Antigua, Sunday

0957 Coffee on hostel front terrace. Woke up maybe 9ish, felt it was probably much later, half dozed a bit uncomfortably in bed.

1047 At Y Tu Pina Tambien. Found this via quick web search for cheap eats. Frankly doesn't seem that cheap - even the cheaper breakfasts clock in at Q30ish - but I am hungry and I've decided to push the boat out on the Pinche Gringo breakast at Q55; will have to be Q60 with tip but this does at least include a (small) drink. Trying not to spend more simply because I have money left over (I've got about Q400 on me and no significant expenses except food and drink today/tomorrow) but it's also perhaps good to experience some of the more touristy hangouts while I am here.

Not showered or changed into clean clothes or cleaned teeth yet in an attempt to minimise disruption to other ppl in dorm. May go back and do that once have eaten here, then go out and quest for internet cafe and buy some Quetzalteca to take home. Bit worried about glass bottles getting smashed but just have to see what I can do.

Plan for tonight is hopefully live music at Snug, then check in online, print boarding pass if is an internet cafe open at that time then few quiet beers back at hostel. Not going out out or staying on at Snug/Travel Menu even if I do get into a chat. Been saving up data allowance so I can maybe online checkin from Snug (or wherever) if necessary because don't have wifi/hostel wifi is playing up.

Guts feel a bit funny but don't think is anything serious, probably part hunger - didn't really eat very much yesterday.

1106 Must say that was pretty good and fairly substantial, though I still feel the tiniest bit hungry and am probably going to indulge in some takeaway fried chicken later on. May come back here tomorrow or perhaps go to CdlM or both; depends how early I can get up etc. Hostel checkout is 11am, I guess I can probably leave my bag there while I go out but it may be a bit awkward.

1154 Showered etc. Left battery pack charging; nearly full anyway. Occurred to me coming into hostel that I haven't been making eye contact with anyone as I walk around inside the hostel, and I've probably not been smiling either, neither of which is conducive to interaction. Anyway, let's go out and buy some Quetzalteca.

1250 Back, spent Q63.90 on 8 1/8 litre glass bottles of Quetzalteca. Deeply dubious about my ability to pack these to get home safely, and I'll probably ruin half my clothes by impregnating them with glass fragments. Of course there were no fewer than three other guests and the cleaning woman in the dorm when I went to try to pack, so have had to come out and sit in terrace while I wait for some space.

Of course I could put them in my hand luggage and transport them safely - oh no, liquids are for terrorists. Arsehole wankers with their fucking security theatre.

Asked at Snug, they had a complaint about live music and they don't currently have a licence so they've had to suspend it while they apply for a licence, so won't be going tonight unfortunately.

1454 OK, definitely getting departure stress. Feel excessively ratty.

Finally managed to pack, wrapped bottles individually in (dirty, but no alternative) socks and other clothes, wrapped them inside other items (eg in pockets of windbreaker) and packed stuff round edge. Also tied the bundle of clothes inside a black bin bag in doubtless vain hope of restricting liquid and/or glass flow if anything does break.

Had to ask Mum to send a Christmas present to a friend from amazon as for convoluted reasons I have lost my password. Had to talk to her on phone and of course for one the entire world is in the hostel courtyard.

Charging phone as sit in dangling chair, then will go out for fried chicken and to look for a net cafe after.

Saw the woman from tour who helped me shower (not the one I spoke to other afternoon; she has moved on) a couple of times this morning but given we didn't speak in the bar last night and she was talking with other people when I saw her I didn't say hi, which was maybe rude or at least socially unhelpful, but meh. Not feeling at my best.

Dreading loitering round hostel a bit tonight but fuck it; not only will I never see any of these people again, I am leaving *tomorrow* 

1651 OK, that was good timing - a chap just came over and sat next to me as was writing that and been chatting with him since. Having another coffee then will probably go out and fried chicken it up.

1804 Back at hostel. Walked across town to Pollo Granjero near market, got 2 breasts and a leg and chips for Q31 and ate on way home. Bit stuffed. Not super comfortable eating in street and perhaps bolted it a bit more than I normally would as a result. (Most/all PG shops seem to be tiny and have no tables to sit and eat at.) Also found internet cafe near there (may be a nearer one but not seen it) which should be able to use to print boarding pass tomorrow. Online checkin opens in an hour. Getting itchy. Hope it works on phone browser. Sitting in hanging chair in front terrace, may go get beer now but unless someone explicitly talks to me or invites me in I will probably stay here topping up phone and waiting for zero hour, then go get beer and see if can socialise once checkin done.

1952 "An error has occurred. Please try again." Been trying to online checkin with fucking AeroMexico since 1905. Online chat not available. Fucking bastards. I have some aisle seats selected but no idea if they're truly reserved, as every time I get to the final submit button this error occurs. Is it their site? Some bizarre incompatibility with my phone browser? No way to tell. "An error has occurred. Please try again."

Oh, and some kind of ultra loud fireworks/bird scarers/shotgun shots have been going off intermittently all afternoon and have got really intense lately and it's starting to get on my wick, on top of the stress of trying to get this fucking check in done.

I've downloaded Firefox for Android and it fails in the same way. Mildly reassuring is that it still shows my selected seats, which suggests even if in only in some transient temporary "only for an hour while you complete online check in" sense I do have those seats allocated to me in AM's systems.

Guess I'll just sit here clicking through the online check in over and over again in the hope it will eventually work. A perfect final evening to the trip. Thanks, AeroMexico!

2014 Got a beer. Tried (and I think rather alarmed bar woman with my throwing technique) for the beer cap in the bowl for free shot for first time - failed, though not surprising. AeroMexico still not working. One consolation is that turning on "Request desktop site" gives me a desktop site which still doesn't work, which encourages me that it's not a browser problem, since after all the mobile site should work with Chrome and Firefox.

Phone is intermittently connecting and disconnecting from charger and is a bit sluggish despite having rebooted half an hour ago in desperate hope it would help. But it's Android, so I guess this kind of unreliable bollocks is to be expected.

Still sitting on own in front courtyard. This in itself is fine, I don't want to talk to anyone now, I want to fucking check in online.

2037 Still retrying, though less frequently. Feeling a bit cold despite having fleece on and done up. Hacked off all round. Hatred for AeroMexico rising steadily.

2043 That's a lie, actually. Redlined my hatred meter a good hour ago; just keeping the needle pushed hard up against the end stop with the ongoing failures and the automated insincerity of the apology every time it fails. I have no idea if it's failing for everyone else or just me, of course.

2143 Still not working. This has at least spared me any need to try for chat in the bar, eh? Got another beer a bit ago, will not be having a third, still a fair chunk of second left. FWIW did try checkin earlier using mobile data in case the wifi was somehow responsible, it didn't make any difference.

Gonna clean my teeth in public bathroom (as opposed to one private to the dorm) once bar shuts and clears out 10ish and go to bed. Feeling a bit chilly out here. (It may be a bit warmer in rear terrace with bar, but didn't want to get distracted by sitting there and possibly having a conversation and/or feeling like a loser. Plan was of course to do online check in then go to the bar to see what happened, but AM torpedoed that. Probably going to be stuck with shit seat now anyway, of course wifi doesn't work in dorm but will try it over mobile data (if that works there) once am in bed and if I wake up in middle of night.

I guess I should just have paid 10% or so of my ticket price to reserve seats in advance. That way AM would be rewarded for having this shitty unreliable online checkin system.

Got a headache, think it's caused by tension of this fucking checkin business.