Sat 13th 2218 OK, *actually* going to bed. I have this vague nagging feeling like I've had a minor argument with someone, even though I clearly haven't - even my minor unsatisfactory discussions with phone type people today were not remotely bad-tempered. Meh.
Cat came into my room when I got back and was been and is being a bit playful. I think it's more-or-less a kitten, albeit an old-ish one maybe.
Sun 1052 Been back from tour for a few mins, backing up (handful of) photos before going out again.
All OK, was semi-awake in bed intermittently from about 3am so getting up not a huge wrench. Left hostel about 0630 and streets quiet but not empty and felt reasonably confident and even the area round Las Aguas (I followed TM route round from MdO past PdlP and I was early so kept walking as didn't like to hang around) didn't seem too bad. Maybe I'm getting more comfortable and/or maybe not having my pack and/or maybe not being a bit zonked from flight.
I snapped a few photos of Monserrate from ground and the Bogota sign and statue-under-dome by PdlP.
Guide (Elvira) was hanging around by time I'd wandered a bit more and I saw three touristy looking guys go up to her - three Irish guys together (though not sure if two of them met one of the others in their hostel or something, and I think at least two of them lived in Canada). I felt slightly awkward for no obvious reason but on the whole it was fine.
We walked over to base of Monserrate (no middle "t" ) and then walked up - guide told us to go ahead if we wanted and she'd meet us at top. The other 3 guys went on ahead, I stuck nearish guide at start - not out of fear, super busy and felt absolutely fine, but didn't want to go charging ahead and get exhausted and get lost - but in the end I tended to drift a bit ahead of her then I'd stop and wait til she got a bit nearer before carrying on. Spoke to her (in English - though she is actually Venezuelan and I suspect she had a bit of trouble with my accent) a bit when we came together on the walk but tried to avoid feeling I had to make continuous conversation etc and on the whole it was fine.
Walk not tremendously hard, I wasn't caning it (and there was a semi-natural pace set by all the other people) but not the altitude-related problem I'd half feared. Apparently something like 2600m asl at base and 3150m at top, prob misremembered those and/or was not told right figures in first place.
I have a sneaked suspicion I have in fact done this hike before. Which isn't a problem, but mildly annoying my memory isn't super clear. Not checked old blog wrt this yet.
About an hour to go up.
1108 Quick writing break. Anyway, at top we found other guys after few mins, guide gave us a bit of a spiel and took a few photos of me by the wall and I snapped a few of the view. She asked if we wanted to go into the church but the other guys had been on as they'd got up earlier and I wasn't that bothered and I think there was a service on so I said it was fine.
We then went and joined a huge queue to buy ticket down (apparently it's dangerous - falling risk, not crime - and bad for knees walking down, but I suspect these are overstated) on funicular (there's also a cable car but usually only one operates and even if both were maybe going today as it was extra busy even for a weekend we took funicular - which I very much remembered when we got on it).
Bit of slightly desultory chat while queueing but it was OK and on the whole I did OK/as well as anyone else, considering the other three guys knew each other, and I didn't feel obliged to keep saying stupid things just to say something and break the not-really-awkward silences.
Anyway, turns out two (maybe; couldn't probe excessively) of the Irish guys got robbed at knifepoint by a big gang right by the Bogota sign by PdlP! There were other people around but these guys came up, surrounded them, once grabbed them by the shirt and waved a knife by face and they took their phones etc and scarpered - all over in about 30 seconds. Apparently they didn't get one guy's wallet as it was hard to get of his pockets.
These Irish guys were relatively tall, at least compared to me - definitely not short, probably a bit over average height but nothing amazing back home. Maybe late 20s/early 30s, not huge bruising bodybuilder or bouncer types, slimish in a fittish kind of way.
Slightly shocking but also informative. I had been assuming if you weren't alone you'd probably be OK at a relatively early time like 8pm, especially with other people around.
Also interesting that they weren't told to hand stuff over, it was taken and the gang just ran off with what they could get. The Irish guys spoke virtually no Spanish, FWIW, though I don't think that's material. This aspect is vaguely reassuring as it suggests that my slightly hard to open home sewn pocket zips might not get me killed for appearing to resist if someone demands their contents and I'm fighting with them but might actually help, as the robbers may give up if it is a robbery in a busy area like this.
We then came down and said goodbye at the bottom and I gave the guide 50k - she had said at start USD10 was recommended and so I over-tipped (I think the other guys gave her 30 each - my rough mental arithmetic had suggested USD10 would be 40k - yeah, I think it is - but anyway, maybe they didn't and not judging, not my business) but I didn't have 40 handy and while she wasn't like "wow, best guide ever" she was OK and it's not a huge amount of money. (It was 9k for funicular too, though we got lucky there as it's 16k except on Sundays.)
I asked her to point me towards hostel - we were at the exit from funicular - and she said she was going that way so we walked over to c19 and chatted a bit. Loads of people around so I wasn't concerned re security but was nice of her to walk with me, and I might have struggled to find the right direction to start walking and would rather not have had to yank phone out. She said during week it can be a bit dodgy there after 10am which if true is a bit disconcerting, as I could half see myself walking up, exploring/meditating at top and walking down right at end of trip, just as a nice way to end trip and because we hardly actually saw anything up there today (tho I have been before of course), but we'll see - I don't take this as gospel.
In some ways I'm a bit disappointed as we had so little time at the top. OTOH even if it was a bit awkward at times it was nice to have a bit of a chat with those other guys and get that robbing story and I *have* already had a chance to wander round at leisure up there back in 2014 and I may well go up at end of trip.
Weather cool this morning, I was wearing fleece and glad of it but would prob have been fine without it. Got warmer as time went on, warmish in sun but coolish in shade. I kept fleece on all the time and it was fine.
When I go out in maybe 15-30 mins I will leave fleece behind in hostel. Plan is roughly to find something touristy to do - guide said there is a different guide doing a food walking tour of La Candelaria (oh, PdlP is boundary between LC and Santa Fe and my hostel is in santa fe not LC, as I half knew, and I suspect the distinction is mostly academic) at 1330 but I'm not excessively keen. Resuming that interrupted sentence, I will try to find a museum or something and then go for late lunch at La Tinaja - I don't want to go when it's too busy, so 2pm onwards probably best. I might see if I can get an empanada or two from a small stall as I wander. Not had an empanada yet.
(I vaguely hope to lose a bit of my Christmas weight etc during this trip and not eat like crazy, but I will also indulge a bit - see how it goes. Been pretty frugal with diet last couple of days, depending how you view the largish amounts of sugary hostel black coffee.)
OK, just looked at guide book and it makes out museums are rammo on Sundays, with 45m queues even for less important ones. I will play it by ear and may just wander and perhaps see if I can find a not insane place to sit and have a coffee or (just maybe, though I doubt anything will cross my path) a beer in the sun.
I may try gb's suggestion of popping into a random church or two.
1641 Back at hostel after a reasonably successful afternoon's touristing.
1652 Juan Gabriel "El Noa Noa" playing in hostel, can't help smiling.
1702 Hmm. Just putting Villa de Leyva hostel on Organic Maps and GMaps and happened to see there is a "Bus to VdL" marked in Tunja which is not necessarily the main bus terminal and looks like a modest hike. Not end of world even if it does work out like that.
1737 OK, so Rab happened to WhatsApp me while back at hostel after Monserrate tour and bit of banter was nice.
Then went out and roughly speaking wandered up and down Kr7 and vaguely around. I did a circuit of the relatively busy today Plaza Brazil - quite cool to see "the other side" where I had stood from a distance. Despite guide book claiming you could wander round courtyard the presidential palace seemed shut to public.
Wandering up Kr7 I was suddenly taken by a fit of hunger and felt very vaguely "dizzy", prob just random low blood sugar thing. I had been half looking for somewhere to buy an empanada but kept shying away from various street stalls and holes in the wall on random grounds like no prices shown or felt vaguely intimidating. I did get up maybe as far as calle 26ish and parque de la independencia and even a bit further (didn't go into park), didn't feel exactly dangerous but it also felt like it was thinning out and getting increasingly local-ish and i wasn't sure if it was supposed to be safe so turned round. I finally bought a churro (some churros?) from a street stall and they really hit the spot, presumably because I was hungry. I then despite further dithering asked what some bread thing was in a little hole in wall (they were cooking them on the spot) and they were pandebono and I got one and really liked it (it's a kind of cheesey bread with a sort of chewy texture), so while tempted to go back to that place and get more I got two (for much more, but they were maybe bigger) somewhere else. And finally I got an empanada (de carne, but with egg and rice in two - nice but different from the "crispier" meat only ones I am more familiar with). All this felt massively indulgent but I suppose it only came to about £2, and I did that hike this morning wrt excessive eating etc.
I then stumbled on a woman singing what I think was tango to a pre-recorded backing outside the Juan Valdez coffee place on Kr6 just "behind" Plaza de Brazil and they had a terrace, so I remember saying earlier about sitting with a coffee (honestly, here as in lots of Latin American places, it feels like it would be great to sit outside a cafe with a coffee or beer but it often doesn't seem an option - here it's not even reluctance to go in swanky places stopping me) so I went in and got an extra grande coffee with milk (not a latte, that was a different thing on menu) which *really* hit the spot (relatively expensive at COP9.5k, about same price as at airport) and I drank that in the sun while listening to this woman (who I thought was rather good, by my non-expert standards), and although I knew it wouldn't be as good I went and got myself another coffee after I'd finished the first.
I left a 7kish tip (5k note plus offloaded about 2k in coins) with the woman (I photoed her QR code and some sort of instagram? name, but not her - it seemed rude, though some other people did film her) and then headed over to see if the Movistar place next to hostel was open (it wasn't - I am not desperate, but just *may* try there tomorrow morning before I check out) and headed over to La tinaja... for pechuga de pollo, fairly quiet as it was 4pm-ish. I asked for (and waitress repeated) undressed salad but it wasn't, so I just left it. Not end of world and wasn't terribly annoyed.
I then came back via Oxxo on corner, bought some H2Oh "limonada de coco" which don't think had before (quite nice) and (foolishly as it turned out) another 3l bottle water. I've got way too much water and don't want to lug too much with me tomorrow but I will try to drink loads tonight and as piss a bit yellow it won't hurt.
Despite the "low blood sugar" feeling, I did enjoy trying a bit of street-ish food and although worrying a bit about getting off to maybe buy SIM and to get proper food spoiled it slightly, I really did enjoy sitting at table outside JV with coffee and listening to that woman singing, I think that will maybe be one of those odd little memories that stick with me.
I think that's the afternoon written up. I *may* try to think about/investigate boats later but may not force myself. I just might do a water-only wash of today's top and wear it tomorrow, as it's potentially going to be a sweaty travel day and seems a bit of a waste to wear a completely fresh one. I am not sure if I will be able to do my own laundry at the VdL hostel but if they offer a laundry service and it's cheap I may go for that - at least with this kind of in-house-ish laundry the chances of something going missing and them shrugging their shoulders is lower.
Tiny bit edgy about travel tomorrow but I'm fairly sure it will be fine. I am still using the money I brought with me and haven't been to a cash machine yet, pretty sure I have plenty but I may try to withdraw some in VdL if it feels safe - it would be good to just confirm my card(s) work.
Feeling some vague self-induced pressure about whether I will be able to do interesting stuff like hikes or whatever in VdL, but need to relax. It is what it is etc etc etc.
Looked up name from photo of her paper thing and fairly sure the woman who was singing goes by "Cantando Andando" - I can't see her instagram or facebook pages without logging in, but Google shows some details (like being in Bogota, and a photo that looks about right).
Kitten did scratch me playfully earlier but it didn't bleed and I washed scratch and put some antiseptic on. Still, being a bit careful if it seems playful.
Will be slightly sad to leave this hostel and even Bogota - despite the mugging story today, I did (as I hope is clear) have quite a cool little day today all-in and I'm starting to feel less edgy during the day. Still, it is perhaps excessively quiet (socially, not audibly - there is some quite cool sounding music, eg classical-ish guitar and singing last night while in bed) in this hostel and even if I don't actively crave nightlife, it is a little sucky not being able to go out after dark.
If it wasn't clear it was actually pretty warm this afternoon, verging on hot but not "omfg I am dying" hot - coming from London and having written about sitting in sun with coffee and getting the added bonus of the singing, it was nice sitting in full-ish sun for first coffee, though I moved to a different spot with more shade for second coffee as a bit worried slapdash application of sunblock this morning might means I was at risk of getting burns, especially as I don't really have any natural tan yet (IIRC that "only" offers SPF8 equivalent, but I still think for someone like me who is out and about but not actively lying in the sun half naked all day, every little helps and that SPF8 adds (multiplies??) with some SPF from my SPF50-but-maybe-poorly-applied-or-applied-many-hours-ago-so-less-in-practice sunblock etc etc).
(Plus IIRC I read non-specialist clothing only offers SPF8, yet despite my tops being very thin and breathable and vaguely translucent if you hold them up against a bright light, I did not seem to get any sunburn on the covered up parts of my torso on CR trip, despite some longish days out, so while there could be various bits of incorrect information here, that suggests SPF8 is actually not to be sneezed at. I'm fairly sure clothing was said to be SPF8 but wonder if I'm mentally transferring that figure to natural tan, and maybe natural tan is more like SPF15. Whatever. And I'm sure there are claims, true or not, that even if you don't burn or tan the sun is still doing massive damage etc etc etc, but that's life/idiots pontificating on the internet.)
(I also don't understand why eg SPF80 sunblock is supposed to be pointless, and the last time I looked I gave up trying to fight my way through the confusingly written smugness. Surely eg you can apply SPF80 *thinner* than say SPF50 and still get SPF50-equivalent protection, so you get more protection per unit volume of sunblock carried around? And/or as it wears off/is sweated away during the day, wouldn't you retain more protection after any given time compared to starting with SPF50? IIRC it wasn't that I even saw answers to these questions I didn't like/trust, it just didn't seem to be addressed clearly. The general tone of various articles was more "ahahah, you thought X? Well, you were wrong!" - a mixture of click-bait and smug preachiness and health fearmongering, I guess)
The "low blood sugar" feeling earlier may also actually have been some kind of adrenaline backwash from pulling phone out of pocket on busy-ish Kr7 to snap a photo of the McLovin sticker for Rab. (I didn't feel it was ultra dangerous, but there was an "am I gonna get phone stolen?" feeling.)
Just waffling wrt the boat without looking at anything online:
- there is the sail vs motor decision which I dither on
- the bed-sharing thing worries me but is not a huge factor
- the possibility of the food being awful (from my picky pov, not gourmet type concerns) is likewise a concern but not a huge factor
- concern around maybe needing a return ticket to satisfy Panamanian immigration is a faff, but not an insuperable obstacle
- booking it in advance feels a bit constraining
- I worry a little bit the end point (be that an island within an hour or sos speedboat ride of mainland or mainland itself) is going to be a tourist trap hellhole where I get ripped off and feel crap
- having to take a huge wodge of cash over to the boat with me to pay for the trip feels uncomfortable from a security POV
I think the bigger points are:
- especially if I sail (I *think* you always sleep on land on motor - but undeniably sleeping on the boat is cooler), the possibility of being seasick and trapped down in the inside of the boat and constantly puking etc is a bit distressing. Also trying this and seeing how I go is part of the "challenge" though.
- it is damned expensive
If it cost USD100, would I do it? Almost certainly, though the seasickness worries would be the main remaining big issue.
Just to recap a few seasickness-ish things from memory FWIW:
- I was fine on the overnight ferry trip from Isla Navarino to Punta Arenas, but that was almost all coast-hugging IIRC.
- I didn't puke flying over the Nazca lines, unlike some of the other people in the plane, but as we were coming in to land I did realise I was starting to feel a bit queasy.
- I felt fine on the hour or two's crossing from Montezuma to Jaco in Costa Rica, but I was deliberately looking ahead the whole time, and when I was looking down at my feet when we started off unexpectedly I did feel queasy but it went when I got my head up
- I didn't puke but I did start to feel a bit queasy on a small boat trip off the coast of Peru to some rocks ("poor man's Galapagos"?)
- I was fine on the boat trip to Isla Mujeres (?) near Cancun. Not that it was particularly "challenging" and I don't remember anyone else feeling ill either.
Nothing else springs to mind. None of those were with any kind of anti-seasickness medication and obviously I could take some of that (assuming I can get it, but I probably could) with me in case. (But then if I'm puking constantly, can I keep the medicine down long enough to get it into my system? And I'd rather not take it up front without ever learning whether I actually need it or not.)
I'd be lying if I said I was ecstatic about dorm for next four nights, but it may be more sociable and within limits it is nice to keep costs down to maybe help subsidise things like the boat trip. Also my biggest concerns are practical things like not being able to do sneaky laundry, which is also something of an issue with a private room but shared bathroom, not just dorms, and within reason I could offset the - fairly large in this case - saving from being in a dorm against paying for laundry service. (Though my main objection to having my laundry done for me relates to a) the faff factor of dropping it off and collecting it and b) the big one, risk of lost items or damage. Cost is a factor, but not a major one.)
1854 OK, random web search turns up some opinions on boat on torntackies.com (link on other phone so can't paste). Interesting that the speedboat departs from somewhere nearer the border and there is a two day (from memory, like all this after skimming article) bus/jeep/whatever ride from Cartagena to there (and it sounds like you have to do that with the tour operator, not under your own steam) and this makes it take longer and effectively not cheaper than sailing, as you end up with two extra days of various expenses (though I suppose there's maybe a counter-argument you are having two days of travel experiences which you are paying for instead of whatever you'd pay for on the time saved - if there is any - on the sailboat). People still get sick and they give you snorkel masks to wear and you get soaked etc etc. I had visualised this being more like the Montezuma-Jaco crossing.
I am not saying I wouldn't do the motor option. It does sound like seasickness is at least "contained" (eg worst case is feeling like you're going to die for 3h-ish on one leg of the crossing, but then you at least get to go onto land - although maybe knowing you have to do it again the next day etc is terrible).
That site mentions San Blas adventures so let's check their official site out. It says USD525 of which 130 is a deposit and booking and rest is cash due day before (!) departure, so while there is maybe a smaller amount of cash to be lugged around in Cartagena it's not a huge difference. Possibly their office is somewhere central-ish. Of course by the sound of it you are nickel-and-dimed for travel expenses en route so you probably need to have a further wodge of cash on you. Still, you don't have to carry all the cash in one go so there is a small but not huge security advantage here.
Their calendar currently shows all dates available - they sail about every 4 days, none show red and the first is 17th Jan. So I can potentially dither about this a bit, given I'd probably want to go 29th Jan or 2nd Feb-ish.
Genius. The site actually shows the question I have "How do I get to carpurgana/sapzurro?" And the non-answer is "The trip ends in Carti, from there you can stay in San Blas or take a jeep to Panama City" . Err yeah, so how do I get to carpurgana/sapzurro??? FFS.
OK, their FAQ seems to semi-answer these questions but appears heavily oriented to Panama-Colombia direction. Getting to/from the start point appears an enormous faff you have to deal with yourself - my would-be freewheeling adventurous spirit falters a bit given the combination of "one boat a day" connections and out of the way places *plus* having booked to be on the actual boat tour on a very specific day, so if you're not there in time you're fucked.
(Like, the FAQ says there is a briefing pre-trip in a hostel in Panama City. That's helpful when I'm somewhere in Colombia...)
FFS, they also say you need to pay cash upfront *in dollars*. Is this actually only coming from Panama, or does this apply when you start from Colombia too? I would not be too confident of getting dollars in Cartagena - not saying it's not possible, but feels iffy.
Apparently no cash machines in San Blas either?! (I wouldn't expect them on every little island, but still.) So you've got to be lugging vast quantities of cash with you or risk running out. And it's all very well to say the trip is all-inclusive but it clearly isn't, if only because of the connections in no-cash-machine places in middle of nowhere at either end. And I think I also saw they don't even include water!?
And FFS again, it's all very well chuntering about supporting the local communities who need cash which is why you have to pay for the tour in cash. Why can't *they* convert your payment in other forms into cash? They do allow a handful of people to pay the full amount by Paypal, for a generous 7% premium.
Maybe I'm in a bad mood (now), but this just leaves a really really bad taste in my mouth. It feels like the prospect of getting stranded a day or two's boat ride away from "civilization" because you ran out of cash is a real possibility. And coming from Colombia, I do not like this emphasis on dollars.
Meh, I've sent them a constructive-ish question about paying in COP and asking where and when the pre-trip briefing is when leaving from Colombia. I didn't give my full name and I used a pseudo-anonymous e-mail address too, so if this marks me down as a whiner or something they can't permanently tag me.
I must say, *except* for the seasickness concern, given there's no cost saving in practice, I can feel the appeal of the cooler (or perhaps just differently cool, I suppose - I can see some appeal to this island hopping business) sailboat option growing.
Honestly, it's not like I'm some fucking travel superhero but the basic "roughing it-ish" side of the trip - getting wet on the boat, basic accommodation, blah blah - doesn't massively bother me and it's part of the adventure. But it just feels like the prospect of coming massively unstuck through running out of money (or being a massive target for theft because everyone knows you've got like a grand on you just in case) in the middle of nowhere is very real and pretty scary.
If you didn't have to book weeks in advance - and maybe you don't - I could half see myself going to the actual start point without booking and then once I'm there signing up. But by that point the last ATM was probably days ago and so you need to be loaded up with a small fucking fortune anyway.
Meh, at least I've done some reading up on this and have shoved some more partially digested and probably misinterpreted and unclear information into my head.
Oh, and it says food is included but drinks aren't - and it is very much structured to imply that means water too, not just alcohol, and a gallon per person is recommended. *But* you can only take a small bag and they send your main bag on separately (or at least seal it up somewhere you can't get at it), so what, you're taking a small bag but you put 3.8 litres (which I think is what a US gallon is) of water in it? Also like what the actual fuck? Over 3-4 days that is maybe 1.25 litres of water a day? Again I'm not averse to roughing it a bit, but this feels insanely low.
To be frank, and probably unfair, the whole thing feels like it's a confusing fuckfest of inconvenience and there's all sorts of stuff they could and should be providing (eg providing drinking water, even if they ration you to n litres a day included in your basic ticket) and they're sweeping that under the carpet of it being an adventure and roughing it and so forth. It really doesn't help they are so confusingly fixated on starting in Panama. And maybe it's just me but it really is all very confusingly explained.
Also, and I have no idea if I'd do it anyway, just to pick on a random minor example, snorkelling mask is provided - but not fins. Are fins not necessary and just optional? Fuck knows.
Oh, and you'd think they could at least supply you with black plastic bin bags for protecting your gear. But no, you can buy these from the locals or whatever. FFS. Just add a fucking dollar to the price and make it simpler. How much do half a dozen black bin bags cost when purchased in bulk?
1954 Right, reading some other random pages. I hadn't realised bluesailing was more of a comparison type site and that some of the boats they offer are more "party" than others etc.
I also - a ridiculous jumping to conclusions based on seeing one photo of the group round a table one evening - have horrible visions of being stuck with a group of utter wankers (e.g. fuckwits who insist on discussing their self-righteous politics). Mention of some partyish boats handing out a free bottle of rum every day to compensate for having served the same tomato pasta every day make me suddenly a bit worried about the food on a sailing boat. The food on the islands on the San Blas Adventures route sounds a lot more acceptable and unlikely to be a problem.
I can feel a maybe 20% chance that I'm going to say fuck it and not do this. Right now despite my broad discomfort with a lot of the stuff above, the remaining 80% is probably split 50-30 in favour of the motorboat option sleeping on the islands.
While it's unclear as fuck, I have to assume there are solutions to the apparent problems of eg taking water with you. (Is it a gallon a *day*? I could probably scarcely lift three gallons, let alone fit it in a tiny bag.) (Also, do you virtually "have" to get a transfer on to Panama City when you finish the tour? Why can't you stay there for a few days before starting to travel onwards by bus? Is there internet access to book hostels from at the final destination on land?)
One site did point out - perhaps with some slightly creative pricing for land based accommodation - that the marginal cost of the n day boat trip is not that much greater than the marginal cost of the food/accommodation you would be spending if you spent those n days on holiday elsewhere in the country. I probably observed this myself already.
It does feel like *as long as you have enough money* (corollary: as long as you don't get robbed of what was enough money) and are not on a tight timescale, the SBA motor boat trip is essentially survivable. You can presumably buy water (there is mention of coconuts at "the bar" being a couple of dollars; I assume you could live off coconut water at a push, assuming the locals are acclimatised to whatever plain water is there without it being something a tourist could stomach - obviously if the locals will sell you bottled or filtered water, problem solved) at the various stops. You could trog over to the actual starting point and maybe overpay for basic dorm accommodation for 2-3 days beforehand to avoid some of the stress of making the connection with the start of the trip. I might even be able to take my only main bag with me given how small it is. It might even be possible to hook up with someone else doing the trip in (say) Cartagena and trog over to the actual starting point with them.
Wrt the cost, notwithstanding the creative accounting, I think it is worth bearing in mind the marginal cost. It's early days yet but I could easily see myself averaging USD25/night for accommodation (or put it another way, "paying" USD25/night for basic-but-novel accommodation on the islands is quite acceptable) and another USD5-10 for food and water. (Bear in mind I'm paying about four quid with tip for my one meal a day here right now.) So (and I'm being fairly generous) let's call it USD35/day, for let us say four days. We'll also kind of assume the "getting to/from the start/end points and associated expenses like staying there" are normal-ish prices or just regular travel day expenses like buses and not worth worrying about - I am not trying to get from A to B, the point is to "do stuff for 77 days" . So you can maybe offset USD140 of the trip cost against basic food/accom. If we say the trip is USD550 (what IIRC speedboat was, ish), that makes the marginal cost of the "experience" and the actual travel benefit of getting to Panama (which is likely to be v v v approx USD200ish with flights and transfer taxis and so on) - so let's take that off too - we are looking at 550-200-140=210 ultra-approximate dollars for the general trip experience. Which isn't too bad.
Of course if you're getting shafted for USD100/night for a dorm bed in the out of the way town you have to go to before the trip starts that's different, but it probably isn't that bad. I do wonder if you can book that accom online or if you have to turn up and hope (and what do you do if they're full and there's only one boat a day?).
Yeah. I'd be lying if I said I felt super happy about this - if nothing else, the idea of embarking on bus/boat for Capurgana/Swhatsit with probably something like USD800+ in my possession doesn't sit well with me. But it does start to feel like it might be maybe kinda-sorta tractable.
Also based on that SBA schedule earlier I can probably afford to sit on this for a week or two, if I have to (but not ideal).
And it's interesting that the website I looked at before leaving home gave impression the sailboat was an older less party crowd, rather than the impression I now have that it depends entirely on which sailboat you choose.
OK, I've had an experimental poke on booking.com with some semi-plausible dates. There is a hostel in Sapzurro with dorm beds at USD10/night. Another in Capurgana 3.8km (thus presumably some local transport possible from there without too much fuss or expense). Also an actual fancyish private room at a tolerable-if-pushed USD50/night. So hypothetically when/if I commit to this trip, I could book myself a hostel in Sapzurro and have a 2-3 day safety margin there.
The other end is way less clear. Everything says you arrive in "Carti" , but Google Maps knows of no such place - there are various "Carti X" s in San Blas, but it's not clear which is meant. Torntackies says USD30 for 4x4 taxi from Carti to Panama City, which also suggests Carti is on the mainland. OK, there is a Carti Parking and Boat terminal and a SBA office and a "puerto de carti" on the mainland, so maybe that's it. For this place, booking.com has all sorts of vaguely boutique looking cabinas and stuff at USD60+/night, which isn't my bag. But is there really no alternative to going on to Panama City? TBH maybe what I need to do wrt this is to read Panama guide book and see if there is a "low budget" aspect to this SE region of Panama or if it's exclusively beach boutique plus ultra rural no tourists of any kind stuff down there.
(I am not averse to going to PC, but I have been before and all else being equal it feels quite likely - though not certain - I would have to go there for a flight back to Colombia and it would be nice not to have to go twice. OTOH in the - unlikely, the way I feel now - event that I got on particularly well with anyone on the trip, there might be possibilities for spending more time with them in PC if "everyone" goes there.)
Thinking randomly, doing the motorboat island hopping thing would still be somewhat extending my experience with sea travel and would give me more of an idea how much I should worry about seasickness on a hypothetical boat trip at some point in the future.
While I kind of don't like it, I suppose one alternative would be to do the boat - let's say with SBA - from Panama to Colombia. Pros:
- it sounds like SBA are massively oriented towards this direction
- I'd be starting in a dollar-native country if I have to pay cash dollars
- I could probably stay in the specific hostel they do the briefing in and go in an additional cost but probably de facto part of the tour 4x4 taxi from PC to Carti with everyone else, no muss, no fuss, no worries about "where else I could maybe stay on arrival" as with the C-P direction
- I'd be finishing in Swhatsit with (modulo "getting back to Bogota in time for flight home" concerns) as much time as I wanted to worry about missing daily boats to Necocli or on to Cartagena or whatever with no connection to a pre-booked boat trip to worry about.
Cons:
- I would rather do the trip earlier than later
- the weather is supposed to be more favourable (seasickness, general pleasantness) for C-P direction at this time
- it makes my current route up towards Cartagena-ish not "bad" but a little pointless - especially since I presumably have to fly into Panama and may end up having to come back to Bogota to do it
- that also means maybe starting and ending the Panama trip in PC (since the boat trip kinda sorta starts from there) - though this is not *worse* than doing C-P and just accepting I "have" to go onto PC on arrival
- following on from "rather do sooner than later" , if (unlikely but possible) I really got the boat travel bug, doing this trip ASAP gives me time to consider going out of my way to do Panama-Costa Rica by boat (and then flying back CR-Bogota or whatever) or to do the boat trip (perhaps sailing this time) in the reverse direction (though gut feeling is even if I decide I love boats, visiting the San Blas islands on two separate boat trips within two months might be an overdose - admittedly there are apparently loads of islands and different boats visit different ones but I can't see them all being *that* different when you're visiting for a day)
2051 I think barring a sudden thought, the next logical step - maybe not tonight, it's not late but I want to do a chore or two and maybe pack and I feel slightly tired and it would be good to get a "long" night's sleep even if I do have to be up to travel, albeit not on a tight schedule - is to wait for a response from SBA (and maybe judge their "tone" as well as the facts) and also to dig out Panama guide and read that a bit.
It may also be that if SBA would generously let me be one of the handful of people to pay a 7% premium and pay with Paypal, that would side-step some of my concerns about getting dollars and carrying a lot of them around. It would grate though, and I'd be a bit concerned about losing the whole amount instead of just my deposit if something went tits up.
Being out of contact for 4/5/6/7/whatever (depending whether there's internet in hostel in Swhatsit, in part) days is vaguely disconcerting but (touch wood) probably be OK and at least right now I have no specific active reason to expect a crisis to occur, whereas in the future there might be.
FWIW the USD10ish/night hostel in Sapzurro advertises basic free wifi - I think they are saying it's slow, but it would presumably accommodate a Signal voice call at a push, and it's quite possible there is mobile coverage for a local SIM there too (though by no means guaranteed).
I worry a bit any of these boat trips might be a little bit too high on the "worship for indigenous cultures" scale for me - I personally sit more around the "respect on a basic human-human basis" and "oh, that's interesting" level without the golly gosh so rich and superior to ours in so many ways and blah blah blah gushing - but probably not an enormous deal.
(Just FTR, any references to Swhatshit instead of Swhatsit are accidental and not meant to imply any particular disdain for Sapzurro. It's just a natural typo for me when I'm using the hacky "I can't remember the full name and don't want to flick over to another app to check it mid sentence or write something which looks correct but is actually wrong" Swhatsit version. This blog, apart from likely only being of interest to Future Steve, is as I've said before at best raw material for a neat/tidy/interesting/well-written post, this is not remotely intended to be a final product like the "pro" travel blogs I have been reading for opinions on this boat trip. Hence "bash it out for in-the-moment thoughts" rather than "take the time to get it correct" .)
2109 Been drinking quite a lot of water and going for quite a lot of pisses :-) and also been hitting the free coffee. I don't exactly want to "do my chores" or go to bed, but I also don't really want to sit out here much more either. There may be one other guest, a woman who may not be English or Spanish speaking, but I am far from sure she's a guest in the first place.
Probably best to move into room in a minute, do chores, *maybe* pack - though given I don't have that much stuff, shouldn't have a tight deadline in morning esp if I go to bed soon-ish and it may be good to let clothes from yday dry further I may not - and go to bed. I am probably not washing this top tonight, I just may actually wear it as-is (and get changed when I check in), but I will probably burn a change of clothes by putting fresh ones on tomorrow morning. That way I may be acceptably fresh (it is all mountainy and thus relatively cold I guess) to keep wearing the clothes all day tomorrow, and if I do hike the day after I could wear those same clothes for hike and change when I get back to hostel and shower. We'll see, given I may be getting a paid laundry service in at this hostel it may not be worth scrimping on use of clean clothes.
While my attitude may not always have been the best, I should probably give myself credit for investigating this boat stuff and thinking the issues through a bit rather than just throwing my hands up in despair. And as per pre-boat-investigation e-mails, I actually had a quietly cool day on the whole.
2116 OK, finished latest coffee, back to room.
2139 If I didn't already say, they gave me a towel here, which is always appreciated. Yes I have my own, but it's nice not to need it.
2244 OK, about to go to bed. Have set alarms for 815/830. Will mostly pack in morning I think.
Having had a super quick look at map of Panama, "most" of the country (ignoring Darien) is west of Panama City, so while it still feels off not to be able to visit (hypothetical) tourist sites east of PC on arriving at Cwhatsit, the idea of "having" to go straight to PC on arrival sits a little better with me now.
Also on a random note the fact I have my 2l and 5l dry bags (for dirty uw and non-uw respectively, normally) may be helpful as an extra inner layer of waterproofing for eg electronics during a hypothetical boat trip.
Cat came into my room when I got back and was been and is being a bit playful. I think it's more-or-less a kitten, albeit an old-ish one maybe.
Sun 1052 Been back from tour for a few mins, backing up (handful of) photos before going out again.
All OK, was semi-awake in bed intermittently from about 3am so getting up not a huge wrench. Left hostel about 0630 and streets quiet but not empty and felt reasonably confident and even the area round Las Aguas (I followed TM route round from MdO past PdlP and I was early so kept walking as didn't like to hang around) didn't seem too bad. Maybe I'm getting more comfortable and/or maybe not having my pack and/or maybe not being a bit zonked from flight.
I snapped a few photos of Monserrate from ground and the Bogota sign and statue-under-dome by PdlP.
Guide (Elvira) was hanging around by time I'd wandered a bit more and I saw three touristy looking guys go up to her - three Irish guys together (though not sure if two of them met one of the others in their hostel or something, and I think at least two of them lived in Canada). I felt slightly awkward for no obvious reason but on the whole it was fine.
We walked over to base of Monserrate (no middle "t" ) and then walked up - guide told us to go ahead if we wanted and she'd meet us at top. The other 3 guys went on ahead, I stuck nearish guide at start - not out of fear, super busy and felt absolutely fine, but didn't want to go charging ahead and get exhausted and get lost - but in the end I tended to drift a bit ahead of her then I'd stop and wait til she got a bit nearer before carrying on. Spoke to her (in English - though she is actually Venezuelan and I suspect she had a bit of trouble with my accent) a bit when we came together on the walk but tried to avoid feeling I had to make continuous conversation etc and on the whole it was fine.
Walk not tremendously hard, I wasn't caning it (and there was a semi-natural pace set by all the other people) but not the altitude-related problem I'd half feared. Apparently something like 2600m asl at base and 3150m at top, prob misremembered those and/or was not told right figures in first place.
I have a sneaked suspicion I have in fact done this hike before. Which isn't a problem, but mildly annoying my memory isn't super clear. Not checked old blog wrt this yet.
About an hour to go up.
1108 Quick writing break. Anyway, at top we found other guys after few mins, guide gave us a bit of a spiel and took a few photos of me by the wall and I snapped a few of the view. She asked if we wanted to go into the church but the other guys had been on as they'd got up earlier and I wasn't that bothered and I think there was a service on so I said it was fine.
We then went and joined a huge queue to buy ticket down (apparently it's dangerous - falling risk, not crime - and bad for knees walking down, but I suspect these are overstated) on funicular (there's also a cable car but usually only one operates and even if both were maybe going today as it was extra busy even for a weekend we took funicular - which I very much remembered when we got on it).
Bit of slightly desultory chat while queueing but it was OK and on the whole I did OK/as well as anyone else, considering the other three guys knew each other, and I didn't feel obliged to keep saying stupid things just to say something and break the not-really-awkward silences.
Anyway, turns out two (maybe; couldn't probe excessively) of the Irish guys got robbed at knifepoint by a big gang right by the Bogota sign by PdlP! There were other people around but these guys came up, surrounded them, once grabbed them by the shirt and waved a knife by face and they took their phones etc and scarpered - all over in about 30 seconds. Apparently they didn't get one guy's wallet as it was hard to get of his pockets.
These Irish guys were relatively tall, at least compared to me - definitely not short, probably a bit over average height but nothing amazing back home. Maybe late 20s/early 30s, not huge bruising bodybuilder or bouncer types, slimish in a fittish kind of way.
Slightly shocking but also informative. I had been assuming if you weren't alone you'd probably be OK at a relatively early time like 8pm, especially with other people around.
Also interesting that they weren't told to hand stuff over, it was taken and the gang just ran off with what they could get. The Irish guys spoke virtually no Spanish, FWIW, though I don't think that's material. This aspect is vaguely reassuring as it suggests that my slightly hard to open home sewn pocket zips might not get me killed for appearing to resist if someone demands their contents and I'm fighting with them but might actually help, as the robbers may give up if it is a robbery in a busy area like this.
We then came down and said goodbye at the bottom and I gave the guide 50k - she had said at start USD10 was recommended and so I over-tipped (I think the other guys gave her 30 each - my rough mental arithmetic had suggested USD10 would be 40k - yeah, I think it is - but anyway, maybe they didn't and not judging, not my business) but I didn't have 40 handy and while she wasn't like "wow, best guide ever" she was OK and it's not a huge amount of money. (It was 9k for funicular too, though we got lucky there as it's 16k except on Sundays.)
I asked her to point me towards hostel - we were at the exit from funicular - and she said she was going that way so we walked over to c19 and chatted a bit. Loads of people around so I wasn't concerned re security but was nice of her to walk with me, and I might have struggled to find the right direction to start walking and would rather not have had to yank phone out. She said during week it can be a bit dodgy there after 10am which if true is a bit disconcerting, as I could half see myself walking up, exploring/meditating at top and walking down right at end of trip, just as a nice way to end trip and because we hardly actually saw anything up there today (tho I have been before of course), but we'll see - I don't take this as gospel.
In some ways I'm a bit disappointed as we had so little time at the top. OTOH even if it was a bit awkward at times it was nice to have a bit of a chat with those other guys and get that robbing story and I *have* already had a chance to wander round at leisure up there back in 2014 and I may well go up at end of trip.
Weather cool this morning, I was wearing fleece and glad of it but would prob have been fine without it. Got warmer as time went on, warmish in sun but coolish in shade. I kept fleece on all the time and it was fine.
When I go out in maybe 15-30 mins I will leave fleece behind in hostel. Plan is roughly to find something touristy to do - guide said there is a different guide doing a food walking tour of La Candelaria (oh, PdlP is boundary between LC and Santa Fe and my hostel is in santa fe not LC, as I half knew, and I suspect the distinction is mostly academic) at 1330 but I'm not excessively keen. Resuming that interrupted sentence, I will try to find a museum or something and then go for late lunch at La Tinaja - I don't want to go when it's too busy, so 2pm onwards probably best. I might see if I can get an empanada or two from a small stall as I wander. Not had an empanada yet.
(I vaguely hope to lose a bit of my Christmas weight etc during this trip and not eat like crazy, but I will also indulge a bit - see how it goes. Been pretty frugal with diet last couple of days, depending how you view the largish amounts of sugary hostel black coffee.)
OK, just looked at guide book and it makes out museums are rammo on Sundays, with 45m queues even for less important ones. I will play it by ear and may just wander and perhaps see if I can find a not insane place to sit and have a coffee or (just maybe, though I doubt anything will cross my path) a beer in the sun.
I may try gb's suggestion of popping into a random church or two.
1641 Back at hostel after a reasonably successful afternoon's touristing.
1652 Juan Gabriel "El Noa Noa" playing in hostel, can't help smiling.
1702 Hmm. Just putting Villa de Leyva hostel on Organic Maps and GMaps and happened to see there is a "Bus to VdL" marked in Tunja which is not necessarily the main bus terminal and looks like a modest hike. Not end of world even if it does work out like that.
1737 OK, so Rab happened to WhatsApp me while back at hostel after Monserrate tour and bit of banter was nice.
Then went out and roughly speaking wandered up and down Kr7 and vaguely around. I did a circuit of the relatively busy today Plaza Brazil - quite cool to see "the other side" where I had stood from a distance. Despite guide book claiming you could wander round courtyard the presidential palace seemed shut to public.
Wandering up Kr7 I was suddenly taken by a fit of hunger and felt very vaguely "dizzy", prob just random low blood sugar thing. I had been half looking for somewhere to buy an empanada but kept shying away from various street stalls and holes in the wall on random grounds like no prices shown or felt vaguely intimidating. I did get up maybe as far as calle 26ish and parque de la independencia and even a bit further (didn't go into park), didn't feel exactly dangerous but it also felt like it was thinning out and getting increasingly local-ish and i wasn't sure if it was supposed to be safe so turned round. I finally bought a churro (some churros?) from a street stall and they really hit the spot, presumably because I was hungry. I then despite further dithering asked what some bread thing was in a little hole in wall (they were cooking them on the spot) and they were pandebono and I got one and really liked it (it's a kind of cheesey bread with a sort of chewy texture), so while tempted to go back to that place and get more I got two (for much more, but they were maybe bigger) somewhere else. And finally I got an empanada (de carne, but with egg and rice in two - nice but different from the "crispier" meat only ones I am more familiar with). All this felt massively indulgent but I suppose it only came to about £2, and I did that hike this morning wrt excessive eating etc.
I then stumbled on a woman singing what I think was tango to a pre-recorded backing outside the Juan Valdez coffee place on Kr6 just "behind" Plaza de Brazil and they had a terrace, so I remember saying earlier about sitting with a coffee (honestly, here as in lots of Latin American places, it feels like it would be great to sit outside a cafe with a coffee or beer but it often doesn't seem an option - here it's not even reluctance to go in swanky places stopping me) so I went in and got an extra grande coffee with milk (not a latte, that was a different thing on menu) which *really* hit the spot (relatively expensive at COP9.5k, about same price as at airport) and I drank that in the sun while listening to this woman (who I thought was rather good, by my non-expert standards), and although I knew it wouldn't be as good I went and got myself another coffee after I'd finished the first.
I left a 7kish tip (5k note plus offloaded about 2k in coins) with the woman (I photoed her QR code and some sort of instagram? name, but not her - it seemed rude, though some other people did film her) and then headed over to see if the Movistar place next to hostel was open (it wasn't - I am not desperate, but just *may* try there tomorrow morning before I check out) and headed over to La tinaja... for pechuga de pollo, fairly quiet as it was 4pm-ish. I asked for (and waitress repeated) undressed salad but it wasn't, so I just left it. Not end of world and wasn't terribly annoyed.
I then came back via Oxxo on corner, bought some H2Oh "limonada de coco" which don't think had before (quite nice) and (foolishly as it turned out) another 3l bottle water. I've got way too much water and don't want to lug too much with me tomorrow but I will try to drink loads tonight and as piss a bit yellow it won't hurt.
Despite the "low blood sugar" feeling, I did enjoy trying a bit of street-ish food and although worrying a bit about getting off to maybe buy SIM and to get proper food spoiled it slightly, I really did enjoy sitting at table outside JV with coffee and listening to that woman singing, I think that will maybe be one of those odd little memories that stick with me.
I think that's the afternoon written up. I *may* try to think about/investigate boats later but may not force myself. I just might do a water-only wash of today's top and wear it tomorrow, as it's potentially going to be a sweaty travel day and seems a bit of a waste to wear a completely fresh one. I am not sure if I will be able to do my own laundry at the VdL hostel but if they offer a laundry service and it's cheap I may go for that - at least with this kind of in-house-ish laundry the chances of something going missing and them shrugging their shoulders is lower.
Tiny bit edgy about travel tomorrow but I'm fairly sure it will be fine. I am still using the money I brought with me and haven't been to a cash machine yet, pretty sure I have plenty but I may try to withdraw some in VdL if it feels safe - it would be good to just confirm my card(s) work.
Feeling some vague self-induced pressure about whether I will be able to do interesting stuff like hikes or whatever in VdL, but need to relax. It is what it is etc etc etc.
Looked up name from photo of her paper thing and fairly sure the woman who was singing goes by "Cantando Andando" - I can't see her instagram or facebook pages without logging in, but Google shows some details (like being in Bogota, and a photo that looks about right).
Kitten did scratch me playfully earlier but it didn't bleed and I washed scratch and put some antiseptic on. Still, being a bit careful if it seems playful.
Will be slightly sad to leave this hostel and even Bogota - despite the mugging story today, I did (as I hope is clear) have quite a cool little day today all-in and I'm starting to feel less edgy during the day. Still, it is perhaps excessively quiet (socially, not audibly - there is some quite cool sounding music, eg classical-ish guitar and singing last night while in bed) in this hostel and even if I don't actively crave nightlife, it is a little sucky not being able to go out after dark.
If it wasn't clear it was actually pretty warm this afternoon, verging on hot but not "omfg I am dying" hot - coming from London and having written about sitting in sun with coffee and getting the added bonus of the singing, it was nice sitting in full-ish sun for first coffee, though I moved to a different spot with more shade for second coffee as a bit worried slapdash application of sunblock this morning might means I was at risk of getting burns, especially as I don't really have any natural tan yet (IIRC that "only" offers SPF8 equivalent, but I still think for someone like me who is out and about but not actively lying in the sun half naked all day, every little helps and that SPF8 adds (multiplies??) with some SPF from my SPF50-but-maybe-poorly-applied-or-applied-many-hours-ago-so-less-in-practice sunblock etc etc).
(Plus IIRC I read non-specialist clothing only offers SPF8, yet despite my tops being very thin and breathable and vaguely translucent if you hold them up against a bright light, I did not seem to get any sunburn on the covered up parts of my torso on CR trip, despite some longish days out, so while there could be various bits of incorrect information here, that suggests SPF8 is actually not to be sneezed at. I'm fairly sure clothing was said to be SPF8 but wonder if I'm mentally transferring that figure to natural tan, and maybe natural tan is more like SPF15. Whatever. And I'm sure there are claims, true or not, that even if you don't burn or tan the sun is still doing massive damage etc etc etc, but that's life/idiots pontificating on the internet.)
(I also don't understand why eg SPF80 sunblock is supposed to be pointless, and the last time I looked I gave up trying to fight my way through the confusingly written smugness. Surely eg you can apply SPF80 *thinner* than say SPF50 and still get SPF50-equivalent protection, so you get more protection per unit volume of sunblock carried around? And/or as it wears off/is sweated away during the day, wouldn't you retain more protection after any given time compared to starting with SPF50? IIRC it wasn't that I even saw answers to these questions I didn't like/trust, it just didn't seem to be addressed clearly. The general tone of various articles was more "ahahah, you thought X? Well, you were wrong!" - a mixture of click-bait and smug preachiness and health fearmongering, I guess)
The "low blood sugar" feeling earlier may also actually have been some kind of adrenaline backwash from pulling phone out of pocket on busy-ish Kr7 to snap a photo of the McLovin sticker for Rab. (I didn't feel it was ultra dangerous, but there was an "am I gonna get phone stolen?" feeling.)
Just waffling wrt the boat without looking at anything online:
- there is the sail vs motor decision which I dither on
- the bed-sharing thing worries me but is not a huge factor
- the possibility of the food being awful (from my picky pov, not gourmet type concerns) is likewise a concern but not a huge factor
- concern around maybe needing a return ticket to satisfy Panamanian immigration is a faff, but not an insuperable obstacle
- booking it in advance feels a bit constraining
- I worry a little bit the end point (be that an island within an hour or sos speedboat ride of mainland or mainland itself) is going to be a tourist trap hellhole where I get ripped off and feel crap
- having to take a huge wodge of cash over to the boat with me to pay for the trip feels uncomfortable from a security POV
I think the bigger points are:
- especially if I sail (I *think* you always sleep on land on motor - but undeniably sleeping on the boat is cooler), the possibility of being seasick and trapped down in the inside of the boat and constantly puking etc is a bit distressing. Also trying this and seeing how I go is part of the "challenge" though.
- it is damned expensive
If it cost USD100, would I do it? Almost certainly, though the seasickness worries would be the main remaining big issue.
Just to recap a few seasickness-ish things from memory FWIW:
- I was fine on the overnight ferry trip from Isla Navarino to Punta Arenas, but that was almost all coast-hugging IIRC.
- I didn't puke flying over the Nazca lines, unlike some of the other people in the plane, but as we were coming in to land I did realise I was starting to feel a bit queasy.
- I felt fine on the hour or two's crossing from Montezuma to Jaco in Costa Rica, but I was deliberately looking ahead the whole time, and when I was looking down at my feet when we started off unexpectedly I did feel queasy but it went when I got my head up
- I didn't puke but I did start to feel a bit queasy on a small boat trip off the coast of Peru to some rocks ("poor man's Galapagos"?)
- I was fine on the boat trip to Isla Mujeres (?) near Cancun. Not that it was particularly "challenging" and I don't remember anyone else feeling ill either.
Nothing else springs to mind. None of those were with any kind of anti-seasickness medication and obviously I could take some of that (assuming I can get it, but I probably could) with me in case. (But then if I'm puking constantly, can I keep the medicine down long enough to get it into my system? And I'd rather not take it up front without ever learning whether I actually need it or not.)
I'd be lying if I said I was ecstatic about dorm for next four nights, but it may be more sociable and within limits it is nice to keep costs down to maybe help subsidise things like the boat trip. Also my biggest concerns are practical things like not being able to do sneaky laundry, which is also something of an issue with a private room but shared bathroom, not just dorms, and within reason I could offset the - fairly large in this case - saving from being in a dorm against paying for laundry service. (Though my main objection to having my laundry done for me relates to a) the faff factor of dropping it off and collecting it and b) the big one, risk of lost items or damage. Cost is a factor, but not a major one.)
1854 OK, random web search turns up some opinions on boat on torntackies.com (link on other phone so can't paste). Interesting that the speedboat departs from somewhere nearer the border and there is a two day (from memory, like all this after skimming article) bus/jeep/whatever ride from Cartagena to there (and it sounds like you have to do that with the tour operator, not under your own steam) and this makes it take longer and effectively not cheaper than sailing, as you end up with two extra days of various expenses (though I suppose there's maybe a counter-argument you are having two days of travel experiences which you are paying for instead of whatever you'd pay for on the time saved - if there is any - on the sailboat). People still get sick and they give you snorkel masks to wear and you get soaked etc etc. I had visualised this being more like the Montezuma-Jaco crossing.
I am not saying I wouldn't do the motor option. It does sound like seasickness is at least "contained" (eg worst case is feeling like you're going to die for 3h-ish on one leg of the crossing, but then you at least get to go onto land - although maybe knowing you have to do it again the next day etc is terrible).
That site mentions San Blas adventures so let's check their official site out. It says USD525 of which 130 is a deposit and booking and rest is cash due day before (!) departure, so while there is maybe a smaller amount of cash to be lugged around in Cartagena it's not a huge difference. Possibly their office is somewhere central-ish. Of course by the sound of it you are nickel-and-dimed for travel expenses en route so you probably need to have a further wodge of cash on you. Still, you don't have to carry all the cash in one go so there is a small but not huge security advantage here.
Their calendar currently shows all dates available - they sail about every 4 days, none show red and the first is 17th Jan. So I can potentially dither about this a bit, given I'd probably want to go 29th Jan or 2nd Feb-ish.
Genius. The site actually shows the question I have "How do I get to carpurgana/sapzurro?" And the non-answer is "The trip ends in Carti, from there you can stay in San Blas or take a jeep to Panama City" . Err yeah, so how do I get to carpurgana/sapzurro??? FFS.
OK, their FAQ seems to semi-answer these questions but appears heavily oriented to Panama-Colombia direction. Getting to/from the start point appears an enormous faff you have to deal with yourself - my would-be freewheeling adventurous spirit falters a bit given the combination of "one boat a day" connections and out of the way places *plus* having booked to be on the actual boat tour on a very specific day, so if you're not there in time you're fucked.
(Like, the FAQ says there is a briefing pre-trip in a hostel in Panama City. That's helpful when I'm somewhere in Colombia...)
FFS, they also say you need to pay cash upfront *in dollars*. Is this actually only coming from Panama, or does this apply when you start from Colombia too? I would not be too confident of getting dollars in Cartagena - not saying it's not possible, but feels iffy.
Apparently no cash machines in San Blas either?! (I wouldn't expect them on every little island, but still.) So you've got to be lugging vast quantities of cash with you or risk running out. And it's all very well to say the trip is all-inclusive but it clearly isn't, if only because of the connections in no-cash-machine places in middle of nowhere at either end. And I think I also saw they don't even include water!?
And FFS again, it's all very well chuntering about supporting the local communities who need cash which is why you have to pay for the tour in cash. Why can't *they* convert your payment in other forms into cash? They do allow a handful of people to pay the full amount by Paypal, for a generous 7% premium.
Maybe I'm in a bad mood (now), but this just leaves a really really bad taste in my mouth. It feels like the prospect of getting stranded a day or two's boat ride away from "civilization" because you ran out of cash is a real possibility. And coming from Colombia, I do not like this emphasis on dollars.
Meh, I've sent them a constructive-ish question about paying in COP and asking where and when the pre-trip briefing is when leaving from Colombia. I didn't give my full name and I used a pseudo-anonymous e-mail address too, so if this marks me down as a whiner or something they can't permanently tag me.
I must say, *except* for the seasickness concern, given there's no cost saving in practice, I can feel the appeal of the cooler (or perhaps just differently cool, I suppose - I can see some appeal to this island hopping business) sailboat option growing.
Honestly, it's not like I'm some fucking travel superhero but the basic "roughing it-ish" side of the trip - getting wet on the boat, basic accommodation, blah blah - doesn't massively bother me and it's part of the adventure. But it just feels like the prospect of coming massively unstuck through running out of money (or being a massive target for theft because everyone knows you've got like a grand on you just in case) in the middle of nowhere is very real and pretty scary.
If you didn't have to book weeks in advance - and maybe you don't - I could half see myself going to the actual start point without booking and then once I'm there signing up. But by that point the last ATM was probably days ago and so you need to be loaded up with a small fucking fortune anyway.
Meh, at least I've done some reading up on this and have shoved some more partially digested and probably misinterpreted and unclear information into my head.
Oh, and it says food is included but drinks aren't - and it is very much structured to imply that means water too, not just alcohol, and a gallon per person is recommended. *But* you can only take a small bag and they send your main bag on separately (or at least seal it up somewhere you can't get at it), so what, you're taking a small bag but you put 3.8 litres (which I think is what a US gallon is) of water in it? Also like what the actual fuck? Over 3-4 days that is maybe 1.25 litres of water a day? Again I'm not averse to roughing it a bit, but this feels insanely low.
To be frank, and probably unfair, the whole thing feels like it's a confusing fuckfest of inconvenience and there's all sorts of stuff they could and should be providing (eg providing drinking water, even if they ration you to n litres a day included in your basic ticket) and they're sweeping that under the carpet of it being an adventure and roughing it and so forth. It really doesn't help they are so confusingly fixated on starting in Panama. And maybe it's just me but it really is all very confusingly explained.
Also, and I have no idea if I'd do it anyway, just to pick on a random minor example, snorkelling mask is provided - but not fins. Are fins not necessary and just optional? Fuck knows.
Oh, and you'd think they could at least supply you with black plastic bin bags for protecting your gear. But no, you can buy these from the locals or whatever. FFS. Just add a fucking dollar to the price and make it simpler. How much do half a dozen black bin bags cost when purchased in bulk?
1954 Right, reading some other random pages. I hadn't realised bluesailing was more of a comparison type site and that some of the boats they offer are more "party" than others etc.
I also - a ridiculous jumping to conclusions based on seeing one photo of the group round a table one evening - have horrible visions of being stuck with a group of utter wankers (e.g. fuckwits who insist on discussing their self-righteous politics). Mention of some partyish boats handing out a free bottle of rum every day to compensate for having served the same tomato pasta every day make me suddenly a bit worried about the food on a sailing boat. The food on the islands on the San Blas Adventures route sounds a lot more acceptable and unlikely to be a problem.
I can feel a maybe 20% chance that I'm going to say fuck it and not do this. Right now despite my broad discomfort with a lot of the stuff above, the remaining 80% is probably split 50-30 in favour of the motorboat option sleeping on the islands.
While it's unclear as fuck, I have to assume there are solutions to the apparent problems of eg taking water with you. (Is it a gallon a *day*? I could probably scarcely lift three gallons, let alone fit it in a tiny bag.) (Also, do you virtually "have" to get a transfer on to Panama City when you finish the tour? Why can't you stay there for a few days before starting to travel onwards by bus? Is there internet access to book hostels from at the final destination on land?)
One site did point out - perhaps with some slightly creative pricing for land based accommodation - that the marginal cost of the n day boat trip is not that much greater than the marginal cost of the food/accommodation you would be spending if you spent those n days on holiday elsewhere in the country. I probably observed this myself already.
It does feel like *as long as you have enough money* (corollary: as long as you don't get robbed of what was enough money) and are not on a tight timescale, the SBA motor boat trip is essentially survivable. You can presumably buy water (there is mention of coconuts at "the bar" being a couple of dollars; I assume you could live off coconut water at a push, assuming the locals are acclimatised to whatever plain water is there without it being something a tourist could stomach - obviously if the locals will sell you bottled or filtered water, problem solved) at the various stops. You could trog over to the actual starting point and maybe overpay for basic dorm accommodation for 2-3 days beforehand to avoid some of the stress of making the connection with the start of the trip. I might even be able to take my only main bag with me given how small it is. It might even be possible to hook up with someone else doing the trip in (say) Cartagena and trog over to the actual starting point with them.
Wrt the cost, notwithstanding the creative accounting, I think it is worth bearing in mind the marginal cost. It's early days yet but I could easily see myself averaging USD25/night for accommodation (or put it another way, "paying" USD25/night for basic-but-novel accommodation on the islands is quite acceptable) and another USD5-10 for food and water. (Bear in mind I'm paying about four quid with tip for my one meal a day here right now.) So (and I'm being fairly generous) let's call it USD35/day, for let us say four days. We'll also kind of assume the "getting to/from the start/end points and associated expenses like staying there" are normal-ish prices or just regular travel day expenses like buses and not worth worrying about - I am not trying to get from A to B, the point is to "do stuff for 77 days" . So you can maybe offset USD140 of the trip cost against basic food/accom. If we say the trip is USD550 (what IIRC speedboat was, ish), that makes the marginal cost of the "experience" and the actual travel benefit of getting to Panama (which is likely to be v v v approx USD200ish with flights and transfer taxis and so on) - so let's take that off too - we are looking at 550-200-140=210 ultra-approximate dollars for the general trip experience. Which isn't too bad.
Of course if you're getting shafted for USD100/night for a dorm bed in the out of the way town you have to go to before the trip starts that's different, but it probably isn't that bad. I do wonder if you can book that accom online or if you have to turn up and hope (and what do you do if they're full and there's only one boat a day?).
Yeah. I'd be lying if I said I felt super happy about this - if nothing else, the idea of embarking on bus/boat for Capurgana/Swhatsit with probably something like USD800+ in my possession doesn't sit well with me. But it does start to feel like it might be maybe kinda-sorta tractable.
Also based on that SBA schedule earlier I can probably afford to sit on this for a week or two, if I have to (but not ideal).
And it's interesting that the website I looked at before leaving home gave impression the sailboat was an older less party crowd, rather than the impression I now have that it depends entirely on which sailboat you choose.
OK, I've had an experimental poke on booking.com with some semi-plausible dates. There is a hostel in Sapzurro with dorm beds at USD10/night. Another in Capurgana 3.8km (thus presumably some local transport possible from there without too much fuss or expense). Also an actual fancyish private room at a tolerable-if-pushed USD50/night. So hypothetically when/if I commit to this trip, I could book myself a hostel in Sapzurro and have a 2-3 day safety margin there.
The other end is way less clear. Everything says you arrive in "Carti" , but Google Maps knows of no such place - there are various "Carti X" s in San Blas, but it's not clear which is meant. Torntackies says USD30 for 4x4 taxi from Carti to Panama City, which also suggests Carti is on the mainland. OK, there is a Carti Parking and Boat terminal and a SBA office and a "puerto de carti" on the mainland, so maybe that's it. For this place, booking.com has all sorts of vaguely boutique looking cabinas and stuff at USD60+/night, which isn't my bag. But is there really no alternative to going on to Panama City? TBH maybe what I need to do wrt this is to read Panama guide book and see if there is a "low budget" aspect to this SE region of Panama or if it's exclusively beach boutique plus ultra rural no tourists of any kind stuff down there.
(I am not averse to going to PC, but I have been before and all else being equal it feels quite likely - though not certain - I would have to go there for a flight back to Colombia and it would be nice not to have to go twice. OTOH in the - unlikely, the way I feel now - event that I got on particularly well with anyone on the trip, there might be possibilities for spending more time with them in PC if "everyone" goes there.)
Thinking randomly, doing the motorboat island hopping thing would still be somewhat extending my experience with sea travel and would give me more of an idea how much I should worry about seasickness on a hypothetical boat trip at some point in the future.
While I kind of don't like it, I suppose one alternative would be to do the boat - let's say with SBA - from Panama to Colombia. Pros:
- it sounds like SBA are massively oriented towards this direction
- I'd be starting in a dollar-native country if I have to pay cash dollars
- I could probably stay in the specific hostel they do the briefing in and go in an additional cost but probably de facto part of the tour 4x4 taxi from PC to Carti with everyone else, no muss, no fuss, no worries about "where else I could maybe stay on arrival" as with the C-P direction
- I'd be finishing in Swhatsit with (modulo "getting back to Bogota in time for flight home" concerns) as much time as I wanted to worry about missing daily boats to Necocli or on to Cartagena or whatever with no connection to a pre-booked boat trip to worry about.
Cons:
- I would rather do the trip earlier than later
- the weather is supposed to be more favourable (seasickness, general pleasantness) for C-P direction at this time
- it makes my current route up towards Cartagena-ish not "bad" but a little pointless - especially since I presumably have to fly into Panama and may end up having to come back to Bogota to do it
- that also means maybe starting and ending the Panama trip in PC (since the boat trip kinda sorta starts from there) - though this is not *worse* than doing C-P and just accepting I "have" to go onto PC on arrival
- following on from "rather do sooner than later" , if (unlikely but possible) I really got the boat travel bug, doing this trip ASAP gives me time to consider going out of my way to do Panama-Costa Rica by boat (and then flying back CR-Bogota or whatever) or to do the boat trip (perhaps sailing this time) in the reverse direction (though gut feeling is even if I decide I love boats, visiting the San Blas islands on two separate boat trips within two months might be an overdose - admittedly there are apparently loads of islands and different boats visit different ones but I can't see them all being *that* different when you're visiting for a day)
2051 I think barring a sudden thought, the next logical step - maybe not tonight, it's not late but I want to do a chore or two and maybe pack and I feel slightly tired and it would be good to get a "long" night's sleep even if I do have to be up to travel, albeit not on a tight schedule - is to wait for a response from SBA (and maybe judge their "tone" as well as the facts) and also to dig out Panama guide and read that a bit.
It may also be that if SBA would generously let me be one of the handful of people to pay a 7% premium and pay with Paypal, that would side-step some of my concerns about getting dollars and carrying a lot of them around. It would grate though, and I'd be a bit concerned about losing the whole amount instead of just my deposit if something went tits up.
Being out of contact for 4/5/6/7/whatever (depending whether there's internet in hostel in Swhatsit, in part) days is vaguely disconcerting but (touch wood) probably be OK and at least right now I have no specific active reason to expect a crisis to occur, whereas in the future there might be.
FWIW the USD10ish/night hostel in Sapzurro advertises basic free wifi - I think they are saying it's slow, but it would presumably accommodate a Signal voice call at a push, and it's quite possible there is mobile coverage for a local SIM there too (though by no means guaranteed).
I worry a bit any of these boat trips might be a little bit too high on the "worship for indigenous cultures" scale for me - I personally sit more around the "respect on a basic human-human basis" and "oh, that's interesting" level without the golly gosh so rich and superior to ours in so many ways and blah blah blah gushing - but probably not an enormous deal.
(Just FTR, any references to Swhatshit instead of Swhatsit are accidental and not meant to imply any particular disdain for Sapzurro. It's just a natural typo for me when I'm using the hacky "I can't remember the full name and don't want to flick over to another app to check it mid sentence or write something which looks correct but is actually wrong" Swhatsit version. This blog, apart from likely only being of interest to Future Steve, is as I've said before at best raw material for a neat/tidy/interesting/well-written post, this is not remotely intended to be a final product like the "pro" travel blogs I have been reading for opinions on this boat trip. Hence "bash it out for in-the-moment thoughts" rather than "take the time to get it correct" .)
2109 Been drinking quite a lot of water and going for quite a lot of pisses :-) and also been hitting the free coffee. I don't exactly want to "do my chores" or go to bed, but I also don't really want to sit out here much more either. There may be one other guest, a woman who may not be English or Spanish speaking, but I am far from sure she's a guest in the first place.
Probably best to move into room in a minute, do chores, *maybe* pack - though given I don't have that much stuff, shouldn't have a tight deadline in morning esp if I go to bed soon-ish and it may be good to let clothes from yday dry further I may not - and go to bed. I am probably not washing this top tonight, I just may actually wear it as-is (and get changed when I check in), but I will probably burn a change of clothes by putting fresh ones on tomorrow morning. That way I may be acceptably fresh (it is all mountainy and thus relatively cold I guess) to keep wearing the clothes all day tomorrow, and if I do hike the day after I could wear those same clothes for hike and change when I get back to hostel and shower. We'll see, given I may be getting a paid laundry service in at this hostel it may not be worth scrimping on use of clean clothes.
While my attitude may not always have been the best, I should probably give myself credit for investigating this boat stuff and thinking the issues through a bit rather than just throwing my hands up in despair. And as per pre-boat-investigation e-mails, I actually had a quietly cool day on the whole.
2116 OK, finished latest coffee, back to room.
2139 If I didn't already say, they gave me a towel here, which is always appreciated. Yes I have my own, but it's nice not to need it.
2244 OK, about to go to bed. Have set alarms for 815/830. Will mostly pack in morning I think.
Having had a super quick look at map of Panama, "most" of the country (ignoring Darien) is west of Panama City, so while it still feels off not to be able to visit (hypothetical) tourist sites east of PC on arriving at Cwhatsit, the idea of "having" to go straight to PC on arrival sits a little better with me now.
Also on a random note the fact I have my 2l and 5l dry bags (for dirty uw and non-uw respectively, normally) may be helpful as an extra inner layer of waterproofing for eg electronics during a hypothetical boat trip.
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