Thu 0046 Something I read about on one of those mixed-feeling travel-advice-blogs is picaridin *lotion* you rub into your skin instead of spraying. That may be worth investigating for a future trip.
Fri 0119 Home. Not a bad day, nothing amazing, but for various reasons (including low phone battery as didn't/don't like to leave Priv charging during day just in case - not that they ever do - cleaners come into room) haven't written anything up. Far from pissed (7-ish 330ml beers since about 2030) but not going to write the day up now, tomorrow (technically today) is likely to be a fairly (forcibly) relaxed "sitting around drinking coffee" kind of day. Anyway, as I say, will write Thu up later. Bed after tooth cleansing etc.
0130 I will say I've been out at Mango Rock and while it was no more than quietly diverting, it is air conditioned (almost fiercely, til I changed tables) and the novelty of coming home not soaked in sweat is amazing. It - brief glance at temperature indication from weather forecast on HTC notwithstanding - has been hotter than ever today, Vaseline in my pocket tin was liquefying - and this was very welcome, though far from only quietly enjoyable aspect of evening.
1036 Incidentally I just checked and it's (Cerro) Ziruma the Movistar guy told me about here in Santa Marta. I'd like to go and already waffled about it other day on my own account, but not sure how this stands with safety.
I feel at a bit of a loose end. Tonight is my last booked night at this hostel. I don't have any major desire to go anywhere, and I do need to go round to the tour agency about 3 which limits me a bit (and yes, this is a bit sucky but there you go). I *could* consider (either today or another day) CZ or that "Macondo" town, but TBH I don't really fancy three days in a row of the mild stress (even though it's probably good for me) of faffing with the local buses, nor am It that inclined to get into dealing with the local taxis wrt CZ. It feels a bit of a waste but I will probably just bum around until 3pm-ish then go over to tour agency then once I see what they say I can try to formulate some kind of plan.
Writing this on terrace after breakfast. Woke up feeling very mildly hungover but not really that bad.
So yesterday had breakfast at hostel as normal, handed some laundry in to be washed (which I hope to get back today though never said), interestingly enough I asked for low temp wash and they said how hot and I said "30?" and they said "OK, that"s cold then, as that's cold water temp here. I accidentally left a bank note secreted in one of the items but remembered in time and managed to go down to reception and retrieve it.
Then after asking brief advice at reception re La Quinta (which, incidentally, I think I read was often called "La Quinta de Bolivar" and I kept saying that to people and it seemed to cause confusion and I should have called it "La Quinta de whatsit Alejandrino"), I headed out to carrera 5 and after one false start where I just understood the driver of a Mamatoco bus to be telling me he was going via Santa Rita (and thus, implicitly, not past LQ) I got on another bus and asked driver to let me off outside. I had to give my seat up at one point which wasn't a big deal except I wanted to fumble my phone out to check our progress (as I didn't want to rely on driver remembering to let me off) and of course you can't zoom on Google Maps when you're holding the phone in one hand and holding onto rail with other. But hey, we wouldn't want to clutter the display up with zoom in and out buttons, would we? That would be functional but uncool. And of course it's fine to have buttons to turn layers on and off and "go" somewhere, because I use those features *constantly* and need them immediately accessible.
Anyway, I stood up just as we got there (didn't ring bell; I keep forgetting the local buses *do* have them, though maybe no buttons near where I sit and that's why I don't notice them) and the driver pulled in so all fine.
23k to get into LQ for foreigners which feels pretty steep but it is what it is. Was very hot, I felt. Grounds quite nice in a slightly parched kind of way, a variety of sizes of iguanas/lizards around (a few probably on a par with those in the Guayaquil square). Went round pretty much the entire site twice, taking way too many photos, though I only went round the art museum once.
It seemed to me that contrary to the plaque on the wall, the clock in the room where Simon Bolivar died was *not* showing the time of his death (see photos?) but maybe I got confused.
I feel I should say more but I did take a lot of photos.
Got bus back without any real problems, let quite a few go past for ill-defined vaguely nerve-related reasons but eventually asked one with a conductor hanging off it "centro historico?" and got on and it went down the esplanade so got off there no trouble.
Then went over to tour agency, spoke with them, they showed me some photos (as though I hadn't already said I wanted to go) but I must say I'm feeling a bit more "trusting" with them and less edgy about the trip in itself. However, there is still lots of fuzz and uncertainty around the date; turns out these two Italians for 12th for four days are one Italian who is waiting for his mate to turn up and there's some uncertainty about it. I think they are going to try to get in touch with these guys and there may also be some other friend of theirs with a tour I could join, as I said I am going back to see them at 3ish today.
I went over (tour agency pointed me at it) to exito supermarket (which seemed pricey) and got some tinned tuna (not grated this time) and veg and went back to hostel to cook - this was a bit of a whim instead of eating out and I kind of surprised myself. When I got back and popped up to my room for the rice I was shocked to see the ground floor kitchen was being demolished! A MoS told me there was another kitchen up on the terrace I could use, so I went up there. Ended up in intermittent conversation with about four MoS at various times who were cooking/doing some rearranging of stuff (and the gas was off at the stopcock and it took a lot of faffing to find someone with the combination to get into the room where the stopcokc was), which was sort of nice.
I then sort of dithered round in room trying to charge phones but TBH not quite sure how I passed the time. I went out to Mango Rock about 2030, a bit nervy for some reason but went in. It wasn't busy, one very loud small group in corner and another small group and me. Aircon was truly fierce at first but welcome in a way. 4k for an Aguila which isn't bad.
I sat at a table in middle of smallish room at first, but after a couple moved over against a wall and felt less conspicuous. Mostly read on phone but after several beers stopped feeling so self-conscious and did start to watch the videos on the screen etc. Another BNM guy did turn up a bit before midnight and sit on his own for maybe an hour. Mostly Spanish-language rock-ish music to start with (only thing I recognised, and did sit up and watch video for, was Molotov's "Frijolero") but towards midnight they seemed to switch to English language stuff.
I was probably the only foreigner in there, though it wasn't all that busy. I think they were shutting-ish when I left a bit after 1; I just didn't see any point in pushing it. I had checked hostel had 24h reception before going out, door was shut but someone let me in when I rang the bell no problem.
Not exactly a sociable night but quietly enjoyable in its way. I don't know what if anything will do tonight; depends in part on what I decide to do about where to go/accommodation after tonight which I'm avoiding thinking about until after I speak to tour agency again.
I am kind of feeling I "should" make an effort to eg get a taxi up to Ziruma today, but I'm kind of not in the mood. I've no exactly been going crazy with tourist activities but I have kind of "done something" most of the last few days and maybe instead of constantly pushing myself to the brink it's time to sit back and let the brink come to me. :-) (Not a terribly relevant quote, but it *did* come into my head so I thought I'd put it down.) I don't think a bit of quiet pottering is going to be a tremendous waste of a day. I do need to be careful not to just drag on here *doing nothing* for ages while trying to sort this tour out, but then again if that's what it takes to get the tour sorted maybe I should.
Oh, I do think tour agency would be up for sending me out without a group, but they did say most people prefer to go with a group, as would I, and although they haven't said anything, I'd feel a bit bad (as they're not getting the same economies of scale) going alone and not paying more, and I *don't* want to pay more (not that anyone's asked me to) anyway.
My intermittent perusal of Twitter has suddenly irrationally give me a mild twinge of worry about coronavirus. But ultimately there's nothing I can do, and there's no point taking precipitate action on the basis of no information and no medical knowledge. Maybe I'm better off being here than in the UK, I guess no one knows really.
Movistar guy did also mention Bahia Concha and Tairona; I've already decided against the latter as waffled other day, and quick poke on web says BC is a beach and I'm not that fussed. It does occur to me I could have another go at the Ciudad Perdida museum I failed to find a couple of days ago. Or (since it's free) I could always go have another wander round the Casa de la Aduana museum.
Battery on Priv is at 19% so I'm going to go down to room, maybe via reception to see if laundry is in, and then perhaps head out for an hour or two.
1910 OK, mixed day.
As I was dithering about leaving hotel got a WhatsApp from tour agency. Went over. Italians have dropped out but a Spanish guy is up for the 4 day tour starting Mon. Great. So I agree to sign up, and the pushy (it turns out) Peruvian guy who speaks English turns up and tries to tell me it will be 1200k and I need to pay 200k cash. It feels like he is really hustling me and this isn't price I expected, either based on the USD price on that website they confirmed was selling their tour - loudmouth tells me some cock and bull story about exchange rates - or on the site they had showed me on their tablet yesterday. He says this is something they shouldn't have showed me, that is the price for other tour operators reselling their tour. I'm feeling super edgy and uncomfortable here and so I fairly genuinely say I need to go away and think about this. He then says I can have it for 1060k which is about what I expected but that he and one of the other guys there won't be getting paid. (WTF?) He still wants me to pay the 200 in cash and I say I want to pay the whole thing on ccard (I'm thinking - and this is a recurring theme - that way if eg the tour never happens I have some chance of getting my money back). I insist on this. They are (probably genuinely) having some trouble with their card terminal, I go over into another shop over the road and we make three attempts to pay the full amount on card and it fails every time.
Loudmouth offers to walk me over to a cash machine to get the money out (!) but I insist I really need to pay on credit card. He then says I can pay 100k cash now and the rest using a "better" card terminal the morning of the tour. (I need to be at their shop at 6am; this is 20 mins before sunrise but prob OK, esp if I am at this hotel as it's just round corner). I agree - I can afford to lose 100k *if* this goes south - and he insists on one of chaps accompanying me round corner to my hotel! So I get the 100k and as I want a receipt we go back to the shop and they write me out a fresh receipt showing it's 1060k and I still owe 960k. At this point loudmouth suggests that maybe I'd like to come back tomorrow and give them a bit more money - voluntarily - if I appreciate the work they've done. I'm pretty fucked off by this and say they're trying to put the price up, and they're asking for this "tip" before I've done the tour, and loudmouth says it's voluntary but I say it doesn't feel like it, and he backs down.
At this point a) I'm aware they have 100k in cash in their drawer b) I say - as I had earlier - in a mix of Spanish and English (loudmouth is totally fluent in English, though coming across like the worst kind of stereotypical US-American pushy salesman caricature you can imagine, the other two don't seem to speak English) that I hope we're all cool. Loudmouth laughs articially and says "look, I am so happy" but I *think* it's all OK. Oh, loudmouth also went off on a random tirade about why French people don't shower, Donald Trump being a bitch and making some laddish chat about gfs etc he asked me if I'd slept with any Colombian women and when I said no he offered me a "gentlemen's club" card (I declined, saying I didn't like that kind of thing, it always ended up with getting your head kicked in, and he sort of agreed with me).
So I leave. Jumping ahead I'm at Radio Bemba on esplanade trying to watch sunset (OK but nothing amazing) and I get a WhatsApp from one of the non-pushy guys sending me a link to make pmt via ccard on web. Now a) this is not in itself a bad thing, I was a bit worried there'd be a glitch first thing Mon morning and it could be awkward and I didn't want to have to turn up with a million COP in cash "in case" I needed it and have it with me entire hike if I didn't need it but b) this isn't what I was expecting c) the link was to pay 1050k not the 960k I owed, which I queried and the guy did slightly reluctantly correct it and I said I'd pay it later as I didn't have my card with me. I will do it tomorrow morning, I don't want to transact drunk just in case.
So this all feels sketchy as fuck. I don't know if this is just some shitty attempt to chisel me repeatedly or genuine mistakes or what, but it's not giving me a good feeling. Ultimately I am telling myself *worst* case is I lose the lot, which would hurt but isn't life-threateningly bad, likely worst case is I lose the 100k cash and get rest back via ccard complaint, but it's not exactly inspiring confidence.
So jumping back, after leaving agency I came back to hotel to drop off receipt and called ccard co to see if they'd blocked the 3 txn attempts (they had no record of them, so prob it was genuinely a glitch with their terminal - and I will be keeping an eye on card online in case of any funny business) then went out for lunch (some place I forgot name of on esplanade - 12k+2kish tip for chicken with weird sauce on, undressed salad (though woman did *not* understand me saying "aderezo" ), beans and rice - then had 2 beers and 3 coffees at Marley Bar, then got some water and dropped it at hotel and went out to watch sunset (as I may have said, OK but nothing amazing) at Radio Bemba on esplanade (3 Club Colombiana Negra, as same price as Aguila at 5k. plus tip) then back there and writing this on hostel terrace.
I may go out to MB 9pm ish for a few more; bit OTT but it is Fri. Have poked on booking.com and looks like I might be mildly shafted in terms of extending my stay at this hotel, but I'm going to go down to reception once I've sobered up a bit (I'm not pissed but had those 3 CCN even if the 3 at MB earlier don't count) and will see what they say. I plan to book in here (assuming I can/am willing to extend at whatever price they offer) for one night for when I return from tour - I will prob try to stay for 2-3 total while I recuperate :-) and sort out onward stuff, but in case tour falls through and I have no desire to stick around in Santa Marta I don't want to over-commit with advance bookings in case it turns out I want to leave on Tuesday after tour falls through).
OK, looking on hostelworld (even tho I've used booking.com before for this hostel) they do have my current room type for 70k a night (I was paying 62kish up to now), which is acceptable - booking.com was not giving *any* price for my current room type, showing only dorms (which TBH might be virtually private given relative emptiness to hostel) or much more expensive family rooms.
Ultimately wrt tour I *do* want to do it (and I feel relatively "happy" about the tour itself, just not the sketchy vibe I get re paying) and relatively few companies offer this Valle de Ñymejan tour (yes, others do Cerro Kennedy one or two night tours) and I am kind of willing to take a punt, and yesterday I did get a pretty good vibe from this company, so we'll see. While probably "easier" than Ciudad Perdida this is also a little more novel and "exclusive", perhaps.
Just seen a small lizard on one of the roof supports here on terrace; mildly cool if unexpected.
Wish I hadn't had quite so much to drink at RB, it's not like I'm pissed but it would be better to be slightly more sober, but it wasn't dark dark when I'd finished second beer and wanted to stay for full sunset (marred a bit though it was by WA chat and then after-doubts).
Vaguely tempted to go to Mango Rock but I think I might go over there 10pmish tomorrow night and if I can get a seat/table (I have no idea how busy it might be) see how that goes.
Incidentally whenever I talk with that tour agency via WA the guy appears barely literate; I'm sure this is in reality just him following " native speaker text messaging conventions" with which I'm not familiar, but I can't help getting that barely literate vibe. I probably come across as ultra-formal to him.
2036 Right, been down to reception. Quite proud of my Spanish TBH. They wanted 154k for first two nights, I showed hostelworld site at 70k/night and they then wanted 210k for all three nights - I had seen the 13th for less on some site so proposed I just paid 140k for the first two nights and we'd sort the 13th out separately, and we did that. So I had already paid for tonight and I've now got Sat/Sun booked and that takes me through to Mon morning - I said I'd be leaving a bit before six am and I'd want to leave a bag as we'd previously discussed, so should all be fine.
Feeling fairly sober, will prob go out to MB for a few - not a late one - shortly.
2050 Writing an e-mail to Rab am reminded that as I had lunch at that place on esplanade one of the itinerant sunglasses vendors opened a glasses case to show me a small plastic bag of presumably-allegedly-coke (white powder) in it. I just said no, gracias again as I had to his sunglasses. I've never done coke and I don't think a foreign country is the place to start experimenting, even if I believed it was actually the real thing.
Sat 0252 Will finish write up in morning. Pretty much last to leave Mango Rock tonight, was never that busy but not a bad night really. Anyway, tooth cleanse then bed.
Sat 1858 So last night I did go out to MB for a few beers 9ish. Wrote some stuff in e-mails to Rab on HTC so maybe I'll see if I can copy and paste some of that in here.
"Sitting outside, It's buzzing in a pleasingly exotic way on the square, a smattering of foreign tourists but so few it feels "real" iyswim. It's borderline pleasantly tropically warm verging on too hot. I'm sweating like a pig during the day, it's hot as hell but assuming I will acclimatise eventually.
[...]
Gonna go to rock bar opp hostel shortly. Hadn't planned to stay out but drunk enough to be tempted and not so drunk it seems foolish.
A-ha take on me playing here now. Just had brief chat w Dutch guy at next table who looks 50ish and after a place to go dancing. Fair play to him really."
So I went to Mango Rock maybe 2330ish, not sure. It was pretty empty and never got ultra busy; I quite like this but wonder if it's a sustainable business. I sat at the bar and didn't feel too conspicuous despite probably being only foreigner in there. After a bit one of bar staff gave me a bit of paper so I could write down any songs I wanted, so I wrote "Los Prisioneros - Por que no se van - Paramar - Procol Harum" and the "VJ" did play live versions of both of those LP songs and also Corazones Rojos which I hadn't heard before. Didn't play PH but didn't expect that, was just taking a punt.
From e-mail to Rab at Sat 0014h
"Rock bar delightfully empty. 3 of us in here. I love it. Rammstein ich will on now.l
Anyway, they were really obviously shutting about 0230 and I left then, possibly last out. Wasn't really that pissed and I got up OK for breakfast this morning. I did order a water once during the night and said yes when they asked if I wanted it with limon, and got a kind of limey cocktail thing with quite a lot of preparation gone into preparing slices of lime, which was pretty nice and refreshing. They didn't have change for the 50k I proferred when I bought my first drink so I ran a tab.
So that's Friday night. As I was having breakfast about 10am this (Sat) morning, got a WhatsApp from tour agency. To be fair it's not unreasonable they want paying ASAP as they will have to make some financial commitments. So I tried to pay using link they'd sent yday and it failed at last step because their company wasn't "active" . I sent them a screenshot and they sent me one back showing they were active so I said should I try again (they were using poor English today, incidentally, not Spanish) and they just left it hanging for a few hours. I was feeling a bit edgy about the whole business and had planned to have a quietish day anyway so I milled around in room doing a bit of surfing etc and illicitly washed a couple of tops (toyed with laundry service but *really* don't want to take a chance on delays when I need clothes for 6am Mon morning; also I will splurge on a laundry service clean when I get *back* from tour as suspect clothes will be unusually sweaty and maybe dirty). Anyway, they sent me another link and that did work but Aqua declined it. I called them but it was out of business hours so couldn't speak to anyone. Tried on Clarity and that was declined so called them, they work 24/7 so did get to speak to someone and after some faffing with security questions I got them to "pre-approve" (or however it works) the transaction and my third attempt went through. Big relief. Agency WAed me to say it had gone through and thank me for my patience; I thanked them for their help and fingers crossed we're all good. Feel a lot better now for having this done.
I went out just for late lunch (at Valeria's) and a couple of coffees (MB). Seems Aqua have just decided to decline everything now as card didn't work in either of those places so I had to pay cash (I took the opportunity to break some 50s; I am trying to build up a stash of small bills as I anticipate water purchases and maybe tips to miscellaneous people during tour and people might not have change for 50s or even 20s). Will have to call Aqua tomorrow, IIRC recorded message says they do work weekends but only up to 8 or 9pm UK time. Mildly annoying but not end of world.
So I'm now back at hostel and don't plan to go out. Yes it's Sat night, but even sitting at MB having a coffee earlier around sunset felt a little bit "meh" , for some reason seemed to be a surge in foreign tourists too. I've drunk quite a lot lately and this is my last night of "full" sleep before tour, so a quiet night in/on hostel terrace won't hurt. I'm likely to be around for a couple of days or so after the tour so can always eg pop over to MR one of those nights.
Oh, someone came over to change sheets on bed (for first time since been here, was prob a bit overdue) just after I got the payment made (3-4pm-ish). No idea if there's a connection but maybe half an hour later got mild shock as saw largish cockroach on floor, although it was squashed and already dead. So I've just shoved it under the bed, out of sight out of mind.
I seem to be getting mosquito bites (I assume that's what they are) around my ankles (only). Not too bad but will have to start putting a bit of repellent on. Maybe this isn't mosquitos, but whatever it is it does seem to happen to me in this way on most of these trips so not too worried about it.
I haven't booked hostel for after tour yet, I will look at that tomorrow. Tomorrow I plan mainly to do a little shopping for tour and if I'm at a loose end maybe go wander round the Casa de la Aduana a bit, nothing major.
2055 Come up to terrace with bottle of water. No one else up here. Can feel a very slight churning in stomach/guts which is mildly disturbing given I have this tour coming up but fingers crossed touch wood be OK.
Feel a bit headachey too. Health paranoia tastic! TBF this could simply be dehydration, my piss was pretty yellow when I went just now.
2120 Also worth noting that I didn't get *loads* of sleep, since I didn't go to bed til about 3 andl was up a bit before 10 for breakfast. Trying to keep a lid on my health paranoia here. Windy as fquck up here, intermittently.
2235 Feeling a bit better but a bit tired. Starting to get a bit edgy about the trip in itself, but probably be fine. Going to go down off terrace and start making a move towards bed.
2336 Bed.
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