Barichara-Bucaramanga

Tue 30th 1845 On hostel roof terrace. Seating all around one area which is maybe social but feels slightly awkard. One other guy here, I said "evening" and he said "hola" , he's fiddling with his phone. Willing to talk but not desperate. Mixed kind of day, vaguely discombubulated on arrival for reasons won't go into just now. Do feel a bit better for having had a brief walk, dinner, a surprisingly very hot (after some fiddling) non-suicide shower and some cold water.

Hostel a bit weird but OK, seems to be some semi-related cafe next door, quite decent music playing there TBH, my room overlooks a sort of internal hollow over it so bit noisy but fine. Shared bathroom is on ground floor, room is on first floor. But shared bathroom while a bit concrete prison clinical does at least have more than one of everything and is clean. There is a sign saying not to wash clothes in bathroom, it's so un-private (not the sort of shared bathroom I expected where you lock yourself in a small shower+toilet+sink room alone) I didn't feel I could use sink but I did (partly out of staving off necessity and partly out of bloody-mindedness) give two sets uw a water-only wash in shower. Room has a ceiling fan and I've left it on low to help clothes dry.

I have a bottle of cold water with me, vaguely toyed with buying beer or snacks during my walk but figured I had some yday, hope to be up early tomorrow and also feel/felt slightly on edge so best not to, and doing these things intermittently helps them feel more special.

Didn't sleep super well, not too bad. Got up maybe 915 [other guy just left] on alarm, puttered around rather slowly packing etc and think I actually left about 1040. Genuinely a bit sad to be going. Did see white woolly dog and the friendly kitten before going. Went to hand key in and a bloody big beige dog (which can't remember if is the non-black non-white-woolly one I'd seen before or if this is a fourth dog) on a chain came towards me barking. Guy last night told me it had bitten someone. Anyway, nothing actually happened and owner guy was there and said (somewhat awkward as I was feeling the shock of dog) goodbye etc.

Street fairly dry despite rain last night. Got into main square about 1050 and was trying to decide which of two SG buses would leave first and standing there watching them.

1853 Finger-easing break.

1907 OK.

BTW the chap was speaking to last night happened to be coming back from town as I walked in and he said hi and goodbye, which was nice. Wish I was better at recognising people but I guess i had my head down walking slightly uphill with pack.

As I saw people getting onto one bus I went to get on and a woman told me to buy the ticket in the office. We ended up speaking, first in English then Spanish, she is Colombian but lives in US, she was born in some beautiful town 2h from Bucaramanga I forget the name of beginning with Z but her family moved to Cartagena when she was youngish. She was going to Buc too and then getting overnight bus to Cartagena to get flight back to US.

I was both pleased to talk to her but also a tiny bit edgy (tho telling myself "you always whinge about never meeting anyone, try to enjoy it" ) I'd end up having to talk to her all the way to Buc.

Anyway, she asked woman at ticket office if we had to change terminals in San Gil and the woman said we might be able to get the driver to drop us near there. This (we didn't exchange names) local woman also told me it was important to sit in the seat "puesto" identified on ticket.

Anyway, as a result of that I sat behind her not with her on bus to SG. I was a bit surprised but somehow driver knew us two and another prob Colombian woman wanted to go to Buc, after the bus got to SG local terminal we stayed on, he drove us to a garage on that highway between old hostel and long distance terminal and we waited there a bit and he phoned another bus (prob same company) and ten-ish mins late a minibus turned up which was I assume already en route to Buc from ld terminal and we got on.

People kept assuming me and the Colombian woman I'd intermittently spoken with were a couple and she kept disabusing them of this idea; even when I asked what to pay (I already half knew from earwigging and hadn't got too worked up about it as I was half with a local so figured I wasn't gonna get shafted) the driver told me double and I figured "sod it" and then it transpired he thought I was paying for both of us.

I picked the solo seat of the three abreast when we got on bus so I didn't sit next to my "friend" ; I did (I hope, at least) ask the other woman coming up behind me if she had a pref and she I think said no so I took the single. I was already fairly clear the woman I'd met would not chat to me constantly but given her insistence we were not a couple (when it really wouldn't "matter" - it's not as if anyone was proposing we share a room or anything) and my general slight antisocial tendencies I figured it would be best not to sit next to her given a choice.

We saw the canyon chicamocha from the bus, pretty cool. TBH I half dread the slog back over there tomorrow but barring major crises I need to resolve I will do it.

When we got to Buc she asked if I needed any help (she suddenly seemed to be speaking English again but have difficulty understanding me and at risk of being rude I switched to Spanish) and I asked about a bus to puerta del sol (a roundabout in town nearish hostel) - I had been dithering about walking vs bus vs taxi on way in, as the terminal is a fair hike out of town and annoyingly on the wrong side of a small river so limited bridges make it worse - and she said just get a taxi, it was cheap. I said they'd rip me off as a foreigner and she asked some local guy what it ought to cost, he said 10k and she told me not to pay more than that.

I said goodbye to her and wandered off to the "secure taxi" area where there was a queue. I snapped a photo surrpetitiously and spoke to driver. I had to show him map with hostel marked but he seemed to know it after a bit of thought, told me about 10-11k and I thought if he's giving a range maybe there's a meter and I asked and there was. The meter worked on some strange units and I thought it was price/100 and it seemed to be ticking up slightly fast but not too bad. Driver didn't try to chat but I kept watching map and he seemed to be going right way. When we got near hostel he did seem to be doing a bit of an unnec loop (but yes one way streets) and he also seemed to be getting further away so I said (nicely enough) I'd get out there and he pulled over. Meter showing something like 125 and I'd been figuring sod it I'll give him 15k and if he has been playing games taking long route (which he prob hadn't) he's only stealing his own tip. But he then said 10.5k (hence me saying meter using some odd units) so I have him 12k and didn't ask for any change. (I understand it's not super common to tip taxi drivers but this sort of thing is "welcome" and also not unusual and he was OK TBH.)

While I was in taxi a "get ready for your flight" email turned up from Avianca (in Spanish, which is fine but vaguely worries me - still, it is a Colombia-Panama flight) and that vaguely shitted me up.

I don't think I got ripped off on taxi, 10k obviously a round-ish figure and what guide book says as well as I found on when looking tonight re getting to canyon.

1921 Finger break.

1927 Checked in OK, tho hostel desk woman asked where I'd come from (I had to think for a few seconds) and where I was going to and what my occupation was. She showed me round briefly. Some quite nice murals.

I then had a mini panic over the Avianca e-mail.

After that I figured I'd better go out for food and a bit of a walk and get water. Maybe 4pmish at this point. Somewhat at random I decided to walk north up carrera 33 - I spotted a small (slightly not-quite-surly staff) restaurant and asked and got a not bad carne a la plancha with an undressed salad and a soup to start and a small glass of rather watery fruit juce for 12k - really don't think I was expected to tip and I saw no tip jar at caja but I slipped a 2k under something in my usual semi-furtive way and left.

I snapped the odd surreptitious photo but tried not to look too touristy. Buc seems (at least this area) quite nice, not exactly beautiful but cleanish and tidy but busy and doesn't feel tremendously dangerous. By a nice bit of serendipity my walk took me past the Botero (I looked and thought "is that Botero?" - you don't need to be an expert to recognise his style...) statue of (from memory) "mujer con piel desnudal in the park, which was a nice little surprise (and this isn't mentioned in guidebook either).

I had a " latte sencillo" in a small coffee shop I'd spotted which had prices on wall after turning back down carrera 33 and retracing my steps, small but not bad. I went in a D1 near hostel but - it is such a fucking weird shop - they had no water, so I managed to cross the heavy traffic on Kr33 to get to an Oxxo nearby (there are quite a lot here) and got 2x1l bottles chilled Brisa water for 2k (Cristal 2.5k, more than the tiny shop in Barichara). Toyed with getting snacks but I hated the prices and figured I didn't really want anything anyway, be good to have a restrained-ish day.

Back to hostel for shower/shave and then out here.

I am waiting for midnight so I can fill an online form in. Fingers crossed.

I don't feel too bad right now. There is a decidedly "in transit" feel because I have to fly soon.

Guide book says fixed price for taxis from centre of 32k (poss out of date), but not sure if this is centre. Taxi colectivos go from Kr20 parque santander which *may* be a bit of a slog, but not checked. If this isn't an option, I may ask the hostel desk what their shuttle service costs. I do also need to review the transport situation and metro map for Panama City but not doing that tonight.

Bit peeved that I'm almost certainly gonna have to pay approx 10K (and expose myself to - prob minor here - security risk, and rip off risk) to get taxi to Papi Quiero Piña tomorrow to pick up a bus to canyon and ditto when I return (I saw what am 90% sure is PQP on bus in today). Can't be helped and not a fortune but I hate taking taxis even ignoring the money. This is just big city shit I guess. I don't think I could reasonably have had a hostel in a safe area near any of the bus points though. In hindsight - but bearing in mind I was already booked for Barichara when Tim told me about this canyon, more diligent reading of guide book might have clued in me but I hadn't anyway - it would have been so much more convenient to visit from SG, if only because everything in SG is more-or-less walkable. (I think there might even be buses to Acuaparque from local term which may well be the canyon, saving need to go to ld term.) *But* once I was no longer in SG, visiting canyon from there would realistically mean a two night stay, so coming straight to Buc and visiting from there probably is better (if sucky).

Google Maps says PQP is 1h40m walk from here, it may be less but even so this is hardly a practical proposition and I have no idea how safe all the associated areas are. There may be local buses going to PQP and it may be feasible to pick one of those up near here - I will ask at reception, although I want to do stuff at midnight so can't go to bed early I may well go back to room 9pmish - but even so I suspect I'd still have to get a taxi back tomorrow evening.

Fingers crossed no crises arise which stop me going tomorrow at all.

I am *not* visiting the water park and not taking swimming gear. I saw it from road and Tim had showed me photos so I know it's same place. It might in theory be kind of fun but the main issue is that I'm not keen to be half naked out in full midday sun - yes sunblock, but I don't have *that* much and I wouldn't nec trust it not to wash off etc. I am also a bit intrigued-but-edgy about all these chutes and slides and things.

I am not out of sunblock and prob have enough, the issue is more around washing off and general exposure, not sunblock supply. I am gonna purchase a fresh supply (and treat myself to a new razor) when I'm in Panama, but don't want to buy anything before I fly due to liquid volumes and liquid bag space. Just to be clear, I am not not doing this because of limited sunblock supplies - even if I had a huge full container with me right now, I'd still not be doing the waterpark.

(To be scrupulously honest, Tim said it was quiet even at weekend and it looked v quiet from bus today as we passed. I could see "value" in experiencing waterpark for more or less first time in my adult life - feeling nervous about the slides and the general swimminess etc - when it's quiet and not packed with hordes of stroppy teenagers and screaming kids as I suspect most waterparks the world over are, but this value isn't enough to seriously tempt me.)

There is a biggish cat here, no photo yet. It may just be from the neighbourhood and jump up via the roof of course, rather than belonging to hostel.

Gut feeling is that the hostel itself is not actually super busy. The cafe next door is and it may be some hostel guests are there, but it is prob also open to public. Given midnight stuff and having a break after yday beers and wanting to start earlyish resolving crises or going to canyon tomorrow I am not going to try the cafe/bar type place tonight, but may give it a go tomorrow evening. The behind-the-bar entrance appears to be in a hostel common area near the showers with a "staff only" sign, but I see no entrance to customer side of the cafe from within hostel so suspect it has an entrance on street adjacent to main hostel entrance, but haven't thought to look as come in/out before. This behind-the-bar entrance is what makes me suspect a connection in ownership with hostel.

1951 So I think that's about that. Gonna sit here - no one else is around - and drink my increasingly warm water and maybe read on phone or stare at skyline meditatively and as I say maybe go back to room 9-10ish. I did yawn earlier, despite not "doing much" today and the buses being broadly easier than expected due to that custom connection at the garage in SG, I do feel oddly tired.

1959 OK, just had quick look on web and official (?) Panama City metro site has a handy usage guide. Looks OK, maybe bit of a slog to station near hostel but probably otherwise fine. You can apparently use credit cards contactless, but unless I'm desperate I will pay USD2 for a card and top it up, it is a souvenir and it saves me having to risk random charges or blocks on a credit card and means I don't have to be getting a credit card out when I use metro. It runs til 11pm which fingers crossed should be fine, obviously if I end up getting delayed (I mean, fingers crossed I'm actually allowed to fly in first place) I will just have to bite the bullet and get a taxi. (To be fair, airport taxis while expensive are probably licensed and restricted and generally safe. But I suspect it would be USD30 abs min to get a taxi.)

Still, this all feels borderline OK and is reassuring.

Just in case it's not clear, while I have printed boat ticket out, I am not intending to experimentally show it to any airline or immigration personnel - no point paying (in terms of stress and statistical loss) for the return refundable ticket and then risking jeopardising things by showing a boat ticket which might (tho Avianca are apparently OK according to SBA) raise suspicion and *then* showing the return ticket which at that point may be regarded as "fake" (tho it isn't, of course, and they can presumably check the booking status). I'm just showing the return flight when asked for proof of onward travel. I will prob also - since I have it - show the Bog-Lon return ticket, though I need to be careful to show the Pan-Bog ticket first as I don't want them to get the impression I'm trying to use the Bog-Lon ticket as proof of onward travel from Panama.

2022 Feeling vaguely edgy. GM says about 30 min walk to Parque Santander. Barring other rushing around (eg printing off stuff; I hope to be able to get electronic boarding pass but who knows) I may walk over there Thursday partly as something to do to see the city and partly to see how I fancy trogging over there with pack to pick up a colectivo to airport on Fri.

I'm not tired but given this sense of frustration it might be nice to go to bed early, but I really do want to see if I can do this form at midnight.

2042 OK, it is nice enough up here on rooftop and quite nice to be alone but I'm feeling edgy and I need a piss. Gonna go have quick chat with reception about canyon and then go into room - I will be listening to music from cafe type place just the same there anyway!

2056 Back in room. Cleaned teeth.

Had chat with woman on reception (in Spanish). She suggested getting taxi (7k) or bus to terminal from Kr33, then from there (I knew this bit) getting a SG bus and asking to be let off at canyon. I asked about PQP and she said that's the same (not quite sure precise wording) as it's the same bus. Guide book makes out PQP is maybe better. She said bus to PQP would be Floridablanca bus, prob also from PQP. I asked (she seemed quite surprised) and it's safe to take a (yellow) taxi in street - she also suggested Uber or some other app, but I don't have those and would rather avoid them. (Does PQP *really* mean "Dad I want pineapple" or is it just a name?)

Gut feeling is barring crises I will try to get up 8amish, I will see if I can get a bus on Kr33 to Floridablanca or terminal and if I fail or am hanging around more than maybe 20-30 mins I will look for a taxi. I am probably resigned to getting a taxi *back* (and I suspect I'll get off bus at PQP), I'll probably ask the taxi driver to take me to Kr33-C56 intersection rather than the hostel given I now know the area a bit and won't have my backpack with me.

2103 Right, if NC headphones make it feasible over music (which is slightly suckier than earlier but not terrible) I will watch a bit of YT.

I suppose I could ask taxi to take me to Parque San Pio where I think Botero statue is. That's obviously walkable and probably also shorter to say and hopefully known to taxi drivers.

Oh, there were a few small groups at tables or a few guys sitting around solo in lower common area(s), but it really didn't look super social wrt meeting anyone and TBH I half wonder why they sit down there instead of on roof. (The few small groups gave the impressions of being two/three-ish women who were all together at tables, and the tables were somewhat isolated and sort of in a different side area to the main area with the unused table tennis table and the shower/toilet block.)

Wed 31st 0008 Done checkmig, got pdf downloaded. I started a few mins before midnight and 2nd Feb was available to pick (it wasn't this afternoon 4pm ish) so just maybe I could have done this an hour or so ago but anyway. Very straightforward really, and it didn't ask me any of the covid questions some websites seem to suggest. Seen some stuff on web saying this is not in practiced checked on exit and I can't help feeling - since the information provided seems to be exactly what they would also get from regular airline ticket and immigration checks - this is maybe one of those leftover covid things and Avianca shoved it in the email telling me to do it but it isn't required (and the fact the web doesn't say this reflects the same kind of issue where searching for eg mask restrictions in Panama turns up all sorts of out of date documents but nothing stating actual current (I hope) situation). It may technically or even in practice be required but in any case I have done it.

The PDF is actually just some sort of pre-registration but given it takes 24h+ to go through and you can do this an hour before your flight I guess the pre-registration is all you need!? Anyway, fingers crossed but this doesn't appear to be the horror I had feared.

I also clicked on "gestionar tu reserve" on the Avianca e-mail and it doesn't obviously appear to be offering me the chance to check in online or add ID document numbers of anything yet, but it does at least show the flight as confirmed still.

So fingers crossed things are OK. I *still* have a (possibly irrational) bad feeling about this flight, but really there is no specific reason to expect problems and I will make a point of getting to airport as early as reasonably practical. (Given there's no free food on flight - fair enough - and eating in airports is expensive and shit and that by the time I get into - touch wood - hostel it will probably be gone 10pm, my inclination is to try to get up early enough on Fri to have breakfast and/or snacks at restaurants/shops near hostel before I check out, and I may see if I can buy something suitably snacky to take with me and eat during the day - I will have to buy overpriced liquids at airport, but I assume I am fine to take more or less as much food as I want right up until I clear customs in Panama.)

So while I do still have these lurking worries, I don't feel too bad and so far things seem to be OK. Anyway, to bed, have alarm set for 8am. I need to be careful not to milk the canyon tomorrow, if I see and do all I want and haven't blatantly rushed round, if it feels natural to come home after spending 2-3h there that's fine.

0017 So let's go to bed. I have ceiling fan on max setting (5) and while noisy it is pleasantly cool. Not that it's stiflingly hot here, at least in evening, but room perhaps a smidge stuffy at least when I arrived.

Barichara, Monday

Mon 29th 1609 Going swimming in 20ish mins but will start writeup now.

Didn't sleep super well. Not consciously worried about all this flight boat accom stuff but probably played into it. Got up maybe 930ish but not sure.

Basically took me about 4-5h to get fucking stuff sorted. Will try to brieflyish summarise. Towards the end of this imagine me literally semi-shouting things like "You couldn't fucking making it up" , "You utter fucking c*s!" , "Why does it have to be so hard?" and "I'm losing the plot!" To my credit I was not rude with any actual humans, even with the Avianca rep I tried to be polite albeit slightly broken-record-ish.

- Avianca replied to my ticket saying to call them and giving a link. Which just redirected to their home page. At the time I put this down to sheer incompetence, in hindsight it may be an interaction with mobile browsers and fiddling with "request desktop site" setting might have fixed it. Still semi incompetent on their part if so.

- I found (via web search, not their own site) a Colombian Avianca number and called it using the free mins (I think) on my local SIM. They did speak English but I half wonder if I'd have done better in Spanish. Long story short, about 20 mins of actual chat with a low-level agent who didn't really seem to understand my problem and kept telling me I could book online or book over the phone (or start booking online and then call to make payment) but there would be a USD30 surcharge for booking over phone. He asked for my name and at one point I got a bit worried they'd charge me the USD30 for *this* call using my existing ccard details. In the end I said to him (I had told him my nationality earlier) "so if I book the ticket online and it goes through, it will be valid?" and he said "yes" and that had to be good enough.

- In hindsight (though touch wood, as obv not actually flown yet) my getting worked up about it not asking for my nationality was silly. Why would it matter (before checkin) unless told otherwise? I think my general distrust of airlines/travel agents has been boosted by the trebling of the price on that one the other day and the general refundable fare collywobbles and I'm starting to jump at shadows. FWIW the agent quoted me a dollar price on the phone which was practically £168 (but there'd be service fee on top) which encourages me to think the web price *is* valid for me as a Brit.

- I toyed with buying the £112 XS fare, so as to lose less if my ticket does turn out to be invalid and to deprive Avianca of revenue. But my bag is a bit borderline (the carbon fibre-ish frame is flexible, but flat it is probably 50-55cm long and limit for personal item is 45cm) and I decided I didn't want to risk creating extra problems. I want to fly with bag in overhead rack given I've paid so much extra over personal item only fare, but I may try to sneakily see if it does fit under seat in front of me as a data point for future flights. (This is the acid test, but you maybe have to get it past size inspections from staff first too.)

- So I booked the £168 fare on 2nd Feb.

- I then booked via expedia an Avianca "L" fare for £186ish to come back from Panama to Bogota just in time to catch my flight home. It said "cancellation included" etc but all the usual utter vagueness applied. Aqua then declined the payment and sent me a text - which I couldn't reply to as it's about £1.50/message to send when roaming. So I had to call them using my Skype credit (knew it would come in handy sooner or later) and spent ten minutes and had to give them my personal details three separate times but eventually confirmed all txns on account valid.

- They said to wait 5 mins and retry but I decided (should have done this all along) to use a different card for this flight to reduce scope for fuckery. So booked £186 flight and immediately after it shows all kinds of "ticket is non-refundable" shit. I can see my booking on airline website but neither they nor expedia will show the fare class (even though I know it was L) and words like "non-refundable" are plastered everywhere. Freaking out i went into the cancellation stuff on expedia site, saw i was at least able to cancel for free within 24h and spoke to an agent and *explicitly* confirmed I can cancel for a full refund (I quoted the actual amount) any time in the next few weeks (he clarified pre flight, which is fair enough). I have a screenshot and fingers crossed this will be OK.

- I then went and booked same hostel as pre-trip (since I figure it is close to metro and it will help to familiarise myself with the area ready for pre-trip) on their site with the discount code - USD52ish for private room shared bathroom with aircon for two nights. Had to fill in all my details again. Gave them Aqua card just for reservation (not payment) and presumably because of this Aqua robo-called me (instead of sending a text) and in my frazzled state I answered it before frantically hanging up (which seemed unresponsive) 20s later. So I suspect that's £1.50 or so pissed away, even though I already confirmed the earlier things with Aqua were not fraud and can't see why this was flagged and why not by text.

- So I have a nagging suspicion the hostel booking may *not* be confirmed but they have not e-mailed me to say that and I have not had any other texts or calls from Aqua so sod it.

- I went into town to print stuff - accom gates shut and had to go find someone to open them, ffs - but the place I had in mind was shut. Was about 1340 at this point so figured they might reopen at 2 and went for lunch (*la* sobrebarriga) at MLB, for some reason got a free soup of day started today tho didn't yday, had jugo de guanababa con leche with it and it was nice though more like drinking thick foam and maybe en agua would have been more thirst quenching.

- internet-ish cafe was open, in hindsight I should have asked to use a PC and print myself so I "only" leaked my webmail password and 2FA would make that semi-useless, but when I asked about printing they said to e-mail stuff so I had to do that and it feels a minor security risk but prob be OK. Got the printouts - inkjet not laser sadly, and I asked for B&W and they printed colour and not sure I didn't get charged for colour, but maybe not, and it was only 3.4k anyway.

- I then went and had a white coffee (5k in paper cup) at Panaderia Central on main square - slightly less "snobby" atmos than Nona's Bread but at Nona's it was at least a "real" cup for same price, maybe paper one was larger.

- Got bottle of water and some of those ruined-by-ants-yday snacks at little shop at top of road from accom into town, asked about beer but 3.7k so I decided I get some at the little place nearer accom that was shut yday and I did, 4xPoker at 14k the lot, perhaps bit OTT but sod it.

1631 Gonna go swim. Mostly written the day up. Just need to book accom (will be private, so I can exercise there and may not force myself to tonight) for Buc tonight and otherwise can semi-relax. Anyway, let's swim.

Hostel wifi came back maybe earlyish this morning BTW. Was worrying it would crap out and kill my Skype phone call to Aqua but it was fine.

1732 Swimming OK, prob in water about 30 mins. I (politely I hope, but always scope for Spanish errors) offered attendant woman a 5k tip (over 10% on the 3 days I've been) for looking after my things as I left (for the last time, at least this trip) and she didn't seem offended but politely declined, which (I think) was nice of her.

FWIW after coffee but before buying snacks/water I popped into the church on the main square. Had been there first-ish day, it felt like an absolute age ago.

Still nothing from aqua so maybe me answering and immediately hanging up on that weird fraud call was enough to convince them it's OK. I've had another e-mail about the Aqua-purchased flight on 2nd Feb saying it's confirmed and that it is coming up soon, so I'd strongly hope nothing can fuck that booking up on Aqua's end, but you never know - this is why in hindsight the lesson here is to use separate cards where possible for a) "big" , possibly "iffy" if retrospectively cancelled by card company purchases b) separate big purchases on same day (eg my two flight purchases today) to reduce chances of triggering fraud alerts.

Couple of other people in water at start, then later on also them plus a mum and little girl in a rubber ring. Not crowded enough to be a problem, I did some widths instead of lengths but it was for stuff I'm not very good at anyway, and I mostly did lengths anyway. As usual biggish 10-15 or so group of guys sitting round booth drinking beer, a bit offputting but not actively "threatening" or anything.

White woolly dog very affectionate with me as I came back into hostel from swimming. The kitten-y one of the cats was also quite friendly earlier, and was also rolling around and pseudo miaowing+purring at the same time.

Gonna have a shower and then prob go sit outside with some water and book Buc hostel and then I'll have a beer and meditate a bit and fill in gaps in this log and maybe jot down some lessons to learn from this whole debacle.

1754 I asked attendant woman and she wasn't sure but thought the pool was 20m. This feels vaguely right, as I'm sure it's shorter than the 25m one I'm used to but not enormously so.

Since there are no photos (I never took phone plus vague perv issues even if I had), a quick verbal description of pool:
- on street there's just a white wall with "piscina municipal" painted on (think do have outside photo of this) and a gap to go in through, which prob gets closed off by a metal barred gate when closed
- going through the gap, there is a booth/hole in wall on right where attendant sits, with a couple of fridges of beer and some spirits in bottles.
- in front of this in evenings at least is vaguely semicircle of chairs for the drinkers - pool is not really visible from here
- beyond this to the right in same building as booth/hitw are first the women's changing rooms/toilets and then the men's.
- inside the men's floor is tiled and to left are toilets (I peeked in there today, someone was having piss so didn't want to go right in but don't think there are showers) and to right are two changing cubicles
- carrying "straight" on instead of turning right into changing rooms the pool itself is surrounded by low metal railings with a sort of half-open gate to get through
- around the pool is vaguely tiled, to the right as you approach is quite a large tiled terrace where there are a couple of tables with chairs, around the other three sides area between pool and railing is just about wide enough to walk
- there is a covered railed off basketball court off at far end but you can't actively see people on it, tho at times you can see the ball flying if you look
- I think there is a football pitch somewhere off to left but you can't really see it properly
- pool is prob 10-15m "left to right" (viewed as if walking through gap in wall from stteet) and maybe 20m "front to back"
- as said already pool is all one depth, says 1.6m on floor but it's really about shoulder depth for me when standing flat footed
- edge of pool is a sort of semicircular concrete "boss" , quite thick (8 inches diameter??) so although I didn't try it wouldn't be trivial to climb out at an arbitrary point, it's not the "flush right angle water slops out of pool and back into a kind of flush grille in floor" style I am used to in London
- there is a step of steps (which are kind of set into the pool wall and have a very slight "climbing" feel to them) in the "near right" and "far left" corners
- water/pool base fairly chloriney light blue, with a moderate quantity of dead leaves and so forth but not disgustingly so

1830 OK, had shower/shave. Sitting outside room with bottle of lukewarm water. Let's look at Buc accom and then get a beer.

1849 Booked. The hostel gets good reviews and is in a "good" location but I think that's more for bars and general tourism. I got a twin room (which I think - but there's always 5% doubt - is just for me) with shared bathroom for IIRC USD52 for three nights, dorm would IIRC have been 30 so this isn't too bad and the social opportunities are still mostly there, it also has a rooftop which is always cool. I am not sure it's a great location wrt bus terminal but it's a big city and prob couldn't be helped. They do have an airport shuttle service which I may consider (but given convenient ish departure time I may at least look into bus/taxi colectivo, as much for experience/confidence building as for cost saving). I assume I can also ask for advice on how best to get to this canyon, and as for arrival it will be daylight and it is about 5km walk so maybe doable and it may also be there will be a bus I can get but hard to know where they go of course. (I suspect getting a bus from hostel *to* main bus terminal(s) is easy.)

Feel reasonably happy with this.

Gonna get a beer in a minute. While the boat trip and associated Panama stuff has loomed large lately and spoiled things a bit, it has *mainly* been the last 2-3 evenings - I had a solid and pleasant day of touristing yday and day before, today was kind of lost but I did at least swim and so forth and not end of world. Broader thinking about boat trip and the upsets around wanky not-true FAQs about paypal and needing to pay in USD have occupied mental space and time earlier in trip but looking back (apart from fact all this planning makes trip feel nearly over and I'm probably less than 3 weeks in) it doesn't feel like it's been a huge dominating factor stopping me doing other stuff. Definitely some lessons to learn and will waffle about them later, but while last couple of nights and this morning-into-afternoon have been pretty stressful (albeit minor in grand scheme of things), the stress just feels very prominent now because it's so recent - it *hasn't* really been a dominating factor in the trip even thus far.

1855 OK, first beer.

Lessons learned:

- segregate big/"critical" (eg air ticket) purchases on same day onto separate credit cards, try to avoid mixing any ordinary small purchases on those same cards on same day too

- I really should have forced myself to think through the boat trip (bluesailing vs SBA, payment issues) before leaving home. While my general reluctance to think about trip in advance is a bit of a psychological weak spot, it mostly works fine as I like "bumbling round" with a vague plan. But with stuff like the boat trip with a) international travel aspects b) awkward payment c) limited availability d) need for associated travel tickets, including refundable ones, it really would have been better to sort it all out from home. It *would* have reduced flexibility to choose travel dates mid trip, but as I've kind of experienced, booking flights at short notice can be expensive and/or stressful. Also if I had gone into the whole SBA thing before leaving home I would have flown almost immediately to Panama and only the date of the boat trip would have been fixed mid-trip, and all that would really do is force me to pre-decide the time split between Panama and Colombia, something I have had to somewhat wing rather than choose under current circumstances. (As it happens I guess I'll have approx four weeks in Panama plus the boat trip, which I think is fine, but over last few days I've seen that being three weeks and toyed with it being two.)

[Incidentally these cans of poker say excess is harmful for health; the bottles I drank in Guane yday added "and friendship" to the end. On unrelated note, at least in "D1" supermarket wall sign, it says it's illegal to sell intoxicating beverages to minors *and pregnant women*. I wonder how well that addition would go on with the "nanny state YAY, women's rights YAY" crowd back home. The bit about pregnant women is not always present on this text when I've seen it, FWIW.]

I think the only trip starting from 2018 when I've crossed borders mid-trip was the Jan 2019 one. Although Panama has a bad reputation for being anal here, I think the concern about "proof of onward" travel is usually a concern. My single-ish country trips just tend not to hit it. Plus I think where the border crossing is by bus, the stakes feel less high (the bus ticket probably didn't cost *that* much if you get knocked back, plus the staff are perhaps less concerned about this at land borders but maybe I'm just guessing there) and the prospect of just buying a return bus ticket/putting a deposit down or simply hoping your return ticket home from a neaby country will be accepted is more viable. This particular case is especially difficult as it involves flying in by air, Panama's notoriously strict attention to this mediated by variable airline standards and having this inconsistently-accepted boat ticket out. I could as I think I said have paid USD10 for a deposit on a bus ticket into CR but apart from losing USD10 whereas modulo stress (poss more than USD10 worth) and time, the refundable air ticket is free, I would not be too confident turning up in Panama after a flight in with that bus ticket deposit thing as proof of onward travel - it would probably be different if I were just doing a local hop across a land border (eg CR into Panama, and offering this bus ticket deposit as proof I intend to leave Panama).

Just because a trip/tour is a "big ticket" item doesn't necessarily mean I "ought" to consider it before leaving home - the defining "organisational fuckfest" aspects of this boat trip are a) the need to pay in USD cash and b) the border crossing aspects, including the flight into the country it is paired with and satisfying immigration. A hypothetical four or five day boat tour costing as much or more but within the territorial waters of the country you're already in would probably be much more acceptable to leave thinking about until after leaving home. (The main reason to book ahead there being to avoid disappointment or soaring costs. A good example would probably be a boat tour of Galapagos starting in Ecuador - notoriously expensive and need to book ages in advance, *but* none of the immigration type headaches here.)

If I didn't say the printouts I got today are inkjet and I'd have preferred laser, but it's not the end of the world, especially for this by air leg. I will need to get more stuff printed/photocopied (eg multiple copies of passport with entry stamp, printed accom reservation for arrival in Colombia and printed flight out of Colombia) before the trip but I will get that done in Panama, and (although I will put papers in sealed plastic bags etc) I will see if I can get them laser printed for better resistance to any casual water splashes they experience.

1921 Finished beer.

I think when I get to airport on 2nd I want to go airside ASAP, as although (fingers crossed) it all really out to be smooth, any problems are going to crop up there so I want as much time as possible to resolve them.

I should also, if there is one, try putting my bag in a "personal item" metal guide box - if I am spotted and it doesn't fit, I am in the clear as my ticket allows a larger carry-on bag anyway (though I'll still be furtive about it, and I also don't want to try putting my bag in a carry-on guide box, just in case, though I am 95% sure it will fit, especially if I am wearing the fleece in the airport to reduce bag bulk).

When hearing these ranchera?/mariachi? ish songs I am trying to just let my brain "hear and understand" the lyrics instead of consciously thinking about them. Not sure it's working. I guess fluency comes gradually and every little helps etc etc. All these little mistakes I am catching myself making in day-to-day trivial conversations will hopefully pay off too.

1924 Second beer.

Just checked. If we say trip started Fri 12th (I landed early that morning), *this Friday* is the three week point. And right now I'm 2w3d in. It really is early days despite all this planning ahead booking flights/boats makes it feel nearly over. And while not an orgy of socialisation or excitement, I've already I think formed some decent memories and done some cool stuff and chatted with a few people.

And as I noted earlier about seeing church on main square and when I arrived feeling ages ago, this is what I like about the "four day min" guideline. It's just enough time to start to feel vaguely at home without constantly being disrupted by travel and new places and associated hassle and planning. Obviously break it when necessary - eg my upcoming 3n/2d in Buc, which I will definitely not see in the least depth - but as a general guideline I do like how it feels.

1958 If wasn't clear earlier, I figured by booking same hostel for first visit to PC as the near-mandatory one pre-boat, I at least only have to "find" an unknown hostel once instead of twice. I dunno what the area is like but the reviews are not terrible and don't go on about feeling unsafe and it is nearish metro which should be handy both for arrival and getting to bus terminal for departure for my bummel.

They do offer an airport pickup for USD30 but gut feeling is I'd rather public transport it - get a plastic "Oyster-equivalent" card at airport and so on, then I have it and can use it for my total time in PC. I can research this a bit more tomorrow night maybe. If I were flying in from the UK - so more zonked - and landing late-ish at night I might be keener to splurge on airport pickup service.

(My plan is not to spend over-much time in PC as I have been there before, whereas rest of country outside David is completely unknown to me. But it is possible I will arrive there a bit early before the boat trip and thus have 3-4 nights pre trip instead of just 2, entirely depends how the bummel goes.)

2015 Finished beer a while ago, may go get third now. Not orgasmic or anything but quietly enjoyable, and hardly extreme.

2026 Been doing some chores like checking bank balance. All looks OK. Third beer.

2027 Got those breadish things which got ants yday. And the new pack has aquired some - not too many so far - as well. I'm damn well eating them anyway! Ants are supposed to be very clean and I can blow the few there are off.

Quite nice, at first a bit dull but after a bite or two they grow on me. There were no ants in when I got them home, I did check - may even have checked in shop but don't remember.

2043 In case it's not obvious, treating myself to private rooms in Bucaramanga and PC because they are either side of a flight, and because they are not tremendously expensive. Do intend to roughly continue alternating dorms with privates (depending on prices in Panama), and to mostly prefer hostels or (if it seems to work) airbnb or other homestays over hotels (no matter how reasonably priced) so there is at least some prospect of social contact.

FWIW left ear felt slightly "waterlogged" in pool - doing that "hold nose and blow" thing you do on planes to equalise pressure felt a bit strange. I think it's fine now but will mention it FTR. Nothing major even at the time, but not completely usual.

On random note wearing freshly washed short sleeved red T-shirt tonight - consumes slightly more repellent as need to put it on arms, but it is comfortable and I don't need the sun protection and I can/will wear it 2-3 nights (only) in a row to spread out laundry. Do plan to do some laundry in Buc and/or PC hostels as convenient, though with shared bathroom it's not as good as here.

I am going to pack in morning. Vague plan is to be up 9ish and off by 10-11ish. I think that even 11 departure would see me in San Gil by 12 (prob earlier), allow a generous hour to trog to long distance terminal and get a bus (I believe they are half hourly-ish) and I leave at 1 and am probably in Buc by 3-4, then an hour to get to hostel. I may well leave here at 10, but even 11 works. Formal checkout time here is not til 1pm so there's no rush. I didn't wash anything tonight but uw from last night still slightly damp and given the lack of rush in the morning it makes sense to pack then.

2058 Fourth beer. White dog has come to see me again.

2120 Just finishing beer. Guy came past, said "hello" in English (I replied in kind) and went into room next to mine. I still have 1.7l soft drink in fridge, will go get that in a minute - might as well have it tonight rathert than creating toilet problems tomorrow on bus, I still have some water in room and a fresh 1l in fridge for tomorrow. Incidentally since I'm paying 2k for a 1l bottle of water and the soft drink at D1 is about 2.5k for 1.7l the sugar free soft drink actually works out cheaper - not saying it's super healthy, but still.

Two women - oldish, I think one is the one I spoke to yesterday and who did say hi tonight in passing - chatting in French (I suspect once is French Canadian, maybe both) in upstairs area where fridge is, just FWIW.

2126 I think it may actually be raining.

2240 That was quite cool, oldish (vaguely my age, maybe bit older) Austrian guy - the one who said hello - who is in next room to me came out and sat outside his room and we had a long chat, he has been just about everywhere on his motorcycle. Chat probably was since more or less that 2126 entry. (He had wandered off a second, I was gonna go into room and leave door open while I had a much needed piss but he came back and said goodnight, dunno if he thought I wanted to go to bed or he was going to say that anyway. Not a big deal and I certainly hope I didn't accidentally come across as rude, but just wanted to note how it ended maybe by accident.)

There is a really weird and not exactly unpleasant but musty smell in the air from the rain on the presumably very dry (I don't think it has rained in months) ground. It is quite cool, I just hope we're not in for a prolonged massive wet spell (tho I suppose I am leaving Colombia on Friday) and in particular I hope it isn't raining or flooded on the walk into town tomorrow morning.

Gonna watch a bit of YT before cleaning teeth. Don't need to be in bed before midnight-ish given proposed 9am-ish getting up.

2339 Going to go to bed - I do have private tomorrow so I can eg watch YT tomorrow night and I feel slightly tired and it would be good to maybe get a solid night's rest - I hope I am going to feel more relaxed and less stressed than I maybe did last night.

Barichara, Sunday

Sun 28th 1909 On terrace outside room. Not a bad day of touristing, but I need to waffle about onward travel. Been mulling this over during day.

Accom wifi seems to have no internet so forced to use my mobile data - I have plenty but not ideal.

I sanity checked and the cheap direct flight from Bucaramanga has not reappeared.

I am basically thinking I'll knock Mompox on the head. I'm sure it's nice and it has (dunno what time of year or how affordable it is) a jazz festival, but I have seen two nice colonial towns so far and going to Mompox feels incompatible with my current rather flurried movements. Just possibly it may be a possible destination from Cartagena during final three weeks. Failing that another time.

I am kind of thinking that given I'm going to be feeling the pressure anyway and there's nowhere massively urgently appealing between Bucaramanga (which is mainly somewhere to do a daytrip to that canyon from right now) and the north coast, I may make a bit of a beeline up to Barranquilla - before carnival - and get to Panama ASAPish that way and get all the rushing over with "now" .

My current thinking is I'll budget three nights in Bucaramanga and two in Barranquilla. I will actually only book accom for two nights in Bucaramanga (poss in a dorm, but main criteria is if reasonably possible the hostel should be handy for bus terminal, as my main business there is getting in, getting daytrip on bus to canyon and getting bus out, and it could well be a 10h bus so may want to leave early) and unless I feel I need the extra day I will leave after two so as to have more "buffer" time in Barranquilla.

I am picking Bq rather than Cartagena as it's maybe closer, flights seem roughly as good, I may end up in Cartagena post boat anyway and Bq while not super lovely IIRC feels more like a "normal" city and less like a tourist exploitation factory than Cartagena.

A 10h bus - prob during day for safety - is a bit sucky but it's a one off and it "solves" a lot of my rushing around problems. Arguably I could go back to Bogota instead in less time, but by the time you factor accom and risks of getting mugged if wandering round even early evening etc it doesn't appeal.

To maybe state the obvious the two critical path resources here are time and cheap flights to Panama. Time is scarce but it is mine and I'm not competing with anyone else for it. If I can get a flight from (say) Barranquilla to Panama booked, I may have a certain amount of dashing round and sitting on buses to do, but the "will I miss out?" aspect is largely resolved. I don't actively fear every bus seat being sold out. I already have boat reservation. The bureaucratically necessary refundable air ticket Panama-Colombia I plan to claim a full refund on needs buying before I fly, but except for wanting to keep cost down in case I can't get a refund, I am not too price sensitive on that as I don't ultimately intend to pay it, and it is a month in the future and I can be extremely flexible with the date and flight times if it helps keep the price down because I'm not intending to use it. Yes I need to book a bit of accom "around" these various air and sea transits, but they are either far less scarce resources or are far enough in the future there's no massive fear of missing out, if I just book them in the next week or so. It's the flight into Panama which is critical, so that's what I really need to bite the bullet on tonight.

Sanity checking on booking.com, I can have a private room in Barranquilla from USD30-50ish in total for three nights check in 1 Feb and check out 4 Feb. I want a private room pre-flight, hostel would be *nice* for maybe socialising but pre-flight I really would like a private. Anyway, it doesn't look like accom in Bq is going to be a nightmare.

And in Bucaramanga for Tue 30th-Fri 2nd (this overlaps with above as I'm considering availability both ends for the "float" day which I may spend in either) I can have a dorm bed for USD20-30 for all three nights. So I probably don't have to worry about accom in either city.

The bus company website which r2r identifies as doing Buc-Bq does let me choose those cities but the timetable page never loads. I may just have to take it on faith there is such a bus for now. FWIW guide book for Buc doesn't specifically mention bus to Bq, but the Bq pages do mention two daily buses 9-12h duration to Buc, so while the times may or may not suck there really probably is a bus.

I see Medellin is apparently 8h by bus from Buc and wonder if I should go there instead. But I dunno, Bq feels "better" somehow.

Getting to the flights, Copa - and I did search this on their own website - have a direct flight Barranquilla-PTY on 4 Feb 1817-1944 for £123. There is a Wingo flight for £97ish but despite listing as including cabin bag when I click through there is no option for "normal" cabin bag, just the personal item or then move up to checked baggage and/or (I looked a bit earlier so memory fuzzy) it costs an extra £40+ to get a fare with cabin bag FFS. Copa's Economy Basic *does* include 10kg cabin bag with normal dimension rules.

Copa do a morning flight on 5th (£194) but it's way more expensive. The 1817 flight isn't ideal but it isn't getting me into PC in the middle of the night or anything, and it does probably fit fairly well with checkout out of Bq accom midday-ish and using public transport to get to the Bq airport (though guidebook says there is a fixed fare from city centre by taxi, I'd still rather avoid taxis if I can help it - or am I mixing this up with Buc, never mind now anyway).

The cheapest flights from Bucaramanga are £226 and require a change in Bogota. It isn't just about money. I dunno though. I hate the idea of changing planes in Bogota with double security checks and backtracking. On the other hand, it's gonna cost me (making this up based on r2r) £25 for the bus from Buc to Bq. I am going to spend an extra 2-3 nights in Colombia instead of Panama, but I'm not exactly going to be enjoying them and one day is spent on the bus. Maybe I should just suck it down and condense all the shit into one day from Bq to PC.

This *does* put the pressure on slightly as I need accom booked in PC for first night (which I need to choose carefully-ish so it's easy to get to on public transport) and the page printed out for Panama immigration, and ditto for the refundable return flight, and I need them sorted in the next couple of days before a flight from Buc on (say) Fri 2nd Feb. Redoing search on kayak, prices seem OK-ish. There is an Avianca "S" fare (so cabin bag), albeit at an insane premium over XS, for £168 on 2nd Feb, leaving Bucaramanga at 1410, 2h44m in Bogota and arriving PTY 1950. This departure time is public transport no panic compatible and the arrival in PTY is not ridiculously late (and I could maybe get a taxi, but it's not just about money - in some ways I feel safer on public transport). And £168 is not that much more than the direct flight from Barranquilla and the arrival time is about the same and it saves a 10h bus and "wasting" a couple of days in Barranquilla pre-flight.

2nd Feb departure means I have tonight and tomorrow here, then nights of 30th-1st inclusive (three nights) in Bucaramanga. The 30th has me travelling there but it's only a few hours from San Gil so I probably have some time to myself that afternoon/evening to book and plan and maybe print stuff out if I'm ready. The day of 31st would be set aside for the canyon. The 1st is then free for last minute booking of stuff if I haven't already got it done and/or printing out bookings. There surely to god has to be an internet cafe in one of the largest cities in the country.

This is a little rushed but really it's OK. It is starting to feel silly to dash up to Barranquilla just for the benefit of a direct flight. I hate the XS vs S pricing, but the Avianca S fare should be "safe" (I suspect I flew out on it from London to Bogota).

And there is just no way I can't make it to Bucaramanga in time for a 2nd Feb flight - this is much less stressful than having to get to Barranquilla for a flight. And it means I get more time in Panama and all I'm giving up is some harried dashing around and hanging about in Barranquilla.

Yeah. I'm gonna sit on it for 10/15/30 mins but this feels like a plan, even if it's completely different to the plan I'd been formulating all day of dashing up to Barranquilla by bus.

2008 French woman (we spoke Spanish) asked if I had internet. I told her I only had it via my mobile and offered to share if she needed it urgently for something like a booking. So hostel wifi is obviously down generally and it isn't just me, not that I thought it was.

I am starting to think this is the way to go. I may have to check in online for this S fare to avoid an extra charge, and it vaguely looks as though they want to charge me for *a* seat (but it probably means seat selection), but this is all prob OK. I can prob check in online and show boarding pass on phone or print it for free at a kiosk. The layover in Bogota isn't too long and it solves a lot of problems and gets all the crap over with and sees me hopefully back semi-relaxed bumbling round on a bummel in Panama soon. The evening transfer from Panama airport to accom isn't great but we're not looking at getting across PC around midnight or anything barring major delays. The price isn't amazing but it's not bad (and since I'm booking direct with Avianca I think I can trust what I'm seeing) and by the time you factor in the cost of the bus to Bq even without time or accommodation on a "not really fun" part of the trip it probably works out the same or better.

It may not be perfect and I may have post-booking regrets, but it clearly isn't a terrible option and I can and will make it work. There's no doubt about getting to Buc in time or having accom in Buc - though on this plan I want a private room (in hostel if practical) in Buc to prep for flight in comfort and do laundry etc. (I did wash four tops earlier tonight, forced myself to do it as well as exercise, four tops is a bit too much in the sink here as in my accom sinks but did want to get as much done as poss.)

I *may* even - given plan for tomorrow was just leisurely viewpoint visiting and wandering and a swim (I made a conscious decision not to swim today as it would have been a bit crippling wrt other stuff I did and having a day off is prob good both from exercise POV and from "novelty" POV too, if I do manage tomorrow three out of four days is not bad at all) - be able to book PC accom and the refundable return flight tonight/tomorrow morning and get all my stuff printed out here and that would be a load off my mind.

2019 I'm gonna chew this over a bit more and then book this 2nd Feb flight at 2030.

2021 It occurs to me as this is Avianca it *may* be reasonable to wing it and just show the SBA booking instead of buying a refundable flight. But I should probably go belt and braces just in case. It's not *just* the airline checking this before boarding, I assume Panamanian immigration ask this question as well and at best it's gonna be delay and stress buying a hopefully refundable airline ticket under the cosh at the airport in PC.

I do appreciate I'm probably considering something now I utterly ruled out yesterday. But you know, emotions, plus maybe it takes time to emotionally and/or intellectually grind through the options and come to a decision.

2028 It sticks in my throat the enormous surcharge for S vs XS (£111 vs £168, for a 10kg cabin bag), but it can't be helped and maybe it helps to think of S as a stupid promotional fare or something.

2030 Fuck it. Let me just redo the kayak search and then I'll book Avianca. OK, all the other stuff comes up with the Avianca £111 fare which has no cabin bag (and my bag is just too big for me to feel I can maybe sneak it in as a personal item and put it under seat) or is £145ish kiwi.com and when you click through there's no cabin bag option etc. Look, £168 may not be the best price possible but it isn't life-ruiningly terrible even if I do feel pissed off at somehow discovering a better option after.

And checking Panama FCDO page I see no recent updates so touch wood still no mask etc shit to be death with in Panama. So let's book.

Naturally it fucked up for no reason. Going in direct with Avianca and it's 1410-1950 on 2 Feb for COP835610

FFS, I'm worried they don't know I'm not Colombian (there was something in the fare breakdown about "resident exit tax" ) and if I buy this I'm gonna get shafted.

2100 FFS. I managed to go in via kayak.com link and I'm on Avianca.com ready to pay in GBP but it hasn't asked for my nationality and I'm seriously concerned they're going to sell me a ticket then refuse to honour it. I tried WA but it's just a virtual assistant which doesn't understand.

2107 Right, I'm on avianca.com *via a UK VPN* and the fucking flight now shows as £179.10. This sucks but *maybe* this is due to different taxes for foreigners. It's still better than anything eg expedia will sell me and I suppose it's "only* £11 more. Nope. FFS. It costs more but it still hasn't asked me my nationality and the flight cost breakdown still includes " resident exit tax".

2127 Fuckety fuckety fuck. I'm halfway to tears with frustration. I've actually submitted a fucking ticket on the Avianca site asking for clarification. Of course none of the online travel agents will sell anything but the XS ticket - they just don't offer a choice.

WHY THE FUCK DOES THIS HAVE TO BE SO HARD? In a sane world the fact they sell me the ticket without asking my nationality should mean it doesn't matter, but this is fucking air travel.

Another fucking evening lost. I can't go and book any accom in PC because I still can't be sure when I'm going to arrive.

Of course having raised this ticket I may not get a response for weeks and if I do somehow find some other way to buy the ticket it may mean I'm shafted if they subsequently reply saying "oh no, fuck you, any ticket you purchase won't be valid" .

Filtering out avianca on kayak means the cheapest flight is £207 and this is potentially (I haven't checked) before you dare to want to take a cabin bag.

I could call Avianca tomorrow morning, but I'd feel happier having something in writing.

I should just call it a fucking night but let's have an experimental look on booking.com for accom to maybe expedite things tomorrow.

2147 Fuck knows. There are hostels (and of course there is the hostel I'm staying in pre-boat trip to consider) for USD50ish for two nights for a private, but the ones I've spot checked are 10-20 mins walk from a metro stop. Maybe this is fine at 10pm or whatever but maybe it's not.

I am fucking sick of this. Why do the flights have to be so fucking difficult? Am I just making up worries about the fact the avianca site didn't ask for my nationality? But I dunno, it does feel a little weird.

OK, FWIW the "official" boat trip hostel is 8 min walk from a metro station. Again no idea if this is safe or not but still.

I still need to write up today. I was gonna buy some beers at the local place I went to after first night swim on way back but it was shut - poss cos it's Sun. I could have easily bought beers in town but I thought I'd get them there. I decided I'd accept this "nudge" from universe not to buy any and didn't turn round to trog back. I had two Pokers when I got to Guane (and that was I think a good, "luxurious" decision) anyway. But I still have one Aguila upstairs and I'm gonna go drink that. It's getting too late to do much more and in any case I feel stuck. Best case is the alcohol makes me suddenly think of something, worst case is the night is already over for productive stuff anyway.

2214 Let's just bash out today. But what I guess I really travel for is all this fun with fuckwit arsehole airlines, right?

Basically I did the "inca" camino real trail over to Guane, which is mentioned in guidebook but which I know as Tim told me about it. Pretty nice views (nothing astounding compared to viewpoints other day, but nice) and while inevitably your attention (mine anyway) gets focused on the path not looking round it was quite a nice walk.

Sign at start says 13km (!) but it then rapidly drops to 5-6km at next sign. I did it in about 1h20m and wasn't absolutely caning it by any means.

On arrival in Guane I steeled myself to go into a local shop-cum-bar (I have a photo, might be El Nuevo Amanecer from memory) and had a couple of bottles of Poker (3k each) as a "reward" - and this was nice, as expected after the heat of the walk a beer went down well. Owner a smidge surly but nothing major. Slightly drunk locals singing and chatting a bit (not loads of them; half a dozen in shop, maybe half a dozen more at a bench across road) but sort of cool. Didn't feel "welcome" but also not actively resented, and I sat outside so was kind of alone and not in anyone's way. mariachi-ish music playing and all quite nice really.

I then wandered round a bit, saw paleontological museum shut til 2pm and it was 1pm ish so wandered a bit more, shoved head in church, went to the lookout at west side mentioned in guide book (pretty cool) and had two white coffees (5k each) and then joined a load of other people (maybe 8ish of us) who had obv been waiting for PM to reopen when it did open at 2pm. As mentioned in guide book and on sign, they take you round and give your a tour (Spanish only, but fairly basic Spanish) and then pretty much kick you out after the 20 min tour and for no obvious reason no photos or videos allowed.

This sounds kind of crappy but actually I strangely enjoyed it. No photos meant no pressure to take random snapshots (though some of the large ammonites - and the museum is just full of loads of v similar but coolish fossils, like they didn't want to stash then in a back room and just put everything on display) and the tour explanations feel kind of cool and there's no temptation to "milk" the experience or spend ages staring at a dozen similar things and as I say it actually felt strangely enjoyable.

As I had come into Guane I had thought I might walk back to Barichara instead of returning on bus given walk hadn't been the 2h I was expecting, and I did walk back. No dogs on way out (and Tim had said none BTW), on way back as got near Barichara there was one utterly innocuous black dog - I saw it but it went into its own property and didn't even bark - and one biggish dog at someone's house which did start barking as I passed but the owner was there and told it to stop and it didn't actually "come at me" so not too stressful.

Very good (even bigger, and in one piece, compared to yday when it came in three bits) sobrebarriga at deserted MLB at about 4pm (oh, and there was a very friendy fluffy cat in there) - I dunno if this is same as arrachera, and it isn't cooked as I remember it in Mexico, it is maybe part breaded, but it seems to be a very nice and perhaps slightly fatty (but fat "all over" , not on edge, but on the underside as served so not so noticeable - this may be part my imagination or breading or bad description) steak, and huge portion. I then got some soft drink (still had litre water left over from 2 litres had purchased before heading out to Guane) and went back to accom as already noted.

Guane quite cool and did feel both touristy but rural and pseudo-untouched. Goats in street in places.

OK, I'm gonna go back into room and maybe watch some YT and then go to bed. Vague plan for tomorrow is to be up early, *maybe* call avianca, maybe spend the morning trying to sort out this fucking flight shit. Maybe I'll have a brainwave overnight. I don't want to spend the entire day in the hostel but if at a minimum I swim and ideally also at least wander over to some other viewpoint type places as shown on OM I will be reasonably happy - while I did not come here to fuck around constantly with bloody flights, I also don't and didn't have anything else specific I wanted to do here.

2256 Forced myself to wash some uw and am also copying some photos off O6.

2311 Bought some baked pastry things at shop this morning along with water but never ate them as didn't feel the need. Was going to snack on them now and they're full of ants. Don't blame shop but I have to assume they sneaked in somewhere during the day. For want of anything better I've had to chuck the whole pack in the toilet paper bin in my bathroom, hope this isn't going to cause an ant infestation. (The kitchen area upstairs doesn't seem to have a bin - presumably there is one but I haven't been able to find it, so all my empty plastic bottles and beer cans are accumulating by the door of my room. Not that these are causing any infestation issues, just saying that bins seem scarce.)

I feel a slight tingle when holding K1 on charge! I don't understand this but I do have an idea it's vaguely normal and not a massive concern, though TBH I am gonna try not to use it while charging.

2343 OK, I'm yawning a bit, I've cleaned my teeth, I'm going to bed. Vaguely hope to be up early and maybe sort this shit out. I am not utterly despairing (I mean, prices can go up, I can waste my time here, but I am not to the day and I have some flexibility) but I am quietly hacked off.

Hostel wifi still seems to be down, maybe it will come back in the night. If I hadn't had my generous data allowance on the movistar SIM I wouldn't have been able to waste the night trying to buy flights and getting nowhere... ;-)

Barichara, Saturday

Sat 27th 1612 Back at accom, going out to swim (but bit edgy it will be extra busy on a Sat) in 15 mins or so. Bit miffed as accom seems to be having some sort of family party, people are sprawled everywhere including right outside my room, kids running around etc. I can't get on the wifi and it's not critical but I half wonder if I've forgotten the password (which is not written down anywhere) or if so many people being here has swamped the wifi and the router won't accept any more devices.

As I came up to accom all three dogs (fortunately not quite in sync) came running up barking. They did have their tails up but the two bigger ones did give me a bit of a shock and they didn't seem entirely friendly and I found myself nudged off the path into some bushes. I didn't completely freak out and shouted "callense" and they did seem to go away without any intervention from the owners. The white woolly dog also came up but it was obviously friendly, I stroked it a bit both because I like it and because I figured it accepting me might carry some weight with the other dogs if they were paying attention, though I suspect they'd lost interest by then.

Got an email from SBA this morning and have a general feeling of "fuck, there is so much to sort out" . I suspect I may be kind of stuck in my room tonight anyway depending how late this party runs.

I have just washed the trousers that got wet at JC.

The refundable ticket from Panama to Colombia looks to be an utter fuckfest of uncertainty and feels like an inevitable shafting.

I am vaguely dreading swimming but I am going to do it anyway.

I will write about today earlier, I didn't get out til about 11 or 1130 given getting up maybe 930-10 and faffing around with SBA email and cancellable ticket this. Not a bad day in terms of sightseeing and I bumped into Tim (he recognised me) at the end of it and we had a chat and went to MBL for lunch and while I have my usual "was I OK?" and maybe vague jealously concerns, that was still quite cool.

The upstairs kitchen door was locked when I got back, I had brought two biggish bottles of zero cal soft drink back with me and wanted to put them in to chill. I was a bit miffed but I did manage to find the owner and he unlocked it for me but it just feels a little bit awkward and off somehow and is maybe contributing to a vague off-kilter feeling.

Plan is not to have any beers tonight (nothing to do specifically with this party or having so much boat trip adjacent stuff to sort out), I am kind of thinking if I don't have any tonight then have some tomorrow night it may feel a bit more "special" and/or refreshing.

I bought 2x2l bottles of water in town before going off sightseeing, and I drank most of them while out. Didn't bring any new water back but I still have that litre bottle in fridge plus these two big bottles of soft drink for hydration purposes tonight and some dregs of water knocking around in a couple of bottles so I think that will be fine.

1822 Sitting outside room, all very quiet, just like last night. I don't think I was too whiny earlier but probably vaguely off-kilter.

Did swim, it was OK, maybe 6-8 people in water and few more sitting by side, staff (?) bringing beers to some of people in water - it is more a "lounging" env than a "swimming" env, so to speak. I was in water for about 30 mins and it was all OK, I did widths instead of lengths at one point as other people seemed to be doing widths and I didn't want to collide. Felt a tiny bit "alone" but really it was fine. I put shoes inside bag instead of handing them to woman at booth separately to look after which felt a bit more streamlined, and I tried not to care about the 10 or so people sitting round drinking beer at the booth (not poolside) when I went to hand in and collect my things. Glad I did go.

Need to write up today but let's try to sort out some admin. I "need" to book the "official" hostel for the two nights before start of boat trip just to keep things simple. I suspect this will mean dorm which isn't ideal but can't be helped. Need to see if it's cheaper to book direct with discount code been given or to use booking.com.

Yay, still no wifi. I can "share" the movistar wifi from the O6 but it's gonna be a faff and it may use a VPN which may upset booking.com.

Wearing brightish blue ("Swedish blue" I think is how manufacturer describes it) top tonight for first time during trip FWIW.

OK, owner just walked past so I asked and wifi password has changed, got it working.

Right, phone and wifi playing up but... booking.com will do me 2 nights in dorm for USD20 or 2 nights in double with shared bathroom for USD58, both with free cancellation until about five days beforehand. Let's check price direct before waffling. The price is nominally the same booking direct but I can get 10% off bringing the double down to USD52.2, not a huge saving but borderline worthwhile. The cancellation policy when booking direct is vague, the wording half suggests you get free cancellation as long as it's more than a day in advance, *but* the text actually only talks about cancellation within 1 day of booking.

Gut feeling is that given I'm going to be in dorm for the trip (effectively) and I may well want to be prepping gear, washing clothes and spreading stuff out as I repack across possibly two different bags and so on it may be worth splurging on the private, even if it feels a bit expensive esp given it's still shared bathroom. Yes there will be other trip people in the hostel but there's no guarantee they would be in same dorm as me or that I'd talk to them (and there is a bar etc) anyway. I may (not checked) also end up in a dorm on arrivial in Colombia depending on prices and availability.

So the question is am I gonna book direct? It is a faff as they required credit card details etc which booking.com already has but I shouldn't be lazy. It really comes down to cancellation. Obviously I don't expect to cancel - it vastly simplifies pre-trip, esp briefing, if I am in this hostel - but you never know what might happen.

1856 OK, sod it, booked direct - the cancellation T&Cs as written contradict themselves but it is probably actually free cancellation more than 1 day beforehand and the chances of me actually wanting to cancel are small enough it felt a worthwhile gamble to get the 10% off. I booked the double, the extra cost is negligible in the long run and I think being able to eg stash my gallon of water securely and wash/dry clothes and repack in relative comfort is worth it pre-trip.

Got confirmation e-mail, in English except for cancellation terms in Spanish, and they are exactly the same self-contradictory terms in Spanish as in English. Meh.

I still need to write rest of today up and - first - look into booking a flight to Panama, but I'm gonna go get a big bottle of hopefully chilled soft drink first. Omi Maracuya, quite nice.

Notwithstanding need to print a hell of a lot of stuff, including as yet unbooked accom for first night to show to immigration, I don't strictly speaking have that much to do before I go. I would all else being equal prefer 4 nights in Buc in order to reduce pressure (a bit - gonna feel it regardless) but I can accept 3 nights if flight is much cheaper.

So this is Sat 3rd Feb as "core" date. Looking on kayak, there's avianca-via-kiwi.com for £98 on 4th but although it doesn't explicitly state avianca fare class, this appears to only allow a "personal item" not a "carry on bag" and I suspect my bag exceeds the 45cm dimension for that.

There is an avianca fare on 3d for £124 but this is XS and it jumps up massives to go to S which allowed a carry on bag. (It's switched to dollars, but about £178. Which is insane given that's the kind of differential they charge to actually have a checked bag.)

Fuck me I hate flying.

Cat been chasing biggish grasshopper thing which is currently camped out on my trouser leg and cat can't see it.

1929 Just saw biggish (not exceptional) spider scuttering about on floor.

I maybe left booking this flight too late. Bucaramanga really is not ideal. There is a Copa flight direct at arse o'clock (0652) on 7th Feb for £122 on kayak (showing as an Opodo booking) which says it includes 1 carry on bag, at 56x36x26 which is probably fine and 1cm more each way than Avianca anyway. This is going to mean getting hostel to book me a taxi and paying arse am prices, but it may be the best bet. Copa may mean I have to buy a refundable ticket to "prove" I have onward travel out of Panama, but I am half feeling I'll have to do that anyway.

It also gets into Panama at 0831 so by time I'm getting to accom is it maybe 10-11ish, I may not be allowed to check in but it's probably not too long to wait. And it is broad daylight which helps, and modulo tiredness it gives me an "extra" full day in Panama - though of course I've lost four days by waiting for this flight. But I don't really have time to make it over to any airport with better services and save time that way.

I suppose I could potentially also just put in a single night in Panama on arrival to claw back a day, especially if my first stop on my little mini-tour within Panama is not that far away and thus an easy-ish hop the next day. "All" I really need to sort out in PC is a local SIM, and even that's not essential as I can buy one anywhere.

It is a shame to lose four days in Panama (maybe only three if you squint) but it probably can't massively be helped - I could pay about £200 for a via-Bogota flight on Sat or Sun, but that is kind of sucky too in its way. By the time you factor in taxi to the airport in Buc some of the saving disappears. But this single no connection flight does kind of appeal anyway. I haven't checked if it's available *this* Wednesday at a sane price, but TBH that's probably really rushing stuff. It would give me one single night in Buc, I wouldn't get to go to that canyon *and* I'd be really under the cosh to get immigration-satisfying onward refundable flight and accom for arrival in Panama booked and printed. I'm not doing that even if there is a decent priced flight this Wednesday.

I can easily use the four extra days to visit (either staying there, or using San Gil as a base) some of the other towns round here. That's fine and probably what I'd be doing if I didn't have the distortion of needing to get to Panama.

IIRC the only "good" place to fly from anywhere near here is Cartagena, and while of course I *could* get to Cartagena by bus within four days, I wouldn't be enjoying myself or seeing much and it's pointless - I'd be better either paying more to fly from Buc on 3rd as originally planned, or just spending the four days round here and flying on 7th.

I don't like this 7th flight but I also sort of do. I'm losing 3-4 days in Panama (I kind of claw one back, or have the option to, because I arrive in Panama early in morning rather than getting to accom about 9-10pm) and I have an arse o'clock flight I need to get a taxi for (but I would hope hostel will be able to arrange that) and check out of hostel at like 4am. *But* it is direct, which is psychologically pleasing (no backtracking) and also much more comfortable (no hanging around hours in Bogota, no missed connections, no double security screening). And while I'm always edgy, it does appear to allow an acceptable cabin bag no muss no fuss. It is an airline that may force me to buy a refundable ticket to satisfy onward flight requirements, *but* I have an extra four days to help sort this out and I was *probably* going to be compelled to do this anyway - the idea of chancing it and booking a refundable flight if permitted last minute at the airport when not allowed to board sounds stressful.

OK, I'm gonna chew on this for half an hour or so and *maybe* book it before prices go up. I think the key thing is that viewed with some flexibility, whether this flight is the best possible option in the circs or not, it is clearly workable and the only real "suffering" is the arse o'clock checkout and taxi to the airport.

OK, and happily expedia.co.uk will allow me to book this flight for £114.

(Incidentally I had been thinking that I am not going to pay for a seat reservation on these flight(s). They are like 1h-2h and I have chanced it before and I think it's fine and just comfort zone stretching not terrible if I don't get an aisle seat.)

You are also allowed a personal item, which would help work round unlikely event my bag isn't OK as cabin bag on its own. (The only possible issue is the internal rigid frame, which isn't huge but is borderline 55cm IIRC.)

This gets me three weeks in Panama before the two nights in PC pre-trip. So probably 20 days for a circular tour if I only allow one night in PC on arrival. This is a bit sucky but not terrible - and if I haven't already said, it's evident that the desire to do this boat trip plus the sheer impracticality of catching it from Colombia to Panama as I'd hoped at a "natural" point in the trip is warping things, but it's fine-ish. If I'd put hours of thinking in back home (though *could I* have really managed to think about it? I dunno) I could have realised SBA do not want you doing C-P and make it as hard as possible (or I could have obtained USD back home and flown out with say 700-800 on me, though bit stressful) and I could have booked flights to go straight C-P on arrival, spend n weeks in P then boat to C and spend m weeks in C rather than having C split up into m1 and m2 week periods. But I didn't, and it's fine, and I can make it work, and I may learn something (like maybe there's an upside to having time forcibly chopped up like this, and if not to appreciate and maximise freedom of long unconstrained periods of time on future trips) etc etc etc.

Doubtless an element of ideas "growing their own legs" here, but this does at least also give me an extra four days round here which as I say I probably would have liked to do (not nec 4 days exactly of course) on a less hurried trip. And depending how I choose to spend them, if I did end up staying in SG and did a day trip to the canyon from there instead of Barichara, I could potentially only do 3 nights in B instead of 4 - but then again, is there any real saving, and all else being equal it might be nicer to have 4 evenings in B for new experience when I have already spent some time in SG.

I'm loath to actually commit myself but this could sell out and it would be good to have a decision made. The flight seems basically decent - the cabin baggage situation is probably fine (I always worry but no specific reason to), it is direct which is nice, the airline may not accept SBA ticket as proof of onward travel but there are workarounds which would be good to gain experience with, it is at arse o'clock (which incidentally would argue against staying in dorm, at least for that final part night, as I want to be able to pack final bits and pieces with no faffing in the dark) but that can be handled and it does have the compensating advantage of arriving in PC nice and early in broad daylight and thus increasing chances I can calmly and safely get to accom via public transport.

I think also if I checked and (touch wood) the flight was sold out I'd be peeved.

I don't have specific plans for 4 extra days round here but absolute worst case I could try another hostel dorm in SG and spend those four days visiting semi-random destinations from the local terminal in SG. (Doing a dorm in say SG would also "fit" with an alternating dorm/non-dorm pattern between private room here and private room in Buc, not that I am that anal about it.)

I will say Tim said he usually only books hostels for one night and then he can move if they're dull (as perhaps SG one we met in was) or otherwise bad, and extend if not. I see some appeal to this but also some disruption (spider scuttling about again, it's maybe two inches leg span but perhaps I exaggerate, it's fine though I'd rather it didn't run up my leg) possibility if eg you like it but they have no space or they let you extend but you have to change beds. OTOH my experience and I think Tim was in agreement despite his much greater social success (he is 30 BTW) if I didn't hear what I wanted to hear is that hostels and the tourist circuit in general are not chock full despite it being peak season, Tim said Colombians are being priced out and we both reckoned post 2020 fallout foreign tourist numbers are down and flights are a bit expensive etc, so it's not as if that's super likely. (It did happen to some people at the surprisingly sociable hostel in Quepos last year, but that was prob rare and it was CR too.) I note - not something we dicussed - this is completely compatible with intending to spend 4+ nights in any given town, it's just a question of hostel selection and leaving an option to change hostel.

I may try to take this strategy if I end up back in SG for 4 more nights, but not worrying aboutt hat just now.

2028 I think I'm gonna book it. Absolute worst case I can camp out at the airport drinking coffee all night (but I'm sure getting a taxi at 330 or something is gonna be fine with help from hostel). Direct *is* very nice, despite the other stuff it really adds that extra touch of comfort. The price is not bad at all. I can make this work, if I get a "ffs, I forgot X" thought once I click buy, it sucks but it isn't going to be trip-ruining.

2030 Right, let's book.

Hahahaha, despite refreshing before clicking buy price is now showing as £380!

2046 Hahahahaha. Spent ages going through opodo showing £122 and it's now £377 on the final page. FFS. I hate this. Why can no one show the price up front correctly?

Jeez. So I just wasted like an hour thinking about a flight that isn't even available at the listed price. What a fuckdustering turd.

Incidentally, could opodo try to nickel and dime you for any more additional services? Page after page of this shit. Not creating a trustworthy impression.

I don't mind the price being what the price is, but this bait-and-switch or (tbh it feels more like) incompetence is seriously frustrating.

2104 OK, been on Copa's (shitty) website and they are showing this flight at a USD amount that is probably £380ish. So this is out. (Copa have also "strengthened their bio-security protocols so I can fly without worry" . Frankly I wasn't worried at all until I wondered what the - no details provided - bio-security protocols might involve.)

I'm annoyed. I thought I had this solved and I don't.

I'm now super reluctant to pay £200 for some shittyish non-direct flights. I don't *have* to decide tonight - though having this fucking boat trip auxiliary booking stuff constantly hanging around like a bad smell is damned annoying, I want to just fucking relax in the evenings.

TBH I am kind of thinking *if* that's what it takes, I may cut my time in Panama down to a week or two and perhaps continue on my original-ish itinerary up towards Cartagena and an onward flight from there. Let me see if I can find my old blog post where I waffled about different flight options to Panama.

2114 Right, searching direct on avianca site, there is a shittyish times/duration flight on 3rd Feb from Bucaramanga for £94.60, and this is an S fare with 10kg cabin bag included. I need to adjust my mental gear, but this makes me feel flying approx 3rd Feb might be doable. No no no no, the price shown when you click is £150, even though I got offered no choice about fare class. OK, if you scroll right to bottom you get the original price for XS fare class. Why does everyone hate airlines? I can't think.

FFS, this is basically £55 *for a 10kg cabin bag*.

Clutching at straws. From *Barranquilla* on 9th Feb, Wingo fly direct to BLB in Panama for £89 including cabin baggage (£8 more than no cabin baggage fare). Wingo's rules for personal items and normal cabin baggage seem sane (dimensions for cabin baggage 55x25x45cm, 12kg max).

r2r says it's 9h50m by bus from Bucaramanga to Barranquilla. Mind you, also says it's 10h45m from Bucaramanga to Cartagena, so on that basis there isn't much in it. (It simultaneously says it's 13h????)

While not *every* day, there are a variety of cheap-ish flights from Barranquilla to Panama. I'd definitely want to be booking soon and who knows if these prices might evaporate on booking, but I think this might be doable.

I could put in my planned 4 days in Buc, checking out morning of Sat 3rd. If I stomach an early bus and an all-day journey and accepting getting into Barranquilla after dark but still early evening, I could be in Barranquilla the night of Sun 4th.

kayak claims kiwi.com has a Wingo direct flight with cabin bag included on 5th Feb for £89. This is cutting it too fine really, unless I chop a day out of my four days in Buc to allow a safety margin.

Copa allegedly have a direct flight from Barranquilla for £106 on 6th Feb.

You know, given how sucky all the above is, despite the fact the idea grates: r2r shows San Gil-Bogota terminal del norte as about 7-9h. So it might actually be easier to bus it back to Bogota for a flight to Panama than to push on towards Barranquilla. I don't much fancy the idea of getting into Bogota after dark, especially if I ended up putting in just a single night in LC or something, *but* I could maybe split the journey (doing the lion's share of it first, then a short couple of hours into Bogota another day).

Let's say I cut Bucaramanga and put in two nights in San Gil 30th/31st so I can do a day trip to this canyon. 1st I take a day bus to town X. I put in two nights in town X and leave on 3rd, so I'm in Bogota evening of 3rd, arriving during daylight. I could then fly to Panama on 5th and still have a day's buffer.

This just feels fucking insane and shit, but then it's *all* shit.

It occurs to me town X could maybe be Zipaquira. I've done the salt cathedral but it struck me as a pleasant enough town way back in 2014 and putting in two nights/one day there might be nice-ish without leaving me feeling I've hardly seen the place, given I did at least see it briefly during my daytrip in 2014.

I could also maybe day trip *in* to San Gil from here on say Mon (I have tomorrow earmarked for camino real as mentioned by Tim) and then go on from there to the canyon. This is a bit sucky. I'd still like to be back by dark given the road to this accom, and it would rule out swimming on Mon evening (not a killer, but not ideal).

To whine briefly: my lovely leisurely trip is being turned inside out by trying to get into fucking Panama to take this boat out. It's pretty clear every evening for the next two or three days is gonna be taken up with this kind of logistical shit whatever happens. OK, whine over.

I do want to "try" Panama, but I'm not desperate. I don't *really* want to fly in just to get the boat straight out, but if we accept the apparent reality the entire trip revolves around the fucking boat, if I did fly into Panama just (say) two weeks before the boat trip, that's maybe kind of OK. I could make a beeline for somewhere I've picked out in advance and still do 3x4 night stays outside PC. Leisurely and with the opportunity to say "it's nice here, let's stay longer" it is not - well, there is opportunity, but very constrained. But we were already looking at 3 weeks which is obviously less constrained but still not super luxurious. So frankly accepting that I'm getting more of a quick taster of Panama than a proper wander around at my leisure might be worth it - the return being that (although I'd maybe want to be booking a flight from northern city X to Panama ASAP and thus have a hard deadline) I extend this first visit to Colombia to (finger in air) 5 weeks instead of 3 weeks and it becomes correspondingly more leisurely and I can (to some extent, though definitely with an itinerary in mind and an eye on the clock) bumble my way north to Barranquilla or Cartagena without the rushing around some of tonight's post-flight-price-change wafflings seem to indicate.

2158 Let me write up the missing bit of today before I risk running out of energy/time.

Plan was just to wander across to west side of town where OM has a series of lookout icons. I decided to head over towards salto de mico and did. The first lookout at the west end of carrera 4 was already a minor "wow" moment, and as you walk south down the road onto the (pleasingly unfenced and with a sign warning they might crumble and with lots of other tourists happily wandering around on them) slightly more open view it gets even better. Amazing view over the (still green, at least from a distance - close up I suspect it's got the dried up yellow-ish quality observable from lookout) valley, mountain range shading off in the distance, mist in the air, condors (?) soaring around mostly below your feet.

I trogged down the *much* more deserted and practically overgrown path towards El Salto de Mico. I did make it - quite pleased with myself - though I didn't actually see any fall, but could hear something. Still, felt quite pleasingly adventurous getting down there without seeing anyone and getting a *slightly* different view. Hung around vaguely meditatively quite a while but undeniable the logstics of Panama floating in brain. Could feel heat from rocks coming up through shoes at times when standing, and the rocks were often too hot to hold your hand on comfortably. Nice breeze at times though.

I then came back up the overgrown path, wandered down the road towards OM's "cascada de barichara" which is maybe what I'd been able to hear when at the salto de mico point on map but couldn't see anything. Then walked back up v steep hill slowly, made my way back north along the cliff admiring view and Tim found me while I was at the northernmost point at the end of carrera 4 just before I was intending to head into town for lunch.

So reverting back to fucking Panama... Let's pretend I want to fly there about 13th Feb, which gives me about two weeks pre-boat. If we assume 4 nights here and 4 nights in Bucaramanga are a given, I am leaving Bucaramanga on morning of Sat 3rd. So that's about 10 nights before flying on 13th (arb date, not checked for cheap flights).

r2r says Buc-El Banco is about 5h by bus, which feels a borderline acceptable hop.

I am not sure I trust r2r here, but it seems to make out El Banco to either Barranquilla or Cartagena is a 10-13h mare of changes, in both cases via Aguachica and even then it's an 8h-ish hope from Aguachica.

Oh, Tim was equally down on Cartagena BTW. ("Maybe it would be OK if I visited it with a local".) *All else being equal*, and it would depend heavily on flights and buses, I would probably rather head up towards Barranquilla to get my flight out. As I've already said, Cartagena may be semi-mandatory on the post-boat leg anyway, so no need to go there twice.

But we could maybe pencil in something like 6 nights in El Banco/Mompox (split how I like and just maybe day-tripping from one to other, though I don't think they are that close, and maybe not doing Mompox) - I was gonna say then 4 nights somewhere between there and Barranquilla, but that leaves no buffer to get the flight. (And jeez, I don't want to end up in Barranquilla by accident during carnival. FFS, just checked - it's 10th Feb to 13th Feb. I'm guessing flights out from 13th unlikely to be affected, but this is gonna make accom in Barranquilla pricey. FFS. Yes I could go to the carnival but I went in 2020 and it's very hard to see the parade with no prep etc etc. At least I know and this will now be taken into account in my planning.)

Looking at map, Capurgana is a billion miles from Cartagena. But I do have an idea it is "recommended" as the route. Maybe this once a day boat is a much longer sea hop than I expected - I had (irrationally in hindsight) being it just across a river or something.

OK, read up/refreshed this - 2-3 day series of hops via boat and bus to Monteria where there are infrequent buses on eg to Santa Marta. This region is in the high risk antimalarials advised section of map too and the west of monteria bits are advised against all but essential travel. ffs.

Fuckety fuck fuck. I can't be dealing with that shit now.

2231 I probably ought to move towards bed. This is just an epic fuckfest. I half wonder if the problem - reverting to a planned route up towards Barranquilla - is that El Banco and then Mompox even more are maybe on a bit of a dead end as far as bus networks go. So maybe visiting them is asking for "problems" in terms of long journeys.

2240 Come back into room. Gonna have to give up for the night soon and go to bed.

El Banco isn't even mentioned in guide book and while it does mention Mompox it says it is remote. I am not sure there are any super-"desirable" places to visit between Bucaramanga and the north coast but maybe I should try to find somewhere else. OK, re-reading guidebook, Mompox sounds like it's maybe worth going to but forget El Banco. If the guidebook is to be believed there are direct buses of one sort or another between Mompox and all of Bucaramanga, Barranquilla and Cartagena with travel times in the 5-7h range, which is doable.

So putting aside carnival concerns, maybe 4 nights Mompox after Bucaramanga, then either Barranquilla or Cartagena for just a couple of nights before getting a flight. Based on what I'm just reading it sounds like this *rough* itinerary, while involving longer bus journeys than I'd like (but borderline OK) is maybe what I'd be doing anyway even without any time pressure.

2250 Looking on booking.com, there are maybe not so many hostels in Mompox but there are some cheap-ish hotels, so this is probably doable.

Have guzzled a packet of pan integral with raisins and "taste" of honey over the course of the afternoon. Meh.

I am going to have to try to pop into a chemist (just as a starting point, expecting to be referred to some kind of doctor or travel clinic) asking about antimalarials at some point.

I am feeling a bit overwhelmed. I think it's mainly because I've suddenly been forced to start making plans for fuck knows how many parts of the trip simultaneously rather than taking it a day at a time, combined with the general stress of trying to sort out flights.

FWIW - and I'm not sure I trust it, but any crumb of comfort is welcome - guide book makes out Capurgana-ish region is safe enough, just remote and slow to travel through. It also mentions a small plane to Medellin, though gut feeling is that I'd be as well not bothering with that as I'd need antimalarials or be at risk *anyway* just from being in the region and it's not worth it just to save a day or two when I'm in it for the experience and have my three week buffer. But maybe worth bearing in mind.

2319 Quick read up on web re malaria turns up all sorts of (dated) comments about unpleasantness of antimalarials. FFS. Obviously the maps paint a broad-brush picture and it feels a bit odd that IIRC *nowhere* in Panama are antimalarials recommended yet just over the border in Colombia they are; maybe the mosquitoes have strong nationalist feelings or something. I probably shouldn't get *too* worked up about this, but maybe part of that would be not hanging around Capurgana/Necocli much longer than necessary.

I am not utterly shitted up or feeling terrible, but I guess I do feel a certain "emotional exhaustion" from all this shit tonight (not talking specifically about malaria etc here).

Without checking flight prices and just very quickly poking at calendar (I've had enough; at this stage I'm just sort of priming my mind for ongoing mulling and resuming all this shit again tomorrow night), it might well be that 4 nights Buc and 4 nights Mompox (maybe even an extra night on top) plus a night or two in Barranquilla before getting a flight on to Panama *might* fit quite nicely just before the carnival kicks in. There are two 6ish hour bus hops but that's borderline OK and as noted above it's looking like there isn't anywhere else "obvious" to visit in that kind of area anyway.

Sun 28th 0008 Been watching a bit of YT. Brain not spinning too much. Bed, and hope to be up 9ish to walk this camino real to Guane and get the bus backet.