Cartagena, Saturday

Sat 2201 Went down for breakfast as usual, then popped over to ML to book the shuttle for tomorrow - I need to be over there for 9 so will need to be up a bit earlier to get breakfast in and do last minute packing/checking for forgotten items. I haven't paid yet, I will pay tomorrow morning, so at least if it does go tits up I haven't paid for it.

I then wandered around a bit vaguely south of the hotel into Getsemani. Was feeling a bit edgy at times but nothing happened, not even a not-really-aggresive sales pitch. I had looked at guide book and saw there was a small fort over the bridge at south east end of Getsemani and I half intended to go over there, then half got the wind up at relativel few tourists in street, then ended up going over anyway. Quite nice views from the bridge, and from the fort - I was really edgy on first going in, then I noticed a few other groups of (Spanish speaking, perhaps Colombians) tourists milling around at the fort all and felt a bit better. (Checking GM now, fort/inner square - it's a car park, mostly - is Plaza Fuerte el Pastellilo.)

Came back and wandered briefly round walled city before going to Shaddai for lunch. Had carne asada, negotiated a dressing free salad and so not a bad lunch. I had a no sugar limonada with it, and then followed up with a no sugar tamarind juice - both very nice and welcome. They did a third juice with a name I never got straight and was vaguely tempted to try that too but felt I should maybe get off. Food 10k, 5k each for juices (was a price list on wall by my table), I never got a bill as such but handed over 50k and changed indicated they'd taken 22k so I'm guessing this is a standard 10% tip. I had already decided to tip 5k though so I left 3k on the table, I had been there a while and I appreciated their efforts to get me an undressed salad.

Then went off for wander, GM indicated most museums closed (except the fake-ish "museums" which are really shops) so I just wandered round a bit feeling pretty hot and sweaty. There's no pleasing some people, but somehow there were far fewer tourists around inside walled city at this point and it made me feel a bit vulnerable. I did wander over to the west wall and look out over it at the sea (not miles off, but at a moderate distance) for a bit, though I kept feeling a bit on edge as it was fairly lonely and I was worried a bead scam guy or something might start hassling me, and it was very hot and I didn't feel super relaxed in general. Wandered a bit more, got myself a 600ml bottle of H2OH toronchello in a supermarket (2950) and drank it in street (very welcome). I then decided to just head back to hotel although it was earlyish (maybe 2-3pm??) and ended up getting lost through being mildly over-confident I knew where I was (if I'd insisted on leaving via the clock tower gate I couldn't possibly have got lost), so I found myself wandering very busy but tourist free streets and feeling a bit vulnerable (but no one hassled me and in a way this was probably a good experience) and eventually resorted to furtively pulling my phone out a couple of times, but as I'm not sure if the compass is right (on the HTC; I know it's pretty much fucked on the Priv despite brief attempts to calibrate it) and I didn't like to walk along staring at phone to confirm which direction I was walking I am not entirely sure it helped. In the end I noticed Parque Centenario and headed over there with some relief. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't totally flapping, and I could have dived into a small restaurant and got a coffee and poked at phone in there had I been desperate, but I was feeling a bit concerned.

I went into little shop near hotel before coming back in, and as nothing is labelled with price and I had forgotten what I think I paid before, I got 2x1.5l bottles water for 7k when I could have had 5l for 5k (or 6k). I didn't *need* 5l but I would have bought it and gorged myself stupid if I'd known it was cheaper.

On the plus side, those 1.5l bottles were pretty cold and I took one out and sat on the small deserted hotel balcony down the corridor from my room and sat in the shade and drank cold water and read on my phone and while in some ways this was a "waste" of my last afternoon in Cartagena, I rather enjoyed it and I did gave down into the street at time and I was still "here". I really should make a point of sitting out in " nice" common areas more, I might get chatting to people and even if I don't it's probably a more fulfilling way of having a quiet read or whatever of an evening when I'm off the booze that day etc.

That said I did come back to room maybe about 5ish as battery getting low. I did some laundry so I'll start my no-private-bathroom stint with my full complement of clean clothing. 

I did just pop out to see if crescendo of noise was a parade; didn't see one but maybe I missed it. I think the noise is just coming from one of the several bars nearby. (It feels a bit pitiful I haven't been out to any of those, but I don't know. I've never been really into "clubs" and places with insanely loud music. Meh.)

I am feeling a little bit sad to be leaving tomorrow morning. Seems a bit weird given eg how I was "bored" enough this afternoon to come back to hotel earlyish. I don't know. In part maybe it's because I've got a bit settled here, in my room and with somewhere I can go eat etc. And as I always say, better to have at least some regrets than be delighted to be off.

With luck (touch wood) tomorrow should be fairly stress free. Bus should take me right to new hostel door, I should get there 2-3pmish if all goes to schedule so there'll be daylight to get some water (I'll take a litre with me but no more, so won't be desperate) and maybe some food in a small restaurant (though there is one at hostel so if cheap may just eat there). I am only booked in for IIRC 4 nights but that's simply to avoid over-commiting in advance if I don't like things; I can and may well extend if there's stuff to do and it feels comfortable. So I am not putting myself under pressure to "do something" yet - tomorrow is just the bus and getting basically settled in and getting some food. I saw from balcony earlier a guy hanging a "superbowl 630pm" sign up at bar opposite this hotel, so maybe they will be showing that at the new hostel and that may be weird/interesting, I was half planning to go hang around quietly in bar/roof terrace (I think they have one) anyway but this kind of makes me wonder if things will be strange, but we'll see.

Then Monday (first full day in SM) I will just wander round a bit, get my bearings, see if anything advertised around town in the shape of tours etc appeals to me and perhaps arrange some kind of formal activity for Tuesday.

I am not completely clear if I get breakfast included at the new place; I sort of suspect I don't because I'm on a discounted price from whichever site I booked it on, but it's not massively clear that the non-discounted price for the same basic room included it, so I didn't like to pay more when I might not have got anything in return. In some ways getting up in time for "free" breakfasts is a bind, but it does force me not to waste the whole morning in bed, so I may try to keep getting up fairly early (say 9ish at latest) even if breakfast isn't included, I may even pay for breakfast if it's cheap and good.

Forgot to say that Friday night in front bar at ML some of those damn "personalised unsolicited rap" guys (probably not same ones who did me, there are quite a few I've seen around town) shoved their heads in the open front of the bar but I don't think they were singing at me (I was near back of the room) and they didn't come in, but still, I'll be glad if they don't exist in SM or if I can at least be free from them while still sitting outside enjoying the night air at the hostel or some other bar. I don't massively resent the first lot who did me and I paid quite handsomely, it was novel at the time, *but* (and I'm sure this is part of the plan) by them giving your this "big, minute or two lon" performance before you can tell them you're not interested, they create a sense of obligation to pay them, and it is also a little bit intimidating to suddenly have four guys appear at your table (though sometimes there's only two or so).

I did go into the cathedral again during my walk round walled town today, and although I didn't go in I did stand in doorway of a smallish church on a quietish corner in Getsemani a bit south of the plaza leading up to the clock tower, which was quite nice.

While it would be nice to get into a pleasant, not deep conversation with someone, I'm not actually feeling desperately lonely or anything at this point. So in terms of eg tomorrow night when I hope to have a few beers at the new hostel (especially if they do have a roof terrace), I don't really "need" to talk to anyone. I suspect my main emotion will be one of mildly jealous awkwardness at sitting there on my own with other people talking round me, but we'll see - if I can get a bit of personal space and not feel too conspicuous on my own (and this is all practice, I suspect) that's fine.

I'm not hungry but I must admit it would be quite nice to have something to eat. But it's fine, I vaguely hope to lose a bit of weight over the trip or at least not put any on, and if I really am going a little bit light on calories at the moment due to relatively unsubstantial meals that's not necessarily a bad thing. I can always pig out on some unhealthy crap from a supermarket at some point, but am resisting temptation for now (in a way the heat helps here, it makes me feel far less tempted to eg get a big bag of crisps, there's something about the heat-induced stickiness of my hands and the gritty greasiness of crisps on my hands that really doesn't appeal - don't get me wrong, it's not that I can't stand this, it just makes the prospect of gorging on crisps less tempting). Obviously I'm also drinking more than I normally would - though borderline acceptably, I think - and that's not good for weight. Then again at least some days I am walking more than the hour a day I try to do in London.

2245 Just popped out to balcony again (annoying as I have to pull a shirt on every time) at a sort of surge in the music, and I can't see any sign of musicians or a procession (though there are lots of people in the street; again I half wish I'd steeled myself to go out to one of these places *right outside my hotel*, then again they don't look cheap nor do they exactly look like the kind of place), so I think the periodic surges are just a kind of coincidence when the noise level from one or two bars goes up at the same time.

2301 I seem to have a single bite (presumably mosquito) on my back. I haven't been using repellent as I haven't really noticed any mosquitos, but I need to be alert to this and maybe start applying it a bit more regularly. Since repellent won't stop all bites it's always a bit of a crapshoot with the nasty mosquito-borne diseases and I therefore don't intend to start plastering the stuff on, but if I start to experience bites regularly and/or see a lot of mosquitos I need to be prepared to start using the repellent. Quick poke on web suggests the city nature of tourist bits of Cartagena and indeed Santa Marta may make mosquitos relatively rare despite the general mosquito-laden nature of the area.

0008 Packed a tiny bit, most needs to be done in morning to give clothes time to dry as much as possible etc. Bed.