Boliva's Death Road | Worlds Most Dangerous Road

Welcome to Death Road. There's a little cute thing that wasn't here back in 2012. And the most interesting thing is I have 3G network up here on my phone. So earlier I was actually calling my mom like, Mom, I'm on the Death Road how are you? She's like, What? So she started freaking out and said, Mom, it's just a name, it's not that crazy. Hey everyone, my name's Alex. I'm an ex-medical student who sold all his belongings in 2012 to travel around the world. 50 countries and the adventure continues. Alright, so today I get to drive the world's most dangerous road called the Yunus Road. I'm here about an hour and a half north of La Paz and I'm having the very last healthy breakfast here in Bolivia, I think. This is the most amazing place I've been. It's just so healthy, it's so green. Look at that, it's absolutely beautiful. It's a work of art. It's 7 a.m. I'm going to try to get on the road as fast as possible before traffic gets hectic. See you at the Yunus Road. Oh man, getting out of that city was a nightmare. You literally go uphill the entire way and there's so much traffic, even at 7 in the morning. What a crazy town you are, La Paz. Oh man, do you see that? That's a trash burning party, that's what that is. So if you've ever wondered how some of these people on the mountains get rid of the trash, they just burn it. Wow! That is very unfortunate because they're burning plastic and they're burning things that you shouldn't burn. So if you're curious, that is an off-road of the Yunus. And this is the little highway they built later on. Let me say, it's a beautiful road. Even though this label is one of the most dangerous roads in the world, in my opinion, it's actually one of the most beautiful. Because you go from like 14,000 feet above sea level to the jungles. This fog is intense. And the worst thing about it is I know the camera doesn't show it, but the light and the precipitation for me and my eyes, it's so hard to see. Check it out. I have my visor open, otherwise I couldn't see. And my bike just died. We are pretty high altitude so... You do not want to overtake here, for sure. Don't overtake. Fight the temptation. No, I'm going to be lazy here and just do this. Yep, just a little quick overtake on the right. That's just the way to do it. Oh my gosh, can't see a single thing. Tunnel! I love tunnels. Alright, welcome to the entrance of the death road. You just have this road behind me, and that's the entrance. And there's a little sign on yellow that says keep to your left. There's death road etiquette. It means stick to your left. Which is counterintuitive because you always think on the road you always drive to the right. Because you drive on the right hand side here. So it's kind of weird being told to drive on the left. Six years ago this sign was not there. And I got here, I was going up the right side. Which is where all the bicycle tours basically start from the very top, they come down to the bottom. So they always come down the left hand side. And I was on the right hand side going up. So basically we were just trying to dodge each other and I had no idea what was going on. Finally they put a sign. Thank you for putting a sign, whoever did that. Government of Coroico or whatever it is, or Bolivia or I don't know what that is. So good job, finally. If you want some clothes washed, that's the way to do it. Alright, so here's the deal about this road. It starts off at 4,000 feet above sea level, and it goes all the way up to about 12,000 to 14,000 feet above sea level. It's considered the most dangerous road in the world. As you'll see coming up, there's some really narrow stretches. And what happens is that big buses used to go by there and they couldn't quite make it. And people would actually die in the hundreds when the bus fell over or something. It's the unfortunate reality of this road. It's the history and the story behind this road that really attracts me to it. Tragedy that every year, many years ago, it was like 300 deaths per year, 500 deaths per year on this road. A lot of respect and there's a lot of interesting energy around. Huge tourist site but people forget that hundreds and hundreds of people died on this road. More of a memorial rather than a fun touristic attraction. Did I mention it is so hot here? Ugh. Anyway, back on the road. What do we have here? Welcome to Death Road. This little cute thing that wasn't here back in 2012. And the most interesting thing is I have 3G network up here on my phone. So earlier I was actually calling my mom like, Mom, I'm on the Death Road, how are you? She's like, What? So she started freaking out and said, Mom, it's just a name. It's not that crazy. Anyway, it's really funny. Such a desolate, beautiful area with not a lot of population and yeah, there's a cell signal. Ah, and what is 225 for? Maintenance. Maintenance? It looks the same as it did in 2012. 25 believers that entered the Death Road. What? Alright, here are some of the bikers. Ooh, the road is getting interesting. Right, welcome to minute 45 of the Death Road. And as you see, we're in the clouds now. If you're on a bicycle, you have no choice. You have to go down the Death Road. There's no going up. Now, if you have a motorcycle or your own vehicle, I believe going up is the best choice. You actually get to enjoy the view, you know. You take your own time, your own pace, and you actually get to enjoy things. When you go downhill, you're just basically going really fast and you're getting to the bottom as fast as humanly possible. Kind of miss some of the scenery, I think. And me, I'm taking a look here, I'm taking pictures there. Oh, random beer can here. That's weird. Just a little look at everything and taking my sweet time. Hmm, as much as I want to do drone stuff, I don't think anything's going to come out. And there's a chase vehicle. You know all the bikers are downhill and out of your way when the chase vehicle shows up. Man, these people don't know. They tell them to stay left and nobody stays left. Alright, definitely if you do the road, realize you're going to get wet because I am soaked from all the precipitation and some waterfalls. Alright, so this is that pinch. This is the area where it gets really, really narrow but it's also very, very beautiful. The accidents have happened. If you actually look down there, you'll actually see a bunch of old busted vehicles that are unrecoverable. As you can see, all the tour groups decided to converge in one place and here we are. Takes away from the remoteness of it but what are you going to do? It's a tourist site. And we have two little vans here with a bunch of mountain bikers over here. Anyway, that's my cue to get out of here.