2031 At some bar on lower slopes of Cerro Santa Ana. All bars look slightly foul but better than last night. Nowhere advertises a price. I wandered inside this one, v small and just a couple sucking each others' faces off, no staff. Sat at table outside, not sure anyone is going to notice I am here. Asked woman at reception, she said as long as I walked via Malecon was safe at any time of night as there are guards.
2033 Old woman just came over, she says its USD2 for a large beer so getting that. Place is probably called El Faro Azul. Beer is 608ml bottle Brahma. She didn't hang around for any money.
Not seeking out that Latin Rock bar (prob only on jukebox not live iirc) mentioned in guidebook tonight, this is OK for a few beers and I can maybe try that tomorrow, for tonight thought I'd wing it and this is OK.
Did see few guards on lower part of this hill and some on Malecon. Fingers crossed it is OK, doesn't feel unsafe but I think it's very hard to actually judge such things even if it feels as if you can.
Did quick web search earlier and found some Hole in Donut blog thing by some 90% cool 10% smug older woman who after illness did some thinking and realised she'd been working at jobs she hated so quit to be a freelance travel writer. Anyway, she wrote about being here in IIRC 2010 and loads and loads of people including security guards warning her off walking even places like this. Dunno what to make of that. She was pretty bloody minded and did it anyway and it was fine. Can't remember what if anything her conclusion was.
2049 Two sources of music annoyingly audible, but one is playing Prince Royce's "Corazon sin cara". I had this stuck in my head half the afternoon (the phone shit wasn't all bad, it drove it out) after hearing it from a shop earlier. (Not that I don't like the song - brings back fond memories of Santiago in 2011 - but it's never great to have anything stuck in your head too long.)
2131 Woman came over as was finishing beer, I got another. I can't say it happens all the time but I do wonder if I am understanding people less easily here due to an unfamiliar accent. Hard to be sure unless I end up in conversation with anyone. I can understand the woman (not spoken much to the other two blokes, though one of them when I arrived also fairly intelligible) on the desk at hostel OKish but maybe she's posh or accustomed to speaking for tourists to understand.
2137 Meant to observe yday but didn't get round to it.
In the dear(ish) dim and distant days almost past recall when I was but a nerdy child with an interest in computers, I saw an already-slightly-dated cartoon with accompany text in a book which described an extremely un-user friendly computer whose only inputs were a hexadecimal keypad and whose only output was an electric shock if the user did anything wrong. My experiences yesterday made me think that maybe people who grew up with such devices all went on to program cash machines for a living. The user-unfriendliness they exhibit just goes on and on. 'Operation denied or PIN incorrect' (which?). 'Amount exceeds limit' (well what *is* the fucking limit?) 'Amount is not a multiple of n' (when it damn well is). 'Amount exceeds limit *ejects card*' (it's OK, I'll just start all over again) The somewhat tempting and confusing distinction between the 'cancel' (the whole operation and eject card) and 'correct' (an error in entering the PIN) buttons. Bunch of bastards the lot of them.
2226 On third beer, just been in for piss (not my first), bog is small and a bit grotty and has what looks like a shower in though didn't dare pull curtain aside (was at back of my mind some joker might suddenly lunge at me from behind it while pissing, but not paranoid enough to view possible dirt or invertebrate horrors behind curtain to eliminate that risk) and someone has puked in the sole urinal (no sit down bog). The inside of the bar has this slightly cheesy aroma which I can't place, glad I am sat outside. Decidedly not heaving but busier, a few people dancing inside and a few more outside.
The night is pleasantly warm, on walk over just a smidge muggy but still pleasantly tropical nightish, here there is a slight breeze and it's very nice out indeed. (Didn't bring jacket out, wearing T-shirt and combats. The latter have developed a small tear on lower leg which seems to get worse every time I wash them, but I have worn them nearly every day for two and a bit months and I think they'll last out the trip. The smarter trousers are OK but unless I wear jacket I end up with the two pockets uncomfortably stuffed, so haven't worn them much, mainly odd night out when just washed combats and when I could go out with my jacket on.)
0035 Back at hotel. What a fucking weird night. More shortly.
0042 OK. As I was getting my third beer a group of one bloke and two women invited me over to their table. We chatted and I even joked/discussed with them about drugged beer or whatever. I shared a beer with them - lots of incomprehensible chat when they paid but they wouldn't let me pay for beer. We were maybe going to go to another bar down the hill as that place was closing a bit after midnight. We had sort of agreed to meet tomorrow night at 9, this sort of finalised as we were leaving. Before we left about three cops turned up and I was all like 'oh shit' and the cops called me over and 'insisted' on escorting me down the hill. I spoke to them - they spoke a tiny bit of English but they preferred Spanish, I asked - and they were warning me about dangers. I said about what receptionist had said and they sort of seemed to agree about safety of walking back via Malecon but they also seemed keen for me to get a taxi. I asked directly if they thought those guys were bad and if I shouldn't see them tomorrow but if they replied that fell within my 20% misunderstanding Spanish bracket, 'obviously' I was rather intimidated talking with all these cops. They put me in a cab (a totally unofficial non yellow thing) and I went home in that for USD3 and it was fine.
I really really don't know what to make of this. Were those guys dangerous? I really don't think so. Am I going to meet them tomorrow night? I don't know. I was kind of thinking - I even *told* them I don't carry any cards on me so am a poor victim ;-) - that I would feel more confident if I met them tomorrow as surely robbers would want a more immediate payback. (I don't know if the bars lower down were still open, maybe not given the cops turning up, but I felt that was OK if they were open as was still on this super-patrolled hill. I wasn't going to get into a cab with those guys tonight for sure.) The cops certainly didn't say they were bad people, but how fucking bizarre they turned up to escort me out. I really really don't know what to make of it. I might ask reception for advice tomorrow. Right now gut feeling is I might well go back there tomorrow at 9 and happy to meet them but won't go on anywhere with them. Maybe I'm naive but this feels excessively cautious, but rational or not having three cops escort me down the (little bit of, the bar is not right up on the hill and I understand the area is safe) hill and those guys saying goodbye to me as I left was just freaky as fuck.
In a way I'd have loved to have clarified when I didn't understand the response to 'are those guys known troublemakers?' but there's something strangely intimidating about dealing with cops ;-)
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