Some of the goodies I've treated myself to from amazon in anticipation of the trip arrived today, like a 64GB micro SD card for my phone (for music and backups of photos) and some insect repellent containing picaridin which is supposed to be effective but without DEET's wonderful plastic-melting qualities. (I suspect DEET is what completely destroyed the lens on the camera on my old smartphone, but I don't know for sure.)
Just booked a hostel in Antigua; I dithered a bit but in the end went for six nights, I figure the first day is going to be a write-off after the flights and I should easily be able to fill five days there, and as I think I said before it seems like a comfortable spot to get my bearings in before I go anywhere else. I booked via hostelworld - my old account seems to have been quietly deleted, although this is probably no big loss. About £13/night for a single room with shared bathroom with apparently all taxes included and a supposedly pretty substantial free breakfast if I can get up in time to eat it. (I may stay in a dormitory occasionally to keep costs down, but at this sort of price I'm springing for a private room while I get myself settled in.)
I did notice one cheaper hostel had small print saying there was a 22% tax in addition, whereas the one I booked didn't say this and the booking does tax is included in the price. Worth bearing this in mind on future bookings too.
I didn't spend all that long choosing a specific hostel; I went for something with cheap single rooms, a good location and reasonable reviews. I did wonder about trying to pick a lively/"party" hostel, but given my age and the fact that I want to find my feet for a few days first, I figure it's better for me to go out and try to meet people rather than trying to have everything right there at the hostel. I have free cancellation up to just before I fly out anyway, which also helped to ameliorate the desire to agonise too much over how many nights to book.
I'll probably make the final decision when I'm there and can see what it's like, but my gut feeling is I don't want to spend time in a Spanish school in Antigua. It would be too easy to just squat there for half the trip without ever seeing anything else, and while it is in some sense a very safe place *because* it's so tourist-friendly, I am also picturing it as stuffed full of 20-somethings and impossible for me to meet anyone in. No point worrying about this now anyway, I'll see what it's like when I'm there.
I haven't sorted out the bus from La Aurora to Antigua yet. I think the hostel does offer a transfer service, but I have no idea if it's competitive on price - I haven't done any research on this at all yet. I wasn't offered the chance to buy this service when I booked so I can always get in touch with the hostel in a day or two if I decide I'm interested in their service and they haven't tried to sell it to me themselves first anyway. You can probably just turn up at the bus station at the airport on the day, but given my safety concerns and the fact that I'll be zonked after the flights, I probably do want to pre-book. But I'll need to read up and see what's advised, really.
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