The arrival back to Sorata meant some precious things for us - hot showers, clean clothes and cold beveridges in the peaceful plaza. Our daydreams for the last few days had featured our little pizza place and as such we made our dreams come true with gusto. Afterwards we went to Pete`s Place, Pete being an ex-member of Status Quo to consume brownies and peruse their excellent range of guidebooks and maps. I left the others to celebratory (we don`t need much cause to celebrate :) rum and cokes and loved my bed.
The next morning before Martin and Kataryzna returned to La Paz, they and Arys joined me at Las Piedras for their awesome breakfasts and Jummmmbo Cappuchinoes - Kat claimed it was her best breakfast of South America and I would feign to agree on that particulargh point, I would there, don`t you know¿. With intentions of reuniting for a Salar de Uyuni tour I farewelled the Poles, then headed to check out a resort/camping below the pueblo called Altai Oasis, which it certainly was, but charged a whopping 30 BolivianoS (BS) a night.... to camp! I met Anna and Julie from Marseilles, who were leaving to Laguna Glacial the following day then dined with them and Arys before again drinking rum and Cola-Quina and exploring musical domains together - I think I burst the girls` bubbles` by telling them Continental European folk musician Beirut is actually from the US. But my friends very graciously avoided speaking (much) in French out of respect for me, noice. :=) Anna had worked as a clothes model, being photographed in such places as Bali and the slums of Mumbai, and is ridiculously guudlooking.
The next day I finally got to starting some Spanish study, flirted with the idea of a trek descending into Madidi NP with Arys and then abandoned it and instead hit the computer game arcades for insanely cheap thrills - one game token was 4c. Ahh, memories of a youngster, but things have changed so much since I was a boy... back in my day it was Street Fighter 2 and 1942. Nowadays the kids are spolit I tell you - now it`s Street Fighter vs Marvel and Tekken... 2!! But it was comforting to see an oldie but a trippy, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, based on the comic, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs. Check it out. That night I met Leo and Margaret from Holland doing the very expensive but awesome-looking 2-day downhill mountain bike session from Sorata then 3-day boat ride through the lowland junglE and Madidi to Rurrenbaque - jealous.
I transferred out of Las Piedras to Arys`s Panchito - cheaper with a kitchen - and then realised I`d left my sandals at Piedras. Upon returning not 2hrs later the girl told me she`d thrown them in the bin!! `You`ll have to go up to the skip up the top of the hill because my boyfriend took the rubbish up there`, but of course my sandals weren`t there. By chance boyfriend passed by and tried to tell me that the garbos probably emptied the bin, even though it was still full. Then, `Oh, they might by at my uncle`s place across from the hostel`. He goes down, talks to his girlfriend, disappears into his uncle`s place then eventually reappears with my sandals in a plastic bag. Phew! What a )(/"@-around though, and I`m pretty sure it involved a lot of lying. Bolivia is such another world - another level of craziness, disorganisation and apathy. Many (and I refer to you, guidebooks) have raved about how amazing and undiscovered it is but with such morons living here it takes a lot of patience to not blow your top.
Arys had met a Mapiri Trail running-mate in Alex from Switzerland, and they organised a meeting for guiding services with our man from Laguna Chillata, Roberto (Roland), who of course didn`t show for his own party. After much hard-nosed bartering with Eugenio (Felix) they departed late the next morning (even for Bolivian time) with their sub-contracted (through Eugenio) guide, Roberto (Roland). Ha ha, so lame its funny. Their chosen trek had been described in the following ways "This is a harcore trek", and "Only for the dedicated athlete or masochist". Anna and Julie returned early from Glacial after receiving a large dose of weather and then departed the next day for La Spaz.
I spent a large chunk of my remaining time in Sorata staring into space... literally - Space, said in a ridiculous Latin Sean Connery voice, is the name of the cool cable TV channel here. I also read, studied Spanish and of course ate, including more awesome crepes from Las Piedras with enough rich chocolate sauce to drown in. At Cafe Illampu I brought a stick to smash the face of the dangerous dog there who`d bitten me in a previous unsuccessful visit a few days prior. The workers of course claimed the dog was barking at me because I`d brought a stick and it took several versions of explanation for them to understand that it had actually attacked me before that. Not that that actually motivated them to promise to do anything, of course. There I met Silke from Germany, another long-term traveller and I got some great Spanish practise in with her while dining on lush Chocolate cake and good coffee. I read a National Geographic article about an international Rapid Asessment Program assessing biodiversity in Peru`s Vilcabamba Range, where I`d done my epic trek. The pompous authors claimed the only access was by river and also that the Incans had not altered the natural balance of the area... Aaaahahahaha! Such a romantic view of pre-European cultures that is absolutely bullshit. Later at dinner we met Bert and Kris from Belgium, recently returned from an underwhelming trip to Laguna Chillata and we discussed the controlling and dishonest machinations of Sorata`s Association of Guides, of which we weren`t the only complainants - others suggested they had orchestrated robberies on local treks to discourage independent hiking.
In Sorata`s plaza announcers for transport to La Paz call "Pa-la-pa-la-pa La Paz!" at the top of their voices from the dark of 5am to 6pm. They are like startled hens, squawking their message every 5-15 seconds, even though everyone is aware of the ease of obtaining this transport regularly and fromwhere it leaves. This phenomenon was a great source of mirth for all of us. Sorata also appeared to have been built by 5ft tall dwarves, as the clearance for many of the ceilings/doorways (including my rooms` doors) were at about 5`11", just the right height to trick me into not ducking and subsequently gouging or scraping my shaven skull. Bullshit. After several of these incidences a large scab had formed on my top. I took a walk uphill to the town`s lookout and saw The Mule on the way. After lunching up there I again forgot to duck exiting the shelter and most thoroughly scraped a large porciòn of skin/scab off my scalp. Arrrrgh!! Lots of cryin` over spilt blood.
On the Monday morning Bert, Kris and I left for La Paz. It was quite rewarding to finally get on a bus "Pa, pa, pa La Paz!". We arrived , split to our respective hostels, I to Hostel Sleep, which turned out to be anything but - a local disco belting until 3am and the worst bed I`d slept on since arriving in America. The next morning I met with Arys to hear of his and Alex`s Mapiri adventure where they`d been rained on every day. It sounded like they had 3 days of 5 in a similar vein to my parama-jungle battle in Ecuador. But it sounded like it was a great experience! We all had awesome Moroccan that evening and I finally discovered the prime La Paz coffee experience - a double Italian capuchino from Cafe Berlin. I spent many frustrated hours in internet cafes running other peoples errands which also included a visit to the Australian Consulate in Bolivia. I marvelled at The Scorpions, German purveyors of the fine hit `Winds of Change` from the fall of the Wall period, and now touring Bolivia. Hmmmm. And Bolivia wants them too - talk about starved of action. I transferred to The Point party hostel which, having less people than THe Loki turned out a lot more relaxed but still essentially the same thing. There in the morning I met Alise from Brazil who then left for the World`s Most Dangerous Bike Ride and promptly stacked it on her first corner and knocked herself out. Sounds like my kind of gig!! I met Kasper and Zuren from Switzerland and Germany, also travelling to Uyuni that evening, and they, Bert and I got the same overnight bus down to Uyuni - it wasn´t terrible comfortable for any of us but at least I got a little sleep. At the flatness of the town itself Bert and I transferred to the hostel where Martin and Kat were staying and finished arranging our respective tours. As we ate breakfast we reunited with the Poles and caught up, all excited to be about to kick off our tours!
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