Santiago, Friday

Fri 1828 At Japanese-Peruvian fusion restaurant nearish to flat, was going to have pollo mongoliano with fried rice but saw lomo a lo pobre on menu and flipped to that. Struggled to find somewhere, when usually I walk past loads of places. [Intended to check name of place when left, but forgot. Think it was in Santa Isabel, a bit west of Lira.]

Got up middayish (no alarm as usual lately), left maybe 2pm to get haircut, found smallish place nearby on Google Maps and seemed unpretentious enough, 5k (+1k voluntary tip) to shave my head (no 1 all over).

Been back at flat, gouged a cut on my head by smashing it against kitchen counter while ripping up pizza box on floor. Have had worse but not great. Keeping cap on for the moment.

Plan for tonight is I think to maybe leave flat 9-930ish and wander, perhaps first up towards Paris/Londres area, see if anything catches my eye, and failing that drift up towards Pio Nono. Don't want to drink insane amount but few beers be nice. Looking for live music online not v helpful, since I don't want some wanky restaurant or the like. There *might* be a Spanglish meet up group thing on meetup.com (seen when looking for lang exchange in past) but gut feeling is I'd rather just go out and wander and find somewhere I like and if I don't speak to anyone not a problem. See what happens/how I feel later.

Think some music aid concert for Venezuela is on the TV. Saw something about this on TV back at flat this morning. I might be wrong though.

Popped into Unimarc on way back from haircut and got some fruit, water and hot dog buns - I have (a bit of) mustard and quite a few frankfurters left, but I had eaten all the buns I got the other day. May have some as a snack before going out or when I get back if feel drunkenly peckish.

1918 Home. Food OK, tho came with rice and fried plantain instead of onions. Bill 7500+10% tip, broke a 20k.

2236 At Calamar? on PN. Came straight over to PN on leaving flat at 10. Quite busy in general but may really be here a bit early. Nowhere massively appealing, is a karaoke bar on corner opposite Drink (which is just a few bars down) but it has a sign advertising bottles of spirits for £mucho and either bouncers or lots of staff by entrance and I just wasn't that tempted. Feel I used to be bolder when going out. Meh. Getting a litre of Escudo. Have this, maybe another then go home, then won't be off my face and can come out again tomorrow night. Yeah, Calamar Resto Bar.

0017 Nearly finished, will prob get one more. Reading book on phone with bit of staring off into distance at intervals. Alternate between feeling semi-pleasantly invisible and a bit awkward in case anyone talks to me. Feh.

Not wearing cap tonight. Cut on head is not too bad, it has some noticeable scabbing but it's not as bad as eg the one I inflicted on myself on bus on way to Lake Atitlan that weekend away in Guatemala. Suspect it will take at least a week or two to fully heal but it isn't huge or scary looking and I don't feel the need to cover it up. Besides, it might make me look harder and I need all the help I can get. :-) Looked at Wikitravel re Santiago nightlife earlier on a whim, I half suspect I had a hand in a couple of the entries based on previous visits. As so often on WT the security advice goes IMO almost ridiculously OTT, apparently most muggers here will just beat the shit out of you if you don't immediately give them your wallet if you don't speak Spanish. Maybe this is true but I'm a bit dubious, given Guatemala has a worse rep and people with actual experience of being mugged in Guatemala have spoken less scarily of it than the WT security advice for Santiago.

0033 Ordered another. Waiter said three thousand, I said that's OK - I *think* (speculation, he didn't say any of this, it's not that I struggled to understand) the first may have been 2.5k and it's now no longer happy hour as it's gone midnight or the like. But 3k is OK if not astounding; if I wanted (and it's not entirely unappealing, for all I am sort of enjoying the vibe) cheap beer I could be drinking 1k a litre bottles of Cristal back at that flat, I'm paying for the atmosphere.

0128 Been amusing myself by drafting a response to booking.com re ongoing Brazil fuckup. Oddly diverting though hardly conducive to soaking up the atmosphere. Gonna go for slash and trust no one will spike or steal my beer. Doesn't feel likely.

0132 Back from slash. All seems OK. Virtually no one inside; prob a combination of decent weather (it's summer/early autumn at worst here) and smoking ban. It's fairly busy on the street in general. Inside mildly cavernous and though prob deluding myself looks oddly familiar.

Just to be clear, not *sending* booking.com msg now. Don't think am pissed (had maybe 3 pints) but wouldn't be so silly. Merely drafting it and will review and send tomorrow.

While still have half this litre esp if take it slow it's tempting to think might have another. *But* at same time I prob want to come out tomorrow night and it seems a bit silly to go overboard.

0145 I'm wearing long-sleeved T-shirt; it's pleasant out, the occasional cool breeze being nice rather than chilling. I don't know if it's got colder since I first arrived and/or I've acclimatised. I think daytime temps are around 30C which may be a few degrees cooler. I have been usually sleeping with balcony door in bedroom open despite the extra noise this entails; it doesn't disturb me that much, I'm used to city background noise and it's sort of comforting. (What does piss me off is the occasional twat on a motorbike with a super-loud exhaust. Cunts.)

Have yawned once or twice. Don't feel really pissed but am faintly aware have had a few. It is tempting to get another but they *might* shut at 3 and I'm not chatting with anyone to go on to an after-hours with (of course I might get chatting around 245ish for all I know) and phone batt is low-ish (not too bad; 49%, if I hypothetically met someone now and wasn't using phone to read on, it would easily last me up to and including using map to get home at Xam) and I have yawned once or twice. I think the key thing is it's Fri; I may come out tomorrow night (perhaps coming out even later to start with) and have a go somewhere else (or just maybe Bar Liguria, fuck knows) and if I have three or more litres then fine, but if I push it tonight I'll probably feel a mixture of hangover and guilt tomorrow morning and won't come out tomorrow (strictly today) night at all. So not rushing this but will prob get bill and go after finish this second litre. If someone strikes up conversation that's different, but I think that's unlikely.

0159 Suddenly wonder if this is where I came with Cony a few weeks ago. We were at a bar on this side of road a few bars down from Drink, but I *think* it was one of the bars closer to Drink than this one. Doesn't matter, just a thought.

0203 Phone forecast (no temp sensor) says its 21C. It is *not* cold but I'm just feeling the slightest chill from the odd breeze. It's still pretty pleasant out, and obviously I've been acclimatising myself to daytime 30+C temps for a month, but thought I'd make the observation. I don't wish I had my fleece with me or anything.

0214 Nearly finished. Seriously tempted to get another but think the "don't want to be tempted not to come out Sat night" argument is persuasive. I can also walk home relatively confident I'm not looking drunk. Been noticing all nights "Gyvens Club" opposite has a projected logo which alternates red/green/blue in a cycle, and some artefact of the projection system means the logo moves slightly as the colours change. It's too strong to call it annoying, but it's not a cool effect either. It looks vaguely shoddy.

Yeah, another is tempting but there's nothing special happening, it's Fri so there's still Sat to come and why burn alcohol allowance/self-goodwill staying out late tonight for no reason? FWIW I didn't get to sleep til 4amish last night despite only the quiet beer at home, in some ways this is good as it makes my midday awakenings more "natural 8h sleep with a late start" than "WTF is wrong withg me?" and notwithstanding the odd yawn earlier am not tired. Not that hungry either but might have a hot dog back home anyway, would prob be in bed about 3-4am which would in fact be consistent with my current approx sleep cycle anyway.

Obviously I'm on holiday so Fri/Sat are not *personally* special but I have to acknowledge weekends exist for the locals and thus influence the local nightlife. I suppose students on summer break from uni may be a bit weekend-free but my gut feeling is a) they're not the only people going out at night, and are probably in general too young to be overly relevant to me b) even they still live by this week/weekend cycle (as I do) because they or people they know have week-oriented jobs.

0225 Got bill. 6k+10% suggested/mandatory tip. Not too bothered except why did guy stress 3k for second beer if first was also 3k? But whatever, not too bothered, 3k is about what I expected to pay and while not cheap it's not terrible for a litre in a bar. Not quite finished last glass but will go for slash and walk home shortly.

0249 Home; walked, as usually do lately, but haven't nec explicitly said. This flat has "good" loc but still fair trek down V Mackenna and modulo questions of safety isn't super closer than prev flat near Santa Lucia. Some - not loads, but some - ppl on street on walk home and didn't *feel* remotely dangerous. The two bars near top VMcK - La Terraza had few ppl but not many, wanky one next door which wouldn't serve me other day was shut. PN bars seemed v open as I was leaving but quite poss closing time at 3 or whatever was looming. Would be cool to stay out til closing but unlike in past am a bit more inhibited/sensible. Unless tempted to go to Bar Liguria maybe Sat night will go out eleven pmish, perhaps chance that karaoke bar (if can't get decent priced beer will leave immediately) and see what time closing is and if (just maybe) meet some ppl to go on to an after hours with.

Don't *crave* food but since was moderately restrained re drinks will treat myself to some hot dogs.

0340 Bed. It was a bit cool verging on cold - which is way too strong a statement - on walk home, no colder than "refreshing" under circumstances, but a change from the tropicalish excessive warmth when I arrived a month ago, be this acclimatisation on my part and/or genuine weather change.

Could have had a more exciting night but for all that was quietly fun/pleasant and I'm reasonably satisfied.