1850 Quietly successful day. Will write more later but for now want to use this to think out loud about next step, which is kind of based on stuff I did/thought today so maybe read the whole entry and then the start will make more sense.
I haven't spoken to reception yet but booking.com indicates I could extend here for a night for approximately same price as currently paying.
I am (waffle about why and some caveats re practicalities of booking later) intending to do the four day tour starting on 12th.
Having been (again more later) to Taganga for a day trip today, I'm ambivalent about spending a few nights there. Not saying I will and not saying I won't. Having seen a little of the geography for myself, let me poke at accommodation again.
OK, I could get something quiet with a private room there for maybe £15 a night-ish. Or I could have a private room for one night at a hostel I've seen ads for in Cartagena and which is apparently quite sociable for £25, or I could have a dorm bed there for about £8. Not sure this appeals much either way, but let's think/waffle.
I am thinking I could leave my main bag here and take my daypack up to Taganga with one or two changes of clothes and put in one or two nights there. Or of course I could just take my main bag, but I'm kind of thinking with just my daypack I could go up on the public bus again whereas with main bag my "be super cautious when toting main bag=everything I have" rule would suggest a six-ish (not ruinous, I admit) quid taxi each way.
Let's waffle about my perceptions of Taganga now (and I'll write about the emotional rollercoaster of taking the bus later). Loads of late teens-ish (mostly/all guys, a lot wearing white polo shirts) hanging around area where bus drops off/picks up, with music playing, which felt mildly intimidating but in practice not an issue. Main drag along beach is very short. Felt very mildly isolated/threatening at far end (and I read some stuff about Taganga having gone downhill over last few years, though now recovering a bit, on web which may suggest my outdated guidebook *is* outdated here) but prob my imagination. Didn't go much up any of streets perpendicular to main drag, didn't look *super* threatening but as I had no specific place to go they didn't look all the enticing and I didn't want to have to fend off the odd tout.
I walked along beach a bit. There are some boat tours to other beaches and maybe to Tayrona park. TBH I'm not gagging to see Tayrona park and *one* website I happened to see tonight suggested it's closed every year 28 Jan-28 Feb at request of indigenous groups, no idea if that's true. Beach in town a bit grubby, moderately busy, I mean, OKish but I'm not a beach person anyway. A few probably-American tourists around, some other presumably-Colombian tourists probably majority.
Moderately scenic in the abstract with the bay and the houses (rather ragged and poverty-stricken looking, TBH) on the hills on the sides of the bay etc. Snapped some photos.
Had a pretty decent fried fish (maybe mojarra, but no one said) with (yay!) an undressed salad as requested and rice and patacones (? slices of plantainy stuff) for 15k and 2x620ml bottles of water making it 21k. This was Estrella del Mar. Paid with a 50k, owner took the note out to a bloke sitting a few metres off in the street then pointed me over to him to get my change, which seemed OK. I never got a bill and as I'd already "left" the restaurant (nice-ish covered over pseudo-hut, really) by that point I didn't return to leave a tip, I assume they didn't expect one. They had two very nice little cats running around, both let me stroke them and the ginger-white-and-black-splodgy one put its front paws up on my upper leg at one point.
No toilet in the restaurant, turned out you can pay 1k at a little hut just down road. I used a different hut up far end of beach where woman told me 1k for "pipi" and 2k for something I don't remember, alas, but obviously meaning a dump. I just had a pipi. :-) Seems a bit unfair I needed to go after feeling thirsty as fuck on bus over to Taganga.
I'm glad I've been. It doesn't look like somewhere I would *mind* putting in a few days of essentially doing nothing. On the other hand, I have seen it and I didn't fall in love with the place for its own sake on first sight. (If you could go walking around the town solo in safety that might be cool, but going by eg Wikitravel you can't.)
We might approximately say it costs the same to stay there as it does here in Santa Marta, comparing like for like.
To be quite frank, having already seen the place and thus any box-ticking desire being satisfied and the rosy traveller's social paradise image of the outdated guidebook having been mildly scotched by today's web reading and my visit, I don't feel particularly compelled to return. I could comfortably do "nothing" in Santa Marta for the same price and it probably suits me a bit better; I'd probably feel a bit more comfortable walking back a short distance late-ish at night here.
So the *only* reason to go and spend a night or two there would be in the hope of striking up a conversation with someone. I'm not sure I'm desperate enough to go just for that. It would mean going to one of the dorm-or-expensive-private-room "lively" hostels, not a guest house (and the cheapish guest houses *aren't* on the beach and thus any "sit on my front porch with a peaceful beach view in solitude" non-social enjoyment of the place isn't really on the cards either). I'd be there for a couple of nights tops, I would probably be way older than most people there, I'd not be doing any "activities" in common with anyone so it would just be a question of sitting at the bar and hoping to strike up conversation, which is a low-percentage strategy at best.
And while I probably *wouldn't*, I could experimentally switch to a different hostel here in Santa Marta if I really wanted to try something like that, I don't have to go to Taganga.
Let's say at this point I am flirting with staying on in this region to see the carnaval in Barranquilla, which IIRC (not checked just now) is 22 Feb-ish for three nights. If all goes to plan I'll be on the four day tour 12-16 Feb so sticking around (maybe going somewhere else from Santa Marta then on to Barranquilla) is not that much extra time, and it *might* be cool to see it (it might also be an overpriced crowded shitfest, from my POV). Accommodation might be expensive but for 3-4 nights I could probably get a dorm somewhere in a "good" location to see things without paying too much. But let's not worry too much about that right now; it might be prudent to book a week or so beforehand, but if I am willing to go with a dorm I suspect there's going to be modestly good availability, and I might as well wait til the four day tour is over before making any firm plans, or at least I might as well sort out *tomorrow* now and worry about that in a day or two.
Having used the public buses today without being menaced, I feel almost ridiculously liberated, and (minor unintentional segue) I think I could manage to make an excursion to La Quinta whatsit where Simon Bolivar died (not the museo de oro casa de aduana place after all) on one day here in Santa Marta.
I am still not entirely sure I could fill six more days here in SM before the four day tour. Well, unless I consciously decide to "do nothing and quietly enjoy myself, few beers out (some) evenings, some quiet nights reading up here on terrace in the breeze, etc" , as I might have done in Taganga on my original plan before my daytrip there today made me rethink.
And there are probably some other day trips etc I could do from SM as a base, once I've booked the four day trip and can stop obsessing about that. MG has a list of 16 top things to do in SM IIRC.
In terms of socialising nowhere I've *stayed* has yet felt like there's a party going on but I'm not invited; it's always been fairly quiet in that respect. (In Cartagena it felt like every adjacent building was hosting a party, but there was no connection with my accommodation and thus none of the allegedly common "meeting people in your hostel" angle.) This hostel has a few more people than it did but only a few, a lot of them seem alone but for better or worse not inclined to chat.
Looking at the guide book/web for hints on "other places nearby" :
- Taganga we've already discussed
- Minca I'm kind of ruling out for now because the four day tour goes "through" it, so I don't want to be going there and doing stuff I might end up then doing again as part of the tour. It *might* be an option between the end of the tour and going to Barranquilla for carnaval.
- Aracataca is "Macondo" (from a book I haven't read; but it's magic realism, and I like Borges, so maybe of interest) according to outdated guidebook. Maybe a possible day-trip from Santa Marta (after checking on web it's not a dangerous shithole now, because my guide book *is* outdated of course), and I suppose if I really charmed me I could put it in a night or two there (so maybe an argument for not booking this hostel for more than a night or two at a time, ie not booking solid from now til four day tour starts).
- Palomino - subject to checking out more up-to-date sources than the guide book, if it's easyish to get to this might do as a non-sociable doing-nothing-and-looking-at-the-view kind of place for a few nights. Guide book makes it sound vaguely accessible by local bus. Hah, Wikitravel comprehensively updates the situation with references to outdated guidebooks and suggests as of 2019 it's a bit grim. Obviously it could be biased. However, gut feeling is to give this a miss for this trip, as it wasn't exactly a must-do for me anyway.
- Tayrona Park - I've already kind of written this off for now - it might be closed, it's a semi-big-ticket kind of item anyway and I'm preferring to focus on the other (I think) park for the four day tour right now.
TBH as I've said a billion times beaches for their own sake are not really my cup of tea. A more personal fantasy location for "doing nothing" would be somewhere cool-ish but not gold, green-ish with views over the mountains, perhaps a bit of mist in the distance, etc. A tiny bit like being around Lake Atitlan, maybe. And I'm more likely to get that (though far from clear I can) away from the Caribbean coast, I think.
So I'm kind of forming a provisional plan:
- extend here for two more nights (tonight is my last pre-booked night)
- get the four day tour booked
- go to La Quinta whatsit one of those days
- maybe go to Aracataca (subject to checking its current state on web the other day)
- it's tempting to go "out" tonight but I had a couple of beers at Marley Bar this afternoon to celebrate my excursion to Taganga, and I might take a punt on going a little further afield (eg a rock bar mentioned in outdated guide book) Thu night (Thu being a bit of a compromise as it's nearly weekend but not weekend so maybe not too heaving, though I doubt I'd stay out til 3am anyway), and I may get one or two here at hostel as a mildly OTT compromise
- that leaves me with four no-accommodation nights before the four day tour. I can therefore go stay in Aracataca if I really want to, or I could just possibly (tho prob wouldn't) try another hostel here in SM, or I can put four days in here and putter around and call it fine. (Oh, incidentally, Taganga is small enough and mildly threatening enough I might really struggle to get my daily-ish walk in, which is "important" before I go off on this four day hike. Whereas SM feels OK enough, at least in places, I should have far less difficulty here.)
- if I had a massive change of heart nothing would stop me putting in a couple of nights in Taganga out of those four "spare" nights. Hell, I could do three or even four if I really wanted.
- oh. it would probably be good to go watch the sunset across the sea (which is roughly due west here) one night from one of the cheap bar/restaurants along the east side of the esplanade.
Right. Let me mull this in my head a few minutes then I'll go talk to reception. Actually, let me just check booking.com for *two* nights, I only did one before.
2012 Sorted, respect due. Paid same as via booking.com (a discount might have been nice since presumably no cut for booking.com, but still, they might as well have the money as booking.com), 126k for two nights, and I paid for two beers (4k each) at the same time so I could get them on my credit card (there's a 50k min for credit card unless you're willing to pay a surcharge).
I see (had seen before, but think it was shut) there's a (not the one in guide book) rock bar opposite hotel. That might be worth a punt, I'll see what web says, but even if web says not much location is perfect for a few beers and getting home safely.
OK, so let's write up a bit more chronologically.
Didn't sleep all that well again. Not sure why as bed is not bad at all, maybe it's the heat or the early morning sun. Not sleeping *terribly* or anything.
I drowsily checked my phone when waking up maybe 8am (in case of nastygrams from HMRC relayed via parents by e-mail) and it looks like someone has been trying to hack one of my betting exchange accounts, so I changed the password and fingers crossed it's all OK. Anyway, that meant I got to breakfast a bit earlier than usual.
Staff very friendly, a little bit explicitly angling for good comments on booking.com, but tis OK.
Sat on terrace dithering re four day tour after breakfast. Oh, during and after breakfast there was a lot of Billie Holliday playing (some originals, also a few fairly tasteful remixes) which was cool but a little odd.
Asked at reception about getting to Taganga and they told me there was a bus. Went back to room and dithered a bit more. Somehow decided I'd go over to Taganga on the bus, treating that as an adventure/confidence building exercise in its own right anyway, have lunch there, see what the place was like and then maybe go book the tour once I got back.
Walked along esplanade in hope of getting a bus but none there, although outdated guidebook (going to write OGB from now on) said they went from there. Loitered on a corner. Eventually looked on web on phone from street. Feeling a bit sorry for myself, not helped by dynamite travel tips on web like "catch a bus to Taganga from downtown Santa Marta" . Anyway, that clued me in I needed to try carrera 5 so went over there, absolutely lined with street stalls and half wonder if this is where had that group of guys address me on first day, but didn't feel threatening and quite cool in a local colour way. I did see a bus to Taganga but didn't board it, I loitered and got on next one. Signs all over saying there's a turnstile but there clearly isn't, luckily fare printed on wall and guys at hostel had told me anyway so I handed a 2k note (didn't need change, fortunately) to driver.
Felt a bit intimidated/tourist-looking on bus but not really a big problem. In some ways it would have been cool to just walk to Taganga but it is over a big hill (some nice if briefly-glimpsed views on drive down other side) and some of the areas we passed through looked pretty poor (though not *necessarily* dangerous, of course) so prob best on the bus. Already waffled about loads of guys and music at bus terminal above.
I was dithering a bit about *leaving* Taganga. I felt I'd seen most of the relevant stuff, I'd taken some snapshots, etc. I also told myself the cost of coming by bus was so negligible I could easily return another day if I somehow had regrets. So in the end I spotted a couple of possibly-American tourists heading up towards junction *just* off from the beach where bus had dropped off and figured they might be getting a bus and thus I wouldn't be only tourist. And after loitering a bit and watching them get on a bus with an unpromising destination sign (the bus *out* did say Taganga on, though I checked with driver anyway) I went over and got on too after checking with driver.
This bus was mildly weirder/more threatening. Someone at back was playing some Latin-ish music quite loudly, and a late-middle-aged bloke sitting opposite me spoke to me quite forcefully (if not unpleasantly) and I didn't have a clue what he was saying (he wasn't necessarily having a go at anyone, let along me) but then a chap got on lugging a large engine component and I moved over to the window seat to let him sit down and he was then between me and incomprehensible bloke (who I sort of said "si" to, perhaps stupidly, rather than politely saying I didn't understand and trying to engage him in conversation, though he *may* have been a bit weird or mildly drunk for all I know) anyway.
Driver actually told Latin-music guy(s) to turn the music down at one point, and remonstrated with them when they turned it back up, so at least he didn't seem overly intimidated by them. Bus went down esplanade on way back so no trouble getting off (and it had been semi-obvious in Taganga, given the descent down the hil towards the bay, and I checked with driver as I got off).
Then went to MB for celebratory two beers followed by two americanos while I mulled over the four day tour situation. As I think I already said, I felt almost excessively pleased with myself for managing the buses (not that it turned out to be hard, and while it's nice to feel if push comes to shove I'm in with a chance of communicating, my Spanish skills weren't needed and/or failed me anyway) and as though I now had a lot more freedom of movement and action. This plus my already-leaning-that-way thoughts plus (paradoxically?) reading some stuff re spiders on Ciudad Perdida hike and seeing pictures of some like (to my inexpert eye) those I'd seen around the place at Iguazu Falls and the fact that some of the people writing about this on CP hike were obviously scared-if-not-phobic of the spiders but also sort of intrigued by them plus thinking that (as I sort of already said) to some extent a spider "out and about" can be kind of dismissed as "not my problem" (unless I'm unlucky enough to have it right in my face) unlike one at home plus a feeling that eg I did those Guatemala hikes and that *nothing* in the description of any of these events really stresses this angle and it's just me being paranoid - deep breath to finish this massively adhoc sentence - made me think I'd go round to the agency and check the date and that they had those other two guys and check the price and pay (ideally just a deposit so I'd have a partial GOOJF card), but they weren't there! Table was there with bumf but I hung around a few minutes and no one emerged to man it. (Incidentally the agency opposite with two day tour was shut again at this point, maybe a bit after 4pm.)
I toyed with getting in touch via net tonight but since my earlier mullings have me staying here another two days I will sleep on it and go see them tomorrow before (probably) going off to La Quinta whatsit.
I came back to hostel via supermarket (got some resealable plastic bags as woefully undersupplied with them, and my liquids bag no longer sealed and could have seen me fucked if I had to fly and forgot to get a replacement, since I'm not sure I've seen plastic bags being given away or even sold at airport security, and 3l bottle water - checkout woman seemed mildly knackered and we slightly bantered) and had a quick and mildly refreshing solo dip in pool. I think that's it for the chronological account of today.
2049 Got second beer, luckily same chap on desk so no issues with whether had already paid. "Something attempted something done" has earned me a couple of beers, I think.
When struggling with unhelpful web advice earlier to "take bus from downtown" (insofar as I even know what "downtown" means, it's hardly a precise location is it?), I did feel a bit like Bella Wilfer struggling with the similarly high-handed instructions in her cookery book. "Where am I to get one, you goose?"
Quick poke on tripadvisor and GM re bar opposite hostel fairly positive, open all afternoon and til 1am tomorrow and 3am at weekend. So maybe tomorrow night a couple of beers on esplanade for sunset then back here to loiter a bit and go over to the bar opposite maybe 9-ish and see how it goes. Main thing is that it shouldn't feel too threatening, it certainly doesn't look it from outside, but see how it goes.
I don't want to jinx it but the HTC and its battery have been doing a fairly solid job so far. I've got GPS logging on that (since it's the phone I usually have with me) same as on the Priv, and I do do a bit of web surfing and e-book reading on it while I'm out and about (keeping an eye on battery as don't want to run out) and it doesn't seem to run down excessively quickly - like any smartphone it could obviously do better, but it's really pretty solid and so far it hasn't pulled any nasty tricks like showing 70% battery and then leaving me feeling in the shit because it drops down to 5% all of a sudden.
2126 Finished second of the evening's beers, won't get another, due to free breakfasts etc I am going to bed earlyish and getting up earlyish and I have now had four today and do plan to have quite a few tomorrow etc.
Fascinating/vaguely infuriating to read other people's travel advice on web. People who seem to know way more than I do about Colombia (albeit with a mildly smug and pert style - and of course I am *not* trying to write that kind of travel blog, this is a) only likely to be read by Future Me anyway b) a what-I-did-and-how-I-felt diary, not a "here are some tips" site) will suddenly astound me by saying something which seems blatantly false or unfair based on my own experience.
It's probably obvious - and I'd hope Future Me is going to be an understanding reader, of course - but for the record, when I refer somewhere as "fragment-of-name whatsit" , it doesn't mean I don't think the name is important - it means I know where I mean and want to give enough of the name for me to know what I meant in future, but that I haven't interrupted my writing to go look up the full name, or that the name is long and I don't like to keep retyping it, or that I may well have the name imperfectly remembered and I hope to minimise confusion by just giving enough to make it intelligible given the context of where I've been talking about going or where I have gone.
2138 FWIW there are currently three of us up here on (large) roof terrace sitting on our own. I'm not complaining or making trite observations about how "isolating" the smartphone is, I'm just recording this for a bit of flavour. And actually it kind of makes me feel better; I *would* sort of like to have a bit of a chat occasionally, but at the same time I am not overly keen to feel I can't get some peace and quiet without hiding away in my room.
Since I now have two days here, I might ask about laundry service (9k a kilo, I believe) tomorrow morning. It would be good to get an intermittent "proper" wash of some clothes. I'm always just a bit leery of a) socks going missing b) high temperature washing/drying causing horrific shrinking (especially of the merino wool tops I have - incidentally, while I have a psychological idea these are "too warm" for the heat at time, in practice they do seem to be fine, and while I'm in no position to judge for myself I understand wool has the big advantage of being far less smelly after you'e been sweating into it than synthetics (or cotton, not that I have any cotton clothes with me)).
It's a bit tempting to leave it an extra day though, so I can have an extra day's dirty clothing getting a "proper" wash. Meh. See how I feel in the morning, but I probably won't do a semi-illict hand wash in shared bathroom tonight anyway.
Popped down off terrace for piss a minute ago (there is actually a pair of bogs in corner, but I forgot about that), and amazingly I am running mostly clear at the moment.
Since I don't think there's anyone in the other room on my little balconied area overlooking the pool, the shared bathroom is in practice private, though as I don't have private access to it I have to get half dressed to go use it. And sometimes before going to bed I've been leaving the room door open to try to get some fresh air in, since in practice no one is going to walk past (but of course I remain at least mostly clothed to avoid any embarassment :-) ).
Quick poke on web suggests getting to La Quinta shouldn't be a huge deal - just take a Mamatoco bus from esplanade (saw loads of these today), and fingers crossed I can ask the driver or a fellow passenger (lots of travel bloggers determined to tell me how friendly Colombians are - possibly true, of course) where to get down or if push comes to shove do some discreet poking at GM on phone to see when to get off and which way to go.
Wind suddenly getting up (and bringing with it a smell of marijuana possibly from staff on the floor above). Not a problem, just some flavour - it has been pleasantly cool-ish breeze until now, but just now getting some gusts reminiscent of first night here.
2213 I'm not tired but Priv batt down to 31% and I want to top it up a bit before bed and do some minor chores so might go down to room shortly.
Thu 0037 Bed. I would have gone earlier (was yawning a bit) but wanted to top up camera battery and as (not a bad trade off on the whole) I only have one plug adapter and want to leave HTC charging overnight ready for tomorrow I had to occupy myself with a bit of music while doing that. (Eventually it might be nice to have a camera which will charge over USB, but not rushing to discard current fairly decent camera, plus as it is old-ish the pain of it being stolen or broken would be diminished. But given a USB chargeable camera the *only* mains gadget I'd be carrying would be a USB charger, and I could maybe (prob not) then just buy one locally with the right plug and dispense with carrying a plug adapter as well.) Anyway, bed. Feeling OKish, some minor nerves occurring re tour but fuck it, will 90% certainly go and (try) to book it tomorrow after breakfast.
Incidentally this will be my 14th night away.
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