Wednesday 7 February 2024

Santiago-Santa Catalina

Tue 6th 0829 On bus for Soná at terminal. Biggish coach style thing, not ultra smart but not bad.

Bit of chat with those three women in dorm last night (their friend from on the road is actually European, prob German, and has been to SC before, so I got some tips from them and esp her). Sounds like there are various hostels with own advantages (eg one on a cliff with nice views, that surf one where you wade the river is on main beach and that beach may have lifeguards - and apparently that beach also slopes shallowly, she was surfing and 30m out from shore and it came up to her chest IIRC), I need to be careful not to flit around too much but we'll see how it goes. She said sand is black and there's not much shade on beach and (maybe) from 11-4ish it's more a kind of sitting around place.

Got a bottle of water (1l, chilled, USD1) and a moña de queso (USD1.5) from kiosk at terminal - was feeling thirsty, not desp hungry but moña went down well. Have another warm 1l with me but felt smart to get a bit extra - need to be careful not to induce need for piss etc.

Didn't sleep v well. Quite a bit of (well intentioned) noise, eg was also a guy I think on bunk above me - never saw him properly, wasn't there when I/women went to bed but a MoS mentioned him - and he was packing and just being in bed the frame/mattress would twang (mine did too). Woke up for piss about 2300 and also woke up around 3 and ended up drifting in and out of sleep. Got up about 0730 IIRC.

Don't think it was just or even mainly noise interfering with sleep. Not a big deal anyway. Left arm still intermittently muscley hurting and the bit on roof of mouth where I burned it on first day's pizza is still a bit tender. None of this critical or anything, just waffling.

2022 On terrace at hostel - lower one, loads of people on terrace outside dorm upstairs but no empty tables. Drinking warm Balboa I got out of fridge at minisuper attached to hostel - I felt compelled to buy it even though it was warm as I'd asked if I could split a pack as all the loose ones had sold. Meh.

Couple of women in dorm said hi and had tiny chat when I went up to get K1 out of locker where I'd been charging it. Dunno how well I did.

Jeez, I'm up and down like a fucking yoyo today.

Buses fine. Bus to Sona airconditioned, nearly missed place to get off but recognised it. Had to wait over an hour (we got in earlier than expected) for bus on to SC but no problem. This bus not aircon but fine with windows open. Pretty full. Asked where my hostel was and dropped outside.

Got checked in oK tho net down so they didn't take payment. Can't say I exactly like vibe, staff seem nice enough but it's all a bit laid back beach style and it puts me off.

Went out for walk. Super hot and low on water. This is no tamarindo but it is a like a low rent version - there are no "cheap" restaurants and a couple of mini supermarkets. I had a look at beach near hostel then trogged over to Playa Estero. Didn't wade across river but wandered round corner on the beach - a localish guy came past on bike as I was sitting on a rock and said "sombra! sombra!" waving over towards the shade in what I guess was meant to be friendly.

All restaurants seem to open gone 6pm, so my usual "eat then home for shower" routine has to go out of window. Came back to hostel, got water at minisuper by hostel and sat in heat (all the proper shady areas had no spare tables - lots of people sitting round solo-ish) in half shade for maybe an hour or two just waiting for it to be late enough to shower, change and head down to beach and get beer at minisuper near-ish and watch sunset.

I did that - and semi-licitly (there are no signs) washed three tops. Beer (Panama) super chilled at ms near beach and it was genuinely honestly pleasant sitting on beach in warm breeze watching sun set nicely between what might be Isla catalina and the headland at rhs of beach. Maybe technically the sun set behind distant land rather than sea - there were clouds so hard to be sure.

I then went and had a rather slow and not huge but OK (USD6+1 tip) pollo asado with patacones at cheapest restaurant I'd seen earlier and came back here and am now (more so than earlier) feeling a bit BNM and socially awkward.

While waiting on hostel terrace to go shower I overheard staff talking about some festival or something and I think they said they're full this weekend. More on this later.

On beach after checking in and seeing all the fucking tour companies on street I was feeling a bit down - here on my own, all this mental pressure about swimming and tours and snorkelling and surfing and shit.

I did feel pretty good after shower and when watching sunset. Since getting back with my lukewarm beer and that "am I being unfriendly by trying not to be too chatty?" shit in dorm and no space on upstairs terrace I have dipped again.

I think there's free make yourself pancake breakfast here but not sure, due to fucked up checkin and slightly lackadaisical staff I don't even know where the kitchen is let along what time breakfast is, I may pay for a beer at bar and ask in a bit. I suspect it will be an absolute bear pit but I ought to try.

Bearing especially in mind that I will have opportunity (even with half arsed equipment) to snorkel on boat trip if I want and that frankly I'm not that desperate to do anything - *including* hiking (if an option without anything else) on nearby island or whatever - my current plan is:
- try to go to the nearby beach for swim/jog tomorrow post breakfast before it gets too hot, leaving most stuff in hostel (it's 500mish walk so may eg wear trunks, T-shirt and shoes and take bag to put shoes in and take towel with me - oh, this is the first place so far where I didn't get a free towel and am having to use my own).

I will then consider but I might try to book for two nights at the wade-across-river hostel. It may be a smidge remote to get food after dark (and it seems like nowhere is open before dark) but I could do two days of ham sandwiches or something. That would maybe given me easy access to that other beach (tho it is walkable, albeit a minor slog, from here) and would have given me four days here in SC in total and if I did a bit of sitting around and beer drinking and jogging and swimming on these two beaches I think I might consider myself "done" with SC and move on.

As I say I really really hate doing tours and am not desperate to hike IC or whatever.

I might extend here for two nights if I can, but we'll have to see how it goes.

I am feeling vaguely time pressured wrt trip as a whole, but this isn't really why I'm kind of dashing off - not that four days is really dashing off. It isn't that bad - as I say it's no Tamarindo - but the whole place is still a bit shittily tourist dive/surf oriented, I've got these weird uncomfortable vibes with the hostel - maybe it's just too busy and I feel out of place, I dunno - and gah, what to say?

Maybe I'll feel different in the morning. As I say, been up and down like crazy today. Oh, the three women from Santiago were - earwigging - in some confused way going shopping in the morning before coming here, so I assume they were on the 10ish or later bus. They are not at this hostel or the one of the other beach anyway. The "hill" between here and the other beach is not that high and gut feeling is I'm not overly exercised about staying there to get the view, but maybe it is great.

Are a couple of other BNMs fiddling with their phones down here on lower terrace.

OK, I can at least see kitchen.

Also a load of white towels on the railing of upstairs terrace make me wonder if I should have been given a towel. But to be fair I didn't see any in dorm on anyone else's bed earlier.

It is spitting slightly. We had brief rain while on second bus and it was raining in a quite refreshing way (not that heavy) when I walked back from restaurant to here tonight.

I dunno if it's shit in some way but there is a cash machine here, contrary to what guide book says.

By espero (whatever its called) beach there is a big sign talking about eg no surfing in swimming area and coloured flags showing safety to bathe and lifeguards on from 8-4. But when you get there it's just a huge beach with no signs and no lifeguards and no indication of what area is what.

I am not asking about a towel tonight. I may ask about one tomorrow, esp if I decide to extend.

Rain picking up, better move under cover. Will buy a fucking beer.

2053 Just got - frankly not that cold (the one I bought at ms by the beach was actually so cold it hurt to hold) bottle of Balboa for 1.50, and I asked and breakfast is 7-10 (which is a decent time range) and is indeed cook yourself pancakes and black coffee.

As I say, see how I feel in morning. (My left arm - now upper part - is doing this muscley ache thing.) It's been an odd-ish and long-ish day and while I am not plumbing the depths of depression and don't feel too bad right now, I'm probably not thinking super straight.

I think I'm gonna experimentally say next time (not late at night, ie maybe not when I go up to bed) I see someone in dorm I'll say hi and make some open-ended pip-pip type question like "have you been here long?" to show "willingness" to be friendly. (It's nice to talk to people, but if no one wants to that's fine. What I think eats away at me is this "was I too reserved or whatever in an effort not to be an arse?" aspect.)

Sounds like pissing it down quite heavily.

Dorm aircon comes on at 9pm so I suspect people will at least start to consider going to bed after that. I intend to move that way myself once beer drunk but not rushing. I will play tomorrow morning by ear, beach stuff would argue for getting up early before sun too strong but "sorting out stuff" in dorm early may be bad and I have no idea how breakfast is gonna fit in with this.

Maybe I was "against my will" a tiny bit uncommunicative eg with those women in dorm as the whole beach/surf/dive/etc vibe has been eating away at me and I resent other people for all the social goodies and confidence they seem to have.

There is at least a nice black cat here which let me stroke it and would have played with me if I'd dared.

8 bed dorm BTW, not huge but prob largest so far. There is a big but somewhat prison cell block stone/concretey primitive shower/toilet off dorm.

Sign by kitchen saying to only put essentials in fridge - no alcohol, no fruits, no water. Bit miserable, though in practice not a huge deal. I do suspect bringing your own alcohol in is tolerated, and this sign arguably implies permission to do so (exception proves the rule - you can bring alcohol in, but you can't put it in fridge).

It is nice to actually have a locker, both for security (it's kind of token, but still safer than bag in many ways) and because I was able to put phone in there to charge on powerbank.

If I end up just doing 30-120m at beach after breakfast and spending the rest of the day hanging around solo at the hostel (and deciding what to do) that is fine. There is maybe a hiking trail nearby (I think I saw it on a map, though not sure which map) and I may consider that but it's not a priority. And even if I do move to that hostel over the other side, I expect to come into town during the day.

2109 I am trying to be pleasant and outgoing and so forth with people. And I'm not exactly failing - I just eg wonder if I should have made chat with the second woman who said "hi" in dorm as I was going out, but (sadly) I was feeling vaguely down and awkward and I also genuinely never know what's appropriate. But just to be clear it's not like I just grunted or snapped or anything. I've been equally trying to be pleasant with staff despite a vague irrational dislike (not quite the right word, perhaps it's just kind of like I feel they don't like me or judge me, meh, dunno). And they're not responsible for my personal demons and I'm trying to slay those by eg being sociable etc etc.

2113 FWIW booking.com has 1 bed here for an extra two nights, and the one on the est-whatsit beach has availability with no scare tactics. So I'm guessing if there is a festival or something it's not til Sat or later.

And there are other dorms in town at similar prices. So I think I'll be OK to add an extra two nights somewhere tomorrow. As I keep saying I will see how I feel in morning (and after attempted swim), but overall I think SC while mildly annoyingly tourist-priced and neurosis-triggering "cool adventure water sports" ish, is actually not that bad and I don't think 4 nights here is insane, and it's still not off the cards I stay longer.

The drom is not a mess but there are clothes everywhere etc etc and while it's not great I don't think my moderate spread out of clothes to dry and a few carrier bags etc on floor by bunk (handily in corner, and also near bog for late night piss) is out of place.

Wrt all this neurotic bullshit, important to remember that the first day somewhere often feels a bit dislocated. I also can't help feeling - even if it's a good strategy - having booked for only 2 nights and this vague "it could not have space to extend" feeling is not helping me feel I want to/can "put down roots" even in the short term.

I was also surprisingly hungry while walking over to far beach after check in. Not a big deal but at least tomorrow I'll a) have breakfast with luck b) be aware that dinner is going to be post-sunset not mid-afternoon.

I am not tired but not not tired. For a while (then it vanished) I was on verge of sleeping on second bus. As these were short-ish busses and I didn't want to just "withdraw" I followed my usual practice and didn't wear headphones but just tried to look out of window and "be present" and so forth.

2124 I'm *not* whining, my choice, could be good, wanted to do it - *but* to be clear, I think the way things have turned out with the boat trip chopping my trip into three sections isn't otherwise great. Without that, even if I'd decided to do Panama and Colombia in this 11 weeks, I would have done something like started in Colombia and flown to Panama for "the rest of the trip" when it felt right, so two flexible chunks. Or - in hindsight, and a lesson for future maybe - if I were more confident about enjoying Colombia, it would have been smart to fly to Panama right at start of trip, stay as long as felt right and then return to Colombia.

But it's fine. I'm sure the boat will be an experience, I will strive to take positive attitude and be sociable etc. And it will semi-force me into trying eg snorkelling in a relatively "safe" env. I'm just also trying to learn the lesson about structuring a trip which straddles multiple countries and that desired feeling of not being rushed/short of time.

2130 Finished beer (declining another from MoS). Weather is at least albeit mildly sticky quite pleasant temp now. I suspect if I had booked for four nights I might be feeling a smidge more "at home" now - though who knows, and there'd still be this breakfast/beach/heavy UV timing issue for morning.

Gonna move towards bed - clean teeth etc. Gonna send this now. Don't feel great, but don't feel terrible.

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