Bolivia’s most dangerous roads

High in the Andean mountains of Bolivia, two extraordinary women defy fear and fate on some of the most dangerous roads in the world. After loading her supplies in La Paz, the highest capital on Earth, Maria begins a perilous journey back to her village, hidden deep in the Yungas. Suspended between clouds and ravines, she navigates narrow mountain tracks where one mistake can be fatal. One of the few women brave enough to drive these routes, Maria faces the heights with nerves of steel. But her mission doesn’t end there. Pushing even further into isolation, she turns her vehicle into a mobile grocery store, reaching villages cut off from the outside world. She earns little from these trips — her reward is helping families who must otherwise walk hours through the mountains just to survive. Meanwhile, Lourdes travels the infamous Yungas Road, known worldwide as the “Road of Death.” Her destination: illegal gold mines where women and entire families work in mercury-polluted waters. Lourdes risks her life to warn them — this dangerous trade will never make them rich, only slowly poison them. Landslides, relentless rain, collapsed roads, and abandoned trucks turn every journey into an ordeal. As climate change intensifies extreme weather, Bolivia’s fragile mountains are crumbling. Deforestation and illegal logging are accelerating the destruction, pushing communities closer to the edge.