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Bolivian Highway


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It is the fondly called "HIGHWAY OF DEATH"....

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Bolivian Highway

  1. 2. Location <ul><li>The North Yungas Road, also known as El Camino de la Muerte (Spanish for &quot;Road of Death&quot;), is a 43 mile road that leads from La Paz to Coroico, 35 miles (56 km) northeast of La Paz in the Yungas region of Bolivia. </li></ul><ul><li>A second Yungas Road, known as Chulumani Road, connects La Paz to Chulumani, 40 miles (64 km) east of La Paz.  It is considered to be nearly as dangerous as the north road.   </li></ul>
  2. 4. Legendary for its extreme danger… <ul><li>In 1995 the Inter-American Development Bank christened it as the &quot;world's most dangerous road&quot;. </li></ul><ul><li>One estimate is that 200-300 travelers are killed yearly along the road, or one vehicle every two weeks. </li></ul><ul><li>The road was built in the 1930s during the Chaco War by Paraguayan prisoners.    </li></ul><ul><li>It is one of the few routes that connects the Amazon rainforest region of northern Bolivia, or Yungas, to its capital city. </li></ul>
  3. 6. More risk during Rains… <ul><li>Because of the extreme drop-offs, single-lane width, and lack of guardrails, the road is extremely dangerous. Further still, rain and fog can make visibility precarious, the road surface muddy, and loosen rocks from the hillsides above. </li></ul><ul><li>This lead to more dangerous driving among the drivers. </li></ul>
  4. 7. Some facts of accidents… <ul><li>A bus plunged off a mountain road in central Bolivia killing 29 people and injuring 25. The driver was among those killed in the crash. </li></ul><ul><li>The bus slipped off the edge and tumbled down the side of a cliff 50 miles east of the Bolivian capital of La Paz. </li></ul>
  5. 8. View from the top of road… <ul><li>A gigantic vertical crack appears. Way below, more than half a mile beneath your passenger window, you can see - cradled between canyon walls - a thin silver thread: the Coroico River rushing to join the Amazon.  </li></ul><ul><li>The bird's eye view is on the left, on the front seat passenger's side, where the Earth itself seems to open up.  </li></ul>
  6. 9. Belief of the drivers <ul><li>Before starting the travel, drivers stop to pour libations of beer into the earth - to beseech the goddess Pachamama for safe passage. </li></ul><ul><li>They used to chew cocoa leaves to keep themselves awake. If they are careless the road of their target ends there and road for the heaven opens wide. </li></ul>