16°12'15.02"S 67°44'40.67"W
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| (from Wikimedia Commons) |
Crossing the Andean valley of the same name, Yungas Road offers a spectacular mountain panorama, yet it is reserved exclusively for adrenaline junkies. This is because the street has received the nickname "Death Road", and not without reason. Since its opening in the mid-20th century, thousands have died ---in the 1990s, the estimated number was 250 per year--- due to the lack of proper infrastructure, but mainly because of the harsh geography. Nowadays, the death rate has decreased a lot and the safety guarantees are better, still, the curse of this place isn't completely extinguished. Today in Blind Witnesses, the relevant trade history of the Yungas accompanied by curiosities and historical context.
One of the most famous "Did you know that... ?" facts about Bolivia is that it possesses a navy but no coastline. Influencers have made this curiosity go viral, even though there are many more landlocked countries in the same situation, thus I don't understand why they particularly chose Bolivia. In any case, the state once did have a coastline, but lost it after they went to war with Chile. Bolivians had to be satisfied with a railway that connected La Paz with the Chilean ports, as a sort of consolation gift; meanwhile the navy passed the days patrolling along Lake Titicaca, South America's largest lake. Over time, the Plurinational State realized how boring it was to be landlocked and wanted this to change immediately. 50 years after they lost sea access, in the 1930s, they found themselves involved in a long-lived territorial dispute over the Paraná and Paraguay rivers with, well, Paraguay, a country that also had lost its coastline to Brazil and Argentina. Both were in the same situation, those rivers were vital if they wanted to reach the ocean.
Eventually, the conflict ended up in a full-scale war: the Chaco War, named after the lush green rainforest where it took place. Following three difficult years, Paraguay was declared victorious, but to be honest, nobody actually won. The two countries had lots of casualties and a devastating economic crisis was affecting the population, in other words, Bolivia and Paraguay had to be restructured. And already during the war, a promising project was started: the Yungas Road.
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| Yungas Road from another point of view (from Wikimedia Commons) |
Built by Paraguayan slaves, the Yungas Road was quite a challenge. As mentioned before, the lack of infrastructure owing to the war and the harsh geography made a stable proper passable route impossible. First, you must be brave to drive on a partially unpaved road in parts only 3 meters ---10 feet--- wide, especially if you see next to you a 600 meter deep drop without any safety barriers to protect you. Additionally, the tropical climate brings heavy rainfall that makes the trek slippery. Then, you must also recall that you aren't the only user of the highway, so if you're driving a car you must give priority to the ones ascending. Lastly, the street also features left-handed traffic, so that you can constantly keep an eye on the edge. But what is the purpose of the Yungas Road? The answer hides in the valley itself.
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| Traffic jam in the Death Road (from Wikimedia Commons) |
Already the Incas populated this area many years ago and the Tiwanaku established here one of the best preserved pre-Columbian structures in America, and it wasn't random. The Yungas proved to be a perfect agricultural area as it is halfway between the Amazon and the Andes. People grow tangerines, oranges, bananas, coffee... Therefore, the plan of connecting this area with La Paz (that at the moment was suffering a famine due to the Chaco War) was just perfect, even if the Yungas Road left much to be desired... But the purpose of the road reaches far beyond this. We have to take a quick insight to the coca and gold business.
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| Imagine this bottled and mixed with carbonated water, along with caffeine and some other things... (from Wikimedia Commons) |
Coca is a tropical plant with oval-shaped leaves and red berries, best know for being used by a pharmacist in Atlanta for doing a medicine we would later call Coca-Cola. The point is that this valley is one of the few places on Earth where coca is legally grown and consumed. Many local business live of these types of plants that are grown in vast farmlands, before being cut off, dried out in the village square, then packed into bags, hung up on the roofs of the houses and driven off to the market. As a matter of fact, even the Bolivian president Evo Morales was once involved in the coca business. We could say the coca is for the Yungas what the tulips are for the Netherlands. The Yungas Road also reached popularity because of a little gold boom that took place in the town of Coroico. A British explorer even recorded the hidden gold treasure of a group of Jesuit monks. Allegedly, these would secretly dig up their treasures and bring them back to Europe, after the Jesuits were expelled from South America.
Nowadays, everything has changed rapidly. In part because there is no longer a great need for Yungas Road, in part because the authorities opened an alternative highway that operates well without risk of cars, bikes and humans falling down an abyss. Under normal circumstances, the original route would remain abandoned, but it is actually overrun by adventurous bikers as it achieved internet popularity. These usually explore the regional towns of Coroicos and Chicaloma, where they stay in local hostels and learn about the widespread coca culture. Fortunately, the safety has improved, nonetheless, at least 13 people have died this last 10 years. The curse is not fully extinguished.
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| In memoriam of all those who have fallen (from Wikimedia Commons) |
Further Reading:
Sources and Picture Credits:
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (Learn more)
Picture 1 https://www.flickr.com/people/38959579@N00 (Celine O'Neill)
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported (Learn more)
Picture 2 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:KLOTZ
Picture 3 https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Hph (Hph)
GNU Free Documentation License (Learn more)
Picture 3 https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Hph (Hph)
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (Learn more)
Picture 4 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Mike_Kr%C3%BCger
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