5pm. Just had an acceptable if unspectacular half pizza. (I did indeed walk in somewhere looking as though it wasn't open and they served me.) My plate was cleared away maybe 10 mins ago but no one has asked me if I want anything else and as I was served by a girl of about 12 who is sat at an adjacent table colouring stuff in with a younger boy I am reluctant to ask for the bill. I wonder how much longer this will go on for.
5:20pm. Now sat in here completely on my own. Various people are in the back garden doing something, I have no idea what. Ten more minutes and I will have to go and talk to them on the offchance. WTF, do they think I want to sit here all night? I was tempted to order a beer but didn't get it out before the girl cleared off with my plate and obviously I haven't spoken to anyone since.
Oh, partly based on observation at the hostel and partly based on overhearing a conversation as I walked into Yumani, there is no mains water here, it's all apparently brought in by donkey. The hostel bathroom has a big water butt with a small bucket next to it for use (I assume) in flushing the toilet. The tap on the sink does work though and there is a shower, so I guess there is a water tank somewhere for these facilities.
5:25pm. Woman just came in, paid, sorted!
5.45pm. I should say I was reading a book while I waited. Come over to another deserted restaurant for a quick beer on their terrace, nice view over the lake with the sunlight reflecting in it. Served by another 10 year old girl, I shall have to get used to it here I guess. Will go back to the hostel after this, recharge my phone, may have one or two more there but it will be a quiet night. At least with luck I will sleep well after my exertions today
I wish I could take better pictures of the views but they are too big to fit in the frame. Took a few halfhearted series of photos which can join the massive pile of potential panoramas if I ever get bored back in the UK.
7:15pm. Phone very low and socket in bedroom doesn't work, but they let me leave it charging in the (deserted) bar. Hope I have enough power to last until tomorrow night now.
Had a beer in the deserted hostel garden staring at the lake and playing hangman on my electronic dictionary while it charged. They were out of change at the bar so it was lucky I had enough for the beer, I popped out afterwards to buy a bottle of water and get changed. Tiny shop run by this old couple, I like to think our exchange was extremely polite and genteel. They have that odd timeless slowness I keep thinking I experience all the time here with old people.
Having a last beer in the hostel garden as it gets dark, still practically deserted although I can hear a couple talking.
Had a quick look at the guide book just now, I think I may try to visit Nazca to see the lines. I am due in Santiago two weeks tomorrow, earthquakes permitting, for my trip to Easter Island, which I will query in about a week.
Plan is to go back to Copacabana tomorrow, travel to Puno on Thursday, Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca from there on Friday then on somewhere vaguely in the direction of the Chilean border on Saturday. I think that gives me time to go to Nazca (via Arequipa if necessary) and get back. I will look into it more closely once I am in Puno as I expect the bus situation will be more obvious from there.
I want to stay within range of a major airport if possible in case I am forced to fly down to Santiago or some alternate airport to catch my Easter Island flight. But except for the earthquake stuff there would definitely be time, I think if push came to shove a couple of solid days on buses would get me from Arequipa/Nazca to Santiago.
Not been paying any attention to the earthquake stuff as waiting for things to clear up as much as possible, but I can't bury my head in the sand much longer. Once again, when I get to Puno is probably the time to start investigating.
(Yes, yes, obviously it's a tragedy etc. But I don't feel I can be blamed for taking a personal view.)
(Oh, Australian guy I met at Oliver's Travels my last night in La Paz said that as the initial earthquake was so deep it would 'stir things up' (my phrase) and hence subsequent earthquakes could be expected all over Chile. This is not good, either from a humanitarian or personal perspective. This may be well known or bollocks, I note it for what it's worth as one who has not read a newspaper or news web site in weeks/months.)
I have moderate sunburn on the back of my neck. I could swear I'd been careful to put suntan lotion on there the last few days but clearly something went wrong. Mildly annoying but it could be worse I suppose.
7:50pm. Great view of the stars, despite a certain amount of light from the hostel bar. I recognise nothing except Orion and (via it) Aldebaran and Sirius, the latter of which is practically overhead. I have a vague idea I can see the Milky Way for the first time in my life, but I may be imagining it. The display is impressive but in some odd way slightly creepy rather than purely moderately awe-inspiring.
Incidentally, I wouldn't be surprised to find there are no motorised or even wheeled vehicles on the island. Certainly here in Yumani the streets are stepped (and very rough anyway), and I am not sure I saw any motor vehicles where we landed either.
8:15pm. Staring at the stars with the silence broken only by intermittent barking, I can't help but wax a bit poetic (only slightly, but apologies!). If memory serves, the light I am now seeing from Sirius left there in 2002, before I'd worried about IR35, worked past 7pm or at the weekend or met half the people I would now consider as friends.
I saw my first, and my second, shooting star, and I can't help thinking this would be a fantastic place to be for a meteor shower.
I am also inevitably reminded of that quotation at the start of Isaac Asimov's 'Nightfall'. I have probably never seen the stars properly in such a relaxed way before.
8:25pm. Just bought another (third & last) beer. The light in the bar was dazzling. Feel I may look a bit of a freak sat out here but screw it. Also, the 20 second walk out into the darkness to my table was a bit scary, I suddenly feel slightly isolated out here, which is of course totally irrational. Ah well. Maybe it's the beer. :-)
9:10pm. Well that was pretty cool. But I want more. It would be great to be somewhere with no light and an uninterrupted horizon. There was a shop in San Pedro de Atacama offering telescope viewings in the desert, while I just didn't have time I half wish I had done that. Still, it is vaguely possible I will call in there again on my way back down to Santiago, if not there are probably other good opportunities on the rest of the trip and failing that there's always next time.
Anyway, I need to check my e-mail at great expense on my phone in case the guy I met on my last night at Oliver's Travels wants to meet tomorrow night in Copacabana and after that I hope to get a good night's sleep. Checkout is at 10am here which is a bit of a joke but it should be an early night and it gives me time to see the surroundings tomorrow, although first priority has to be to find out where the boat leaves from and buy a ticket, though with regard to the latter I doubt there's a rush, it being low season and all. There's a three bed dormitory opposite my room totally unoccupied, I am almost irrationally tempted to sleep there instead of my own room just for the hell of it, but apart from the risk of stirring up shit there's no reason to take a single in a dormitory when I have a double bed in my own room.
PS Up to 13.1km walking with the little bits since I got to the hostel.
9:20pm. Nah, nothing from the American guy. Will check tomorrow but no big deal.
Tony - saw your comment on "Racing the clock" (saw the notification e-mail as I was closing down the browser in the net cafe before racing off to the hill and didn't have time to open the e-mail) will reply directly to make sure you see it once I am back in civilisation but yeah, all the photos with me in are a bit crap. I need to learn to look happy. :-) I also have a distinctly saggy appearance in most photos, but I guess at least that's how I normally look. :-) Oh, and avoiding the penguin feet appearance would be good too. Note to self - "stand up straight, feet together, smile" :-)
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