Tue 0034 Need to go to bed. Feeling a bit sad/nervous in that "end of trip" way. Set alarms for 930-10ish this morning and felt absolutely shite; eventually got up maybe 11 but had been half awake in bed feeling like crap for ages.
Walked over to Plaza Brasil and Plaza Panama then up to Parque de los Reyes. All nice enough though it was very hot.
Went to ekono on way back, they still hadn't restocked the grapefruit beer but got a litre of Cristal and had it tonight. Done bit of laundry tonight too.
Popped into Lider Express opposite prev flat on way back before go to econo. Hate the way the entrance deliberately funnels everyone going in and out through a one-person-wide barrier. Anyway. Sort of need some more sunscreen; LE had lots but all in either terrorist sized bottles or alternatively they had one pricey 100ml bottle but it had a gigantic swirly plastic squirt thing on top and since liquids have to fit inside a tiny plastic bag that's not a goer. ekono were sold out of sunscreen, I guess restocking shelves is not their thing.
It's OK, I do have some and contrary to some of my emotions I will be able to make some basic purchases in Brazil despite my linguistic and security fears. In some ways going to Brazil is stretching my comfort zone; while I'm unhappy at my lack of progress with Spanish (doubtless due to laziness over years in part), I do mostly speak it in a push (subject to people being willing or compelled to repeat themselves etc) and so being in a Spanish-speaking country (especially places like Santiago and BA I have visited before) feels "easy" - I don't worry too much about things like getting public transport from the airport and I perhaps irrationally judge them to be safer than they are. It's not like I haven't done this before, e.g. Thailand in 2013 (?) - and I speak infinitely more Portuguese than I speak Thai, and notwithstanding issues with neither me nor the average Brazilian being a native Spanish speaker which will complicate things (native speakers being able to accommodate non-native errors and accents a bit better, I think, whereas an entirely non-native interaction is a bit more fraught), I have been told by several people here in Chile that a lot of Brazilians speak Spanish or the languages are similar enough that even those who don't speak Spanish can be communicated with on a basic level using Spanish. They were also generally pretty positive about the "niceness" of Brazilians.
It's fine, I'm not quite quaking at the upcoming trip but it is a bit of a stretch for me in various ways. It also feels like I've signed up for a few contiguous days of early or very early starts and contiguous travel days. Which is fine, really, and technically what I'm here for and hunkering down here in my comfy flat in Santiago is in some ways a bit of a cop out (though if I enjoy it - and I mostly do - and get to putter round the city seeing it in quiet way then it's not all bad) and it will be "good" to push myself a bit (even if most people might regard what I consider "pushing" to be near-trivial).
Oh, I got an e-mail inviting me to check in for flight this morning. This makes me worry the flight is tomorrow and I've fucked up but triple checking everything this seems not to be the case. Baggage allowance for hand bag is in fact 20kg, I'm damn sure I paid extra for a hand bag but due to their "hand bag" and "hand baggage" (poor translation but not looking up wording) and lack of any explicit statement of what I paid for I'm a bit worried I'll get stiffed but just have to hope. I went to an internet cafe (third time lucky; first two on Google Maps appeared not to exist) and printed off boarding pass (I checked in on phone here in flat) and bus voucher for Brazil. Was pleased/mildly impressed to see Sky do allow boarding using a mobile version of your boarding pass so you don't strictly have to print it, but since the cost of a few extra pages is negligible and I had to go print the Brazil bus voucher anyway I printed a couple of copies of it anyway. This way if my mobile is stolen or breaks down or the mobile data plays up or whatever I'm not fucked at the airport.
(Definitely wanted Brazil bus voucher printing before getting to Sao Paulo; I have roughly half a day there, bus is early in morning and given my fears and also need to buy water and find somewhere I can eat there the last thing I need is to be chasing round trying to find an internet cafe, and that's before allowing for the possibility of a major flight delay. Brazil paranoia feeds in slightly here but only a bit; swap Buenos Aires in for Sao Paulo and leave all the timings the same and I'd still be wanting to have the bus voucher printed before I got on the flight to BA.)
A bit tired but not v tired but since I "want" to be up earlyish tomorrow to try to make 4am-ish start Wed not totally hellish I'd better go to bed.
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