Bolivia : the road of death | France 5 | Les Routes de l'Impossible

There are two worlds in Bolivia. That of Altiplano, the highlands, perched high above at 4,000 metres. And that of the Amazonian basin, rising to just a few hundred meters above sea level. Between the two, lies a transitional region of dizzy heights and steep roads that descend the chain of the Andes in just a few dozen miles. It’s the Yunas region, a land where the horizontal does not exist. A road snakes along these valleys, the only means of communication between La Paz, the administrative capital of the country, perched high on the Altiplano, and the riches of the Amazonian basin. Bolivians call it “el camino de la muerte”, the road of death. The high point: the La Cumbre pass, 4,700 meters high, outside La Paz. 50 miles further on, we are at barely 900 metres. Along this impossible highway we follow the story of a community of cocaleros, cocoa growers, clinging to the slopes of the mountain. To transport their loads to the road, they have stretched makeshift cables of simple wire across the valley. A diabolical downward slide nearly 400 metres long and 200 metres above the ground. We also share the daily life of a vachero, a truck driver carrying cows from the Amazonian basin to La Paz, the highest capital city in the world. A 25-hour journey along the road of death, made without a stop, because he has to go fast: if a cow dies, the driver has to pay for it.