COURTING
THE ROAD OF DEATH

Topics: Alertness; Consequences; Danger; Death; Disobedience; Eternal Life; Hell; Judgment; Mortality; Salvation; Sin; Temptation; Threats; Watchfulness; Worldliness

References: Psalm 23:4; Proverbs 2:11–15; 4:11; 14:12; Matthew 7:13–14; Hebrews 11:8

The dirt and rock road that stretches about forty miles and descends from La Paz (at twelve thousand feet) down to the beautiful rain forest town of Coroico at the edge of the basin of the Amazon River is a road of death.

In 1995, the Inter-American Development Bank called this stretch the “world’s most dangerous road.” An average of twenty-six vehicles fall off this road each year, and two hundred to three hundred people lose their lives. As if steep hillsides, cliffs, and drop-offs with no guardrails aren’t bad enough, the road sometimes has room for only one vehicle. Rain and fog complicate the trip, along with muddy surfaces and loose rocks. On July 24, 1983, more than a hundred passengers were killed when a bus veered over the edge and crashed into a canyon.

Despite the danger, the road has become an increasingly popular tourist attraction since the early 1990s.

—Graham Gori, Associated Press, “Thrills on the Highway of Death” (November 24, 2002)