Tue 23rd 2156 No one else in dorm but some possessions on other lower bunk suggest someone is in there. Germans (I think) are chatting at an inside table, hence having balcony to self. With nervy caveats am warming to idea of rappelling, may contact them via WA tomorrow morning but we'll see how it goes.
2205 In bed, no one else here yet. Itchiness on knuckles and in one or two other spots, hope this isn't bites. Rules on wall incidentally do not prohibit washing clothes, although I note you are only allowed to prepare "light" meals in kitchen!
Wed 24th 1104 Been sitting in reception for over half an hour hoping to get a reply from JC on WA about rapelling. Aha, they are responding now! Power of writing about things...
Incidentally (nothing to do with this) for next trip I should bring some laminated copies of the whole "double page" bit of my passport, not just the photo half.
Didn't sleep super well, not nec cause but kept waking and tossing and turning with vague irrational concerns about Panama immigration (don't remember now but on waking properly it was clear the concerns related to a something that just was not going to happen, like arriving by boat or something)
Looking promising-ish with questions. I can just reserve via WA and pay on the day. Bit edgy but you know, it will probably be fine.
Was another guy in other lower bunk FWIW, I am not sure he was sleeping that well either - though we haven't spoken.
I had a quick look for Barichara accom and looks like there's a bit of a bargain private room which I may book once I have a date confirmed for rapelling. Then I can head out to park without worrying about it, and I can gather myself together and sort stuff out for an imminent departure to Bucaramanga and Panama while I'm there in Barichara.
1147 Dragging out a bit - I suspect I don't have their undivided attention - but looking like (despite me seeing that woman do it yday afternoon - I haven't mentioned this tho) it has to be in the morning, no later than 10am. Don't feel too bad about it right now. Once this is settled I am going to book the Barichara accom and head out. Phone batt not where I'd like after all this but it's not like I'm going far.
1153 OK, sorted. Gulp. :-) Not that I'm actively worried right now. I am going to book Barichara - I do have time for this, and given it's so close it seems foolish to skip it for "another time" - absolute worst case I write off a bit under USD60 - and I don't want to miss out and if this is booked I don't have to worry about it.
1845 OK, been back at hostel maybe an hour. Had shower etc. Can't get on terrace so inside. Been frantically watching YT to try to check mask situation Panama. Google (didn't they used to be good?) turns up nothing but pages from eg 2022 when I search for restrictions. FCDO website says nothing. AFAICS official Tocumen airport site says nothing. (Also there's apparently a Metro line to airport, which may be hand.) I found one vlog of some young American women all turning up at airport in Panama City wearing fucking masks, but they made no comment on it (I guess it's just a sensible precaution, right?) but I found another vlog where a woman is inside airport maskless and another quick walk through tour of the airport and people don't appear to be wearing masks.
So this is probably OK. Masks *may* be required in medical settings (and I stumbled on a random Times article saying Spain and 4 US states have/did introduce such restrictions recently, FFS) but that is borderline tolerable.
1912 Just got off phone with parents. It hasn't actually been a bad day in a quietish way and while I'm a bit edgy tomorrow could be good fun/comfort zone pushing/a "tale to tell" about the trip. And I have this potentially nice accom in Barichara (and I popped into local terminal this afternoon and confirmed there is a bay for Barichara as well as Charala and snapped photo of timetables). But I'm feeling vaguely ground down by the "constant" need to be planning and thinking about these flights and boat trip etc etc. It really does kind of make it feel like the trip is almost over.
I think it isn't ideal to have these two fixed departure points (flight to Panama, boat back) in the trip, it would be lovely to feel I could just drift around on a whim (eg hypothetically every one of those buses at local depot represents somewhere local I could do, using here as a base or shifting round a bit), although that is slight fantasy as even if I had no fixed points I'd probably feel some pressure to "move on". But anyway, I do want to do the boat and it can't be helped and it may work out for the best or be educational or something.
I am a bit irrationally worried I'm going to hate Panama. I don't smoke but just for example smugly patronising mention of absolutely no smoking areas at Tocumen airport and stuff about fines for smoking even in open public spaces makes me fear the whole country is going to be run on US control freak paternalistic tendencies. I suspect once you're outside PC it's relatively laid back and I could well love it, it's just as I say that I'm liking Colombia and wonder if I'm going to find Panama less comfortable.
So I did go to park El Gallineral, 7k to get in, tiny bit of chat with guy on ticket desk (I stupidly asked him to help me put my wrist strap on and he did it way too tight), then when I got in some entertainer chap near entrance spoke to me in English (said he'd been to London twice and performed at the Empire in Leicester Square) and then he showed me the entrance to the main path. I followed this which wasn't mega long and subsequently found various other paths and while I tried to milk it as much as I could I also got a bit annoyed at suddenly spotting a new path. I suspect I saw most of it but couldn't swear to it.
Weather warmish and air felt a bit tastlelessly oven-y stale. But quite a nice park and although not super cool or breezy, some of the shady bits down by the river were nice and I watched some rafters and canoes go by - I did/do half feel like I could maybe do some low-grade white water rafting, but I am not rushing to do it either. (This sort of thing always feels like a big deal, which is off-putting.)
Saw some red squirrels (prob not same type as UK ones? but I've never seen a UK one) shortly after entering park. Don't think I saw any hummingbirds, unless you count the huge metal one I stumbled across during one of the last "oh, there's a new path here" forays before leaving. It's quite cool though. There's also an enormous ant down by the river.
Finger break.
1926 Big issue with dorm TBH is I can't leave a phone charging during day (*prob* be OK, but feels a step too far in terms of trust) and while using the power bank to charge as I sit here at night kind of works it also means I feel I'm perpetually on the brink of power bankruptcy.
Anyway, I also had a look at the two pools in PEG. One at least quite big though oddly shaped as if for "fun" rather than exercise, and it was virtually deserted with one bloke using it. There *might* be changing facilities and lockers but it isn't clear. The killer is that the pool rules say you must wear a swimming cap (not that the bloke in there was wearing one) and I don't have one. I could try to ignore this rule but I find pools stressful enough without suddenly having some random authority figure or just self-appointed monitor yelling at me in a foreign language. They also say something about suitable footwear (ie flip flops) being required in shower area and I don't have those either, but it's the swimming cap that really kills it - this is in the detailed rules and also called out in a larger text list of only four rules.
Maybe I'm being a bit wussy about this but it's fine. I do "need" to swim but it's not been two weeks yet. (There is a small plunge pool at Barichara accom but I am assuming that is no good for swimming as a result.) I may get lucky and find a hostel with a large-ish pool (as there was at the not-to-my-tastes Tamarindo one, for example, and also at the Uvita one, maybe others), or failing that I may get lucky and find some public swimming hole which isn't a bus ride and then a 40 min walk away, which I could then maybe use.
(In theory in a town or something there might be an actual swimming pool I could pay to access, though I suspect there might be swimming cap rules there and I would *prefer* to have flip-flops to reduce risk of infection if using such a facility. Then again, I am probably going to have to buy some for the damn boat trip, so I could buy some in Panama and that aspect would be taken care of. Then again, once in Panama my suspicion is you'd be lucky to find a swimming pool outside PC or David, but what do I know?)
There may also be some prospect of swimming in the sea, but given the preponderance of rip tides and shit all over the place, I'd need serious lifeguard cover before it would really be prudent to risk this.
So after the park I decided sod it, I'd go back and lard out at that chicken place from yday. I found it OK (it's a block or two past Claro in direction of local bus terminal and maybe a block away from the river) and photographed the outside (IIRC it's called Felipollo) and had a chat with same guy as yday and got half pollo asado (which is apparently what the red non-coated ones are) and papas saladas and those plantain things and guzzled it down with a 250ml non-diet pepsi (no coke today) for 18k, made it 20k and don't know if that seemed weird but whatever.
I then made my way back towards that bakery opposite El Padrino - it's called something like Onzegueno, but not that - and went brefly into church on main square (snapped a quick photo) and then walked through plaza and there was a guy singing to guitar and I sat down and listened (mostly half-understood Spanish, though he did Stairway to Heaven in English) and no one molested me and it was physically cool there and very pleasant and this was quite a nice little experience. I did slightly milk it but did walk away after maybe 30 mins even though he had restarted after an equipment battery change. I tipped him 6k, think he and his partner called me "papi" as the guy in VdL had, obviously my age is showing.
I then went to Owhatsit (yeah, I know, lardy) and got two cake/biscuit things and a very welcome white coffee (only caffeine of the day, as there's no free coffee at hostel - I could have paid 4k for eg a white coffee at park cafe but didn't see the point) and then went to Ara and got another 5l water and some (mislabelled? cost nearer 5k than 2.5ishk I was expecting) sugary mango juice and a 1.5l bottle of sugar free Brisa apple drink. I've consumed the 1l colombiana from other day already tonight and have put a litre or water in fridge with these other soft drinks and may have some more cold soft drink in a minute.
I also popped into "fruit supermarket" next door to Ara and got some perhaps overpriced bananas (2k/lb) from their slightly manky looking supply - I only got three as I wasn't sure if I could split a bunch and I didn't want a lot. I have shoved these in cupboard in kitchen and am thinking if I can be up with a few mins to spare I may eat these as breakfast or take them with me to eat en route.
I then came back, shoved drinks in fridge (topping up litre bottle from new 5l - i have "lots" of this 5l left with only 2 nights to go, but I will want to take some to Barichara plus I can and probably should force myself to drink more water anyway) and had shower/shave/cleaned teeth and now I'm writing this.
So I'm caught up. Fingers hurting so let's have a rest and continue musing (as I inevitably was in park today too) about booking this boat trip and dates and so forth.
Oh, room rules also say hot showers only in v restricted time window and you have to ask at reception!? But TBH apart from trying not to be an utter wuss anyway, the weather here is such that a cold shower is no real hardship, and apart from a tiny initial shock the water really isn't *that* cold anyway.
And it's not news, but even though I'm just skimming their videos with the sound off, most travel vloggers on YT really seem to be vaguely awful people. That's not fair, I'm sure they're basically decent human beings, but I guess a certain "yeah, party!" and fancy food and fancy places vibe goes with the territory to some extent, and I just look at this and it's like "this is so not me, and I hope everyone I meet is not going to be like this" (which, apart from the fact I'm not meeting anyone anyway :-), is obviously not going to be an issue except maybe in PC hostels, as if I'm staying in cheapo accom in tiny town X these people are not going to be there, they are going to be in the resort down the road if there is one or not at all). They all also seem (maybe I'm projecting) to exude a kind of not-quite-smugness, an "aren't I amazing but I also deserve to be doing this" vibe.
1953 I got my policy documents by e-mail, FWIW (not much I suspect, but still) I *do* have cruise cover and more importantly I have worldwide cover. I was pretty sure I was OK anyway (some policies charge extra for North America and Caribbean, but the islands I'm visiting are Panamanian territory, not Caribbean island nations), but it's good to be sure there's definitely no territorial concerns.
And it did occur to me while musing today that in terms of "how long" I am visiting Panama, the four days/three nights of the boat trip *are* visiting Panama, rather than my visit ending the day I leave PC to get on the boat.
2008 Just raised dispute (which you have to do in online banking not app) with Starling over that failed wd the other week. I must say the fact this hasn't been resolved automatically gives me a bad feeling. But I can only hope. I sure as hell didn't get any cash from the machine, and except for the usual doubting myself after the fact stuff, I know the machine indicated in some way the transaction failed rather than me just walking away randomly when it was in fact working.
If I lose the money I am not going to be happy and it's going to make me edgier in future. But over the years I will still be ahead of the game compared to using bdc or similar for my foreign currency.
2045 Finding it really hard to sit and think calmly about flight/boat dates. SBA still have availability on all dates anywhere near where I'd want, but I need to book soon as if for some reason I *can't* book I don't want to buy a non-refundable ticket to Panama in next few days.
2056 OK, just been up to dorm (which was empty) and hastily packed daypack for tomorrow so don't have to be pissing someone off doing it in an hour or at 7am.
I guess the only way I'm going to think about trip stuff is if I write. So let's repeat myself and waffle.
I could squash the end of trip period post boat a bit. I would want at *least* a week in hand (boat delays, problems getting from Swhatsit to Cartagena, etc) and really at least two. And while it's going to feel a bit rushed anyway, the reality is if I squash it too much it's going to feel much worse.
I really am feeling 1st Mar departure is prob best. That gives me two days for R&R/getting to Cartagena and then three weeks until my flight home. It *is* going to feel annoyingly under the cosh, but better than being four days shorter if I take 5th Mar departure.
My current bookings take me up to evening of 29th. If we say I book four nights in Bucaramanga, that means I'd potentially be flying on Sat 3rd. (This is thinking out loud. If it's cheaper I'm happy to fly on 2nd or 4th etc.) So say nights of 3rd and 4th in PC just to get cash (if nec) and find bus terminal and head out into the rest of Panama. So my first night "on tour" in Panama is the 5th, so that's 22 nights on tour up to and including night of 26th, then nights of 27th-29th inclusive in PC (maybe at the "preferred" SBA hostel, but maybe not) - with scope for not being in PC on 27th if I really don't fancy it.
It is also 4 weeks total in Panama, given the boat trip is also Panama and so is PC, even if I'm not over-anxious to visit it right now.
What would I gain by maybe squashing an extra week in before I fly to Panama (whether I steal that from Panama time and/or Colombia after boat time is not the point here)? It would give me roughly two extra bus hops/four night stays. The reality is I probably "ought" to see Bucaramanga (even if I end up using it as a base for nearby visits if there is nothing right there in town) as I'm on this route anyway, so this is two extra stops after that - and the second stop has to be somewhere with a biggish airport so I can fly to Panama from there.
(Incidentally a tiny bit edgy re tomorrow but I am reminding myself apart from the fact this is a professional reputable operation, the reality is that I could easy have/have had a serious and possibly fatal accident slipping or tumbling on any of dozens of random hikes I've been on - eg one of those ropes I'm holding onto gives way. Tomorrow feels scary, but in many ways it is (touch wood) safer than lots of stuff I do much more routinely.)
r2r says Bucaramanga-El Banco is about 5h, so that's borderline accepable for the first hop. I could then pop over to Mompox for second hop, pop back and fly from El Banco, if it has an airport. This extra week doesn't (short of unpleasant and maybe even unsafe and hardly worth it, given I *have* already been there and will be there post-boat) get me to Cartagena. And it means cutting Panama even shorter or squashing my final Colombia phase down and probably making that significantly worse (as I keep saying, the time pressure of getting to Bogota for flight is going to spoil it a bit, but I suspect with three weeks there will be some carefree quality to it, but two weeks would be significantly less so).
And on some hypothetical future visit to Colombia nothing would stop me (if I wished) flying straight from Bogota to Bucaramanga to "resume" this route, or (if I saw no need to actually hit the Caribbean coast) a similar-ish one. Or of course I could repeat this journey but perhaps not stop so long in Tunja or VdL or San Gil or perhaps just stop in some of them, so as to get to Bucaramanga relatively quickly if nothing made me think (eg) "no, sod it, I'll camp out in San Gil for a week and maybe do some white water rafting this time and visit some of those nearby towns in the local bus" .
OK, I still haven't and given it's 2129 and I have to be up earlyish tomorrow I clearly am not booking the boat trip tonight. I will be pissed off if the 1st fills up but touch wood it won't, and I'd be very unlucky if all the adjacent dates (not so good but workable at a push) filled up. But barring sudden massive change of heart I probably want to be booking the 1st March boat tomorrow afternoon/evening. Worst comes to worst I'll have to write the deposit off or just make things work wrt amount of time in Panama whatever.
Germans just come back. I could maybe have got on terrace but I didn't check, it's sort of nice (and quieter wrt traffic) here indoors with an open roof and a slight breeze.
2141 Just sent mail to Barichara hostel who vaguely messaged me earlier asking to coordinate my arrival. Bit faffy TBH. But anyway.
I do feel vaguely edgy and not exactly tired but what with one thing and another I should probably move towards bed. Plan for tomorrow post-waterfall is just to wander round town a bit, maybe see if that guy is busking in the park again and maybe sit there for a bit with a tinto from an ambulant vendor (Maria, I think the singer called one) even if he's not. Will try to book boat once back at hostel and probably have an overpriced beer or two once bar is open and settle my tab (fingers crossed).
OK, sod it, it may be a while (want to fill some water bottles ready) but let's move towards bed. Will send this now.
2205 In bed, no one else here yet. Itchiness on knuckles and in one or two other spots, hope this isn't bites. Rules on wall incidentally do not prohibit washing clothes, although I note you are only allowed to prepare "light" meals in kitchen!
Wed 24th 1104 Been sitting in reception for over half an hour hoping to get a reply from JC on WA about rapelling. Aha, they are responding now! Power of writing about things...
Incidentally (nothing to do with this) for next trip I should bring some laminated copies of the whole "double page" bit of my passport, not just the photo half.
Didn't sleep super well, not nec cause but kept waking and tossing and turning with vague irrational concerns about Panama immigration (don't remember now but on waking properly it was clear the concerns related to a something that just was not going to happen, like arriving by boat or something)
Looking promising-ish with questions. I can just reserve via WA and pay on the day. Bit edgy but you know, it will probably be fine.
Was another guy in other lower bunk FWIW, I am not sure he was sleeping that well either - though we haven't spoken.
I had a quick look for Barichara accom and looks like there's a bit of a bargain private room which I may book once I have a date confirmed for rapelling. Then I can head out to park without worrying about it, and I can gather myself together and sort stuff out for an imminent departure to Bucaramanga and Panama while I'm there in Barichara.
1147 Dragging out a bit - I suspect I don't have their undivided attention - but looking like (despite me seeing that woman do it yday afternoon - I haven't mentioned this tho) it has to be in the morning, no later than 10am. Don't feel too bad about it right now. Once this is settled I am going to book the Barichara accom and head out. Phone batt not where I'd like after all this but it's not like I'm going far.
1153 OK, sorted. Gulp. :-) Not that I'm actively worried right now. I am going to book Barichara - I do have time for this, and given it's so close it seems foolish to skip it for "another time" - absolute worst case I write off a bit under USD60 - and I don't want to miss out and if this is booked I don't have to worry about it.
1845 OK, been back at hostel maybe an hour. Had shower etc. Can't get on terrace so inside. Been frantically watching YT to try to check mask situation Panama. Google (didn't they used to be good?) turns up nothing but pages from eg 2022 when I search for restrictions. FCDO website says nothing. AFAICS official Tocumen airport site says nothing. (Also there's apparently a Metro line to airport, which may be hand.) I found one vlog of some young American women all turning up at airport in Panama City wearing fucking masks, but they made no comment on it (I guess it's just a sensible precaution, right?) but I found another vlog where a woman is inside airport maskless and another quick walk through tour of the airport and people don't appear to be wearing masks.
So this is probably OK. Masks *may* be required in medical settings (and I stumbled on a random Times article saying Spain and 4 US states have/did introduce such restrictions recently, FFS) but that is borderline tolerable.
1912 Just got off phone with parents. It hasn't actually been a bad day in a quietish way and while I'm a bit edgy tomorrow could be good fun/comfort zone pushing/a "tale to tell" about the trip. And I have this potentially nice accom in Barichara (and I popped into local terminal this afternoon and confirmed there is a bay for Barichara as well as Charala and snapped photo of timetables). But I'm feeling vaguely ground down by the "constant" need to be planning and thinking about these flights and boat trip etc etc. It really does kind of make it feel like the trip is almost over.
I think it isn't ideal to have these two fixed departure points (flight to Panama, boat back) in the trip, it would be lovely to feel I could just drift around on a whim (eg hypothetically every one of those buses at local depot represents somewhere local I could do, using here as a base or shifting round a bit), although that is slight fantasy as even if I had no fixed points I'd probably feel some pressure to "move on". But anyway, I do want to do the boat and it can't be helped and it may work out for the best or be educational or something.
I am a bit irrationally worried I'm going to hate Panama. I don't smoke but just for example smugly patronising mention of absolutely no smoking areas at Tocumen airport and stuff about fines for smoking even in open public spaces makes me fear the whole country is going to be run on US control freak paternalistic tendencies. I suspect once you're outside PC it's relatively laid back and I could well love it, it's just as I say that I'm liking Colombia and wonder if I'm going to find Panama less comfortable.
So I did go to park El Gallineral, 7k to get in, tiny bit of chat with guy on ticket desk (I stupidly asked him to help me put my wrist strap on and he did it way too tight), then when I got in some entertainer chap near entrance spoke to me in English (said he'd been to London twice and performed at the Empire in Leicester Square) and then he showed me the entrance to the main path. I followed this which wasn't mega long and subsequently found various other paths and while I tried to milk it as much as I could I also got a bit annoyed at suddenly spotting a new path. I suspect I saw most of it but couldn't swear to it.
Weather warmish and air felt a bit tastlelessly oven-y stale. But quite a nice park and although not super cool or breezy, some of the shady bits down by the river were nice and I watched some rafters and canoes go by - I did/do half feel like I could maybe do some low-grade white water rafting, but I am not rushing to do it either. (This sort of thing always feels like a big deal, which is off-putting.)
Saw some red squirrels (prob not same type as UK ones? but I've never seen a UK one) shortly after entering park. Don't think I saw any hummingbirds, unless you count the huge metal one I stumbled across during one of the last "oh, there's a new path here" forays before leaving. It's quite cool though. There's also an enormous ant down by the river.
Finger break.
1926 Big issue with dorm TBH is I can't leave a phone charging during day (*prob* be OK, but feels a step too far in terms of trust) and while using the power bank to charge as I sit here at night kind of works it also means I feel I'm perpetually on the brink of power bankruptcy.
Anyway, I also had a look at the two pools in PEG. One at least quite big though oddly shaped as if for "fun" rather than exercise, and it was virtually deserted with one bloke using it. There *might* be changing facilities and lockers but it isn't clear. The killer is that the pool rules say you must wear a swimming cap (not that the bloke in there was wearing one) and I don't have one. I could try to ignore this rule but I find pools stressful enough without suddenly having some random authority figure or just self-appointed monitor yelling at me in a foreign language. They also say something about suitable footwear (ie flip flops) being required in shower area and I don't have those either, but it's the swimming cap that really kills it - this is in the detailed rules and also called out in a larger text list of only four rules.
Maybe I'm being a bit wussy about this but it's fine. I do "need" to swim but it's not been two weeks yet. (There is a small plunge pool at Barichara accom but I am assuming that is no good for swimming as a result.) I may get lucky and find a hostel with a large-ish pool (as there was at the not-to-my-tastes Tamarindo one, for example, and also at the Uvita one, maybe others), or failing that I may get lucky and find some public swimming hole which isn't a bus ride and then a 40 min walk away, which I could then maybe use.
(In theory in a town or something there might be an actual swimming pool I could pay to access, though I suspect there might be swimming cap rules there and I would *prefer* to have flip-flops to reduce risk of infection if using such a facility. Then again, I am probably going to have to buy some for the damn boat trip, so I could buy some in Panama and that aspect would be taken care of. Then again, once in Panama my suspicion is you'd be lucky to find a swimming pool outside PC or David, but what do I know?)
There may also be some prospect of swimming in the sea, but given the preponderance of rip tides and shit all over the place, I'd need serious lifeguard cover before it would really be prudent to risk this.
So after the park I decided sod it, I'd go back and lard out at that chicken place from yday. I found it OK (it's a block or two past Claro in direction of local bus terminal and maybe a block away from the river) and photographed the outside (IIRC it's called Felipollo) and had a chat with same guy as yday and got half pollo asado (which is apparently what the red non-coated ones are) and papas saladas and those plantain things and guzzled it down with a 250ml non-diet pepsi (no coke today) for 18k, made it 20k and don't know if that seemed weird but whatever.
I then made my way back towards that bakery opposite El Padrino - it's called something like Onzegueno, but not that - and went brefly into church on main square (snapped a quick photo) and then walked through plaza and there was a guy singing to guitar and I sat down and listened (mostly half-understood Spanish, though he did Stairway to Heaven in English) and no one molested me and it was physically cool there and very pleasant and this was quite a nice little experience. I did slightly milk it but did walk away after maybe 30 mins even though he had restarted after an equipment battery change. I tipped him 6k, think he and his partner called me "papi" as the guy in VdL had, obviously my age is showing.
I then went to Owhatsit (yeah, I know, lardy) and got two cake/biscuit things and a very welcome white coffee (only caffeine of the day, as there's no free coffee at hostel - I could have paid 4k for eg a white coffee at park cafe but didn't see the point) and then went to Ara and got another 5l water and some (mislabelled? cost nearer 5k than 2.5ishk I was expecting) sugary mango juice and a 1.5l bottle of sugar free Brisa apple drink. I've consumed the 1l colombiana from other day already tonight and have put a litre or water in fridge with these other soft drinks and may have some more cold soft drink in a minute.
I also popped into "fruit supermarket" next door to Ara and got some perhaps overpriced bananas (2k/lb) from their slightly manky looking supply - I only got three as I wasn't sure if I could split a bunch and I didn't want a lot. I have shoved these in cupboard in kitchen and am thinking if I can be up with a few mins to spare I may eat these as breakfast or take them with me to eat en route.
I then came back, shoved drinks in fridge (topping up litre bottle from new 5l - i have "lots" of this 5l left with only 2 nights to go, but I will want to take some to Barichara plus I can and probably should force myself to drink more water anyway) and had shower/shave/cleaned teeth and now I'm writing this.
So I'm caught up. Fingers hurting so let's have a rest and continue musing (as I inevitably was in park today too) about booking this boat trip and dates and so forth.
Oh, room rules also say hot showers only in v restricted time window and you have to ask at reception!? But TBH apart from trying not to be an utter wuss anyway, the weather here is such that a cold shower is no real hardship, and apart from a tiny initial shock the water really isn't *that* cold anyway.
And it's not news, but even though I'm just skimming their videos with the sound off, most travel vloggers on YT really seem to be vaguely awful people. That's not fair, I'm sure they're basically decent human beings, but I guess a certain "yeah, party!" and fancy food and fancy places vibe goes with the territory to some extent, and I just look at this and it's like "this is so not me, and I hope everyone I meet is not going to be like this" (which, apart from the fact I'm not meeting anyone anyway :-), is obviously not going to be an issue except maybe in PC hostels, as if I'm staying in cheapo accom in tiny town X these people are not going to be there, they are going to be in the resort down the road if there is one or not at all). They all also seem (maybe I'm projecting) to exude a kind of not-quite-smugness, an "aren't I amazing but I also deserve to be doing this" vibe.
1953 I got my policy documents by e-mail, FWIW (not much I suspect, but still) I *do* have cruise cover and more importantly I have worldwide cover. I was pretty sure I was OK anyway (some policies charge extra for North America and Caribbean, but the islands I'm visiting are Panamanian territory, not Caribbean island nations), but it's good to be sure there's definitely no territorial concerns.
And it did occur to me while musing today that in terms of "how long" I am visiting Panama, the four days/three nights of the boat trip *are* visiting Panama, rather than my visit ending the day I leave PC to get on the boat.
2008 Just raised dispute (which you have to do in online banking not app) with Starling over that failed wd the other week. I must say the fact this hasn't been resolved automatically gives me a bad feeling. But I can only hope. I sure as hell didn't get any cash from the machine, and except for the usual doubting myself after the fact stuff, I know the machine indicated in some way the transaction failed rather than me just walking away randomly when it was in fact working.
If I lose the money I am not going to be happy and it's going to make me edgier in future. But over the years I will still be ahead of the game compared to using bdc or similar for my foreign currency.
2045 Finding it really hard to sit and think calmly about flight/boat dates. SBA still have availability on all dates anywhere near where I'd want, but I need to book soon as if for some reason I *can't* book I don't want to buy a non-refundable ticket to Panama in next few days.
2056 OK, just been up to dorm (which was empty) and hastily packed daypack for tomorrow so don't have to be pissing someone off doing it in an hour or at 7am.
I guess the only way I'm going to think about trip stuff is if I write. So let's repeat myself and waffle.
I could squash the end of trip period post boat a bit. I would want at *least* a week in hand (boat delays, problems getting from Swhatsit to Cartagena, etc) and really at least two. And while it's going to feel a bit rushed anyway, the reality is if I squash it too much it's going to feel much worse.
I really am feeling 1st Mar departure is prob best. That gives me two days for R&R/getting to Cartagena and then three weeks until my flight home. It *is* going to feel annoyingly under the cosh, but better than being four days shorter if I take 5th Mar departure.
My current bookings take me up to evening of 29th. If we say I book four nights in Bucaramanga, that means I'd potentially be flying on Sat 3rd. (This is thinking out loud. If it's cheaper I'm happy to fly on 2nd or 4th etc.) So say nights of 3rd and 4th in PC just to get cash (if nec) and find bus terminal and head out into the rest of Panama. So my first night "on tour" in Panama is the 5th, so that's 22 nights on tour up to and including night of 26th, then nights of 27th-29th inclusive in PC (maybe at the "preferred" SBA hostel, but maybe not) - with scope for not being in PC on 27th if I really don't fancy it.
It is also 4 weeks total in Panama, given the boat trip is also Panama and so is PC, even if I'm not over-anxious to visit it right now.
What would I gain by maybe squashing an extra week in before I fly to Panama (whether I steal that from Panama time and/or Colombia after boat time is not the point here)? It would give me roughly two extra bus hops/four night stays. The reality is I probably "ought" to see Bucaramanga (even if I end up using it as a base for nearby visits if there is nothing right there in town) as I'm on this route anyway, so this is two extra stops after that - and the second stop has to be somewhere with a biggish airport so I can fly to Panama from there.
(Incidentally a tiny bit edgy re tomorrow but I am reminding myself apart from the fact this is a professional reputable operation, the reality is that I could easy have/have had a serious and possibly fatal accident slipping or tumbling on any of dozens of random hikes I've been on - eg one of those ropes I'm holding onto gives way. Tomorrow feels scary, but in many ways it is (touch wood) safer than lots of stuff I do much more routinely.)
r2r says Bucaramanga-El Banco is about 5h, so that's borderline accepable for the first hop. I could then pop over to Mompox for second hop, pop back and fly from El Banco, if it has an airport. This extra week doesn't (short of unpleasant and maybe even unsafe and hardly worth it, given I *have* already been there and will be there post-boat) get me to Cartagena. And it means cutting Panama even shorter or squashing my final Colombia phase down and probably making that significantly worse (as I keep saying, the time pressure of getting to Bogota for flight is going to spoil it a bit, but I suspect with three weeks there will be some carefree quality to it, but two weeks would be significantly less so).
And on some hypothetical future visit to Colombia nothing would stop me (if I wished) flying straight from Bogota to Bucaramanga to "resume" this route, or (if I saw no need to actually hit the Caribbean coast) a similar-ish one. Or of course I could repeat this journey but perhaps not stop so long in Tunja or VdL or San Gil or perhaps just stop in some of them, so as to get to Bucaramanga relatively quickly if nothing made me think (eg) "no, sod it, I'll camp out in San Gil for a week and maybe do some white water rafting this time and visit some of those nearby towns in the local bus" .
OK, I still haven't and given it's 2129 and I have to be up earlyish tomorrow I clearly am not booking the boat trip tonight. I will be pissed off if the 1st fills up but touch wood it won't, and I'd be very unlucky if all the adjacent dates (not so good but workable at a push) filled up. But barring sudden massive change of heart I probably want to be booking the 1st March boat tomorrow afternoon/evening. Worst comes to worst I'll have to write the deposit off or just make things work wrt amount of time in Panama whatever.
Germans just come back. I could maybe have got on terrace but I didn't check, it's sort of nice (and quieter wrt traffic) here indoors with an open roof and a slight breeze.
2141 Just sent mail to Barichara hostel who vaguely messaged me earlier asking to coordinate my arrival. Bit faffy TBH. But anyway.
I do feel vaguely edgy and not exactly tired but what with one thing and another I should probably move towards bed. Plan for tomorrow post-waterfall is just to wander round town a bit, maybe see if that guy is busking in the park again and maybe sit there for a bit with a tinto from an ambulant vendor (Maria, I think the singer called one) even if he's not. Will try to book boat once back at hostel and probably have an overpriced beer or two once bar is open and settle my tab (fingers crossed).
OK, sod it, it may be a while (want to fill some water bottles ready) but let's move towards bed. Will send this now.
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