Una Ducha Caliente!!!

5/18/11
Accidentally slept in this morning, but it ended up being okay because this is a lazy tourist town with not much to do, though its absolutely beautiful here. Had a huge expensive breakfast (well, double the price of what it would be in La Paz, everything here is) of coffee, papaya juice, a fried egg with bread, and a small bowl of muesli with yogurt, papaya, and banana. To my surprise, I was joined at breakfast by a very friendly, well-groomed Siamese cat. I rarely see cats in South America, and definitely never see cats with well defined breeds. He talked to me for a bit and wanted some attention before he went back inside.
I then headed to the trailhead for Horca del Inca, ruins of an Incan astronomical lookout. There were signs through the town pointing to the trailhead, and then steps carved into the stone. The hike was really tiring because of the altitude so I had to take lots of breaks, but the view just got better and better as I got higher, with the red roofed houses below, the rolling hills, the distant Peruvian mountains, and the huge sparkling lake all under the bright blue sky. At one point, the trail disappeared, but I kept on walking in whatever direction the rocks would allow, scrambling and climbing up huge boulders, wedging myself sideways and using rocks as holds. I kept looking around for a continuation of a trail and at one point found a dirt path with footprints, but that disappeared so I scrambled up rocks some more until I couldn’t anymore because they were too big for me to get over. I had no idea where the actual ruins were, which according to my guidebook, had a small admission fee, so this wasn’t it, but I used it as my lookout and sat up there on a rock for a while, not at the top of the mountain/hill, but way up there. Descending the rocks was harder than the climb up, because on the way down I had to jump and run rather than just pull myself up. The actual hiking bit, though, was nice and easy, both going downhill and decreasing in altitude. I kept looking along the way for any turnoff I might have missed, but I couldn’t find anything at all except a few trash cans, maybe they abandoned the Incan ruins? I wandered off trail a few times to see some really cool rugged rock formations and saw one that may have been some sort of gate, though most were natural and really nice with the lake backdrop. The entire time I was hiking, I didn’t see another tourist – there isn’t much else to do in town, I have no clue what they are doing, I don’t even see too many on the streets. There are a lot of people who come here, both to see the lake and en route to Peru. Right now, the border to Peru at Puno is closed for some reason so a lot of people are held up here, so I’m really surprised this tiny town isn’t swarming with tourists.
Back in town, I walked down to the lake and rented a kayak for half an hour. I was definitely out of practice and also spoiled but the nicer kayaks that I had used with Outback, especially as a guide, but it was doable and fun to paddle around as well as just float on the water. Passed some really odd looking boats, the same size as the passenger motor boats, but made out of reeds and with a head and tail in the shape of an animal, maybe a condor, with a really scary looking face. Bought my ticket to Isle del Sol for tomorrow and then went to get a small lunch. Ended up with bruscetta, everything else was so expensive and I wasn’t very hungry yet. I shared a bit of the bread with a dog who came to sit with me.
I wanted to go to the museum in town, but it didn’t open until 3, so I wandered around and sat by the lake. The town is so tiny that it’s entirely walkable, so I saw some cute houses, a ton of kids in their uniforms just finishing school, and stopped to watch a bit of the women’s soccer practice in the gym. There was quite an audience for even that, and a lot of women and children were sitting and playing in the central plaza, quite the laid back life. This is a very tourist based town and aside from the very residential areas a bit higher up, the streets are lined with bus companies, travel agencies, hostels, and restaurants. There are also lots of little stores with packaged drinks and snacks, each run by one or two teens or women who sit there most of the day sewing or chatting, very few customers coming through. At three, I walked over the museum, waited a bit, knocked on the door – nothing. Eventually gave up and walked back to my hostel, who knows if they are not open today or are just on Bolivia time. I had asked my hostel about the hot water this morning and they said they would fix it. I got back just as one of the guys was about to go into my room, so I went with him, he tried the water, and said that it worked. There is only one knob and apparently to get hot water you only turn it a tiny bit, anything beyond that will get you that. So I had a lovely hot shower and am just lazing around for a bit before I do another hike to see the sunset.