Panama City, Wednesday

Tue 27th 2217 Just been to bog. Solidity! Oddly pale looking solidity, but still, this is good news.

Not counting my chickens etc but still.

2240 No bedside lamp (have vague recollection there was one in other room on first visit but poss not). Am using the tiny USB lamp circuit board thing in charger second port, this works surprisingly well. Dunno if it risks burning out but suppose it ought to be OK and no point having it if I don't use it.

Wed 28th 0857 Slept pretty well. Woke 6ish feeling a bit dehydrated (? sort of hungover feeling but without having drunk alcohol).

Not out of woods yet. Had couple of non-solid dumps and a black coffee and a few (bought at local shop yday) bread+raising rolls have my stomach churning slightly. All the same I am feeling reasonably optimistic I'm on the mend. I am going to do a bit of trip prep in room (count money, review FAQ, tinker with shopping list) and then maybe have some more coffee and then maybe head out locallyish.

Dithering about getting hair cut. It isn't "bulging" anywhere, it's a smidge longer than I'd maybe like but it's not really necessary. Maybe I will play it by ear, if I see a super cheap barber maybe I'll go in and if not I'll leave it.

1343 Been out for walk and shop. Got most of my general supplies (eg bin bags, sealable "freezer" bags for paranoid water proofing) and got some bananas and have eaten a couple. Guts feeling slightly rough (less so after a lie down) but at least no sudden desperate toilet requirements and indeed a non-compelled visit produced only a tiny but solid result. I wish I felt better but I am not at least feeling terrible.

I spoke to at least three pharmacies and diarrhea tablets (incidentally I think at least two of the three did not understand me, maybe my pronunciation is off) appear to cost at least USD0.65 (approx; can't quite remember) each! Like, per tablet. Back home I'm sure they are like a quid for a pack of 6 or 8 or something. At a quid or so I'd just buy a box to be safe. At this price I really don't want to be buying loads if I don't need them - obviously I may regret not having them, but I think I'm gonna see how my guts behave over the next 24h-ish before deciding.

I also couldn't see even the 25% "best I found" DEET in supermercado Rey. One pharmacist had a 25% aerosol, but I really would prefer (and am sure I have seen) a simple liquid with atomiser. I do have a nearly full bottle of my 50% equiv saltidin spray. This DEET purchase is mainly for the supposedly malarial bits of Colombia at the other end and I *may* put off buying something until I am there. Worst case my 50% equiv spray is notionally good enough but with malaria (possibly - *no one* seems to mention this, eg I've been added to WA group for boat trip and they're sending out docs which rehash their faq and there's no mention of malaria) on the table I would prefer DEET. I just may pop out in the next hour or so to a different supermarket and see if I can get some 25% non-aerosol there as a fallback (albeit an annoyingly expensive fallback at potentially USD10+).

I asked (in Spanish, go me) and the employee restocking the spirits in Rey pointed out the sole rum they sell in a plastic bottle, so I got that - it's presumably cheap and cheerful,  but at USD8ish for 750ml I'm happy, it will allow me to share etc as appropriate and plastic is lighter and safer in my bag and as it's in the original bottle it removes any niggling worries about customs etc looking askance at it.

I also wd another 250 (annoyingly missing the BAC machine round the corner which according to Liam *might* have let me wd >250, but never mind) in Rey following a count up this morning. Fingers crossed this gives me ample USD. (Oh, I also removed lower drawer of chest by bed in room so I can chain my backpack to the frame - not brilliant, but better than nothing.) And I paid for the USD30+ of shopping on credit card for once as it was a largish amount, cost nothing extra, helps preserve cash and although I generally prefer the privacy and fraud benefits of cash as a one-ish off this felt smart.

1738 Jeez. Just trogged down to Xtra, got a can of the aerosol 25% DEET spray out of desperation, 7.40 but then there's an extra 10% tax at til ffs. Paid on aqua.

Walked back up next street, tried two cheap restaurants but both closed (for food) or closing. Obviously eating at 5 is not the done thing. I had seen some up past local ms but could only find one open. Bwahaha. Fonda Doble Fuerte if I can read the sign (have photo). Seemed OK tho only me in there (I *think* it was busier earlier). USD4 for piece of pollo asado, rice and lentils and chilled tap water (which I am effectively drinking here). The fucking rice - which was from a series of containers on staff side of counter, not cooked to order - was half raw, all crunchy. So presumably it's been served like this all day!? (If it had been cooked to order, maybe they just paid no attention this once when cooking mine.) Maybe this is my gazpacho soup moment, but I've knocked round Latin America a bit and been in Panama for several weeks and I've never had rice like this. The chicken and lentils were nice and tasted OK. Fingers crossed I'm not getting food poisoning from this. Still, I did eat - even if not much, given the big wodge of rice was inedible and I had to leave some lentils as they were on top of the rice. (I declined salad after eventually managing to find out via questioning it had vinegar on.)

I got two beers and (paranoically suspecting a surge in demand tomorrow) a gallon container of water for trip from local ms. I am probably going to go have a shower and do some laundry in there, then I may go have a beer.

(Wrote the above in wrong file due to prev noted inconvenience of working on multiple files with dropbox and its text editor on phone. Massive faff moving it as scrolling screen lost selection so had to do it in chunks via another app.)

1748 Had another banana and will have the last three slices of the pan integral from David.

1926 Called parents (bit of an ungrateful git tbh, not too bad), washed tops in shower, had shower, cut fingernails (toenails not due according to my notes and I'm not gratuitously fiddling with them pre-trip, shorter might be nicer but they're short enough - I'm thinking re stubbing toe on rocks and splitting them, not looks :-) - but with my really deliberately cheap and near useless (one quality notch higher next time, maybe) clippers the chances of me causing some kind of nasty chip or tear are high enough I'm leaving well alone.

I think I'm gonna go drink some of a bottle of (non-diet; the sugar might be no bad thing in my state) coke I put in fridge earlier. If I can get into chat with anyone that's great, if not no harm. I may have a beer later.

Increasingly feeling I'm not going to Casco Viejo. A minor shame but dashing over there tomorrow is going to be shit, esp as (given early start day after) I really would like to be packing tomorrow afternoon while there's still time to dash out for any last minute supplies. I am focussing on CV but it's not as if there's all sorts of cool stuff I couldn't re-see from 2010. And I will probably be back here eventually and maybe (given you apparently need to taxi in and out for safety; some hint you can walk to CdM metro in daytime but not sure and I'm reluctant to chance it at least tomorrow) next time I will stay *in* CV for a couple of nights, since I won't have the boat trip ties to this hostel/area. (Fwiw I could imagine not staying in CV on arrival in PC via air, so as to avoid the faff of getting a taxi in there but getting into city without paying 30 or more for a axi from airport - i might stay somewhere metro accessible, perhaps even here, for a night or two then a night or two in CV, or perhaps do a night or two in CV before flying out.)

1938 Sat at table "near" pool. Three poss-german speaking guys by pool, few people eating and a couple sitting quietly at other table in this little gravelled "aisle" of two. No obvious sign of chat etc. I know from WA group some (British - +44 prefix on phone numbers) girls are here and/or coming here tonight. I don't intend to blatantly force my way in to any chat re trip but if a "groupish" physical chat forms I may try to join. Obv post meeting tomorrow we will (in theory) recognise each other by sight and saying "hi" may be easier, tho if the group is the max 30ish (no idea) I may not remember everyone.

Will go easyish on coke given still feeling way with stomach/guts but I feel mostly OK. Haven't wanted or needed or kind of been able (to force myself) to use toilet for anything except piss. Fingers crossed.

Think couple "behind" me at the gravelled area table I "normally" sit at are Dutch. Don't think they are super young fwiw.

FTR while it would be nice-ish to chat to someone and esp someone from trip group, I am not desperate and I don't feel particularly BNM right now given the other people around and their distribution.

It's warm out but pleasantly so, v light breeze. Wearing flip flops round hostel partly for comfort/convenience but also partly to allow me to stretch out wear on a single pair of socks, given I would like to embark on the trip with as many clean clothes as possible. Dunno what I'll wear during trip but even if I just wear same "swimming" clothes for three days straight it would be good to have plenty in hand and not have to do laundry asap on arrival.

1949 Of course a) not everyone on trip will stay here b) to whatever extent they do, it may be most will only come to stay here tomorrow.

Realise what a fussbudget/actually prepared person I am because on the chat these BGs are asking about withdrawing cash and getting photocopies of passports and changing money to pesos. I'd be freaking out if I had none of this done. I'll prob freak out if and when it turns out there is something I've forgotten. Obviously there is "all day" (sort of "all afternoon" ) to sort stuff out tomorrow, esp if you're 100% healthy, so it's not massively unprepared to have none of this sorted but I suspect I'm regarding the trip as more of an "ordeal" (not quite the right word) than at least some and perhaps most of the others are. Esp with the border crossing aspect and no cash machines, the scope for fuckery feels large and thus feel the need to prep as well as possible to reduce chances of problems.

It would be oddly cool if my group for the trip turned out to be more mixed in age than I am expecting.

Incidentally my plan - need to force myself to think through packing etc in general tho - wrt phones etc during boat trip is to [ffs i think one of the dogs has had a shit somewhere near me, it stinks] start with both phones and power bank fully charged if poss. I will put the UK SIM temporarily in the O6 during the trip and leave the K1 permanently powered down barring some of emergency. I'll stick the O6 in aeroplane mode unless I want to very occasionally check on the offchance of a mobile signal and leave it in battery saving mode and try to only use it as a camera and alarm. I hope the O6 will last out on that basis (I'm just going to have to hope I'm tired enough to sleep without reading on one of phones, tho K1 will be available at a push) and I can use the power bank to top it up if necessary. I'm then not depending on the super tenuous prospect of a "solar panel with a plug" , but if I do get a chance and I've used some power from it I can top up the powerbank.

Another solo guy - two in fact - fiddling with their phones at a nearby table and at the bar. Aren't we all a sociable bunch? :-)

I'm gonna deliberately put phone down and stare into space by way of an experiment.

2003 Harder than I'd expected. :-)

Anyway, I am not intending to write running reports during trip. I will perhaps make brief memory aid notes on o6 eg each night, then (assuming - touch wood - I feel OK) when I get to Capurgana I will have to bash out the whole trip in a few sessions relatively quickly. So it won't be "live" , but it will at least be relatively recent and fresh in my memory as I write it up.

Random notes:
- not so much of late, but earlier in Panama trip I would intermittently think of Daniel Dennett's "Q-Balber" (something to do with intentionality? but it's a long time since I read the book) on seeing local currency
- I occasionally find myself (eg on drinking a Balboa beer) thinking of that PG Wodehouse story (intro to one of his books?) where he referred to (prob quoting a poem?) Cortez on a peak in Darien and someone writes in to say "you big stiff, it wasn't Cortez, it was Balboa"

2301 Responded to message on WA group and spent evening chatting with three other English speaking boat trip people (one Derbyshire, one Glasgow, one California). Had most (shared some) of 1.5l non-diet coke and one can Balboa. Feel a little bloated but broadly OK and that's not surprising.

May try to send a postcard tomorrow morning. I also said I'd be up for sharing a taxi to CV for an hour or two if anyone is up for it, so we'll see what happens - I'd sort of rather "just" pack, but we'll play it by ear and given the chance it seemed like I shouldn't pass the chance up. One of the guys said he had been to CV and although it sounds like more of it is restored and gentrified-ish than when I was there, he said it still has this part slum part gorgeous quality. Gonna send this now anyway.

David-Panama City

Tue 27th 0956 On 1000 bus to Panama (City). Annoyingly as everything has been a mad scramble (and my "daypack" bag has no small side pocket to permanently keep such things in) my headphones are in the upper pocket of my main bag which is in the boot. But while annoying this isn't the end of the world.

Slept semi-OK, kept waking up but did not need to really go to toilet. Guts churning a bit and modest anount of farting and burping. I did have a near miss (prob accumulated stuff overnight) when I actually got up - two actually - and so I took a couple of diarrhea tablets about half an hour ago just as a safety precaution. I can't tell if there's a toilet on this bus as people are standing in aisle, and of course I can't tell if it works without going. You're prob only supposed to urinate in it anyway but my faeces are pretty liquid at the moment. Fingers crossed I am not going to need to go anyway.

I had a sachet of salt replacement stuff this morning too, finished off the grapes. I've left half the ham, the unopened milk and my three cans of beer with owner (who mildly pissed me off by nagging at me about not using the shower - which I wasn't - in the dorm bedroom, but still). I've brought the half loaf of bread, the three apples (which I dropped this morning, so I imagine they're bruised now) and some 1.50 lemon biscuits with me. I have a litre of water (which I topped up from kitchen tap at hostel; I otherwise didn't need to drink local water as I got 1.5l chilled at supermarket, but it should be fine and I did ask owner and I believe water is generally potable and I drank prob mains water at L+F) too.

I did at least remember to put my Panama "travelcard" in pocket and with luck it will be an easy hop to the hostel. I do still need to do *some* prep for trip (eg buy fresh sunblock and prob wd more cash) but I don't have anything too critical to do and if necessary I can probably hole up there a bit and try to recuperate.

I was going to bring bag on but it *might* not have gone in overhead rack and the guy at boot, while pleasant, seemed quite insistent and I didn't want to argue. Definitely a shame about headphones but can't be helped, and at least I am on this 10am bus which will hopefully leave soon and that means I will be at the hostel in Panama City sooner.

I do have books I can read on phone but never been super happy about reading on buses.

1004 We're moving.

I have a big carrier bag shoved in one leg pocket in case I'm sick; I haven't been yet and I hope having this will make it less likely I need it.

1257 At a rest stop. Destroyer tactics so squeezed a bit out.

I suspect data on Panama SIM has run out, despite being unlimited. It isn't working and I got a message about having 50MB left the other day. It may just be a glitch (and given phone has a 2GB limit set and I was supposed to have 3GB "to share"  this seems odd). Can't be helped. At least if I did get ripped off it has in practice very nearly lasted as long as it was supposed to do without me holding back.

We had some sort of ID checkpoint - bus stopped, guys got on to check - maybe an hour ago. I had passport in flip belt so showed it, guy did look through it (presumably to find entrance stamp) but not trouble.

Doh, was waiting outside wrong bus! Mine is 29. But it's still here.

1305 It's hot. Wanna get back on bus!

We are in Santiago, I just checked GPS.

1308 Just wd 250 at a Coopeve machine here while waiting. Tried 300 no dice, 6.50 fee bit sucky but not all that terrible. This does at least mean i may not need to wd in Panama City, or if I do wd less. Within reason (don't want to be lugging huge amounts of cash in case I lose it) I can't have "too much" USD as it's good to have a stash back home for future trips, and I'd like to at least take enough back to replace what I brought out with me.

1327 Back on bus. 99% confident this is the right one!

Had a single slice of the "pan integral" while waiting. Went down fine and being solid I guess it's unlikely to make things worse but restrained myself as don't want to stir stomach up or anything.

Think rest stop started about 1240.

1331 Yeah. Apart from bus number on outside, the woman to my left looks familiar and the guy in front is wearing a red Under Armour cap which I remember, and there's a "torn" patch in the window tinting. 99.9% confident.

1333 Moving.

1833 At new hostel, room 12 (think next door to old room). Feeling surprisingly chipper, not 100%. Woman on desk remembered me. Paid all three nights, did it in Spanish. Been out to local shop and got some water and some ham and some salted peanuts and some raisin bread things. Gonna go put a bottle of water in fridge and see about ham sandwiches with bread I brought.

1842 Ham sandwiches. Was tempted to buy a beer while at shop but probably prudent to wait til tomorrow and see how things go. Had small voluntary destroyer tactics watery shit at bus terminal before getting metro (bit of a whiny shit to myself about poor signage for where metro was).

1854 Back in room. Had four sandwiches, feel a bit full (perhaps inhaled them a bit) but not the gut churning of the second two last night. Have put a bottle of water in fridge and will go get it and maybe have another couple of sandwiches in an hour or so. Gonna lie on bed and drink some of the lukewarm water I brought with me from David - it's tap but there is no reason that's a problem.

2057 Did watch YT, also had a shower and washed some uw in there using a plastic bag. Feel *slightly* sick - I had a not v nice apple too, tho not blaming that - sick not really the word, vaguely stuffed. But I will prob have more sandwiches in a bit.

Beyond ideally getting haircut and doing bit of boat trip shopping, main thing I'd semi like to do here is have a quick wander round Casco Viejo. Guidebook says nothing about safety, web is full of old sites and so forth. Gut feeling is that I am not going to be massively regretful if I don't make it - I saw it in 2010 but be interesting to see it again - and that if I feel OK tomorrow and get trip prep done in morning, I may take a taxi there (perhaps from Cinco de Mayo station or something) and back and maybe leave virtually everything in hotel jic.

(Annoyingly room 12, just like room 11, seems to have nowhere at all I can chain my bag to, so leave everything everything here feels a bit "all eggs in one basket" . But still.)

I also had a really bad shave - it's not exactly brightly lit round by the sink at night - but it's better than nothing.

2146 Watched a bit more YT. Feel very slightly "sick" , but more "full" than sick. Vastly better than last two nights. Had some chilled water and will allow myself to drink as much as I want tonight.

Will clean teeth in a minute then go to bed. On second thoughts if I feel OK I'll wander round semi-locally tomorrow doing shopping and looking for a cheap hairdresser, and then I may go to CV *after* the boat briefing the day after - if nothing else I will have handed over a wodge of cash by then.

Haven't had shit of any kind since bus terminal on arriving in PC. I have to assume this morning's tablets have long since worn off and this is prob a good sign. Piss at PC terminal quite yellow but then again I'd not drunk any liquid all day to avoid causing extra problems.

Feel slightly BNM with people chatting in commonish area but a) I do feel this hostel's layout is a bit awkward b) I am obviously not even trying tonight, I did ask some functional questions of one guy and exchanged a few words with a woman who was at table when I went to eat.

2202 Done teeth.

Half wish I had an extra night here as things feel a bit rushed. But I don't need to get worked up about CV and otherwise I am fine, except (touch wood) wrt time to recover and that's not really related to when I planned to get here. Plus a 12hish shuttle or public bus or whatever from BdT to PC in one day would probably have been even more of a mare with being ill.

Fingers crossed I am indeed on the mend. If I am I have only really "lost" peace of mind (so to speak) for 2-3 days, and I missed out on a few beers on terrace of Bast hostel (Hostal Cay, BTW). I had never really planned to try to squeeze in sightseeing in David anyway during that one late afternoon/evening even if I'd felt fine.

Honestly it is fine if I don't go to CV. The only thing slightly nagging at me is that while on the whole I have enjoyed Panama, it is a "terminus" country for land travel (given Darien gap), there is no direct flight to it from UK and while I am sure there's lots more to see it feels hard to visit the less touristed parts due to lack of accom and it just feels like it could be a while before I come back - it's not trivial to just pop over the border from Colombia. It's not inconceivable I'll be in CR at some point (tho it is expensive and I went last year, so prob not that soon) and may mix in some Panama then, but even so PC is a fair hike from the CR border.

But you can't see everything and CV a) I did see in 2010 and b) is not really any more of a must see than doubtless dozens of other places I could have gone but didn't because you have to choose etc.

And barring feeling ill or having last minute forgotten prep to rush round for, a taxi to and from CV after briefing on Thu is hardly a massive stretch.

Old Bank-David

Mon 26th 1125 Just pulling out of Almirante, on poss direct bus for David. Bag is in boot which makes me tiny bit edgy but OTOH this means I can feel safer getting off if there's a piss stop.

Gonna stop writin as we are moving.

1319 At rest stop I remember from northbound. Got off and had tiny piss and watery shit (yeah yeah, gross) which didn't need but can't take risks and have to go destroyer tactics.

Woke up IIRC midnightish feeling a bit worse, had another big (solid) dump and felt a bit better. Didn't sleep super well but not terribly.

Think another big solid one 7-8ish and one watery one before leaving hostel. I popped out to ms Bastimentos for a litre of water. Have brought the three beer cans with me which is annoying (bag is way too "big" ) but still, it is (I hope!) in boot.

Left dorm key in door as no one around to give it to.

Got boats OK, beyond prob not motion related occasional gut churn no issue. 5 from Old Bank to Bocas Town and 6 (having to show passport copy) BT-Almirante. Mid-water transfer on OB-BT leg FWIW for some odd reason, think locals seemed a bit surprised too.

Fobbed off a good number of touts at Almirante and just outside terminal (one presumably jokingly when I said I was going to Boquete asked if I'd like to get a boat straight there), trogged to bus terminal OK and got on this bus.

I have a half decent seat right at back, it is aircon and I don't (fingers crossed) feel terrible. Intermittent gut churning and mild hot flush, but not too bad. I am going to provisionally put all this down to constipation due to poor diet but who knows. I will try to get some fruit in David and depending how I feel may not eat a proper meal.

1325 Off.

1628 At new hostel. I've paid an extra 5 to upgrade to a private - the dorm made sense when I felt fine but although I'm not that bad I figured I might as well. TBH wouldn't surprise me if I am the only guest and I'd have had the dorm to myself but never mind. There is no aircon in either afaik but there are a couple of fans in this room which I should be able to arrange to use for myself.

2007 Did see one other guest earlier. Out on terrace having just eaten two smallish (bread out here seems small in "radius" ) ham sandwiches. I went out and bought too much food for a bit under USD9 at a supermarket after I got here (feeling decidedly ropy and suddenly realising no way could I face sitting in a hot restaurant). Got back and lay on bed and watched a bit of YT and ate a few slightly sticky seedful grapes. Earlier on after arrival I felt surprisingly bad for a bit but that passed - it is v hot here (and as remembered when passing through there is a strange oven-like concentrated heat at the bus terminal).

Have had some v watery clearish shits but they are not completely "out of control".

The dogs here are lovely and the cats seem nice though not stroked them yet. Bit weird as there's a shower+toilet out back but no sink (was told to use kitchen; doesn't bother me as long as no one else is squeamish about it) and another one with a sink off one of the dorms (the dorm?) which I was told I could use but not sure that's really appropriate esp in middle of night.

I haven't booked a bus to PC tomorrow, fingers crossed they are both frequent and not full. Checkout is 12 and I do hope to leave early so as to get to hostel in daylight but depending how things feel I may want to hang on until later.

I am not reacting badly to these two sandwiches so I will give it another few minutes then have another couple. I got some apples and nearly 1l of milk too, I may - beer cans bloating bag make this extra awkward - take eg the apples and perhaps a couple of sandwiches on bus but we'll see. While galling, if I have to leave stuff here it isn't the end of the world.

This is of course all v bad timing. It could be worse - could have happened eg day before boat trip - but pretty bad. The only lesson I can learn I think is weak advice to not have two adjacent days of relatively " arduous" (or at least length) travel and/or the somewhat equivalent "try not to stay for just 1 night, or at least not to be so booked up you can't choose to extend for a second night" . But this is all just bad luck wrt pending boat trip and I really couldn't have done that much, short of a hard rule along the lines of the above which would be very constraining and 95% of the time would be harmful. Were I healthy the two no-massive-deal buses would not be an enormous problem.

I am not taking any medicine yet. I touch wood  don't have "unpredictable" diarrhea and I understand suppressive medicines don't help cure it, and I haven't really felt the need for any ibuprofen yet.

The bus today was mildly irksome and uncomfortable at times - tho towards end my left knee had started feeling "hollow" from sitting and that did actually dominate the sickness feelings - but not terrible. So far (touch wood again) this has been nothing like eg the prob food poisoning I got in Salta or the sickness I got on the last day of the Santa Marta 3 day hike when I felt shit and had to walk.

Owner sitting out here with laptop, she's very "present" but not a problem. And while the dogs are lovely they do sometimes get barking bad if another dog nearby goes off etc and it's nice to feel she's around to control them.

Fingers crossed I am feeling better already, and I think there's some chance I will feel much better in the morning, but not counting my chickens. These symptoms don't feel utterly unprecedented or enormously alarming, but if I didn't have the boat trip I'd be less stressed and would probably hole up here (room is warm as hell but tolerable with fan and prob more so at night) for a couple of nights to recover. I still hope I'm going to be fine for the boat trip.

2025 Stomach feels a bit heavy, just a bit but will give it a bit longer before eating more.

2148 Second pair of sandwiches bit of a struggle. Cleaned teeth and lying on bed. Did teeth in dorm bathroom as cleaning them at kitchen sink would have felt (irrationally?) weird. Two more not-forced but close together in time watery shits.

Kind of glad I ate, even if do feel slightly funny. Fingers crossed not going to be sick - I haven't been yet.

Will set alarm for 8 and lie on bed reading and see what happens.

Tue 27th 0233 Been sleeping (badly). Just had watery shit but was not desperate and I might try to imagine things are getting better. Been a bit gassy and burping/farting (cautiously) in bed. Feel a bit dehydrated and it is also warm anyway. Not great but mildly optimistic. Will send this now.

Old Bank, Sunday

Sun 25th 0835 Sitting on bed in empty dorm.

It's grey and raining quite heavily. During night, to quote Crash Test Dummies, "the air conditioner sounds like rain falling" (and I had that song in my head), but I think the real rain only started recently.

Slept better but not great. The sheets feel a bit sticky (during the sheet-obtaining saga on first day Liam and Sebastien both came into dorm to sanity check and Liam observed that the bottom sheet didn't look like it had been changed, I couldn't see anything obviously to that effect but maybe it wasn't and this had added to discomfort). I seem to have vague muscle aches - mainly in hips - and at one point felt a tiny bit sick (prob due to poor diet). I am not massively worried at this point, maybe the bed is saggy, maybe it's a side effect of the modestly long hikes with L, etc, and while not feeling 100% I do feel better for having got up and going toilet.

Plan for today is still to walk over to Wizard beach, prob without phone (but we'll see) and prob wearing trunks as shorts but without any swimming gear as such - I swam at Polo a bit other day, Wizard is not safe and even if I were to trog round to Polo there felt enough currents and so forth that I don't really want to swim on my own even if I had no valuables to lose while in water. (Plus it's quite possible I will swim a bit during boat trip, of course.)

Obviously I half (quarter) wish I'd gone to Wizard yday and had today bumming mostly round hostel, given weather, but OTOH the path to Wizard is well made and if I'm wearing trunks I don't care much about mud anyway and I'm sure this is going to be quite a bit fresher. I'm not walking over in the rain tho.

I may (and was thinking this even before it rained, tho timing might vary) switch to the blue trousers I washed the other day (but not wear them on walk), then I can wash the black trousers and maybe once they're dry (perhaps in PC) have a look at sewing that left pocket zip up. Even without that, I want to do the best I can to have clean clothes when I leave here, as I have just the one night in David and at PC hostel I can only wash stuff crappily in shower as the sink is public. Underwear and tops aren't great in the shower but trousers are even bulkier and thus suckier. Prob said this half a dozen times over course of trip.

Fuck it, gonna do the trouser switch and wash now.

Oh, I turned ac up to 25C during night.

Alarm set for 0850 so I've woken up way ahead of it. Usual waking up "what time is it? half don't want to look" stuff during night. tho at least I knew today I had a slack day and had it been natural to sleep til 10 or whatever that would probably have been good for me given recent poor sleep.

0914 It's stopped raining and forecast is for spotty showers. Gut feeling is I might as well head over now.

Prob won't take a phone with me.

Keep meaning to mention there's a "Beverley's Hill Hotel" here which does make me smile when I walk past it.

I am not in a mega rush so I guess I will have a shower before I go, even if I probably end up having another one later too.

1711 On terrace with fruit punch (non alcoholic). I actually feel a tiny bit cold. It *is* coolish and a bit of a wind but slightly worrying. I went down to Wizard beach, prob there about two hours - had a beer (took with me) and six vanilla biscuits and watched surfers a bit and did think a bit but mind all over place (albeit overall positively). Milked it slightly but not as if I had much else to do.

At some point (prob before beach) I washed trousers as I said i would. Spent few hours in still just me dorm reading with ac on, which may possibly account for this vague chill.

To be blunt had huge dump on getting back from beach despite going this morning and it was pretty "decent" and I wondered if having that waiting to come out would explain very slight under weather feelings.

I wish I felt 100% but I don't feel terrible.

Missed a WA from Liam this morning asking if I happened to be around to get hold of his bag as he's back off to Isla Colon. No harm done - he sorted it himself within an hour - but shame I couldn't help.

All else being equal rough plan is to go next door to Danish about 6-630 for food, then come back here and (not nec in this order) pack, incl finally bringing shoes and other stuff down from upper balcony, bashing shoes off to try to clean now dried mud/sand off and having those three beers left in fridge. I won't force them down - worst case I'll take one or two with me or leave them for anyone else who wants them - but if I feel OK I will have them.

FTR there is a copy of Childcraft "Children Everywhere" on the shelf and I did read "Helmut in the City" the other day.

1849 At Danish, just hopefully ordered same as other day but with salad absolutely undressed. I lay down on bed a bit. Mixed warm-cold feelings. Nothing extreme or like I haven't experienced before but not ideal. I hope eating something "proper" will help.

Don't normally bring K1 out but main thing is one phone is at home and the other is with me, and it is literally next door to hotel and I felt reading on phone might be nice.

To state the obvious, while I am somewhat inclined to take this feeling as a today thing, it is of course possible the vaguely bad sleep over the last few nights have all been part of an ongoing minor illness.

I don't despair of the boat trip being ruined yet. I could well feel much better tomorrow morning. A day (two days actually) on the bus isn't ideal but at least (touch wood) it's not as if I've got diarrhea or am puking or anything.

Oh FTR saw those democratic revolution signs today and it looks like they are in Spanish not English. And the shirts prob associated with it have some other slogan, "yo something" maybe, not that.

1915 Back at hostel. Lights out upstairs and terrace virtually dark. Fetched trousers and set of uw down from upper balcony. Its fine. Food very good - lack of knife obviously systemic not accident, are you supposed to pick the pork chop up in your hands? I mostly inelegantly cut it with the side of the fork and held it up with the fork while tearing with teeth. USD7 and made it 8 with tip.

Felt tiny bit "wergh" while eating but nothing major.  Gonna sit here and read on phone a bit and see how I feel over next half hour or so before thinking about packing or having a beer. (I took my own bottle of water into Danish and sipped at a bit of that. Not offered a drink and didn't ask.)

FWIW while my guts feel a little off I'm not currently feeling cold. I feel mildly warm but that's probably genuine-ish.

Muscles in small of back hurt but I suspect that's from lying on front propped up on pillow looking at phone earlier.

1919 OK, forgot to get shoes. Will go get those and bang them now before it gets too late.

1924 Back on terrace. Shoes still filthy - I should probably have rinsed them in sink at some point (again) - but I'd rather have them dry but dirty tomorrow than soaking wet, esp given poss illness but even without that because it's less likely to make objectionable mess in bus etc. I suspect the remaining caked-on dirt/sand will gradually shake loose as I wear them and I can always give them a brief clean (dry or wet) later.

Plan is modulo illness to be up 9ish tomorrow for a 10ish departure. I hope to then be at Almirante by 11ish and assuming I don't have to wait ages for a bus I'd then hope to be in David 4ish. This gives a couple of hours of daylight as a safety margin, if it matters.

1934 Guts churning a bit. Gonna go lie down and/or see if I can go to bog.

2029 Lying down. Intermittent itches on fingers and ankles but I think these are irrelevant insect bites etc from beach - had hands in sand earlier, and been wearing flip flops and no socks a lot lately inc today.

2057 Cleaned teeth and will go to bed. Not really tired but a tiny bit. I feel 90%ish OK - against all evidence I feel kind of like I've over-eaten, but I don't think I have. The itchy stuff I think is minor and I'm just noticing it a bit because I don't feel 100%.

Bit of a shame not to have sat out (much) on terrace tonight with or without a beer but makes sense to have come and have a lie down I think.

Got AC on at 25C FWIW.

I am going to send this now before I forget.

Old Bank, Saturday

Sat 24th 1014 On terrace. Just said bye to Sebastien (quick chat; we hardly spoke yday) who is off to San Jose (he's getting a boat directly from hostel dock, which is kind of cool) and then to Cuba.

Slept badly again. German girl in bed above me was packing, she spoke pleasantly enough about whether it bothered me she was packing (to leave early) and did I want to sleep but I wasn't particularly desperate (it was early). She also asked about turning light out later, but I'm 95% sure she just turned the ac off without asking. Maybe she didn't and maybe I slept badly for other reasons.

I got up maybe 910 out of "this is shit lying here awake" grounds, had a shower (not my normal practice but I felt sticky as fuck) and came out to terrace for pseudo-breakfast of a 32 fl oz container of whole milk (bought all this yday) which was UHT but I do kind of like that so did enjoy it, 3 raisin bread balls and 6 strawberry "estrella" biscuits. Mildly lardy, esp biscuits, but kind of nice.

Plan for today is admin+trying to just hang around here and relax. I need to book David hostel. Also want to do some laundry and depending on price/packet size I may even try to buy some clothes pegs. I also keep forgetting to buy deodorant (it's an outdoorsy kind of place so not critical and I'm rubbing the plastic stub packet with deodorant from bottom of stick on my armpits which prob does some good) and need to get that. So I may pop out to the shop in a bit and look at getting in these supplies.

Gut feeling is I'm not drinking alcohol today. I have maybe 5ish beers in the fridge but I could take a few away at a push or just label them up (not that there's a pen) as free, and I may have some tomorrow and while I have vague loserish lurking thoughts yet am also not gagging to speak to anyone, it's possible I'll be chatting with someone and offer them a few.

1152 OK, I booked a hostel in David, popped out and bought 12 plastic clothes pegs (0.65) and some sugary fruit drink in tetrapak type containers (USD2) at ms Bastimentos and went down to the other supermarket and go a 30ml tiny rollon for 1.35, and also got to witness a half understood exchange between a youngish guy and the owner/staff guy, who told youngish guy not to be a pendejo and that he would use hard words if necessary.

Came back, washed four tops (too many really, but borderline OK - they are sweat-dirty but not covered in mud or anything) and hung them on line upstairs with five of my new pegs. Might as well use them while I have them, and maybe carrying 4 or 5 instead of the 2-3 I originally thought would be worth it. (I *could* have tied long sleeves round line as extra insurance against loss and used one peg per garment, plus if i washed 3 tops - which is a better fit for average sink - 4 pegs would be ample.)

So now sitting out here alone with bottle of lukewarm water (put another in fridge and will have some fruit juice in a bit, but ought to slake thirst first to reduce chances of guzzling). I feel at a bit of a loose end but it's maybe kind of OK. I just might ask about a Spanish lesson.

OK, I have asked. We'll see what happens.

In some sense four nights here is way too long. But it is what it is. In another sense it might be nice if I can relax, I hope to have ac all night tonight (currently I am only one in dorm and anyone else will be new), and even if I'd risked booking two nights and not being able to extend if I wanted, I'd have had two nights here and the two extra nights in David and PC so at the outside I could have had four nights somewhere else (and there is nowhere obvious) and rushed back to PC for just the last two nights (one full day, with briefing) before trip, or had three nights and still overnighted in David, etc. So it's not like I'm losing out much, and for all I know some really friendly people will turn up tonight and I'll be glad I stayed or I'll really enjoy relaxing here etc etc.

Random notes:
- Liam said his bag was 23kg on a previous trip, this time it is 16kg but he often has a second bag with food etc. Different goals etc so not criticising but interesting.
- Overheard someone talking about El Salvador (poss when in Bocas Town), they said the people were really nice and friendly and that it felt safe esp with the new president, and iirc that the beach towns had felt safe even before.

1349 Had Spanish lesson. Naturally a fuckfest of bluetooth, shitty internet, trying to use cable with bt headphones etc which wasted time at start but got it going in end (tho used my own data connection via hotspot rather than rather ropy hostel wifi). I didn't slag the town off but did say stuff like those young guys sitting on bench while we were eating and the "cockfight"all kind of made me feel edgy and stuff like that so hope no one heard me. (Was a bit of a whiny git out loud during fuckfest, hope no one heard me.)

Still, I have " done" something today. It still feels vaguely like I ought to be taking advantage of being here. Talking to teacher made me think I could walk over to Wizard beach, but OTOH I might do that tomorrow instead and since I can't swim there or anything I really don't want to go two days in a row.

The David hostel says I can have a lower bed. I get mixed vibes about the place but it will probably be OK. I think I forgot to say earlier I could have had a private for 15 but as it's for one night and I will have a private for three nights in PC I figured I'd go for the dorm at 10. It's also a 6 bed dorm and had 6 beds free when I booked, so while this is a couple of days off I suspect it's not gonna be rammed.

Oh, another random observation: while it's semi nice having a bathroom/toilet "inside" dorm, it's also kind of sucky if there are no "public" bathrooms because it means you're blocking others off when using it, particularly if you're doing laundry.

1400 I half feel like I ought to trog over to Wizard now. But I really don't particularly fancy it.

1430 Yawning.

It's all fine. I kind of did more than I expected the first two days due to being with Liam. I really don't feel there's that much "must see" stuff here and to be quite honest I don't exactly feel super comfortable wandering round on my own (eg prob already mentioned - albeit at night - the young guys sitting opp me and Sebastian on that bench) either.

Also while having two days off beer would be better, one day is better than none and by having it today I can have some beers when I get back from walking to beach and back tomorrow.

New hostel in David prob OK but while it isn't exactly a surprise as I read the reviews, it feels a bit off to get a message *after* I've committed saying I must be a pet lover (it's only partly refundable) - if this is such a big deal it should be shouted out on the listing before you book.

1652 Popped back into dorm to swap phones. I went out for a brief walk, headed west and nearly got to basketball court/viewing point (went there with L) when a dog started barking from an upstairs balcony but couldn't see any obvious thing stopping it coming down, quite a few people around and prob fine but turned back. Walked other way as far as Minisuper Bastamentos and bought some local-ish biscuits, came back and ate some of them and watched YT.

Was yawning a bit while out for that brief walk.

I washed the one pair of underwear at some point and hung them up (sharing same pegs) as the nearly dry (but left up as they may feel nicer if they completely truly air dry) tops.

Feeling a little better, still intermittently a bit down. Even that short walk and look round feels vaguely like doing something.

Still only one in dorm. Saw Zoe briefly (didn't speak to her) earlier but she was in Liam's dorm and I have a vague feeling from her talking to S this morning she is off elsewhere today but was just having the morning here.

I am slightly killing time hanging round til "La Gloria" (iirc) chicken place might be open tbh. Gut feeling is will eat there tonight and Danish tomorrow for bit of variety.

Was watching some boats earlier and it really is a bit surprising just how much the nose rises, it looks to me like a good third to half of the keel (?) is out of the water at the front.

Not feeling mega uncomfortable but vaguely over-warm and slightly sweaty.

As O6 is charging and ears bit "sore" from earbuds I guess I'll go out onto terrace with K1 and read a bit. I suppose I just may manage to stare out meditatively but not quite feeling it.

1715 Must admit view here is v nice, and to have it "full time" rather than only while I'm in some bar or something is cool. I am not trying to be a miserable git (I do half wonder if sleeping badly isn't helping, but prob some other psychological shit I'm not writing about here playing into it) but somehow I just feel vaguely dissatisfied or as though I'm wasting valuable time and money being here and doing nothing. (Maybe a bit circular, but I suspect if I felt more chilled here, I would not fret about wasting time or money here as I'd be enjoying myself doing very little.)

1729 Just saw pelican (?) flying low over water. Not first by a long chalk, just mentioning it. I feel OK. Just not as relaxed etc as I'd like. Meh.

1811 Nice German (?) couple have spoken to a bit came back from day at beaches and said there's a political "party" (rally sounds OTT) and everyone (locals i assume; I wouldn't want anyway) being given free food and t-shirts. They semi-suggested I go out for a look and I did. I could certainly hear loud music but it seemed to be coming from off the main street and despite following a couple of other tentative tourists in direction of noise I didn't feel comfortable going any further, might have been indoors tho in this weather I rather doubt it. No huge loss. Wandered further west in vague direction of basketball court - tho I now hear some political kind of speaker in distance in opposite direction - and a kid was thrashing around with a string on a chunk of wood and I decided not to go past. So I must have gone wrong dir and just for hell of it will drop my phone off yet again (pickpockets/wankers) and wander up that way in direction of ms bast and maybe buy some more snacks to make sure I get properly fat.

Kiosco La Gloria was not open fwiw.

1828 OK, it's on a big field-ish area just up past the further ms (not bastimentos). I felt a bit awkward as various locals in these "democratic revolution" (in English - fwiw during day noticed some youngish kids playing and speaking Spanish to each other) shirts standing in main street even tho main stage is on one side of field not on street and while it all seemed fine the vague political rally (it didn't feel that fiesta-ish to me) tone was offputting so after a brief glance across the field I just turned round. Bought another dollar's worth of biscuits at Bast even though I'm not hungry and would like to eat "properly" (ie chicken and chips) if at all. Am vaguely tempted to drink beer tonight but it has lost a lot of its novelty and better to have at least a day off.

1950 Been to Kiosco La Gloria, felt bit awkward alone during longish (25m+?) wait, but started to feel more comfortable, earwigged on some local conversation (barely intelligible, not sure language) and guy remembered me and asked if I liked the chicken and where the German guy was, I said he's gone to Cuba but I wasn't sure if he'd get such good chicken there which got a laugh. Ate it (v hot, esp chicken) sitting on bench outside hostel (not one nearer shop), couple of dogs stared at me while eating and I didn't give them bones (as both littering plus vague Blue Peter memories of chicken bones being dangerous to dogs) but did throw a few small pieces (picked off with burning fingers), tho the black dog seemed to push the goldenish one aside a bit. Neither looked starving and I probably didn't have to do this but felt vaguely compelled/wanted to even tho actual food value prob negligible.

Still only me in dorm. Put aircon on at 25C to chill room, having some chilled water and prob some vanilla biscuits out here (it's just me, some music coming from neighbouring terrace). I may do some YT but I may try to chill a bit with biscuits and water and music and admire nighttime view and then perhaps go to bed 9ish.

Plan for tomorrow is to go to Wizard beach, not absolutely milk it, spend an hour or so there maybe with some snacks, then come back and just hang out here and try to feel relaxed. Will have beer tomorrow and will prob each at Danish so no concerns re opening.

2125 In dorm. Been lying in hammock on (deserted) lower terrace. Music from next bar, didn't snack or listen to anything on headphones. Milked it slightly but was actually very pleasant and makes me glad I'm not leaving tomorrow.

Fetched tops (but left uw, and shoes been up there since Fri prob) down from first floor balcony.

Is just me in dorm now, barring super late arrival prob just me. A nice little bonus. Put aircon down to 22C, YOLO. :-)

Going to clean teeth and go to bed. Hope to be up earlyish, probably go over to Wizard relatively early, spend couple of hours then hopefully a relaxedish afternoon+evening at hostel.

Left pocket zip on black trousers currently wearing has come completely loose for 2ish inches at one end. This is a combination of obviously poor sewing at home, not having reinforced enough, laziness (I strongly suspected it was coming loose and literally a stitch in time etc) and dorms (far easier to have given it some attention with privacy in evenings). Not end of world, it does still seal (eg used it in hammock - zips are not just or even primarily for pickpockets), and I may get a chance to look at it eg in PC hostel. I often don't zip upper pockets closed as (prob in part due to my home-fitted zips) it's faffy, but also I am keeping smallish notes+all coins in left knee pocket (with factory zip) and rightish knee pocket holds hanky and room key and a plastic bag or whatever, so less need to be constantly protecting esp loose change in upper pockets. And also with using phone as camera I suspect even with a factory zip having to unzip every time I want to take a photo would be annoying, unless I really feel the area is dodgy, and with my homemade zips the effect is amplified.

Anyway, clean teeth then bed.

2145 In bed. Luxury. :-)

Prob already said but FWIW the faffiness of switching between multiple files in Dropbox app and its associated text editor discourages me for (eg) switching to a private diary file and making notes there. This is not ideal but not critical, but mentioning it in case it helps remind me to seek a better way to do this. (In part might be easier if home server hadn't died, but not sure - just a thought.)

Old Bank, Friday

Fri 23rd 0956 On lower terrace. Been chatting with Liam, he made me a coffee with ghis travel aeropress. (I am not interested in travelling with one, looks a bit bulky for my tastes, but I may consider getting a full size one for home as it may be way less messy than a cafetiere.)

Didn't sleep v well, pretty sure aircon wasn't on - this never got discussed and I don't know if we were in an Abilene paradox situation but anyway it wasn't.

Given him some tenacious tape (I offered yday during walk) to mend a small tear in his soft lifestraw bottle thing - he says he squeezed a bit hard and is going to get on to them and prob be repaired under guarantee, the fact this happens puts me off the idea of buying one a bit but I will still probably get one. (But not until I'm

1010 Bit of chat with woman of couple off snorkelling today.

... about to travel again, so the guarantee period isn't ticking away unused.)

My shoes are not fully dry, I've put them on railing (there is roof of this lower terrave below) and tied the laces round some wooden struts for support. I just may wear them slightly damp to go out and walk to Red Frog and onwards today, I might take flip flops in bag and put them on if it's muddy but not rocky. I suppose I might also wear my swimming trunks as shorts so I don't muck up another pair of trousers. (The ones I washed are more or less dry after their overnight buttoned to the washing line, I've dumped them on bed in dorm.)

Bit edgy about safety but beyond guide book no one has said anything bad. It would suck to be mugged and lose my phone (O6) and 40-50 dollars (I guess if I'm wearing "shorts" and thus no belt I'll leave my flip belt in dorm locker) - especially the phone - and the peace of mind issues but it would not of course be the end of the world and it isn't (touch wood) likely.

1029 Gonna do my beach chain, gonna walk over to Red Frog with Liam (he's going to his hostel there) and then go on solo.

1752 Been back maybe an hour. Have had shower and shaved and put trousers back on (went out in trunks as shorts). Eating some coconut biscuits on terrace, will go out to try that chicken place from yday again soon but prob not open yet.

We got a bit lost of walk between wizard and red frog but sort of fun and we cracked it in end. Flip-flopped a bit but pretty much decided I was getting boat back. We went to Liam's new hostel (Palmar - fairly fancy) and then he walked up to Polo beach with me. We had a brief chat with Polo himself (who was gutting fish) - the guy who has lived there for 60ish years and apparently sold some property for a million USD then spent it all - and I had a 15m swim while Liam watched my stuff and then he went in.

Return boat situation confusing as fuck not helped by helpful-but-confusing woman at Palmar reception who eg would sell me a ticket for a boat leaving "now" for USD6 but I had to walk 15m via an unclear path to get it but I had to pay her there. I said bye to Liam (maybe 430ish) and trogged off to find one of the two docks on map (heading for red frog one) chuntering to myself a bit but got a grip and got there. Guy said it would be 7, I asked if waiting for another person would help and he said it would be 7 each anyway and I said (in an odd mood) we could wait a bit anyway as seemed a shame for him to go with just me. Anyway, I had a coconut biscuit and offered him one (which he accepted) to maybe lighten the mood, and after a bit he said let's go buddy and we went straight back to Old Bank (without going via Bocas Town as I think the woman at reception had said) no fuss. Bit annoying to pay 7 not 6 but no big deal.

Starling had sent me a message this morning via their app asking me to confirm when I'd be back in UK. Odd as they say you don't have to tell them when you're abroad, but not really "secret" so I told them roughly when I'd leave Panama and then when I'd return to UK from Colombia. Didn't attach "evidence" as wtf should I, and we'll see what happens.

Liam is renting out his house (with approx 11 years to run on mortgage) while he's on his v approx 18m trip, this doesn't cover travel expenses but covers mortgage etc. And he's paying about 300 for his initial year of travel insurance but got slightly ripped off paying to add Mexico cover.

He said day of dead in Mexico (Oaxaca) was really cool and would be fine to do solo etc. Maybe worth at some point considering a trip to do that in addition to my hopefully regular-ish Jan-Mar trip.

Polo beach not exactly heaving but quite a few people there. Red Frog pretty busy near the resort but pretty quiet elsewhere. Wizard much busier than yday and waves decidedly smaller (as surfer Zoe had told us this morning before we left).

Liam suggested some nearby restaurant just might have live music (it is Friday) but personally I'm dubious, it had mildly pushy touts outside yday afternoon and I'd probably feel uncomfortable worrying that the food would be inedible to me and/or (if I just went for drinks) that I'd be ripped off somehow. Gut feeling is - though TBH a few days off beer before boat trip might not hurt - I'm just gonna go out to the chicken place, eat it on bench outside hostel (the bench I ate on near chicken place with S last night had some youngish guys gabbing away to each other sat opposite us and while they did nothing and "normal" people were walking past I'll be honest I didn't like this group of young men there in case they decided to try fucking with us just to show off to eat other or whatever) and have a few beers and snacks (popped out for some after my post-return beer and before I showered - I had left key in trousers in dorm on purpose and it was locked until I got back from snack shopping) tonight. If anyone eg S seems keen to chat that's fine but otherwise booking David/PC hostel and a bit of YT with beers/snacks on terrace is fine with me.

TBH I may do very little the next two days here - I really don't fancy a tour - but we'll see.

It's probably too early but I just might pop out to the chicken place in a minute.

If I didn't say, on my first abortive visit to chicken place yday evening just before dark some kids seemed to be trying to get some chickens (no idea if cocks; I hastened past) to fight in the main street.

1908 OK, second attempt to visit chicken place it was still shut, went into deserted Bar Rest Danish and asked for menu (all this in Spanish), woman told me what they had, I negotiated for pork with no sauce and chips for USD7 and it was pretty decent, albeit no drink and the salad might have been dressed but if so it was v lightly with prob lemon juice and just maybe vinegar so I did eat it. Also got bit of Spanish practice listening to news on TV alternating with looking out at rather cool view over lake (tho it's right by hostel and view from here on terrace is same).

Had a second beer between abortive chicken visits, gonna have some water and snack on some raisin bread and maybe watch bit of YT now. I booked an extra night at PC hostel between the two chicken attempts and will probably have a look at David hostel in a minute.

2025 In dorm. Aircon on 22C! Yay! Someone in bathroom, it feels a bit weak but I think I'm gonna go clean teeth once they're done and go to bed and maybe watch some YT etc but I do feel a bit tired (had 3 beers I think) and if I fall asleep that's cool.

2129 Reading in bed. Tiredish. Still bit sticky despite ac. Liam sent me photos of today earlier and sent him some back.

Old Bank, Thursday

Thu 22nd 1632 In dorm at hostel in Bastamientos. All OK, tho bit peeved it was actualy USD96 here not 88 as the tax not included. Because arseholery, booking.com's email neither said "includes taxes" or "excludes taxes" , but if you log onto the site and look at the booking it does say excludes taxes. Liam's booking.com booking here (in a 6 bed dorm vs my 4) does include taxes. Fuck knows. I did ask for a receipt and may have mildly peed off the guy who checked me in but nothing major. Won't let this spoil things but it does all feel a bit shitty.

Went for walk with Liam down some track to get to Wizard Beach long way round. Quite cool, wouldn't have wanted to do it on my own as felt quite "rural neighbourhood" in places and in other places v isolated - we asked for (not that helpful in hindsight) directions from random locals in isolated bits and got quite lost. We stood in the shallow water (strong waves even so) at Wizard beach then came back. I think I trod in some horse shit and shoes/socks/trousers got v muddy so I washed them (inc shoes) in sink an hour or so ago, have buttoned trousers round line on first floor balcony, left shoes out there and put uw at bottom of bunk, not ideal but be OK. there is a washing line on first floor balcony but lacking clothes pegs I can't use it. Hostel is out on stilts in the water and would also be edgy about stuff falling over, so definitely not using travel clothes line. (I can look out of dorm window next to where I am sitting and it's water, with other stilt buildings beyond that.)

Wearing flip flops while shoes dry, if I didn't have them I guess I'd maybe be OK in the wet shoes but as it is best to leave them to hopefully dry nicely outdoors.

Vaguely dissatisfied feeling, nothing major. Petr said hi this morning, I said hi back but yet again didn't use his name. Didn't say bye to him and Miro as they weren't at hostel when I left, I did pop all round to check. (Or they were in their dorm, didn't go in of course.)

Accidentally cooked too large batch of pancakes this morning but I didn't do too bad a job with them and even though I struggled to finish them at least it's something in terms of free food. Despite being extra-pricy here for a dorm (which is nice enough if not amazing) there's no breakfast included. Not a big deal. Saw takeout chicken place down street mentioned by M&P while out with L and may eat there, there is also a cheap-ish seafood place doing ceviche mentioned in guide book which I may try another day.

Gut feeling is I'm not doing any tours here. I will probably (mild safety concerns, tho only guide book seems to seriously suggest this is an issue) walk over to Wizard beach on the "main" path - oh, Liam pointed out the sloth he'd seen the other day, it was still in same tree, have (bad) photo and got to look at it through binoculars of a German couple we met while getting only mildly lost after finally finding the trail towards end of our walk - and walk on the "chain" of beaches past red frog etc, depending how long it is. I am not sure there's a huge amount to do here if you don't do tours but it's probably nice enough to hang around a bit in a low-ish pressure way etc.

If I didn't already mention when I was swimming at Playa Estrella the other day the water seemed to have pockets of pretty cold and pretty warm water, which were very significantly different and it was kind of cool and kind of weird to feel these changes as I was swimming along.

I still don't have a sheet despite asking earlier and I just popped out and can't find any MoS. Not mad rush but the staff/owners seem to live in an adjacent house and there's no reception desk as such and if I don't get this sorted before it's too late I may not be able to find anyone to ask.

On the plus side they have given me a towel.

1703 Kind of killing time in dorm (poss dutch guy came in, v brief chat, he turned aircon on) while I wait for it to be a bit later when I'll pop out to that chicken place if I don't see Liam first.

2217 Heading to bed soon. Lovely views out from terrace which have to self. Went out for chicken and chips with nice young German guy (Sebastian), Liam came out with us but ate at restaurant by hostel (he's vegetarian). Got back and eventually managed to get a sheet (partly confusion on my side but not entirely) and Liam was chatting with owner('s husband) and we joined them and sort of cool. Liam went to bed earlyish but been chatting with Sebastian. Not bad day really. Got some snacks from supermarket after chicken & chips and shared them with S while chatting over some beers.

Just copying some photos and also giving S first run at dorm bathroom. We are prob full, the two of us and the bearded guy saw earlier and there's a woman on bunk above mine.

FWIW I did give the hotel owner guy a beer, which he seemed to appreciate. Perhaps felt on my side at least a bit of an olive branch for my minor surliness re the tax business, but was also nice of him to be chatting with us.

2305 In bed, watched YT but eyes were closing.

Bocas Town, Wednesday

Wed 21st 1117 On ground floor terrace. Weather similar to yday. Vaguely companionably sitting around, had some chat with Miro and Petr, and Liam (tho he has now left for Bastimentos, will see him at my hostel tomorrow).

Much talk last night about Filthy Friday. I had no intention of doing this but I am now badly torn. Liam seems up for it and so I'd know him and some other people. But it starts and I believe ends on this island and I/we will be staying on Bastimentos. It sounds very swimming costumey, a bit like the boat trip, and - apart from feeling vaguely guilty at drinking mildly heavily last two nights (tho last night was not insane) - it also feels like with the boats and needing to get home afterwards and so forth it's either a recipe for disaster or (and?) I'm going to have to be so cautious that really what's the point. I am honestly not sure what my gut feeling is right now.

While there is some vague connection with FF, I think the plan for today is to outwait the worst weather then go do a bit of shopping and get deodorant etc and in particular to see if I can get a waterproof neck pouch of some kind for my phone and/or passport and/or money. This is something I kind of want/need for the boat trip anyway but if I did do FF it would help a lot.

I still honestly don't know. It really doesn't feel a great thing to do "just before" the boat trip. I guess at the very least I'm not letting Liam down if I don't do it as he obviously knows loads of people. There is some FOMO on my side and to be honest it would probably be possible for me to be cautious (though I would still get drunk) and for it to be OK and maybe somewhat memorable, but rightly or wrongly it does feel like it's meant to be a bit "go hard or go home" and I am not really in the mood for "going hard" in that kind of way for all sorts of reasons (vague health/guilt, risk of losing stuff etc, upcoming boat trip, awkwardness of the island hopping nature of this if/when I've had enough and want to go home).

Petr showed me sign on one of beaches on Bastimentos with a riptide sign. I may well not swim over there at all, but we'll see how it goes.

Wrt FF it kind of feels like it's "similar" to the SBA boat trip but "shorter" and more intensely party/drunken. And the alcohol side of the SBA trip makes me very cautious anyway. But *except for the people I've met here*, given I'm doing SBA it almost feels like there's no need to have this similar but kind of weaker experience at FF just a week before.

My red T-shirt is dry so I've fetched it off line. It still smells slightly salty but I think it's OKish, and a salt smell is not exactly bad (certainly not in this hostely environment and in this beachy tropical surfy kind of place).

1141 Come up to roof terrace for "privacy" and to watch the rain (sort of). One other guy up here, said hi but we're both concentrating on our phones.

1240 On own up here. Seems to have stopped raining, may go shopping in a bit.

Some talk last night of "por que no?" and "say yes to everything" . I do get this.  but there's also "fuck yeah or no" . And FF is not feeling "fuck yeah" . As I said, if I hadn't met people here I would not even be considering it. OTOH if the boat trip wasn't coming up maybe i'd be more "yeah" about it. Just waffling.

Oh, apparently Bastimentos is "like Jamaica" !

I haven't put any sunblock on today. I may not, given I am somewhat under cover here, UV is I think (weather forecast shows it) low-ish with all this cloud and I am only going to be out on the streets for a few minutes at a time etc.

1307 Read some random blog about FF. She said you didn't even need to take your phone. I am kind of feeling that while it's expensive it needn't be an utter shambles of drunkenness on my part and I *could* do it (assuming there are tickets left) and just be a bit drunk and not have any huge problems and then I've done it and it might be cool and no regrets etc. Flip flopping like mad here.

I think I would be disappointed if I went to book and it was sold out. That maybe says something, as imagining that feels disappointing. But strictly speaking maybe it doesn't, as obviously if I am trying to book it means I have decided to go, so naturally at that point I'd be disappointed if I couldn't.

1521 Back at hostel on roof terrace. Asked in a few shops re waterproof neck things, in the end I got one which fits my phone but doesn't let the camera be used as it is translucent green except for a clear window which is in the wrong place (not mega played with this since bought it, it may be workable) for USD3. If I do FF I will want it for cash prob not phone, and for the boat it will at least keep the phone and/or passport safe-ish while on the boat and I can take it out when I'm on land. I could always buy another one - bigger all-clear phone cases were 4-7ish - but this will probably be fine.

Had comida casera at Mama's.

I also went into Bocas Pharmacy and asked about seasickness tablets, one box was USD25 and another was USD7.50 for 50. I got the cheaper one! These are more for the SBA trip than FF if I do it - you're not supposed to mix these tablets with alcohol, plus FF is at least shortish hops.

Flip-flopping like mad re FF. Bit sick of it lurking over me as "a thing" , so to speak.

1756 Popped out for bananas to 31 Mall, got some Takis fuego (first of trip) which ate in street outside. Roof terrace now heaving, mostly with smokers. There isn't actually a seat spare. I am feeling slighly awkward but I also don't desperately want to speak with anyone.

Bit of WA with Liam earlier, I asked and I think having got to Bast - he says hostel really nice and he currently has dorm to himself - he feels the different vibe there and his interest in FF has declined, he may change this mind but as of earlier his gut feeling was not to bother. This is fine by me, of course - I am not interested in doing it solo, as noted before.

Killing time a bit today but it's kind of OK.

2235 Heading to bed. Bit of chat over course of evening upstairs, including earlier with Miro and Petr and just now with French Canadian woman Zoe and a couple of Panamanian guys hanging around up on roof. Israeli guy (Rollo??) gave me a beer, but haven't otherwise drunk and I didn't buy any myself as was planning to have a night off.

Bocas Town, Tuesday

Tue 20th 0844 Just got up. Feel vaguely hungover and not entirely sure I cleaned teeth last night. Gonna have a shower before breakfast (bit annoyingly no one in kitchen just now but not a big deal). V good to have beers and chat with someone all the same.

Oh, liam went to starfish beach yesterday, saw loads of starfish - they are in the water (duh, should have twigged). But I will see them - even if no photos as not planning to take phone - when I go tomorrow to swim. He also by sheer luck saw a sloth in a tree and another crossing the road while he was there!

1121 Had shower, cooked (bad, but tasted OK) pancakes. Tiny bit of chat with Israeli guy and an Italian woman over breakfast, also chatted with Liam a bit.

I was going to go to Finca Los Monos but it looks like the only "standard" tours are once on Mon and once on Fri. I was toying with and perhaps will go to the beach but it's overcast and raining (and it just got mildly heavy) and I'm massively dithering, feeling it could be miserable if I'm basically soaking wet the whole time including on both buses. My current gut feeling is that I might go in half an hour or so - one weather forecast seems to suggest the afternoon might not be so rainy. It's not absolutely pissing it down - I popped out front - and of course it's still warmish.

It feels vaguely "undesirable" if I'm maybe going to go over to that beach today and tomorrow but I guess that's quite cool, nothing here feels like a must do (I guess technically now I have my flip flops I could do that bat cave without getting my proper shoes wet, though TBH I'm not sure they'd be ideal) and I kind of like bumming around a bit and it's all exercise/swimming practice if I do go to the beach.

I asked at reception and (not too surprisingly) they were a bit vague and noncommital about what the weather is like here.

I guess absolute worst case is I'm soaking wet in 30C temps with some wind chill for a couple of hours. Assuming they actually let me on the bus, I am not gonna die or anything in this weather.

I might treat myself to a pizza at Tropical Birds this afternoon, if I do go swimming.

The weather forecast suggests UV peaking at 7 today - this is still high, but I guess the cloud cover is reducing it so that also reduces risk of sunburn. And TBH sitting here under cover (with walls on three sides) on the lower terrace it is actually quite pleasantly just-slightly-cool and the muggy feeling isn't there.

There is a very tame small gecko here, it seems to half live in a crack in the (slice of tree trunk) tables. There was also a tiny babyish gecko on floor earlier.

Liam sent me a video of the gecko thing on his plate (I saw this happen, but the video is of an earlier time) having a bit of leftover pancake crum. I also got him to send me a photo of a starfish on the playa estrella beach so I have one given I didn't take one other day and am probably not taking my phone with me if/when i go to swim.

1829 On upper terrace, two guys here. Said hi but no more, fine.

Not a bad day. Weather did dry up tho still cloudy - actually it's been very pleasant, not at all cold but fresh feeling. Went over to Playa Estrella - bit edgy in bus as realised that (having left most stuff in hostel) I didn't have even a copy of my passport (which I could have done, if I'd remembered) and that I'd left my flip belt attached to belt on trousers on dorm bed, but as it happens neither mattered.

Surprisingly quiet on the path to PE and beach en route but quite a few people on PE itself although not as busy as yesterday. Saw a couple of starfish in the water near "start" of beach, not so many as walked down but the bit where I went swimming at the far end had quite a few under the water. Did bit of exercise on beach before swimming.

Swimming not great, but I guess it's all practice. Beach slopes gently at first then rapidly goes from waist-ish to over head deep. It is quite cool to see the starfish under you as you swim (pseudo-snorkelling I guess) tho I was always a bit worried I'd stand up and tread on one. (I didn't.) The larger ones are way bigger than my foot across, it being about 9" , so I might guess 16-18" .

I did try to swim parallelish to the shore (it's not quite that "tidy" ) and also to use the starfish/the bottom as a guide to how deep the water was, but a couple of times I tried to stand up and realised I wasn't able to stand - I didn't exactly panic but in a semi-controlled way I would immediately start swimming towards shore at this point and chances are literally a stroke or two would have seen me back able to stand. Partly because of this and partly because I'm crap I didn't push myself to swim any major distance continuously - I wanted to be sure I always had something "in the tank" when I decided to stop in case it turned out I needed to swim to get to somewhere I could stand.

Was maybe in water 30-40 mins (but definitely not swimming all that time). Got bus back no trouble, I was mostly dry by then anyway (cool wind helped), came back to hostel and quick chat with Liam and a couple of girls who have just arrived and are in my dorm in kitchen then upstairs for semi-hot shower (upstairs bathrooms on first floor are much nicer than downstairs) and I did - given I dithered but am prob not going back to beach tomorrow (it's a fair trek over and I may just putter round town and I can prob swim on Bastimentos) I also rinsed the red ss T-shirt I'd worn out to swim so it's hopefully not salty. Then out for pepperoni, chorizo and bacon pizza at TB - for some reason it was only 15.5 today (which is 14 for pizza and 1.5 for drink as on the menu), so maybe they didn't charge this 10% "is it tax or suggested tip" - I dropped 1.5 in the tip jar. Very nice grey cat sat and stared up at me all the time I was eating, obviously couldn't give it pizza but I did stroke it a bit.

Then back here via 13 Mart or whatever it's called to get a fresh 5l of water and up here.

The two girls have come up and are chatting to each other. Feels surprisingly busy up here.

I did see "La Gruta" on the bus over to beach, I just might go tomorrow now I know where it is but gut feeling is I won't. It feels a bit of a slog, it may be iffy going alone (eg drop torch and get fucked) and I'm a little reluctant to make the effort and risk getting eg trunks mankily dirty (I suspect the bats just crap in the water under them). It is "most of the way" to the beach but I don't fancy taking torch to beach and risking losing it and as I said going to beach feels a bit of a slog.

0321 On bog about to clean teeth and go to bed. Been chatting with Liam and couple of cool Czech guys (Miro and Petr). I think I was mildly restrained and feel OK. Talk with Liam earlier about doing Filthy Friday, v mixed feelings. Anyway, bed shortly so will send this.

Bocas Town, Monday

Mon 19th 1757 On roof terrace, no one else here or on either lower terrace. Not a bad day at all.

First off I just used the bog on first floor and a guy was doing some laundry in the sink and there's even a washing line full of clothes off the first floor balcony. So I may well do a bit of relatively open laundry myself, perhaps tomorrow.

Didn't sleep brilliantly but not too badly. Dorm is by kitchen so could hear people in there 8ish and ended up getting up maybe 830. Turns out (not that it's hard, I didn't realise it was just flour and water) you mix your own pancake mix here. I waited to get access to a stove, no fuss. Cooked couple of pancakes (will make more batter tomorrow), ate at table while two slightly posh young brits talked to each other but didn't feel too awkward.

Then ended up having an hour or two's chat with nice guy called Liam from West Midlands who is my age about various stuff. He has a Lifestraw "soft" bottle and I think he has sold me on getting one for next trip. About forty quid but if it lasts for a few weeks before you lose it it's probably getting on for break even, and in terms of weight saving I reckon is could be a win because while it weighs more than the "nothing" you notionally carry place to place when buying bottled water, in reality I often find myself carting at least a litre around with me and if I had something like that I could avoid doing that. The squeezy aspect is important as a) it avoids the bulk of a solid plastic bottle in bag b) it means you can squeeze the water out into a cup or disposable plastic bottle and thus do things like chill it or enjoy a nice thirst quenching draught without the hard work of sucking through the non-squeezy LS bottles.

Went over to Boca de Drago, bus took about 45 mins, didn't get on at first as seemed full and bit annoying but a staff chap opened door after it shut and there were a couple of seats free. Hot on bus but not insane. 2.50 each way.

Walk round to Starfish beach fine (noticed on way back some sign about "don't hike paths on your own" , seems weird here, anyway lots of people about), the beach before you get there perhaps had less people and was nicer. Was feeling oddly (given breakfast) hungry so went to Emily's at start of starfish beach and got a ceviche mixto (small but very nice) for 5.50 (I asked the guy and he said it was tigre de leche and it was like a juice rather than a sauce, and it was v familiar) with some patacones and a maracuya juice for another 3. Bit of a splurge but not too bad, v welcome (and I used their bog rather than pissing in bushes) and at least I have now tried ceviche here and feel able to order it more freely.

Beach busyish but not horrific. Lots of restaurants etc. V little beach (tide in???) and no sign of any starfish but not dirty or horrible. Wandered up to far end, did a few exercises, called parents, played "Muerte en Hawaii" on speaker to myself on a whim, not exactly meditative time there but vaguely. Walked back, got bus no fuss - emptier on way back.

I blew hot and cold but gut feeling is I can and will go over there in swimming gear on bus (pencilled in for day after tomorrow), take bottle of water and some sunblock and perhaps not even a towel in clear plastic bag and secrete that somewhere and separately secrete a few dollar coins to pay bus in an emergency. Quite a lot of people in sea, did look fairly calm.

When I got back went back to hostel, as recep chap in kitchen and spoke to me asked about photocopying and he recommended Bocas Pharmacy so I took passport over there and despite people slightly pushing in (I had queued the "wrong" way) and whinging to myself a bit, I got the fuck-knows-why-but-that's-what-I've-been-told three copies of my passport (I got main page and the one with the Panama entry stamp both done three times) and despite phone net (?) being slow I also e-mailed the two documents I needed printing to them and got those done. So I may be sorted on paperwork for the boat now.

I also asked about repellent, nothing strong on shelf, I asked chap and 50% DEET is not illegal here but it is rare if not unheard of - guess I will just keep asking (eg. may try another random pharmacy tomorrow) and if I can't do any better will settle on the 25% stuff.

I then spotted a junk-ish shop with some flip flops, some at USD4, so engaged the MoS woman out front in some chat and she showed me a couple of pairs in my size for USD4 or 5, the former being more basic flip flop in "foam plastic" stuff and the second being a harder plastic. I had to look up Euro sizes on phone, but I plumped for 41) and I tried them on (peeling socks off one at a time!) outside shop and they seemed OK so I bought the USD5 pair. Shame to have to lug these round but I probably need them for the boat trip and buying them now means I can wear them for my planned swimming excursion to starfish (estrella?) beach too. Maybe should have got cheaper foamy pair but I do already have a pair like that at home, these are probably more durable and at least I then have a choice in future. Hard to judge weight by hand but prob not much in it.

Feeling pretty chuffed with myself for getting all this sorted I then went to Mama's nearby and got a "casado" (they didn't call it that, something similar I can't remember) of beef, frijoles, rice, plantain and (after some linguistic difficulties) an undressed salad for USD5.75 and a white coffee for presumably 1.49. Left tiny tip in jar as I had very little change, I got no table service (carried food over myself) and they forgot the coffee at first (I had to ask) - wasn't pissed off, but not clear tip warranted or exactly expected and as I say I had little change. I may tip more on a subsequent visit.

Then back to hostel where an Italian (I thought Spanish) cover of Laura Brannigan's "Gloria" was playing, recep chap saw me recording it and told me it was Italian and showed me the artist on his phone so I took a snapshot of that. Then dumped photocopies in room and did bloody Duolingo (this will cease to be such a source of stress once boat trip is over and I no longer need the ultra long bonus streak freeze), dumped a bottle of water in fridge and came up here.

So nothing absolutely epic today but overall fairly satisfying so far. Sky fairly clear but pale blue with wispy clouds today. Nice breeze just now. Warm but not awful. I don't think the actual sunset from up here is likely to be anything all that special so now we're close to sunset I think I am going to go down, have a shower and shave (actually I may skip it today since no one cares and I'd rather not knock the scabs from yday off) and put some mostly clean (not trousers) clothes on and then go out and get myself a beer or two from supermarket.

Oh, my tops (and socks) washed at LF still not dry, I left socks in one of the "cubicles" in room yday and on pulling damp top out this morning I spread the others on bed. Have a horrible feeling I may have been emitting a musty wet dog kind of smell on bus (top was *clean* but had been damp in bag) but who knows, and I think once it dried it was definitely OK.

1819 Yeah, shower and change of clothes.

0144 Been chatting witj Liam. Didn't actually shower but can do that tomorrow. nice to actually have some beers with chat.

Hornito-Bocas Town

Sun 18th 0849 In bed, pretty much fully awake. For some reason O6 either didn't charge fully or discharged itself after I sleepily shifted charge cable at some point on waking briefly maybe 6ish. Not ideal. Trying to squash some power in now. It was at 44% when I noticed and 70% now so not critical but not ideal.

FTR hostel here is Lost & Found. Doesn't matter but FWIW in Quetzal dorm bunk G; I requested (nominally identical) Tukan dorm when booking but I suspect they weren't full and weren't using Tukan.

1819 On roof terrace (no one else here) at new hostel, got a Balbao and a bottle of coolish water. I think I might pop out to a brewpub (if it's open) for a couple after this.

Said goodbye to Colin (? not checked notes, annoying can't be sure but anyway), checked out OK - three pancakes at USD2 each had mysteriously appeared on my bill but MoS queried them even before I did and they were removed no fuss. (I didn't even know pancakes were an option, tho at USD2 each wouldn't have bothered anyway. I guess this was a breakfast option.)

Hiked down, modest but not long wait for first bus and it did stop for me. I had to stand and no roof bar (my bag got tucked under folding seat in front of me, which was good - more reassuring than being on roof) and I had a half full water bottle in hand, but I managed OK and didn't whinge to myself. I thought I might have to stand the whole way but after 30-45 mins some people got off and I got a seat. At one stop (74km straight line from Almirante?) a MoS wandering round had a budgie perched (backwards) on his shoulder (no photos, would have felt rude).

Didn't get accosted by taxi drivers at terminal and as it as about 500m I walked to water taxi point. Was picked up by a lurking taxi tout about 100m away and felt mildly edgy but it was fine, he steered me to a particular business which charge USD7 one way (or 12 for a return, but felt best not to commit myself) and I "had" to tip him 0.5 (dunno if he expected more, but for an unwanted service where he may also get kickback from the business sod it, I think that's pretty generous for 5ish mins "work" ) when I was expecting USD5 but that may well be a standard price now.

Boat OK, not rough, 30 mins flew by while also being a bit dull. Walked over to hostel, got checked in and shown round no problem and had brief chat with Connor from Wexford who is in bunk above me and was on a tour of Central America when he met a group who were going to carnival in Rio and he decided to fly down with them, then had to fly back up here as his return flight home in about 10 days is from Mexico City (think he is on 3ish month trip). Pretty cool.

Went out for wander and eventually also got a (medium, but there was no personal, and I finished it fairly easily) pepperoni pizza at Tropical Birds (USD12 nominally, but apart from 1.5 for bottle ice tea, there was 10% tax on top, and I tipped 1.5ish too) and a cup of white coffee (OK but surprisingly un-special, after 4 days with no caffeine - and to be fair no noticeable withdrawal symptoms) at Mama's Home Cooking for USD1.49.

It was and is overcast and slightly rainy all the way in, not the tropical blue I expected. The weather is warm (I think I saw a 31C sign earlier but not sure it can be trusted) and slightly muggy/oppressive but not massively so, much more comfortable than I expected esp coming from Boquete and esp L&F.

The place is surprisingly run down with potholes and so forth in the streets. That said - and I asked guy at hostel whose advice I think can be boiled down to "stay east of the airport, or it's probably OK on the 'beach' road at north edge of this part of island" - after initial qualms it doesn't feel dangerous (ditto Almirante itself) and there are obvious tourists *everywhere*. Surprisingly it doesn't feel that unpleasant despite the tourist orientation.

Had quick look at guide book in restaurant before pizza. Apparently the nearest beach to town is very prone to sandflies. There are some beaches at Drago (Drago beach and Starfish beach) but web suggests Starfish may in fact be horrible and I suspect neither of them is safe to leave a bag unattended while I swim. Gut feeling is I am not fucking with any tours here, I will get a bus over to Drago tomorrow and walk round and just poss exercise on beach a bit but while I'll take swim stuff just in case (actually I may not) I am unlikely to actually swim - but it will be a bit of an excursion etc.

1832 Let's have this beer before it gets warm. Think bashed out most of the day now.

I broke out new razor tonight and was maybe a bit careless after being used to blunt one or maybe the new one was just thirsty for blood - got about five or six cuts, ffs. Can't be helped, not end of world.

Wearing nearly-clean ss red shirt tonight. Don't think full self laundry is an option here (and their laundry service is USD7 "a bag" ) but I do pretty much have enough clothes for this stay and I may wash a top in shower tomorrow etc to eke things out further.

1838 Beer OK but not the amazing wow luxury feeling I might have expected.

FWIW at USD1/355ml can and 1GBP=1.27USD (no idea what current rate actually is), that's about £1.25/pint (from supermarket, chilled). Not amazing but not too bad.

Given lack of a decent beach remotely close to accom (so no "go out in beach stuff" option) and the apparent busyness/casual theft risk of the more distant beaches, I suspect I'm not swimming on the island (Colon?). I may be able to on Bastimentos, we'll see. I may possibly be able to womble up a "pair" of free flip flops on the beach here. :-)

Oh, and saw two (closed, I think - but it is Sun) shops doing printing and copying. So I can probably pop out there (eg tomorrow assuming not back from Drago excursion super later) and get passport photocopied and other stuff printed so that's part of the boat trip prep sorted.

Oh, Conor met some people who had done this trip and they didn't say anything about getting seasick.

I did pop into brewpub in Barco Hundido complex post lunch (saw it in guide book) but it either isn't there or has been renamed and in any case everything seemed closed, which is one reason may go back out in a bit and see.

Do feel slightly drunk after this beer so despite enormous lunch will be careful.

Whether I do have beers or not I will probably come go to bed earlyish, maybe 9. If I am not sleepy can always watch some YT on phone first.

1853 Marcus are being twats and not letting me on to their site from hostel wifi, local mobile data or my UK VPN. Just "outside the UK" message. Fuck you, you need your money but fuck you. We're not gonna let you even try to log in. Bastards. Not happy? Call our UK call centre and great expense and inconvenience.

This did work a few weeks ago so I will just have to hope I can get some money at some point. Luckily I am not absolutely desperate.

I am doing fucking Duolingo then going out.

1929 Back up on roof terrace. Two other guys here, I said hi but they aren't eben talking to each other. Having a USD3.5 500ml bottle Paulaner Weissbeer from supermarket.

Streets a bit deserted and felt mildly threatening (vague shantytown vibes) but I think in reality fine. However, even nearer the Barco Hundido area not the same bustle as earlier. Went into BH and the possible pub bit was shut, the "bar/club" bit had a bit of life and sign I saw earlier showed some fancy craftish beers at USD5 for 355ml bottle and it felt shit and I thought fuck it, so walked back - no actual trouble again, and a few youngish women in pairs etc - and got this beer and also a Bamboo Mojito at supermarket (BR mart?? from mem). I had a look for deodorant - my stick from home is pretty much empty - but though I found similar products (eg sunblock) I couldn't see *any* deodorants, never mind not liking size/type/price. Not critical, will try elsewhere tomorrow and have dregs in stick.

1934 It is still vaguely sultry and oppressively warm even up here at night. Dorm is ac so that's not a problem.

Drinking out of plastic tumbler I found in kitchen, there was a bottle opener so I didn't have to try to get fancy (good job as my only semi-reliable bottle opening trick is with scissors and there may not have been any). But still, I think this adds a tiny touch of ceremony compared to drinking out of bottle.

1938 Supermarket has some interesting 8.6% beers in 500mlish cans for USD1.9ish, and maybe some similar 7% stuff. This smacks a little bit of alcoholism rather than high quality strong beers but they might be interesting to try - they did at least have various varieties. I didn't buy one tonight as I figured best to try that sort of thing stone cold sober, maybe tomorrow night.

This is OK. It's not great but it's OK. Feel tiniest bit awkward w these two guys sitting up here, but they're both on phones (as to be fair am I, tho I keep putting mine down a bit) and it's cool. No pressure to do overly much here, excursion by bus across island tomorrow might be kind of cool and maybe I'll also get some pre boat chores done. Not overly fussed with tours, there is some sort of cave where you may not have to get over claustrophobic but it still sounds wet and while I may be able to do it in swimming trunks if you don't have to crawl around over rocks etc, I'd still end up getting shoes soaked and I'm not that enthused.

I may try the ceviche tomorrow. I have a vague feeling it's Peruvian style and a quick web search suggests leche de tigre (which I saw on one menu today IIRC) doesn't contain anything too foul, I hope (I had Peruvian ceviche once IIRC and the "juice" was just citrusy and translucent, as in CR - perhaps this wasn't leche de tigre) it isn't too thick but it's probably worth a punt. I can always quiz the staff first maybe.

On bus earlier (esp while standing) I got a bit worried I somehow stink of maybe-piss. I think it was actually just some not inherently bad smells coming off nearby people (eg hair oil) and maybe combining. If it was me I'd probably have continued to notice it after sitting down and I didn't. I am vaguely concerned I stink now but I've had a shower and except for trousers and this semi-clean T-shirt everything is fresh.

It occurred to me on bus I hardly seem to have seen anyone wearing face masks. I can't remember if this is a Panama vs Colombia thing or if it's maybe a side effect of being in rural or v touristy areas. I did notice one old woman sitting at side of street in a mask on walk over to hostel, but it still feels fairly rare, FWIW.

BTW, I think electronic cigarettes etc are illegal here, certianly lots of signs saying they are not allowed, tho I did see one woman with one at iirc L&F. Also of course lots of no smoking signs, UK style etc, including strop-arse stuff about "you can't smoke on this seat outside the bar, you must be across the white line (which wasn't there afaics) on the street" .

My clean trousers have mud splattered up back of legs from the muddy patches on streets here. Not end of the world but mildly annoying after just changing them. (I don't *think* this happened after changing into them at L&F, but of course can't be sure.)

Bob Marley playing quietly on speaker up here. Prob hostel choice tho the guy showing me round did mention hooking my phone up to their Sonos speaker on first floor terracey bit. (As if.)

There is a cool short tailless-ish lizard thing scuttling round on the floor. I took a v bad photo of it when I was up here just around sunset. It's only a few inches long.

Nearly finished PA. Vaguely tempted to have another drink (I have another Balbao and that mojito) but it may be smarter to spread these out over next few days. OTOH I may decide not to be smart. I didn't bring water up with me so I'm gonna have to go down for something if I want to drink anything else anyway. I may give it 10-15 mins then perhaps get mojito and some water and drink those then move to bed 9ish.

I hope breakfast isn't a chaotic bearpit but can only wait and see.

I am not feeling exactly joyful but at the same time I feel OK and vaguely imperfectly relaxed.

1959 Judging from price sticker on beer bottle the supermarket place is "3R Mall" nor BR. It is fairly large but not huge, and is oddly warm inside. Just waffling of course.

2013 OK, at least one of the scuttling things tonight is a largish cockroach (or something similar).

Other two guys both going down, almost as if they were together but just not talking to each other at all.

2025 Sod it, just popped down for lukewarm water and can of mojito. Two guys playing pool on first floor, one guy eating solo on ground floor terrace and some guys chatting in showers. No one obviously in dorm. Don't feel excessively BNM, esp given all that, and it's quite nice to have upper (second floor) terrace to myself.

2027 Head just appeared on stairs - I had glasses off so bit blurry, I said "hola" - and then went back down. Meh. Not my problem obviously, they were welcome to come up if they wanted.

The web page from guide book for the brewery place appears to be dead anyway.

2034 Looking at ingredients, Bamboo Mojito is basically carbonated sugar water with eythl alcohol and "mojito flavouring" and a few other additives like sweeteners. But what the hell, it tastes OK. It is apparently made in CR.

FWIW when I checked in the guy mentioned my request for a lower bunk and said he'd kept me one. Each bunk has a little locker on the wall "in" it (doors don't shut that well but still) and I may have a socket, tho it isn't clear if the upper bunks share these or not - I have been topping up my power bank semi-unnecessarily in order to at least stake a bit of a claim on the socket even if I do need to share it.

Nearly finished mojito, went down very well. Still warm but borderline pleasant, borderline oppressive. Will have some water then go down clean teeth and go to bed; see how I feel about maybe watching some YT in bed.

I am not tremendously excited about bussing it to Boca del Draco (?) tomorrow but it will be something to do and no need to get worked up about it - it's all part of the vague "adventure" etc etc. Plan is to be up 8ish if I can manage it naturally to get breakfast and free coffee and then go out and get bus - luckily (it's on OM, so not too hard anyway) I saw where it goes from, basically outside Mama's whatsit. Gut feeling is I'm not taking swimming stuff, if I really have nothing else to do and feel it might work once I've cased the beaches over there I could potentially go over another day semi-dressed for swimming and with minimal thievable stuff (eg leave both phones at hostel). But I'm not *desperate* to swim, and I may get a chance on Bastimentos anyway.

It feels odd that the volcano was a week ago - that seems like years ago. I am not quite sure if that's a good or bad thing.

I'd rather one didn't run up my leg or anything but I'm surprisingly chilled about these few cockroaches scuttling round.

Someone else coming up, two guys. Poss the pool players. They haven't said anything to me so I haven't either. Think they're German (by which, incidentally, I mean German-speaking - I don't pretend to be able to distinguish German/Austrian/Swiss speech - of course sometimes when I've been talking to someone and say they're German they've *told* me and I do mean literally German - not that it matters really).

2051 Having quick look at SBA FAQ, your "carry on" bag can be up to 60l. My backpack is only 35lish. So I may well take "almost everything" with me and use my backpack as my carry on. I could possibly "check in" my daypack as a backup, but on the other hand since I need my passport and similar things with me it's not like they can be put in the daypack (which is also utterly unsecure, compared to backpack which has at least one mildly secure compartment). And it might be nice to have daypack with me so I can (I assume) chain/drop off backpack in each night's accom and take backpack out with me containing rum/water/fleece/etc.

2057 I am 95% sure I already have printout of Bog-Lon ticket from before flying out of Colombia. So I probably need to get a printout of my accom reservation in Capurgana and three copies of my passport/passport stamp. (I need to buy other stuff like insect repellent and seasickness medication and so on, but I think that's all I need in terms of additional paperwork.) Oh, and just to be safe maybe a printout of my prescription, tho it's not as if the medication is terribly exciting.

The SBA FAQ makes it sound like it isn't the utter pissup I have formed the idea it is. But fuck knows. The FAQ may be trying to seem more sensible than it really is. Barring feeling utterly foul from seasickness etc I intend to have a few beers/some rum depending on how the crowd goes but not to get massively drunk. I will take some rum with me - hopefully in plastic bottles - and if I don't use it/share it I can always drink it/share it in hostels in Colombia during the return to Bogota.

2059 I am fine for laundry really, gut feeling is if I am not allowed to and can't easily surreptitiously hand wash in Bas hostel I may pay for their laundry service and if it's by "bag" instead of weight I will shove as much as possible in eg get the fleece washed, which is a little dusty-dirty from eg volcano hike but not (afaict) significantly sweaty-smelly type dirty as I've hardly worn it.

Green Day "on my own here we go" (not title) playing v quietly.

Finished mojito a bit ago. Gonna drink a bit of water and move to bed. As I said earlier, I feel OK (and slighly pleasantly drunk), not ecstatic or ultra-chilled but also moderately comfortable and not stressed out, and considering this is my first night in new hostel and town this isn't bad. Not as I said earlier putting myself under lots of pressure to do stuff here, a trip across island tomorrow is plenty. And i don't plan to be island hopping like mad - i am on colon (?) now, I am gonna stay on bas, that's fine. Unless someone tells me about utterly amazing thing on island X I'd rather experience the islands I'm staying on rather than dashing around by boat on daytrips to other islands. It's probable I'll be back in Panama at some point (eg this iirc boat crossing between CR and Panama) despite it being relatively expensive, and I can always stay on different islands on a subsequent visit, and if I never come back you can't see everything and the extra time and feeling a bit more chilled on these islands is worth something.

I wish my return to PC via David was gonna be a smidge less rushed but it's hardly horrific and to some extent if I had an extra day to spend on it I'd just be stretching out the hanging around aspect, either in David or PC (it's not like 2 nights in David would mean seeing a lot more of it, plus I have been there before, plus if I do ever return to Panama it will be very natural to pass through David and spend time there if there's anything to see). And if i had been able to spend 5 nights in SC that would prob have been kinda fun but I'm getting some beach hanging around in here in Bast (I hope) and it would have mean I'd have had to cut back on some of my 4 night stays in LF or on the BdT islands.

I don't regret the 5 nights in Boq. In hindsight 4 nights would have been enough but I didn't feel I was wasting my time there and I kind of enjoyed the last night's chat with Bruce and it was all fine. And prob even with perfect foresight giving up an extra night in Boq to add an extra day in David or PC at end of this Panama trip pre boat would have taken a tiny bit of pressure off the (frankly not that gruelling) return but been less memorable. (I mean, here to David is now a known quantity and takes about 5-6h tops, I won't be tout prone walking through Almirante to bus terminal, and while David-PC is prob 8h ish the road is good, I bet there's dozens of buses and I can prob leave at say 9am, get there 5pm with an hour plus of daylight left and it's a few stops on the metro to known quantity hostel in PC.)

Sorting out all the accom and plans between now and boat does make trip feel kind of over. But I'm only about halfway and it's fine. Undeniably the boat trip has had an impact by slicing the time up into three in a fixedish way, but it should be fun/an experience and really things have worked out pretty well. I haven't massively had to rush round Panama and leave places before I wanted, at least not due to it (I did leave SC early and slightly over-stay in Boq, but this was mostly carnival related) - if I hadn't had to commit to these deadlines it's possible I'd eg be visiting a third island in BdT, but OTOH while I'm happy to return Panama feels expensive enough I will be glad to get back to Colombia (albeit tinged with sadness as I expect things to feel a smidge harried at times as I need to be back in Bog for flight).

Gut feeling is Bocas Town is not exceptionally expensive but Bast is a bit pricey, albeit OK if you're willing to go for cheap hostel with dorm - I am paying sub 25/night, whereas Severin had a lovely non-Selina hostel dorm booked at about 40/night. It will be nice to finally get priv room back in PC - I am unlikely to splurge on priv the one night in David unless extra cost is negligible) but (as always) this extended dorm stretch hasn't been the hellish experience I would have irrationally predicted beforehand, it has helped me meet people - it's not much, but eg even that little chat with Conor earlier might not have happened had we not been in same dorm, and there was the Boq dorm etc - and (this sentence is badly formed, deal with it) it also takes the "fear" out of the dorm-ish accom during the boat trip, having been doing it for most of Panama. Once I am back in Colombia I certainly intend to have some privates but both re socialising and cost I will prob mix in some dorms too.

I knew but guy at checkin warned me tap water here not drinkable. I got a 5l? bottle at 3R earlier when bought pre-sunset beers and arrived with maybe 1.5l as well. I am not planning on drinking tap water once in David/PC, it would prob be fine but it's 3-4 nights and although (touch wood) I drank (tap? or local rain? no idea) tap water in LF with no ill effects and it has prob been fine in most of country and I perhaps should have been drinking it, it feels silly to take the (admittedly small) tiny extra risk right at end of my time in Panama and with the boat trip on the horizon.

"Lifestyles of the rich and famous" playing.

It's vaguely cool (if hardly "obvious" to me; the waterfront is quite hidden and I've only seen it at odd corners during my wandering today, so to speak) to think I'm on an island. And that last night I was up in the cloud forest at approx 1200m.

FWIW there is no beach here in town - the apparently sandfly-ridden beach is probably a borderline acceptable but not negligible walk away.

I prob haven't been speaking much Spanish lately but I am when I can and I can hardly do more. I guess it's all exposure, eg listening to the Spanish language music on the buses and overhearing the odd conversation.

2134 Slightly tired but don't exactly want to go to bed. Gut feeling is I'm not watching any YT in bed, will drink a bit more water and maybe move towards bed in 20ish mins.

It's OK - not complaining as such, just noting - but it still feels a bit sticky and warm. Not terribly so and it's sort of nice to feel I'm somewhere "tropical" (and I think I could sleep in this, but dorm aircon will be welcome - it was set at 26C earlier BTW) and I suspect I will acclimatise a bit (having spent over a week in Boq and LF where it was cooler, esp LF) as well.

I remember from 2010 seeing stuff about retired people being entitled to certain discounts eg in restaurants. It also appears disabled people get similar treatment, now tho maybe not back then. (The signs appear to explicitly include foreigners/non-residents too, IIRC, tho you may need a locally issued certificate.) This feels iffy to me - maybe there's a case for social insurance type stuff, *but* it isn't clear to me that eg restaurant meals and hotels are something particularly deserving of subsidy, or being subsidised in this indirect way by forcing reduced profits onto businesses and making them manage their prices such that they can still stay in business (eg if group X is entitled to 30% off, and the business just set prices so they still make at least no loss after a 30% discount, everyone pays way more - and if they set their prices so a 30% discount means a loss but statistically it's fine as only a smallish proportion of guests are in group X, but if for whatever reason - maliciously or bad luck, eg a group X convention is held in town - they get huge quantities of Xers they are fucked). (That sentence bad structure but point gets across hope.)

This by itself is not exactly my problem but I do have this vague feeling (and there was also the bloody fingerprinting on arrival and the notices about the fight against covid not being over etc) that Panama is (despite lots of "decentralisation funding" billboards/notices in small towns) something of a mix of "US liberal social engineering"/nanny state policies. I am certainly not saying I wouldn't retire here, and it could certainly feature in a PT "route" , but while individually everything and everyone seems very pleasant (if not super cheap), it just doesn't quite sit right.

Oh, and while it seems not to be widely enforced, this (AIUI) requirement in at least this/some regions that *consumers* insist on a receipt and can be fined if they don't doesn't sit well with me either - why the hell do I as a consumer have to enforce things to (I assume) help the government collect taxes? (If it's for my own good, why isn't the law that I am *entitled* to a receipt if I want and the business is fined if they refuse? Why am *I* liable for a fine for not asking for a receipt if it's for my own good?) Everywhere else they seem to get by with audits. Even IIRC China doesn't mandate this, instead having some (admittedly clever) scheme where receipts include a kind of lottery giving the consumer a chance of a payout to *encourage* but not require them to ask for one.

2152 Woman just came up and asked me where ashtray was, luckily I managed to spot one.

I may head to bed. I am kind of tired (in a not unpleasant very slightly drunk - or post-drunk - way, in part) and I'm just killing time really. Cockroach (if that's what it is) just flew up onto chair next to me. I really don't want one on me but I'm not actually freaking out, which is good.

2154 Yeah, gonna head down, clean teeth and go to bed and read in bed but no YT. Will send this now.

I am gonna call this place "Bocas Town" to avoid confusion between region and regional capital etc.