Sun 24 Jan

This morning I woke up about 7am, got ready and waited for my bike tour group to pick me up. Once I was picked up, me and 9 were off to go down the World's Most Dangerous Road. We drove through the busy streets of La Paz and started climbing the side of the mountain in a small mini bus. There was a driver and two tour guides in the front who had some mix tape with a bunch of old songs from the 90's playing. As we kept climbing, it go colder and soon we were in the clouds. Finally after a 45min trip we arrived at a small area on the side of the road were we got ready. It was freezing and super foggy so we couldn't see anything. We got coats and gloves and pants from the tour and then got our bikes. The man told use to stay in a single file line while going down the mountain, then he showed us the different signals and signs he would use to tell us to slow down or to stop. Then we were off. Before I knew it the clouds disappeared and I saw what we were up against. I was on the side of a cliff and there were no railings to stop me if I lost control of my bike. It was fine thought because we were on a two lane asphalt road and it was fun going downhill really fast. Every once and a while we would stop to take photos and then we would be off again. At 10am, we stopped at a check point in a small town and went into a small restaurant that could barley hold 10 people and had bread, jam, and watered down hot coco. Then we drove for about 15min with the bikes on top of the mini bus once again until we reached the starting of a dirt road. The guide told us, this is where the real ride starts. He couldn't stress the fact of how careful we must be otherwise we will lose control and that will be it. After we starting going down the hill, this was the point where I finally met my biggest fear. We were on a small one lane dirt road that was hugging the side of the mountain. If you looked to your left, you could see for miles and miles were mountains and a small slit in the mountain which was the road we would be traveling on. Once we started going down I was a bit scared but couldn't help but looking over the side. We went for about 3 hours down the hill and there were sharp turns and waterfalls pelting on top of us. Not to mention the road was wet and very slippery under the waterfalls which made it extremely hard to steer our bikes. Soon we became a little bit more comfortable and went faster. This ride was extreme and I couldn't believe that I was actually doing this because I am afraid of heights. At the same time everything was so beautiful and the scene was breath taking. We were going down the hill super fast now and zooming around these sharp corners even though nothing would catch us if we messed up. Everything was good until we hit one sharp turn and the guide in the front stopped really fast and jumped off of his bike. There was a big truck coming the opposite way and we still had bikers behind us that hadn’t gone past the turn. He stopped all of us and then got the rest to stop just in time as the truck was beginning to turn. Once we got to the end of the trip, we got all packed up and then went to lunch. After lunch I took a taxi to Corico and then a mini bus to Carmen Pampa. When I got to the lower campus, I found the volunteers house and then was greeted by Sara. We ate dinner and then watched the second season of The Wire. After, I took a shower by candle light because the light wasn’t working. Then, I went to bed.