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Monday 25 November was a day of rest too and Andrea and I researched where we could do some trekking...and Sorata was the winning destination. Tuesday morning we jumped on a Micro for 17B and a 3-4 hour drive we arrived in the strange village of Sorata. Ok the village was a little odd, all the roads were being repaired so there we no cars around...but then you look up and see that you are surrounded by huge mountains and you can see mountain Illampu and a few others with snow-tops...it really is a lovely place to be. We checked into Dutch owned 'Hostel Los Piedras' which was a very cute hostel just a 10 minute walk from the Plaza. There was a lovely Bolivian girl working there, who made a great breakfast, great coffee..and the view from the balcony was surreal. We managed to find a guide and make a deal to go trekking for 2 days (they try to sell it 3 days, but 2 was perfect for us) to Laguna Chillata and Laguna Glaciar. We were up ready for our trek, waited for our guide to load the donkey with our luggage and headed off up into the mountains. The weather was perfect, we were so lucky. Donkey was not too happy and kept stopping to eat more grass, so the guide told us to carry on and just walk straight...after a nice relaxing picnic by the river and a bit of sunbathing we arrived at our camp spot by Laguna Chillata. It took about 4 hours to hike so we had the rest of the afternoon to chill, have some tea, climb the peak that was too tempting not to climb, watched an awesome sunset and then headed to bed. Camping brought back memories of travel in Oz. The sleep was pretty sleepless as it was too cold and I could not get comfortable. I had 5 layers on but in hindsight i really should have just rented a thicker sleeping bag rather than trying to sleep in my 10degrees sleeping bag...stupid girl!! We were up at 6am and left for our hike by 7am after filling up on some banana and porridge. There was not a cloud in the sky...and you could see that from Andrea's tomato face when we eventually arrived at the top. So yes, I like to challenge myself, but goodness Andrea and the guide were storming up the mountain...I tried to keep up...and kinda managed, but I was still a little behind. They are machines! But it was a good challenge and we did make it to the top after clambering up rocks and across a few rivers. The trek reminded me very much of New Zealand, but with much bigger mountains. It was fantastic - walking with a big grin, despite being exhausted. When we arrived at the top, we could see everything. The view was incredible - afraid the photos don't do it justice. And you feel like you are on top of the world, looking down at mountains and then looking up at the Glaciar and two beautiful snow-top mountains. Really stunning. We enjoyed a picnic and a rest before heading back down...which was very tough on the knees and when my body is exhausted it makes it 10 times harder to balance and not fall over. I may have slipped a few times, I couldn't keep up with the lads, not a chance. So I took it my pace, which to me was still pretty damn fast. We made it back to our tents in good time as it started pouring down- so after an hour snooze in the tents waiting for the rain to pass we had another 2 hour hike down to the guides house. I was proud to have made it back...we did get stuck in 2 hours of rain on the way back but luckily we had done the hardest bit without rain so it wasn't too bad. Back at the hostel I crashed and burned for an hour before grabbed some chicken and chips on the streets and then headed to bed. We took our time in the morning, had a good breakfast before catching the 14 seater micro back to La Paz for B20. The afternoon was spent shopping, washing, strolling around the town and chilling in Sol & Luna with Mike who we bumped into. It was our final evening together so we had a few pisco sours whilst we were telling each other about our adventures. Mike went to Sajama...and now I want to go. He said it was amazing..so maybe after my jungle Pampas tour I will visit.
It was sad to say goodbye to Andrea and Mike...but I am so lucky to have the friends I have - to speak to you even if you are far away, makes me so happy and so content! Love every one of you! I have managed to chat on facebook to several friends today which has been lovely.
Today is 30 November and I have been chilling in Sol & Luna to catch up with friends, blogs and photos! I think I am almost there. Was fab chatting to Mr & Mrs Baldwin! Lovely to catch up at long last...
Let's see what Monday adventures bring...chao fornow and I hope to catch up with some of you tomorrow too!
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- comments
Tony pisco sours are great! That was the drink we tried to bring back from a Peru, but the jobs worthy twits at Amsterdam airport confiscated it!