86 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2018
THE DESTINATIONJUERGEN RITTERBACH/THE IMAGE BANK/GETTY IMAGES(MARKET),MATTHEW WILLIAMS-ELLIS/ROBERTHARDING/GETTY IMAGES(STREET)tour leader in a single file. Once I started pedalling, I lost height
quickly—around 11,500 feet within a stretch of 50 kilometres.
Even without pushing, I frequently hit speeds of 30 kmph, as my
hands and wrists mimicked every jolt and undulation through
the violently vibrating frame of the cycle. For all my bravado,
there was no denying the truth of the instructor’s words. It
was a tricky and risky descent on a single-lane road without
much barricading, and I was skidding, bouncing, and tackling
hairpin bends on unsteady wheels. At a sharp S-bend, my
concentration lapsed and I was forced to brake hard. I turned
to see my rear wheel halfway over the edge, inches away
from slipping right off! Through the rest of the route, I prayed
that I would make it without having to take the shortcut—a
majestic 2,000-foot free fall into the Bolivian rainforests.
At the end of Death Road, I found myself in Yolosa, a humid
village on the edge of the forest, from where a bus took me and
my cycle back to La Paz. At Yolosa, you can check out local
activities, like zip lining across a river or visiting the Senda
Verde Wildlife Sanctuary. Death Road cyclists only get an
abridged tour of the sanctuary, but volunteers from all over the
world come to stay here—observing, feeding and caring for the
animals. The zip line will take you 1,500 metres across a valley
over Amazonian rainforests, gathering enough momentum to
reach a speed of 80 kmph.
If you love a good, edgy climb, start by climbing Huayna
Potosi, one of Bolivia’s highest mountains, which also provides
the city its picture-perfect backdrop. The almost 20,000-foot-
high peak is popular among mountaineers and trekkers, but
also accessible to beginners. The climb starts at the Zongo Pass
and the first phase takes you to the base camp (16,830 feet),
known variously as the High Camp or Campo Argento. This
takes about four hours and is followed by the real ascent to the
summit, which takes anything between five and seven hours
of trekking across snow, ice walls, and glacial cracks. While
mountaineers complete the journey in about 10 hours, average
Joes take two days from the Zongo Pass to the summit and
back. From the top, the views of La Paz, Lake Titicaca, the
Cordillera Real mountains and the Altiplano—a high plateau
between the eastern and western chains of the Andes—are
what one might call Instagram-worthy.
For me, the next stop was Uyuni, a tourist town where I
found myself amid strikingly white salt flats that are a hot
favourite with travellers scouting for some fantastic illusionary
photographs. Such is the pull of Salar de Uyuni, crowned the
world’s largest salt flat for covering a breathtaking 10,000
square kiloemtres, that there are step-by-step photography
guides on the Internet, explaining how to make the most of its
visual majesty. The town itself is small, with little to do except
hire a four-wheel ride and hit the flats.
I chose a two-day drive that started with a trip to the train
cemetery, Cemiterio de Trens, followed by a stop at the local
market and the Incahuasi Cactus Island. Then came the salt
flats—flat, pearly land in every direction as far as the eyes can
see, with only a few craggy mountains and cacti scattered
around. The vehicles, loaded with tourists and their supplies,
followed the tyre tracks made by ones before them.
On the first day I wandered aimlessly, taking pictures,
playing with the endless depth that the brilliant white of
the landscape provided. My day ended at Coquesa, a village
beside a brook full of flamingoes, where the main occupation
is rearing llamas. Here, I witnessed one of the most colourful
sunsets of my life, followed by a magical vision of the mountain
sky peering down with a consortium of the brightest stars.Mercado de Hechiceria
or Mercado de las Brujas,
also known as La Paz’s
‘Witch’s Market,’ sells a
mysterious melange of
knick-knacks like herbs,
dried animal charms and
folk aphrodisiacs.Chollita on Calle Jaen, one of
the colourful colonial cobbled
streets of La Paz, offers an
aesthetic high matched only
by the adrenaline rush of its
surrounding activities.