2036 At El Colonial. It's foul. It's USD2 for a tiny bottle of beer, the music is loud, there's two other groups of people here, the waiter is slightly pushy and despite having shitloads of coins in my pockets I was unable to dredge out change so I had to give him a 20.
2039 He's taking his fucking time coming back with my change. I'm not desperate for a drink - I almost didn't come out tonight - but having (not successfully, til I get back to my hotel of course) experimented with coming out I have achieved what I set out to do. Some marginally more tolerable bars on that hill path (the one I came down) but certainly not risking a trek over there tonight. Maybe tomorrow I will be on the lookout for a tolerable bar as I wander, or maybe I will look on web or just possible (unlikely) the guide book will mention some decent bars instead of praising up every wanky shithole it can find.
Am certainly not heading off on a random quest for a decent bar tonight. Frankly I'm not overly confident any exist - my parameters for such probably don't overlap with what's present in the safe(r) parts of Guayaquil - but also that would be a bridge too far with the safety and perhaps genuinely imprudent.
2043 Still no change, I will at least *ask* if I don't get any before I finish this beer.
I must say even ignoring the inability to find any fucking coins to pay for the beer, I hate the coins here. Everything sub USD0.50 seems to be microscopically tiny. It's like someone took the disgustingly fiddly UK 5p coin and decided to make it even worse.
2045 Got my change. [Gangnam Style playing.] Felt compelled to tip 0.50 but fuck it, I'll have to be bloody desperate to come back here again so what's a USD3 [prob should be 2.50, maybe bill was 2.50 before tip, can't remember and not important so not checking bill] bottle of beer as a one-off?
I did see several shops where I could probably buy a local SIM near hotel. Might buy one tomorrow, it's a waste of money in a sense but not that pricey. Dunno if I need one but if I go further afield for a half decent beer it might be worth being able to call a cab, if my Spanish is up to it, and also I might have more need of cab if walking is generally not safe in Quito, in which case might as well buy SIM here and get more use out of it.
I asked for the cheapest beer BTW, in part because waiter rattled off huge list of beers and didn't catch them. It's Club. Not setting my taste buds alight but a perfectly OK beer, were it not so expensive here. I don't *like* the place very much but if the beer wasn't so pricey I'd probably stay longer. As it is I see no point wasting money and my alcohol allowance here when it's only Wednesday night.
I left my cash card at the hotel instead of having it in hidden belt as usual. And tho desk woman offered to return my passport (they kept it when I checked in for some reason) earlier when I paid rest owing I asked them to hang on to it for me. Dunno if they have a safe but don't want to carry it with me jic and probably better for them to be semi-responsible for it than leave it in my bag. Doesn't help there is nothing in the room I can chain my bag to.
2057 Looking at guide book on offchance is handy bar. I see it lists this place, though doesn't say much. Guide book obviously likes 'trendy'. I like no nonsense as long as it's not too 'seedy'. Oh, it says a lot of places charge USD10 cover on weekends. Fucking hell. Still, see how it goes.
Guide book doesn't show any decent bars round here. It does say that hill path is more modest and mentions a bar there with Latin rock but as per earlier I'm not schlepping over there tonight, I am not sure how safe it is at night and I'm not intending to be out late so definitely not worth the risk tonight (like flying, the risks of a night out here are confined to the beginning and end, with the bit in the middle relatively harmless, so if I'm taking the risk I want to do it for a long night out). The whole situation is annoying but there you go. Place is getting a bit fuller but that's not very relevant really.
I might ask at hotel (which is sort of hostely) tomorrow about safety eg of walking over to Cerro Santa Ana at night but I feel a bit of a wuss and I kind of feel it's hard for locals to have proper perception anyway. Still, might do it. (Also, there is a taxi rank at the bottom of the hill. Can that be trusted? If not, is it going to be awkward/open to deception to be picked up by a radio taxi there? The hill path itself is pedestrian only.)
2106 Nearly finished beer. Does grate to be going home this early but meh, it's only Wednesday.
2108 Anyway, let's go. Unless (doubtful given I came out by same route) serendipity throws something in my path will be going home. Fingers crossed no one intercepts me before I get there.
2116 Back at hotel, I did make a one block diversion on offchance but nothing so sod it. Bouncer wanted to see bill as I left, fortunately I had pocketed it as a sort of souvenir instead of leaving it as I sometimes do. Quite a few people on streets, I suspect things aren't too bad but it's hard to judge. Used lift for first time, more as stairwell a smidge dingy than laziness, I tried it when I arrived but didn't realise you have to open the door yourself - it's an old-fashioned one with no sliding doors and no inner door, so as you ride up you can see the outside wall/intermediate floor doors passing and could touch it if you were dumb enough. People on web had complaints about stairs, maybe lift is new or maybe like me they didn't realise you had to manually open door and thought therefore the call button didn't work.
0041 Bed. Uploaded a few more photos but generally just surfed a bit lazily. Hopefully not up too late tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment