This is a double decker semi-cama type job, which is a lot nicer than I was expecting.
Depending on how timings work out I may try to get the train back, both for the experience and the speed (though it's about ten times the price of the bus, if memory serves - I believe this bus costs about USD2.50).
The problem with not having been sold a ticket is that I am on the bus immediately instead of hanging around in the terminal until departure time, where I was hoping to have a chance to buy a bottle of drink and maybe a chocolate bar. (I would have done that last night, but of course there are no convenient 'corner shops'.) Oh well, at least it's only a two hour journey and I can try to buy something at the Colon bus terminal before attempting to get a taxi to the locks.
11:15. Still sat on the bus at the terminal. So I would have had plenty of time to buy some drink and food. Sigh. I am not desperate but it is annoying to be without even a bottle of water.
Oh, we seem to be pulling away now at least. I just hope Colon bus terminal is not too foul so I can buy something there without feeling I need to get out ASAP...
Fuck. Some bastard is preaching up at the front (of the top deck). FFS. How dare you inflict this shit on me while I'm stuck here?
I wish they'd come round and collect the money. I am practically sure I can buy my ticket on the bus - I was a bit over-confirmatory about it when speaking to the conductor - but it would be nice to get it resolved.
Preacher chap is selling some sort of necklaces at a dollar each.
I suppose in a way this is quite cool. I am crossing the isthmus by land in a couple of hours (Panama City being on the Pacific coast, Colon on the Atlantic), which took days back in the old days.
12:30. We seem to be spending huge amounts of time in traffic queues. I am not sure exactly what is going on. The guy came round collecting the fares maybe 15-30 mins ago, everyone seemed to be paying on the bus. It was indeed USD2.50.
12:50. Now we seem to keep stopping for a few seconds every couple of minutes for no apparent reason. Sometimes we stop longer to let people off. This is getting on my nerves somehow. I just want to get to the damn bus terminal in Colon.
13:05. Joy. "Lots" of people are getting off but by no means everyone. I guess I will stay on until I get chucked off. I have to assume our ultimate destination is the bus terminal and I am not anxious to be caught on some random street in Colon. (I assume we are here as there is a business called 'Notaria Colon' on the street opposite.)
For all I know the place has improved out of all recognition since my 2007ish guide book described it as very unsafe. I haven't seen a robbery yet. ;-)
13:55. Well, I got chucked off a minute or two later not at the bus terminal. Maybe the earlier stop was it but it was from from clear.
I got a cab on the street almost immediately, the driver was rather bantery (I think he initially proposed charging me 90 as I was a tourist, then - not feeling that comfortable or in the mood for joking -when I said I didn't have that money and backed away he offered to take me at the 'Panamanian' rate of 5. I couldn't understand everything he said during the trip but I managed just about OK. In the end I had no change so gave him 20 and I think I only got 10 change, but that's about what I expected to pay. He gave me his number for when I want to come back but I think I will just get the reception to call me one.)
I just caught the end of a ship going out of the canal. No other tourists in the observation post (the one at Miraflores was heaving when I passed through on the boat). A guide woman came out and checked my ticket and gave me a bit of a spiel but she has left me to my own devices now. She says I can get a bus back to the train station but given my concerns about Colon (and of course it will not stop at the train station and the train station will not be clearly visible to me from the bus) I think I will just take the hit of paying for the taxi.
This is a surprisingly expensive jaunt. I really don't think the cab driver ripped me off that badly, so if you call it the same back to the bus terminal you're looking at about USD50 allowing 25ish for the train back. The partial transit was only about USD150. Of course, the train is a luxury, I could perfectly well get the bus back for another USD2.50.
I feel a bit of a lemon stood here not really watching anything. The guide said the next scheduled transit was at 4 but there might be something coming through unscheduled. I guess at least I am here and can tick it off. If I ever come back to Panama I wouldn't go out of my way to come here again, except possibly on a full transit of the canal. I'm glad I've made it here but it is to a certan extent pointless.
There are supposed to be the biggest locks but to be honest the look pretty much identical to the ones at Miraflores to me. I almost don't see how one set can be bigger than another, surely they would all have been built to the same dimensions? Maybe these are deeper or something, but I am just guessing.
14:15. Well that was slightly cool. Needing to retrieve some cash from my hidden belt, I popped down some stairs where the guide had indicated toilets. They appeared not to exist but there were a couple of vending machines and a drinking fountain with a sign in English and Spanish saying "You are taking a sip of the best water in the world. Water from Lake Gatun" (something like that). So of course I had a few goes. Tasted OK and nice and cool. I can't quite believe they would have untreated water from the lake on tap, but then again if it's clean enough why not?
I had bought a can of pepsi light from the vending machine near the entrance when I came in, and I got a small packet of tortilla chip things and a can of some malt drink down by the drinking fountain. I am not starving and I guess that will be OK. Plan for tonight is to go have a curry opposite the hotel so it's perhaps good if I have an appetite on.
(I didn't choose the malt drink thing. As soon as I finished putting the money in, it gave me a can without waiting for me to push a button. Oh well. It tasted OK at least.)
Hmm, looking around there is a covered area with seats at ground level (I am in some raised bit). There are a few guys sat in there. I suspect they are workers taking a break though.
14:20. Guide just reappeared and tells me there's nothing coming through. I guess I might as well loiter here another hour or so anyway, I am not going to explore Colon City and although I could maybe get a bus and be home an hour earlier than if I get the train, that seems stupid.
15:40. A ship has been approaching slowly from the Atlantic/Carribbean side for maybe half an hour. I probably need to leave in 10-20 mins so no doubt I will completely miss any action. It has not even entered the first lock yet.
16:30. Well that was pretty cool. The tour guide's colleague (Javier) very kindly gave me a lift to the station (he was actually driving back to Panama City, where he lives) and they let me stay a few minutes past closing to see that ship come into the lock underneath the viewing area.
On the platform now, there is a big tour party milling around but we don't seem to be allowed on the (incredibly long for the apparent number of passengers) train yet. They alll have tickets but I am assuming I can buy one on the train. There is no ticket office as far as I can see.
They are letting us on now. We are all in this one glass-domed carriage, there are probably about 10 other normal carriages attached and I doubt there is a big swarm of normal commuters about to turn up. (The company's web site seems to have been down for the last few days, but I believe they tout it as a service also for business travellers. I find that a bit implausible, but it may account for the inconvenient times.)
Some women just got on and I think they asked the staff behind the bar in the carriage about buying tickets, though I didn't quite catch it, and I think it is OK to buy one on the train. This is hardly South West Trains.
17:30. Paid OK. USD22. Scenery is not bad but not absolutely amazing. To be frank the level of noisy chat in the background is getting on my nerves a bit. I think I'm also a bit hacked off about having to get a taxi back to the hotel and pack before I can go out to eat.
18:20. Yeah. This is OK but not great and I so want to just get all the shit over and have something to eat. Surely we must nearly be there?
21:25. Just come down to El Pavo Real.
They gave us all a little box of food as we got OFF the train. Sigh.
I asked three cab drivers to take me into town, the cheapest was the first who I got down to 7 (my guide book said 3, hahahha). The last wanted 10. I turned him down and wandered disconsolately wondering how to get home. Then the last guy came up to me and offered me 7, so I took it.
I went to Sabor de la India before going home and gorged myself. Then I charged my phone while I packed and had a shower. Came out about 9pm. Stopped at reception to book an alarm call and a cab for tomorrow. This turned into something of a debate but they are calling me at 6:40am and I have to be in reception at 7am to be picked up and it will apparently be USD30. (I queried this but they said that was typical, what can I do? They're probably right anyway.)
I am not chuffed at having to be up so early but it can't be helped. I may be more likely to sleep on the flight if I am a bit short on sleep tonight.
I ordered a beer here and the guy served me two. Oh well, it saves getting so much change and as they're very small it's not a bad idea at least for the first couple which will go down faster. Need to be clearer later though.
21:55. Feeling quite bloated, I ate too much earlier really. Not all that at ease. I am not looking forward to tomorrow much. Today has also been oddly stressful. I am glad I did the Colon trip, and the staff (especially Javier) couldn't have been more helpful, but it was perhaps a bit of a box-ticking exercise.
It's very quiet here. No problem there though. In some sense it is tempting to go back but I am not going to go to sleep that early whatever. "Hotel California" playing now.
My quick flicks through my Mexico guide book make it look a bit time-consumingly difficult to get down from Mexico City to Cancun by bus, where I hope to meet Zheyla. Cuernvaca seems inconveniently off any suitable bus routes, and in general it looks a bit tricky. Just have to see how it goes I guess, as long as I am seeing stuff I suppose it doesn't matter too much how I spend my time. Oaxaca City is vaguely on the way and I suppose I can always take some flights if I want (perhaps I will go down there by bus then fly out to avoid retracing my steps). I guess I want to go down that way anyway as Chichen Itza is round there and I would like to go there anyway. I guess I can investigate further once I'm settled in Mexico City.
23:00. Just ordered another two, I think I will go after these. On the one hand it seems a bit late but as I say I am not going to sleep that early anyway. I nearly always get up when I have to and I have the alarm call as a backup. Slightly busier here now but far from rammed, maybe 10 customers. "Mariposa tracionera" playing.
Feeling a bit less bloated now.
23:20. "Corazon espinado" playing now for the second time tonight.
23:55. Was just about to go, albeit feeling a bit of a shame, and just met some guy I saw here on Thursday. He is with some mates and I am not talking to him any more but I am going to have one more then go.
He said he sent me an email and it bounced, he used my googlemail address but sent to @gmail.com which may account for it. At least my email forwarding people aren't on the hook for that one. Bit of a shame as I gather he might have invited me out but no big deal, I seem to have kept myself occupied anyway.
00:10. Nearly finished. Will go home. Tempted to walk but it's 15 mins and every second counts, plus I should probably enjoy being able to take cabs on the street while I can... :-)
00:30. Just got back. Hardly worth taking the cab, tho was only USD1.50 and I paid exactly as I had to use a 5. I had to walk down to Espana to get one, then as I feel hardly anyone knows Calle 51 I asked for Federico Boyd and ended up (as when I got dropped off from the train, tho at least this time I had my GPS) at some bit I didn't recognise 250m straight line from the hotel. I could swear 51 & FB have a corner but both earlier without GPS and tonight trying to follow it I ended up walking round by the bottom end of Uruguay. Oh well. No major harm done, though from a pure time perspective I think it would have been as quick to just walk, and I could have found my way back.
Dripping with sweat so will have yet another shower, deal with a few minor chores and then go to bed. No massive deal, as I keep saying I am not likely to get to sleep that early anyway.
No comments:
Post a Comment