Cartago-Orosi

Thu 30th 1145 On bus waiting to leave Cartago. K1 battery seems to be running down more than usual. Woke up a bit in night, got up about 0930 but hung round (charging K1 and trying to deal with booking.com shit) til 1105ish.

Emails from San Jose and Orosi hostels with nitpickety shit - SJ one tells me to reply to confirm or my booking will be cancelled. Also BA emailing re flight and saying to arrive at airport 3h before flight "but not earlier" (fuck that). I just feel I'm drowning in arsey wanker emails imposing random little T&Cs when I thought things were sorted.

Also pissed off with booking.com - the message part of their site (even if I switch to desktop site) is *not* showing my recent bookings, so I can only (I hope) message by replying to e-mails, and I can't initiate a message. And when I try to raise a customer service request to booking.com it loops me round to... the broken per-booking message page. This "we'll take your money, but don't you dare try to communicate with us" shit really pisses me off. Naturally they don't do e-mail, because that works, so it's too easy for people to get in touch. I *could* probably phone, because that's super inconvenient (especially while abroad), but it isn't broken enough to jump through that hoop. And they win, because I am probably going to have to keep using them *despite* this shittiness.

There's a museum here in Cartago saw on OSM on way over and a sign earlier which I haven't been to, not end of world.

Oh, and Orosi hostel message has something confusing about Tapanti park half-reopening at Easter - I only fractionally planned to go there anyway, but this confusing and unhelpful message (like, it's closed *this* week but will open at Easter weekend?) just stirs up more of this lurking frustration and annoyance and I'm not at my sparkling best.

Given general (poss - I hope - entirely unrealistic) "unhelpful legalistic wankers" impression all the upcoming accom has created via its messaging, I am not looking forward to checking in and expect problems, tho in reality should be fine. I hope they don't ask me to pay for my still-cancellable fourth night today, I will argue if they do (I'll say - half true, tho prob won't change - that not sure if I want to spend that night in Orosi or San Jose).

No one (esp not actual woman who seems in charge) at accom when left but as of a few mins before checkout no "no show" allegations from booking.com. Given iirc they have turned up at various delays after check in, they *may* not be auto-generated (ie accom clicks on something to initiate them) so this may well be OK since I do trust the owner at Cartago accom to not initiate a no show claim, tho of course anyone can make a mistake.

Vaguely edgy re being back in dorm after about a week out but in reality shouldn't be a huge deal.

BA say I can check my hand baggage for free at this busy time. This opens up vague prospect of taking some duty free back, but a) what if I turn up at airport and they decide I *can't* check my bag for free, when I've already bought some? b) not too bothered, not as if I've been drinking a lot of some iconic local spirit while here c) backpack is not really "sealable" (it sort of clips shut) and I'd be a bit worried it would come open (or be damaged by rough handling - it's a lightweight construction and feels pretty robust when handled with modest care but not the most absolutely robust bag of course, as material is thin/special etc). So prob won't do this. Just *may* see about buying a miniature or two and trying to get those in my liquids bag.

2214 Bed. Will write up rest of day tomorrow.