Dec 18, 2008: Road of Death

[Coign]

Since we were duped by the Disney IotD I figured I would post early for tomorrow and throw up a collection of real pictures.

I was recently sent these via e-mail so first had to check here to see if they were posted before and second to figure out where they were from. It seems they have not been posted before but another Cellar Dweller did put up an old link that allowed me to confirm back story on these.

Here is the old post that led me to the background.

Link

And now without further ado, here is the Bolivian Road of Death, North Yungas Road.

This is the original article, as written by Avi Abrams in November, 2006.
All rights reserved, @ Ian Media.

Bolivia's "Road of Death"

North Yungas Road is hands-down the most dangerous in the world for motorists. If other roads could be considered impassable, this one clearly endangers your life. It runs in the Bolivian Andes, 70 km from La Paz to Coroico, and plunges down almost 3,600 meters in an orgy of extremely narrow hairpin curves and 800-meter abyss near-misses.

A fatal accident happens there every couple of weeks, 100-200 people perish there every year. In 1995 the Inter-American Development Bank named the La Paz-to-Coroico route "the world's most dangerous road."

Among the route there are many visible reminders of accidents, wreckages of lorries and trucks lie scattered around at the bottom...

Link

[glatt]

Awesome!

[lookout123]

That's some scray shit there. I remember watching a show on discovery about that road. just plain freaky.

[glatt]

You know, some of those pictures look really squished in the horizontal direction. For example, with this picture, if you double the width and keep the height the same, the truck looks much more normal, but the hill doesn't look as steep.

It's still awesome. Just a little more realistic.

[Hillrick]

Anyone ever think of introducing these people to the concept of tunnels?

[glatt]

Applying the same math to this image gives us this new look.

[lumberjim]

Originally Posted by Coign

Since we were duped by the Disney IotD

you have a mouse in yer pocket?

[glatt]

It's still scary, even with the correct aspect ratio.

[lookout123]

I'd still need a change of shorts if I succussfully completed that journey.

[Trilby]

No wonder shipping and handling is so freaking expensive!

[footfootfoot]

Anamorphic lenses

[lookout123]

Apparently the USPS central processing hub is on the top of that mountain.

[Pie]

Originally Posted by glatt

You know, some of those pictures look really squished in the horizontal direction. For example, with this picture, if you double the width and keep the height the same, the truck looks much more normal, but the hill doesn't look as steep.

Now that I know it's a little out of proportion, I'll call my travel agent right away!

[Ibby]

That road is a LOT like the tiny, 2-lane, landslide-prone road from Taipei to Hualien...


(you can see part of that road there, that liiiittle brown strip along the cliff.)

and also a lot like the road through Taroko Gorge. (number 4!)






eta: and yes, i've been down BOTH those roads. Well, not DOWN, but.. oh you know what i mean.

[Coign]

Originally Posted by glatt

You know, some of those pictures look really squished in the horizontal direction. For example, with this picture, if you double the width and keep the height the same, the truck looks much more normal, but the hill doesn't look as steep.

It's still awesome. Just a little more realistic.

Sorry about the 'shopped portion there, I just pulled the pictures from the e-mail. If I would have gone to the background thread they have a number of the same pictures but in the correct proportion ratio. But it still looks scary there too.