La Paz, Altiplano, Bolivia 27-6-2010

La Paz, Altiplano, Bolivia 27-6-2010

Odometer: 8638.9 miles

The drive from Cochabamba to La Paz crosses one pass at 4497 meters. La Poderosa ate it up without difficulty. It was cold and cloudy. When we got above 4100 meters we entered the clouds. There was fog. It rained. It snowed. It got colder. Just after the summit we came upon a bus accident. The front of one bus was inside the front of the other. It looked several hours old. The 2 police at the scene waved us through. When we passed the wreckage by about 70 meters there was a nice, safe spot in the sun to stop and warm up. While we were standing there, I looked back to see some men pass a body out a window of the bus, then another. I grabbed my little first aid kit and ran back. I told the police I was a doctor and asked if I could help. They pointed to a short line of people behind the bus. The police had triaged the people into some ranking of priority. They were in the process of wavering down cars and vans, to have them take the injured down to the nearest hospital, 130+ km away. It is the only system they have. The ambulance, it turned out, was on its way.

The first 2 in the line were those passed out the window. They were dead and had been for some time. The third in line had a piece of something projecting out of his forehead. It was round and sharp and made of metal. It looked superficial, but I couldn´t quite tell. He was conscious and talkative and with a clear memory of the accident. I left the object in place, wrapped compression bandages around it and sent him down in the first car. The next two were complaining of nausea, vomiting and had no recall of the accident or immediately following. Both appeared to have hit the seat in front of them. We got them into the next car. The next guy was hysterical because the police kept by passing his wife, and placing less injured victims in the cars. She was one of the first two I examined. The police tried to explain she was dead and there was no hope. That did not go very well. One policeman stepped between me and the man. I moved on to the next in line. She was young woman with a child strapped to her back. She was standing, staring. She could not feel her legs. She only answered questions about her legs. She would not answer anything else. She had dried blood all over her jacket, front, back, both arms and the child’s blanket. She would not let me examine her or the child. The child was motionless and fully covered. The police sent a car over. I got her to walk the 2 meters to the waiting car. I took the child off her back. I slowly unwrapped the blanket and found a cute little stinker sound asleep. After a quick exam and a smile from the little one, I handed the baby over to a woman in the back seat and told the driver to drive safely. He took off like a jack rabbit. I thought, that a boy!! More carnage on the road ahead.
The rest of the victims had only bruises and minor cuts. The police loaded them up into the last of the waiting cars and continued to direct the traffic past the scene. We left. The clouds cleared, the temperature rose and the road was all bendy. We drove slow and sure.
La Paz is a huge city. It sits in a valley. The road into La Paz comes in above the city and you descend into it. The view is very impressive. The traffic above the city, in Alto La Paz, is the worst traffic I have ever had the privilege to drive in. That list includes Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Guatemala City, Athens, Rome, New York, and L.A. Simply the worst.

Our main objective in visiting La Paz was to go down ¨the death road.¨ It is supposed to be the world’s most dangerous road. It starts just outside La Paz. Just before the start of the road, we drove into a heavy layer of clouds. They never ended. We descended to the bottom and returned. We never saw more than 3 meters at a time, but thought, wow! Here might be a drop off and we wouldn´t know it. All that can be said about it is now Uncle Walter has driven the world´s most dangerous road under the most dangerous conditions. Yippie skippppy.

I wasn´t impressed.

Drive Safe!!!

Uncle Walter