Hau Hum I

The herd of horses is following us (well, OK three horses), We hope they are not expecting breakfast, because we have come to the realization that OUR breakfast is going to be peanuts and water. We are camping about 50k up lake from San Martin, and our plan had been to stay at the campground, eat breakfast and dinner at the local hosteria (inn), and eat the food we brought on the trail during the day. But things got off to a rocky start when we got to dock to catch the boat to HH, only to discover that it was "broken" (read we think underbooked) and wouldn't be sailing for 2 more days. We had already rented a tent, packed up for camping, checked out of Puma, and left non essentials at the hostel, so we were not going to wait 2 days. We hired a remise (taxi) to take us uplake, which turned out to be much cheaper than the boat anyway, since it was a tourist "excursion" cruise. Once we got to HH it took a while to locate and walk to Don Bartolo campground a couple of k away. It was incredibly picturesque, and spread around an old farm about 60 or so places, each with picnic table and fire pit. We had our choice since we were the only campers - the season had just started the day before. The old farmer, sporting a beret, gave us the rundown, pointed out the bathhouse,as best we understood it. We picked a "level" site, and as we pitched our tent, we noticed he was chopping wood, and then bring ing a wheelbarrow full to the back of the bathhouse. He was building a fire under an ancient old boiler that would provide the hot water for our stay. It could have provided hot water for 60.

Then we walked back over to the hosteria for dinner, only to discover that the kitchen wasnt open. Apparently they didnt have any guests either, so they werent about to rev up the food service . But, the lady assured us, there would be coffee and rolls in the morning. So we went back to the campground, ate one of our trail lunches, enjoyed the sunset on the incredible mountains and went to bed.