Death Road: Survived. Check.

Had the Most Amazing Experience of My Life No. 2 yesterday. Went mountain biking down the World´s Most Dangerous Road from La Cumbre into Coroico, which in the end isn´t so dangerous but gets its infamous reputation due to the amount of deaths that occur from it. Last year, one car a month went over the edges and two mountain bikers were going too fast and rode over the cliff. Most of the road is only wide enough for one car, which means traffic jams get pretty nasty on this thing and resemble puzzle pieces coming together when cars move to get past each other, dangling precariously on the sides.
We started at an insanely cold 4700 meters and descended down a paved road for about 30 minutes, with rain in full force. We received pants and a vest to wear over our clothes, but annoyingly the pants weren´t waterproof! We were soaked and shivering. I opted to hop back into the van and follow with the driver behind the other bikers till I could stop shaking from cold. When we finally got to the beginning of the Death Road, I jumped back out and hopped onto my bike. Very exhilirating. For 4 hours we descended on rocky dirt roads and uneven mud through lush jungle and waterfalls, across streams, all the time avoiding trucks and busses and stopping every half hour for snack and safety breaks. My ass hurts, my arms are sore and my hands are temporarily not 100% functional, but I´m a survivor. And can you believe it, despite my first time at mountain biking, I didn´t fall on the road! I did take a spill once, nearly putting my face right into some bushes, when coming to a stop on the side of the road, but I think falling -- literally -- occasionally in life is actually a very humanizing experience.
So the whole time I was riding the bike, I felt really at peace with the jungle. Perhaps it´s my Vietnamese heritage calling to me? The dense canopy of trees are hiding my destiny? Nah. The mosquitoes were having too much of a feast on me but I was so happy to be warm. La Paz has been utterly cold and I quite miss hot weather. We ended at a gorgeous jungle retreat with a little monkey climbing on the trees and ducks waddling around, but moreover, hot showers and soap!
At the airport right now, waiting for my flight to Asuncion in Paraguay. Then it´s off to Brazil tomorrow...