500Bs (around $AUD100) and I was very happy with the quality of the bikes and the general approach to safety. During the ride I saw a couple of spectacular crashes in other company's groups - caused by bad quality bikes and poor supervision inexperienced riders - so I was happy with Barracuda (we only had one minor spill in our group).
The first section of the ride is on sealed road to allow you to get used to the bike.
The paved section
Before starting on the unsealed death road.
The start of the Death Road
High in the mountains
The road through the mountains
The death road itself is very steep with very sharp corners.
Looking down the road
And is very narrow in parts.
The road narrows
Narrow and wet
The narrowest part of the road - constantly wet from a waterfall
But the scenery was fantastic
The mountains
Mist rising
The valley from the lower part of the road.
After 3 hours of riding, at the bottom of the road, we stopped In a little town In a river valley for some very well deserved beers and a swim
The river in the valley
before we took the minibus back to La Paz - thankfully using the new, wider, safer road.
No comments:
Post a Comment
You know the drill. Play nice.