Election Day

Well, we decided to stay in Coroico for another few days, wait out the election, and head back to La Paz and then Chile next week. The weather here is pretty perfect, though it usually rains in the morning, it is sunny and warm by noon and cool and comforable in the evenings. Matthias said that if we headed any further down toward the Amazon basin it would be uncomforably hot, so I'm happy to stay here.

There is no bus service today because of the election, but I can't notice any difference otherwise. I haven't found out much from local people about the race, but there is some info on bbc world at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4531446.stm.

Yesterday, we took a hike down toward the river. I say toward the river because I was too chicken to go all the way down (about 500 meters down.) Yes, after two hours of hiking downhill and going probably more than two-thirds of the way, I begged Matthias to let me turn around and go back for fear that I wouldn't be able to make it back up. To his credit, Matthias was sympathetic, if not completely understanding, and we climbed slowly back up the hill, after which I jumped in the hotel pool. Oh yes, we switched hotels and took a more "budget" location for the past few days. This one's only about $9 including breakfast, has an awesome view, and is more secluded and quieter. As of last night, we were the only tourists in the hotel. The night before, we shared the hotel with a young French couple.

Speaking of young, though there are not many foreign tourists at all here, practically all are below the age of 22. I guess that's when most people travel to places like this. I'm not sure whether to feel lucky that I'm doing it at this age or to wish I had done it back then. Either way, I now realize that when the Lonely Planet book says "an easy 1 hour hike" they are talking to an energetic 20-year-old, not an out-of-shape 38-year-old. And then, as Matthias would say, sitting in front of the computer at an Internet cafe isn't helping me to get in shape. Yeah, yeah, guess I better go hike back to the hotel.

Next entry should be from Chile, where, hopefully, I'll be able to post some pictures.