Oct 10-24, 2016: Bolivia

Oct. 11,  2016.  Hostal San Francisco, Cha'llapampa, Bolivia.

• The day is overcast, and the forecast is for intermittent rain, so I've decided to take the later 1:30 PM ferry. And I did, and it was overcast, and the water was choppy, and the boat ride took an extra hour, and the inside of the boat was occasionally inundated with water from a leaky roof and leaky front windows.  Luckily I had decided to take a seat far astern, so I remained dry and had not a hint of seasickness.

• Off the boat and on to the Hostal San Francisco, a Lonely Planet recommendation as "the neatest choice of very basic options."  Basic indeed: no water from shower, sink, or toilet.  But a second story room right on the water, with windows on three sides, the bed facing a line of snowy peaks beyond the lake.  Pretty nice, in fact.  In bed by 6, after a dinner of grilled lake trout in a restaurant watching Bolivia tie Ecuador in a football match.  The other fans in the restaurant were remarkably quiet during the entire match - not like when I watched a match in similar circumstances in Ecuador.  Good trout, though.

• I forgot to mention that before the boat ride I hiked to the top of Cerro Calvaria, not on the preferred trail, but on a truly horrible one that had me climbing hand over hand towards the end, through piles of broken bottles and cans hurled from the top by folks who had climbed the preferred path.  Horrible indeed.