214 CultureShock! Bolivia
The road makes a winding ascent of the Cordillera Pass.
When you’ve reached the top, you can see the road ahead
as an erratic ribbon winding into an immense cavity. (For
more information on the Andean Cordillera visit http://www.
ecuaworld.com/discover/sierra.htm.)
The precariously perched villages below seem on the verge
of plummeting into the deep green gorges. Halfway down,
you spot Sorata, and you think you are there, but you are
not, unless you descend by parachute. Even after you arrive,
you are still not all there, for you cannot catch a glimpse of
the bashful Illampu above.To the Bat Cave
My wife Martha, our then 11-year-old son Marcus and I, set
a goal for this, our fi rst but not last, trip to Sorata: to hike
to the bat cave, 12 km (7 miles) north-down, just past the
town of San Pedro.
By the high road, it’s a two and a half hour hike. By the low
road, along the San Gabriel River, add another hour. Even if
there were no bat cave, this trek would still be spectacular. But
with an 11-year-old, an enticing destiny is motivational.
I promise him that the path is downhill and that we can hitch
a ride with a truck on the way back. Soon the fi rst promise is