The Worlds Most Dangerous Road was awesome.
We got up at 6am, and met the group at a cafe in La Paz at 7.30. They took us to the top of the road, where they give you your bike and gear (and a bit of useful instruction). The first bit is bitumen for you to get used to your bike (and hopefully if something breaks it will happen here).
You have to stop a couple of times- one for a drug check and 2 for a ridiculous tourist tax of 24 bolivianos for people on bikes.
Then you hit the gravel. well the fist thing that happened was one Aussie girl from WA actually did hit the gravel, and whilst she didn{t get hurt, she elected to spend the rest of the day in the bus for her own safety.
You go under waterfalls and across rivers, winding down the road which is loose gravel, with a 400m drop on oneside, and a stone wall for you to crash into on the other.
On one of those turns, we had our second casualty- a Scottish girl had a stack and hit her shoulder and head, and had to go to hospital.
The rest of us made it the rest of the way without injury. It is about 70 km of downhill. At the end they give you a t shirt and a beer and a feed.
Belinda and I stayed in Coroico, which is just above the valley where the ride ends. It was beautiful, lower in altitude than La Paz so warmer and easier to breathe.
We climbed Urumachi the next day, the mountain above the town, then spent the afternoon lazing around the pool.
We hung out with Kerry and Anders, an Irish/Danish couple who have been living in Australia but are moving to France- the slow way. They were great fun, and we stayed up late with them the last night, before leaving Coroico for La Paz the next morning.
In La Paz, we picked up our camera, which is unfixable. Next we went to the La Paz post office, and spent 2 hours there sending a package home- they wrap it by hand- literally stitch it up infront of you. Its a saga, and by the end of it we swore that we would be home before that package even left the post office, let alone the country.
We finally got to the place where you catch a minivan with no seatbelts to Copacabana at 6pm.
Next Stop is Lake Titicaca.