Sun 17th 1710 On roof terrace of hostel with 473ml can pilsen (got 3, 3300 each chilled at supermarket - honestly 4k for a 273ml can at hostel is a pisstake, or invites abusing honour system).
Quietly successful day of touristing, although slightly dull and if I'd be all out for excitement I might have felt short changed.
Slept better but not perfectly. Got up 830ish, breakfast (one woman, said "hola" , she replied) a pretty nice pair of fried eggs with an arepa and a small slice of cheese, and some poss-but-prob-not orange juice and milk for the free coffee.
Checked (as had done in bed) price on booking.com was same and asked woman at recep if I should book via bc or if they could match the price (I didn't try to angle for sharing the saving, rightly or wrongly) and she promptly said to do it direct and I paid 50.4k on credit card for another night.
I was very slow to get out of the hostel but as it turned out it didn't really matter.
Plan was to go to Ecoparque Los Yarumos. I got on the cable car and accidentally did a tour of both lines 1 and 2 and realised (and checked with a MoS) that line 3 (as shown on OM) is actually still under construction. So I returned to Fundadores and had essentially had a joyride on a single ticket - did wonder if gates would refuse to let me out but it was fine.
I then got bus on Av Santander (not quite the every 30s mentioned in gb, but still lots, and it is Sun) over to Cable. Wandered round, despite what gb says and afaict the cable car from there to park is closed (and - spoiler - I saw no sign of cable car up at the park) and I found both the "old" station (where I guess that cable car to park used to go from) and the new (linea 3) station under construction.
I wasn't super hopeful - and I also suspected park would not be busy given this lack of handy transport - but it's all exercise and seeing the city so I set off vaguely meandering towards the park on foot.
1900 Up on terrace, my new roommate (who I had just briefly hola-ed) came up and we had quite a long chat (Swiss guy), and I also just had a chat with a prob American guy who was telling me all about Bhutan.
Based on speaking to both of these there is a 4hish round trip hike you can do in Salento and there are loads of tour companies there too. So I think I will go there next, if I leave early I can prob talk to some tour companies re multi-day treks the day I arrive and if not there is at least some decent solo single day hiking (fingers crossed in kind of busy-ish park env where dogs not a big concern). I am half tempted to go there tomorrow but I probably won't, tho we'll see.
Anyway, to return to today, I did more luck than judgement find Los Ywhatsit. First impressions were not great but I think I'd kind of sum it up as low key run down vaguely charming family-ish. All the trails seem locked off. There is some kind of canopy tour but it was locked off and I have no idea if it's free or paid but there was no obvious way to pay or anyone doing it. There is a big triangular pyramid which at first (not so sure) I thought might house a butterfly exhibit but when I went to go in a nice enough woman told me in English that I needed to go back to the building where there's a fire engine (which I had seen) and claim a (free?) ticket from the woman there then bring it back and I could come in, and I was already not that fussed and I decided I wasn't going to take part in this stupid charade. (If it's free, why can't I just *come in*?)
There is quite a nice bonsai (but bigger than the houseplant size I associate with bonsai, this sort of 10% scale instead) garden, and there are some children's play things like climbing frames and there were a handful of families around and it was as I say sort of low key charming but if I had had big expectations it would [roomate - Marco? - and another German speaking guy I haven't met who were speaking German after I got chatting with Carlos just invited me to join them for dinner but I said truthfully I'd already eaten] have been disappointing especially given the relative faff of walking there or if I'd gone to the expense of getting a cab. The park is probably huge but as I say the two trails I saw were both shut off and I really don't think there was any more than I saw.
So I walked back to Av Santander and got the bus back no fuss and had a nice cone-in-a-plastic-tub ice cream at heladeria la niña for 7.5k (expensive but better than top of La Piedra) and then - having had a mild desire for chicken and chips all day, which I didn't quite meet - had a half roast chicken (which came with a couple of potatoes and a couple of small arepas and was eaten wearing gloves, like than place in San Gil) and a coke zero and Pollos Asados Mario, then came back to hostel and did a soap wash of uw (three sets) in bucket in shower - noticing at this point the other lower bed in dorm was occupied - and showered myself and had a shave. And then I popped out to supermarket for the three beers and came back here and started writing this and then roommate turned up and we got chatting (mostly his initiative, I think, but at least I was available).
So I think that's that.
I am probably not going to rush off to salento tomorrow, but prob the day after unless (and am not optimistic) tour agencies come through. I am also severely underinclined to trog over to a thermal bath on a bus tomorrow - I will try to look at guidebook and/or push myself, but I'm not gagging, it's not swimming, and if I can find *something* else to do here tomorrow I may let myself off. We'll see.
I may go back to dorm and tinker around there a bit while roommate off at dinner. Had two of my Pilsen cans tonight, might also come back up here with my AA and some fruit tea or black coffee or something.
2200 Been chatting with Marco (roommate) and another Swiss guy called (maybe) Antonio (in another dorm). They have both gone off to bed and I am heading down soon.
Torn about leaving tomorrow but prob won't. May politely message agencies asking if anything on. M&A invited me to join them on an tour to a volcano the day after tomorrow and maybe I should have said yes but I truthfully said that if I wasn't counting the days I'd prob say yes but that as it is I really need to get onto Salento ASAP if my own tour doesn't come up tomorrow.
Quietly successful day of touristing, although slightly dull and if I'd be all out for excitement I might have felt short changed.
Slept better but not perfectly. Got up 830ish, breakfast (one woman, said "hola" , she replied) a pretty nice pair of fried eggs with an arepa and a small slice of cheese, and some poss-but-prob-not orange juice and milk for the free coffee.
Checked (as had done in bed) price on booking.com was same and asked woman at recep if I should book via bc or if they could match the price (I didn't try to angle for sharing the saving, rightly or wrongly) and she promptly said to do it direct and I paid 50.4k on credit card for another night.
I was very slow to get out of the hostel but as it turned out it didn't really matter.
Plan was to go to Ecoparque Los Yarumos. I got on the cable car and accidentally did a tour of both lines 1 and 2 and realised (and checked with a MoS) that line 3 (as shown on OM) is actually still under construction. So I returned to Fundadores and had essentially had a joyride on a single ticket - did wonder if gates would refuse to let me out but it was fine.
I then got bus on Av Santander (not quite the every 30s mentioned in gb, but still lots, and it is Sun) over to Cable. Wandered round, despite what gb says and afaict the cable car from there to park is closed (and - spoiler - I saw no sign of cable car up at the park) and I found both the "old" station (where I guess that cable car to park used to go from) and the new (linea 3) station under construction.
I wasn't super hopeful - and I also suspected park would not be busy given this lack of handy transport - but it's all exercise and seeing the city so I set off vaguely meandering towards the park on foot.
1900 Up on terrace, my new roommate (who I had just briefly hola-ed) came up and we had quite a long chat (Swiss guy), and I also just had a chat with a prob American guy who was telling me all about Bhutan.
Based on speaking to both of these there is a 4hish round trip hike you can do in Salento and there are loads of tour companies there too. So I think I will go there next, if I leave early I can prob talk to some tour companies re multi-day treks the day I arrive and if not there is at least some decent solo single day hiking (fingers crossed in kind of busy-ish park env where dogs not a big concern). I am half tempted to go there tomorrow but I probably won't, tho we'll see.
Anyway, to return to today, I did more luck than judgement find Los Ywhatsit. First impressions were not great but I think I'd kind of sum it up as low key run down vaguely charming family-ish. All the trails seem locked off. There is some kind of canopy tour but it was locked off and I have no idea if it's free or paid but there was no obvious way to pay or anyone doing it. There is a big triangular pyramid which at first (not so sure) I thought might house a butterfly exhibit but when I went to go in a nice enough woman told me in English that I needed to go back to the building where there's a fire engine (which I had seen) and claim a (free?) ticket from the woman there then bring it back and I could come in, and I was already not that fussed and I decided I wasn't going to take part in this stupid charade. (If it's free, why can't I just *come in*?)
There is quite a nice bonsai (but bigger than the houseplant size I associate with bonsai, this sort of 10% scale instead) garden, and there are some children's play things like climbing frames and there were a handful of families around and it was as I say sort of low key charming but if I had had big expectations it would [roomate - Marco? - and another German speaking guy I haven't met who were speaking German after I got chatting with Carlos just invited me to join them for dinner but I said truthfully I'd already eaten] have been disappointing especially given the relative faff of walking there or if I'd gone to the expense of getting a cab. The park is probably huge but as I say the two trails I saw were both shut off and I really don't think there was any more than I saw.
So I walked back to Av Santander and got the bus back no fuss and had a nice cone-in-a-plastic-tub ice cream at heladeria la niña for 7.5k (expensive but better than top of La Piedra) and then - having had a mild desire for chicken and chips all day, which I didn't quite meet - had a half roast chicken (which came with a couple of potatoes and a couple of small arepas and was eaten wearing gloves, like than place in San Gil) and a coke zero and Pollos Asados Mario, then came back to hostel and did a soap wash of uw (three sets) in bucket in shower - noticing at this point the other lower bed in dorm was occupied - and showered myself and had a shave. And then I popped out to supermarket for the three beers and came back here and started writing this and then roommate turned up and we got chatting (mostly his initiative, I think, but at least I was available).
So I think that's that.
I am probably not going to rush off to salento tomorrow, but prob the day after unless (and am not optimistic) tour agencies come through. I am also severely underinclined to trog over to a thermal bath on a bus tomorrow - I will try to look at guidebook and/or push myself, but I'm not gagging, it's not swimming, and if I can find *something* else to do here tomorrow I may let myself off. We'll see.
I may go back to dorm and tinker around there a bit while roommate off at dinner. Had two of my Pilsen cans tonight, might also come back up here with my AA and some fruit tea or black coffee or something.
2200 Been chatting with Marco (roommate) and another Swiss guy called (maybe) Antonio (in another dorm). They have both gone off to bed and I am heading down soon.
Torn about leaving tomorrow but prob won't. May politely message agencies asking if anything on. M&A invited me to join them on an tour to a volcano the day after tomorrow and maybe I should have said yes but I truthfully said that if I wasn't counting the days I'd prob say yes but that as it is I really need to get onto Salento ASAP if my own tour doesn't come up tomorrow.
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