June 11, 2007
Day 621
The lake inside of Gruta de San Pedro.
I would like to do a four-day trek from Sorata, and I started looking for people to go with as soon as I got here. This has been difficult because the few tourists who are here just want to relax for a few days. For some reason, Sorata still hasn't made it onto the tourist radar screen. I did leave a note on the guide association's bulletin board, so maybe I'll still be able to find some people to go with.
In the meantime, I decided to do a day-walk to Gruta San Pedro, a cave near the town of San Pedro, about a three-hour walk from Sorata. The walk went past some impressive scenery similar to what could be found in Nevada (except for the big mountain in the background).
The cave itself had a narrow entrance, but soon opened into a huge room, which was lit with fluorescent bulbs. A guide led three Chileans and myself to the back of the cave, where there was a small lake. People used to go diving there to look for gold until a few years ago when someone drowned. There were a couple of paddle boats in the water available for an extra fee, but I declined and walked around the water.
I decided to walk back to Sorata on the treacherous narrow path that led along a cliff rather than walk down the same boring jeep track. Some kids told me they were going to Sorata too and led me all the way down to the river. Then they started walking the wrong way. I told them Sorata was the other way and they figured out that they actually lived in a different Sorata than the one I was going to. I had to go all the way up to the top of the hill and ended up walking almost twice as far as I would have on the jeep track. Who had the bright idea of naming two towns so close together the same thing?
The photo album for this entry is here.
