2116 Am here, got table and beer, no sign of others (Javier, Elspeth, Maricella v approx), loads of people about on walk over and round here but tiny bit jittery. Old woman owner/waitress just patted me on back and said something like 'pase bien', she welcomed me in as I was peering to see if a table free but didn't understand her with being so nervous. Frankly half hope they don't turn up, I might have this beer and leave if they don't. The thing which didn't help the dithering was that I was thinking if I let *nothing actually going wrong* last night scare me off, where am I? On the other hand, I was/am not feeling like a night out.
FFS, old woman and another waitress both just warned me at length (in Spanish) not to drink with *anyone* and not to go with anyone and I think not even to talk with anyone. WTF am I going to do if those guys do turn up? I will prob say I have to be up super early for a tour tomorrow and just wanted to turn up to make my apology in person. Maybe they won't turn up. Fuck me. Really wish I hadn't come now. Still, if I just have this one it's probably not too late and the walk back will not be deserted and therefore I don't need to worry about a taxi. Wasn't entirely clear if two waitresses intended to help me get a taxi. But the thing is I really can't stay here in case those guys turn up. Maybe if last night was such a 'bust' with the cops rather than just them being helpful to a foreigner who they saw at closing time the guys won't come back in the first place. Not entirely sure what to make of this. I don't believe the waitresses said those guys specifically were bad people but it such absolute complete paranoia about *speaking* to unknown people really justified? I can't ignore such warnings though.
2150 Left about 2133, paid 3 for the beer, felt tip not undeserved. Back at hotel. Before I waffle, couple of unrelated things been meaning to say:
Despite my dubiousness as to the Peruvianness of 'roast chicken' or whatever I wrote, while looking up the meaning of 'a la brasa' (I believe it means barbecued) a while ago I found that 'pollo a la brasa', sometimes called 'blackened chicken' in English, is indeed a specifically Peruvian invention. I dunno if what I ate as 'pollo a la brasa' in all those cheap places was the same, but maybe it was, certainly very nice anyway. ;-)
Not sure, but think read in guide book or on web and owner chap mentioned it to me last night in passing that in Ecuador you can't buy alcohol on Sundays. Not a problem but worth noting.
Anyway, brief waffle. I can't help feeling there is a general overreaction here - based on past experience, some people *are* friendly to solo bar patrons, and presumably people here are the same, so I don't think you can conclude all befrienders are malicious. But it may be that the proportion of malicious befrienders is so high it's too risky to accept proferred friendship, even cautiously (while I admit I was intending to go to another bar with those guys, I was only going to one lower down the well-policed hill had one been open, was not intending to go walkabout or in taxi with them). In which case what a shame. Anyway, while it is a bit unsatisfying and I might be overreacting or (perhaps more to the point for once) I might be reacting reasonably to other people's excessively paranoid advice, I think I can't afford to ignore the warnings given - in general if not directed at those guys specifically - by the cops last night, the two waitresses tonight and (indirectly) the F&CO website.
I think Quito is worse than Guayaquil in this sense. I may reevaluate things in Bogota but broadly speaking it's probably on a par with Guayaquil. It may be that 'false friends' in bars as opposed to express kidnapping in taxis or mugging in street is more specifically an Ecuadorian risk, in which case I may be able to risk bars at night in Bogota. Dunno right now, as say will evaluate nearer time.
This means, I think:
- if I fancy the odd beer or three, I should probably do it during the afternoon instead of at night
- being a solo drinker is 'risky' in that I would be compelled to turn down any apparently friendly advances, which goes against the grain on both "politeness" and "extroversion" grounds (yes, yes, I am not an extrovert if you're assigning one label or the other, but I clearly enjoy social interaction to some extent so I have an element of extroversion, which is the point here)
- if I am to socialise any further during rest of my holiday (OK, I will be in BA 2 nights - one the night before flight home, so v tame - where things are less paranoia-inducing, but the bulk of time is Guayaquil, Quito and Bogota) it will, for better or worse, have to be with fellow travellers (harder for me to do, and less satisfying than meeting locals) - so eg getting a ho(s)tel with a bar might be more important than it would normally be to me. I don't intend to try to scrape any social contact up at this hotel, it is hostely and people sit around in common room etc but I think I've been here enough nights without trying for it to be odd to do so now (also despite possible bad aspect, last night still scratched my social itch so I'm not 'hungry' for more right now)
- frankly given how very bad I am/hard I find it to do the 'meeting people' thing in hostels, I may not even try. We will see. But it's OK, while I am sad holiday is drawing to a close I only have about two weeks left and I'm not going to go nuts for lack of social interaction over that timescale
2223 Called Metro Bank - thank God for Skype, I may not like the proprietary app but still, being able to call a UK landline for pennies while abroad instead of paying mobile roaming rates or having to find a call centre is a massive help - they had blocked my card after the previous transactions, we ran through some recent ones and they were all genuine and they've unblocked the card now. Annoying but I suppose it is for my protection. Wouldn't be so bad if the cash machines said 'your card is blocked' but the error messages always suck.
0033 Been surfing, should move towards bed soon. Occurs to me FWIW that none of the earlier stuff about going out at night really has anything to do with the safety or otherwise of taxis; even if I possessed some magical ability to guarantee I could return home safely by taxi it wouldn't significantly ameliorate the situation.
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