Decisions, decisions

I got up about 2pm or half past. Went down to reception and asked if I could extend my stay by a night. They told me there was a waiting list and I´d have to ask tomorrow morning. I said OK and walked off, I have no idea if they have put me on this strange list or not. I mean, surely, they either have a room free or they don´t? How is me asking to extend my stay any different from me going to an online booking site and trying to book a room for tomorrow? In the latter case I´d get a straight yes or no immediately. Maybe some guests just disappear overnight and they fill their beds with people from the waiting list.

I am writing this an internet cafe with possibly the worst keyboard I have yet encountered. The key action is stiff yet wobbly and as the legends are rubbing off the keys they have stuck little letter-shaped stickers on the keys, which feels oddly disgusting when I am typing.

Anyway. Went over to some park which apparently had good views over the city. It did, pretty impressive, although oddly enough they have put wire fencing up around the bit with really good views, even though most of the way round the park you can happily climb over the wall.

Walked over to the bus station to see about tickets to Copacabana. The sun was in my eyes the whole way and I couldn´t find an internet cafe or a shop to buya cold drink on the way and I just got really ratty. Bumped into some of the guys I met at Oliver´s Travels last night in the street after leaving the bus station, I asked them if they knew of an internet cafe and they pointed this one out.

At the bus station I found two or three companies running buses to Copacabana. It takes about 3.5-4 hours and the two companies I spoke to in detail do a bus at 8am and another at 2pm for 25 or 35 Bolivianos.

So I need to decide if I am staying here in La Paz another night or not. I can´t book a room at my current hostel online, but there are rooms available at others, so it is an option to stay another day but I have little hope of the "waiting list" turning up anyything helpful to allow me to stay at my current hostel (especially given I want a twin room, not a dormitory bed). But I am wondering if there is much point in staying. I think I am going to dither over it for a while, I can probably buy a ticket for a 2pm bus tomorrow if I get up around midday or slightly earlier.

I suppose the main reason to stay would be to see more stuff here. But at this rate if I stay I am going to be faffing around a bit changing hostels, so maybe I should just get my arse into gear and go to Copacabana. Oh well. I will have to think about it, as I say I am probably going to postpone the decision until tomorrow morning in practice.

I mean, I haven´t done that "World´s Most Dangerous Road" thing, even though it does sort of appeal (my guide book put me off slightly, and from seeing ads in the hostel I half got scared off going to talk to any companies because it looks like you need to sign up as a group, although I´m sure you don´t. Plus of course I have been out late and getting up late and not got rounjd to it). However, there is no way I am doing that tomorrow if I stay here. I can vaguely imagine myself returning to La Paz on some future Latin American trip (I mean, I guess I´m going to want to visit Macchu Picchu another time, since it is kind of impossible on this trip now - it reopens April 1st, when I will be in Argentina, and I also expect it to be excessively busy then as the backlog of trippers all pour in at the same time - and that´s not a million miles from here.)

I think the last paragraph is not very grammatical but what the hell. I´m not stopping here any longer to correct it.

Can´t make my mind up. I think if I could stay at my current hostel with minimal hassle I´d hang around for an extra day, but as that doesn´t seem an option it may be best to just clear off out. Anywy, I´m repeating myself yet again, so I´ll stop.

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.

Quiet second day in La Paz

Didn't get up until about 4pm. I probably could have got up earlier, my first alarm went off about 11am and I didn't feel that bad, but I figured I'd treat myself after not getting much sleep on Monday night on the bus.

I went out and picked up some laundry I'd taken in yesterday and dropped another load off. I haven't really done anything else yet. Vague plan is to spend a hour down here in the ground floor common area where my laptop can manage to use the wifi, then go out and get something to eat.

There is apparently a bus strike on here because they are introducing some drink-driving laws and the drivers are not happy. (This is hearsay, I haven't read any news stories about it.) I am not entirely sure how much this might affect my ability to get local tours, apart from possibly a burst of pent-up demand it should be OK when I need to leave here to move onwards at least. I really ought to have a look into this, although I am not sure how much I will be able to find on the web so it may simply be a question of trying to go over to the offices of tour operators tomorrow during the day.

I feel a bit as though I wasted today, but I guess it's OK really. Even if I hadn't gone out last night I doubt I'd have got up much earlier.

Quietish first day in La Paz

Went to the Museo Nacional de Arte after the other museum, mostly OK but some pretty good abstract art right at the end. After that had three pieces of chicken and chips Bolivian style at "Pollo Copacabana", the chicken was crispy and seemed quite small (and not that great value at 30 Bolivians for the meal) but pretty good and I struggled to finish it.

Loitered around in the hotel lobby with my laptop half working on wifi until I finally got my room about 2pm. It's fine, had a shower and went out for a bit of a wander. Bought something at a roadside stall, the woman who owned it looked at me, then carried on for 2-3 minutes with a conversation with a friend of hers who was also sat down at the stall. When he finally left she asked me what I wanted. FFS.

Wi-fi doesn't seem to work in my room, it may miraculously start later. Am writing this in the ground floor "common area" while I try to get a few photos uploaded. Later on will have to brave the hostel bar alone for a drink, I can't see anywhere else nearby and if I am to retain my self respect I can't bottle it (no pun intended) anyway. Normally going into a bar on my own bothers me not at all, but somehow with it being the hostel bar it seems a bit worse. I don't want a late night as although I feel basically OK I am sure the bus trip last night has taken it out of me.

Vague plan for tomorrow is to book up for tours as necessary to the two nearby attractions, one is another valley of the moon and the other is, err, something. I will probably do those Thursday and Friday, that leaves me tomorrow and Saturday to see stuff in La Paz itself, and maybe Sunday depending on what my onward travel plans are. I don't plan to get up incredibly early but I hope to not be getting up at 2pm or anything.

At the hostel in La Paz

Got a cab OKish from the bus terminal to the hostel once it got light. Reception didn´t open til 7am, I hung around listening to my MP3 player and watching a surprising number of people filter through and mill around in reception (it seems an odd time of morning for most people to be around, unless they all got in during the night like me, but they weren´t here when I got here, so who knows) and spoke to them about twenty minutes ago. My reservation is OK but the room isn´t free til 1pm. They said there was a free breakfast upstairs in the bar but I don´t really feel like it.

Writing this in the hostel computer room, there is wi-fi here but I don´t know the code and don´t like to ask right now as the guy at reception seems slightly preoccupied (much bitching about people leaving before 7am and not having checked out the night before). Besides, I am having to leave both my bags in the reception area until I get my room and I fully expect the bag with the laptop in to be stolen anyway without advertising its presence excessively. There are lockers but they would just about hold a small paperback book, even if I could find one which was free. I could take the bag with the laptop out with me, but I figure it´s probably safer here than being carried around the city, although maybe not. It´s certainly more convenient to leave it here, so I will allow myself to be convinced by that logic.

I suppose in principle I could sit here in the computer room for the next 5 hours (it´s 8am now) so I can keep an eye on things, but I don´t think I can face that and I also don´t want people´s first impression of me to be that I just spend all my time sat in here. Guess I will go out for a bit of a wander (it´s damp here, of course, but not actually raining as far as I can see), maybe see if I can find a museum around 10am or something and perhaps pop back here once or twice to check up on the bag and kill a bit of time if nothing turns up during my wander.

Didn´t sleep much on the bus, I probably got 2-3 hours fitful sleep. I don´t feel too bad now but I expect tiredness will start to kick in this afternoon. Will try not to go to bed too early otherwise I´ll just screw my sleep schedule up even more, but just have to see how it goes.