A road meanders through these valleys, the only means of communication between La Paz, the administrative capital of the country, perched on the Altiplano, and the riches of the Amazon basin. The Bolivians nicknamed it “el camino de la muerte”, the path of death. Highest point: the La Cumbre pass, 4700 meters, at the exit of La Paz. 78 kilometers further, we are barely 900 meters away. Along this road of the impossible, we follow the story of a community of cocaleros, coca growers clinging to the mountain slopes. To carry their loads to the road, they stretched makeshift cables made of simple iron wires across the valley. A hellish zip line, almost 400 meters long, 200 meters above the ground. We also share the daily life of a vachero, a truck driver who transports cows from the Amazon basin to La Paz, the highest metropolis in the world. 25 hours of journey on the road of death, made without stopping. Because you have to go very quickly: if a cow dies, the driver pays.
