Before moving on I signed up for a bike ride down the “death road”, supposedly one of the most dangerous roads in the world. I don’t give much to such names since everybody is claiming everything. Ok, the road is pretty scary at times and you have to be alert all the time, otherwise you go flying. I am sure there are more accidents than on other streets, but it’s nothing to be afraid of. I wanted to do it for the sole fact that the ride starts at an altitude of 4600 meters and you go down 3500 meters in about 4 to 5 hours and get to experience the change in climate and vegetation. You start very early in the morning at the top where it is freezing cold and you can see mountains with snow. Once you reach the bottom you find yourself in tropical rainforest with high temperatures. I didn’t think it would be too exhausting just going down, but at the end I felt pretty tired because half of the road is not paved and pretty bumpy, you have to hold on to your bike pretty good and you have to hit the brakes for 4 hours which at the end makes your hands hurt a bit. Still you don’t have to be a hardcore downhill biker or top athlete to do it. Actually the street was full of tour groups, there must have been around 150 people coming down that road on bike and that probably every day. There are some short climbs but if you don’t feel like doing them, then they take you up there in the mini bus. The unpaved road is one lane only, so there are many posts equipped with flags that signal you if someone is coming up and you have to wait. If you go by car then you have to know that you drive on the left side of the road when crossing other vehicles. Some trucks can not stop on certain climbs, so all the vehicles coming up have priority. Once we reached to bottom they took us to the hotel Esmeralda, a nice little Hotel in Coroico. There we were able to shower, eat lunch and enjoy the fantastic view. The town seemed very nice and it would probably have been nice to stay there a day, but I went back to La Paz in the evening. The ride up with the small bus was scarier then coming down by bike. With the bike you can stay in the middle of the road and have some space available for error. With the car you are always only a meter or less away from the abyss and there is no room for mistakes. Although I found the tour a little expensive I still think it is worth doing. The equipment seemed ok, the shower and all meals are included, and even the dust mask which is certainly useful when street is very dry. Most importantly, the views are fascinating.