Steve and Emma's Travel Tales

With an extra day on our hands we decided it was time to head out of the city once and for all and find somewhere to relax and catch up with chores. Sorata sounded like it would fit the bill nicely at 1000m lower than La Paz and a population of less than 3000. In actual fact this turned out to be only the third time we were below 3000m since leaving Argentina with Tupiza and Sucre making the hat-trick. The minivan quickly filled up and pulled off bang on time but once again it took an hour to clear the city’s outskirts. It didn’t help that the main road in El Alto was closed due to more Independence Day celebrations – they love a good marching band over here. Here’s a few more observations: nowhere seems to be finished off including roads, houses, shops and so on, all the towns and cities seem to be built on steep slopes so you never get to just potter around it always feels like a sponsored hike, it’s almost impossible to age people particularly the ladies and they all love to wear hats, you know when you’re nearing a town as the clumps of grass have increasingly more plastic bags clinging to them, the young’uns love table football and finally, everyone is so very honest and friendly with one and all greeting you and making you feel welcome. Back to the journey. We turned off onto what for us was a new bit of road and it went along a small section of Lake Titicaca’s vast shoreline. The road then plunged into a valley at the far end of the Cordillera Real before climbing back up again to Sorata. According to the guide books Sorata has one of the nicest town squares in the whole of Bolivia. Unfortunately we arrived just as they were digging up the road that borders it on all sides. However, this small town is set in a stunning valley with mountains all around. It took us a while to find just the right guesthouse as the ones we looked at were either too basic, full, having a siesta or closed down. In the end we walked a little way out of town and got the last room in Hostel Las Piedras. The rooms are spotlessly clean and bright and airy and the people running the place are very welcoming and friendly. Unfortunately there wasn’t a laundry service but they have an old fashioned laundry sink and a drying area to use. That was fine for some of the clothes but believe me that minging trek gear needs to go in a machine. I managed to get most of the chores done while Steve enjoyed himself sitting on the balcony ploughing his way through the hostel’s travel guides. We really did just relax, enjoy feeling warm without the sun being over-bearing and hike up the steep hill into town for something to eat. The plan was to walk to some nearby caves but I took so long washing, typing journals and generally getting us sorted out that we ran out of time. Never mind, we would have all day tomorrow – well once we’d watched City’s opening game of the season at home to Southampton. They really do love football over here and all the major leagues are fully covered. The walk to the cave plan took a serious set-back when we awoke to the sound of rain. It took us a while to work out what it was as we’ve not encountered rain since leaving KL. At least we weren’t still trekking and had a nice place to sit it out and get back to more of that chilling and recharging our batteries. We did go for a bit of a stroll once the clouds cleared in the afternoon but that is honestly all we’ve done in the last 3 days. Not like us I know but don’t forget this is not a holiday and we have to have some boring chore days. Besides which the money will run out way too soon if we’re doing activities every day. Fear not there will be more to tell in the coming days as we’re off to Copacabana on the shores of Lake Titicaca in the morning.