We had intended on leaving the hostel around 10:00 to go catch a bus to Sorata, but we were enjoying the fast internet connection too much and didn’t get out of there until around 11:30. The American family had left very early this morning and had told us we could eat the food they had left in the fridge, so we had a nice breakfast of yogurt and cereal. When we were ready to leave the owner of the hostel came down to the street with us to help us catch a taxi, told the taxi driver exactly where we wanted to go, and negotiated the price for us. The owner was very nice and helpful; he had been out of town on business the day we arrived and left his daughter in charge (who was also very nice), but he had returned yesterday. It was lunchtime and there was a lot of traffic so it took us a while to get to the cemetery district, which is where the buses to Sorata leave from. We arrived around noon and we bought tickets that were leaving at 12:30. We bought the last two seats that were together, right in the back row of the bus. The bus was full, but that didn’t stop the driver from picking up more people along the way and the aisle was full of people standing as well. There was a nice guy sitting beside us named Roberto who chatted to us for much of the way, asking where we were from, where we were going, how many kids we have, if we liked the new Bolivian president, Evo Morales, telling us things about the scenery we were passing. Another guy got on and sat beside Roberto and also chatted to us as well. This man seemed particularly focused on telling us to have children, but after I explained that it was too difficult to be pregnant while travelling and we would have a child after we finished travelling, he left us alone on that subject! He was worse than you, Mom! We passed Lake Titicaca, and Roberto explained that we had to get off at the town by the lake (Huarina) on our way back from Sorata, to catch a bus to Copacobana.

After winding our way up and down the mountains, and dropping passengers off in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere, we arrived in Sorata around 5:00. The town is very small, with just one main square that has most of the businesses surrounding it, and a few side streets that are mostly residential. We had decided before we arrived that we wanted a place with a private bathroom. The first place we looked at didn’t have private bathrooms (Panchita Hostel), so we went to Resdiential Sorata, which is the biggest place in town. They had rooms with private bathrooms, so we decided to stay there. The hostel is in an old, colonial house that seemed to go on forever. It had some nice gardens, but nowhere to really sit in them, but lots of sitting areas inside the house. After dropping our bags off, we went in search of food. We ate at Pete’s Place, which has very good food, but is more expensive than the other restaurants in town (and is owned by a westerner). Wandering around the town didn’t take long, so we headed back to the hotel for some relaxation.