Valle de la Luna

Got up about 2pm, which wasn't brilliant but could have been worse. Got a cab over to Valle de la Luna, which was genuinely stunning. Far more exotically moon-like than the Valle de la Luna near San Pedro de Atacama. I took some pictures which as always will completely fail to do justice to the place, and which will be uploaded if I ever get decent internet access again.

For what it's worth, I have been uploading some pictures of San Pedro de Atacama (including the geysers and Valle de la Luna). They are not all done because the inability to leave my laptop on and connected overnight means I get to upload about three at a time. I took a few to an internet cafe on a USB stick to try uploading from there, while I had some photos burned onto a DVD, but that was about as slow as being here in the hostel.

I had a bit of trouble getting a cab over to Valle de la Luna. I had a bad feeling about the trip somehow (my guide book, being aimed at super budget travellers, gave some ultra-complex instructions on how to get there by bus) and I also didn't want some ultra-dodgy taxi, I wanted one which at least pretended to be a radio taxi. So I kept putting my arm out and then pulling it back in when a dodgy-looking cab went past. And no one stopped for me anyway. In the end I accosted one while it was stopped at traffic lights, which worked quite nicely.

It seemed to take forever to get there. It's about 10km according to the guide (and about 8km as the crow flies according to my GPS, which is consistent) and although I didn't time it I imagine we were driving for 15-30 minutes. I hadn't seen much of the city before, some of it is certainly spectacular with the mountains and the different altitudes. (I had observed just from round here at night that the houses on the hillside with their white lights and the yellow streetlights give an impressive "galaxy" kind of effect, which it is impossible for me to photograph).

The guy only charged me 30 Bolivianos (i.e. three quid) for this epic trip, I gave him 40. I had been thinking on the way out "how the fuck am I going to get back?" but I managed to ignore the problem until later. It was another 15 Bolivianos to get in, then there were two routes you could take around the park, one taking 45 minutes and the other 15 minutes. I did both, it was pretty deserted and as I said very exotic and dramatic scenery.

I had a bit of a job getting a cab back as I expected. There was one parked at the side of the road, but it was surrounded by old women standing there, so I assumed it was occupied or the driver was busy having a chat, or something.

I stood at the side of the road and after a few minutes a cab pulled up to drop some more old women off. I spoke to the driver and at first he seemed to want to take me to some nearby place, so I said I'd have to find another cab. He then called me over a couple of minutes later and offered to take me into the centre for 40 Bolivianos. I accepted, I just didn't give this guy a tip. I have no idea if he was playing games or if he really didn't want to take me all the way into the centre to start with. (I don't actually know if I was still technically in La Paz while I was at Valle de la Luna. So I kept saying "I need to go to La Paz", which may have been as stupid as standing in Wimbledon saying "I need to go to London", but who knows.)

I feel I'm running out of time a bit here. Apart from seeing a bit more of the city, I also want to see if I can arrange a tour to some place nearby I saw in my guide book. I guess I will have to try to go to a tour office tomorrow (at least the strike should be over then, I guess) and take a look round the city tomorrow, then do the tour on Saturday, my last definite full day here. Not absolutely ideal, to be honest the idea of having to be up at 6am or something stupid (I have no idea what time it really would be) to go on a tour doesn't appear, but there are some places you just have to go, even if you can't remember their names right now.