Conchagua volcano and La Union-San Salvador

Wed 2358 I asked the chap on the table in the courtyard that seems to be reception whether the water was drinkable here and he was like, What? What? And then almost like I'd asked him a leading question, he goes, Oh yeah, yeah, you can drink the tap water. Yeah, I think I'll give it a miss. Not a big deal, but slightly annoying when I'm used to getting it provided for free at most hostels, but that's often the way at a hotel-y, more tight places. There was something else along those lines, not a huge deal, but I'll remember as soon as I let the voice typing start processing.

Thu 0830 about to head out I didn't sleep too badly I kept waking up about few times a bit in the night and I think I did I say I had a point where I was no no that was before I went to bed when I was just not sure I was but I was awake at five and six and seven or something and you know I get to sleep more because there's really no pressure I've perhaps hung on here just a tiny bit too long I'm a bit edgy to be honest somehow it's like I'm just all I'm gonna be so sweaty or what am I gonna do when I get back and will I be able to have a shower and should I go on to San Salvador or should I go on to San Miguel or is that wasting a night or should I even camp out here for another night just so I don't have to go anywhere but then it's that wasting time blah blah blah anyway I'm gonna go out and get some breakfast now I think I maybe left it smidge too late but I've had a shower this morning I'll probably have another one when I get back I mean it's all futile isn't it when I'm gonna get so bad later but I'm probably exaggerated anyway okay it's fine it's fine I'm not feeling too bad just a bit end of trip jitters like an extra day or two in hand that I felt able to waste so to speak would be comfortable but you know it is what it is and I was it was probably smart to cling onto the island those last two days etc etc everything's fine anyway let me let this tie while I sort of get dressed.

1106 on 37tb [bus?]. Some chap who seemed vaguely angry looking but prob in my head just tried I think to offer to take me allt he way upm
Paid two fucking dollars for a tiny bottle of very cold water at the terminal here I wasn't that desperate but after asking how much it was I sort of felt comeplled to pay. Not end of world and at least it is cool.

Had 4 pupusas and a black coffee with sugar and gave some change to a random beggar to ligthen my load slightly and has a frappe thing (cafe helado mocca this time not my usual chocolate) at La neveria and checked out and left rubble sakc with big caftier bag inside with all my other stuff and came over here, been here maybe 10 mins. Got some wet wipes (a chatgpt suggestion re comfort and odorl and some hot dog rolls (bread) and an fourth litre of water. Backpack is heavy but not insane and nearly all water or snacks.

Bus engine started, not paid yet but assume no one else had either.

Just take it chill, think geowizard style adventure here. Worst case is discomfort or failure, and by a not totally wnaky definition the mere fact I have tried means I already won.

1113 just paid probably 0.74 and asked the driver if he will tell me when to get off, I may have been accidentally a bit loud (but speaking Spanish) and I think he will, at least I don't think I was rude.

1144 walking up, not on trail proper yet. Bus trivet told me some llocal guy was going that way and he is, wr have not spoken.

OSM says 2h42m walkk to espittu from here, so predicting approx 1430 arrival.

1150 just had a tiny chat with that bloke I was sort of walking up in the shadow of. Nice enough guy. He lives around here He has been up. Says it's more or less like this road we're currently walking up, which is, you know, steep, but rocky. I think he said there's something about a fork and I need to turn to the left. At some point I do have Google Maps and OM, so fingers crossed it'll be all right. One or two dogs behind gates, but nothing major. Fingers crossed it'll be okay. Just Keep putting one foot in front of the other, et cetera, et cetera. I don't take that OM time estimate too seriously But you know, it's something to start working with I'm just trying to keep going for now because I'm not actually at the point Where they sent me the GPS coordinates of the start of the trail yet But I did get the bus that brings me as far as I could And this is all more or less what I expected from the various Google Maps Reviews


1202 okay I'm actually at the turn off where they sent me and I'm now walking up the proper path luckily there were some guys who called out to me there was a dog blocking the left fork and I was a bit concentrating on whether it was going to get upset so anyway I'm now on the proper bit that is indicated so to speak

I got a cold can of sugar coke at a little shop a few minutes ago, it was a dollar, but I don't really care, and I'm not desperate, I've got plenty of liquid with me, but even at this early stage, to take advantage of something cold, well I can, while I don't get all this nutrition shit, I suspect a bit of sugar is probably no bad thing at this point. There was just a tiny hint of atomic lightning, no way I said that maybe, but anyway, for what it's worth last night if I didn't say after I had the fried chicken in the street, a dog came up and I threw the bits in the bin, then I felt guilty and fished them out, then I was going to casually drop them on the street in front of the dog, then I remembered all the old Blue Peter advice from when I was a kid about not giving your dog's chicken bones because they can splinter and injure them, and then I was just dithering because it's like, it's a semi-starving street dog and it probably eats all sorts of crap out of dustbins, but am I better to give it these mostly meat-free bones or not, in the end I put them in the bin, I did throw a couple of Flexer chicken on the floor at it, but they're obviously too small for it to really notice, anyway just a bite to bite.

While I'm just waffling, even though I probably should be saving battery, I am continuing to walk up. I, on the last night at Zapilote, the last night on Amatepi, and remember all this is obviously heavily overshadowed. What I'm related to is the idea that basically, as far as I'm aware, Jaffa is likely dead or dying from the way he's gone missing. It's about eight or nine o'clock, so I've known earlier than that, because I've been using my phone on the beach for about four o'clock to talk to mum, and one thing or the other, the battery was low. I went back into Zapilote, and then I went back out because I wanted to go to the beach for the last night, for the sunset, and I threw my power bank and long USB cable in my back day pack, didn't need it when I got back, so it's round about eight o'clock or something like this, or maybe it was a bit early, but anyway, it's dark. I'm trying to charge my phone up in the locker or something while I go off and do something, and I can't get it to go in, long story, slightly shorter, but I'm undoing all this in the near pitch black with a woman on the upper bunk, although it's not sleepy time, but you know, it's still shit, and because it was the wrong side and it's all very organic, although that's not always the issue, the light was pouring, so I'm doing all this by a crappy phone torch held in the other hand. It turned out a tiny pebble had managed to get itself inside the fat USB-A plug on the long USB cable from my bag, presumably, and I had to dredge out, I finally noticed, luckily, I had an overforce things, and I had to dredge out a safety pin from the tube cube in my locker and wiggle it out, and I did manage to get it out, and fingers crossed it is working. I do sometimes wonder if things are charging a bit slow, but that happens all the time and isn't just with that cable, and probably it's fine, so I did manage to fix it, I had the tools I needed, but it was pretty crappy timing for it to happen. I thought at first maybe the mains charger had gone before I realised it was the cable after I tried the other cable, and like, that wouldn't have been an absolute killer because I would have had the mostly, I think, charged power bank, but both my phones were low, and there wasn't really time to be trying to beg or borrow one from anyone, and I had the long travel day that I was already dreading the next day on top of the whole Jaffa thing. So, anyway. Whoo.

1212 om sqying 1h44 to go.

1225 1h22 to go.

1247 om say it's 43 minutes to go so I'm making fairly good time. I've stopped and taken the pack off for the first time and I'm having a proper rest. Feeling a bit knackered. I say I've not really had a drink or anything up until now except for that coke. So far it's been fine. A mini bus going down blacked-out window. I couldn't see if it was full or not past me about five minutes ago. Otherwise fingers crossed everything's fine. It is warm but there is a bit of a breeze. There's quite a lot of shade now I'm on this actual path not the bit leading up to it between where the bus dropped me and the actual trail where those guys stopped me going the wrong way. I went and sent the fork to the left that the guy told me about to walk from the bus with me. I think that was much earlier and I did check on the map and yeah I wouldn't have got it wrong because I followed the map but yeah I think that's what he was told me about so that was different to the other thing. Anyway let me have some water and possibly a snack or possibly not. I don't feel actively thirsty my shoulders are hurting a bit. Anyway let's Let's stop talking and have some water.

The water I bought this morning does seem to have just the tiniest bit of coolness to it, I suppose it's been in the bag. It wasn't super chilled when I bought it, not as cold as that overpriced one at the sort of mini terminal. Anyway, like I say, things are not, it's not unpleasant by any means, my fingers crossed, I know it's gonna let me get there. Fingers crossed we can rent a tent and everything, but yeah, there is a bit of a breeze, the walk, I mean it's stiff walking uphill obviously, but yeah, it's, it's quite nice in its way, yeah, it's not as hot as it was in Central La Union to be honest, it's just as far less La Nevereer as where I can buy chocolate coffees iced, but yeah.

My blue raging sport long sleeve top is soaked with sweat basically especially on the back obviously where the bag is but even on the front but you know it's fine I can do a water only wash and blah blah blah maybe especially if I do settle in El Salvador for the last four or five nights days whatever I should be able to get some pro laundry done and then I've got enough to see the whole trip out which is a bit sad but also sort of nice in its way plus of course with the sweat in the shirt may evaporate a bit in the breeze and cool me so yeah okay I've drunk about half a litre of water I'm not saying I couldn't drink more but I'm not desperate and since I only have four litres with me I can probably buy something at the top blah blah blah but I don't want to overdo it so I've tempted to eat something but I'm not really hungry I had that sugar coke couldn't have breakfasted and stuff so it's probably best for my digestion not to be walking and eating so I think I'll let this voice type transcribe and then push on.

1253 on we go.

1303 26m to go.

1332 here. Just paid the 11 for camp spot and got orange brackets walking to place to see if I can actually get the camping gwqe but moderately optimistic. Nice breeEze.
1338 okay, all sorted. I paid 20 for the equipment hire. I've got a pre-assembled tent that had a mattress in and they've given me a sleeping bag. Tents, I mean, who knows where I got the right location, but it is right on the platform. I don't know how many other people around. The tent was already set up. I don't know who's here and who's not. There is a tent that looks smaller than the others in a different style, so maybe someone's sleeping in there now. There's a restaurant where you can do food at 7. There's a little kiosk which I've hired the tent at and they sell probably Coke and stuff. In some sense, I'm perhaps here a little bit too early, but it's fine. The view is absolutely amazing. There isn't any sort of cruise ship out there. Maybe it's not a cruise ship. No, it probably isn't, but there is a ship out there, so let me just sort of get myself settled. I'm fairly pleased with the progress I made up as well.

1358 okay, so about an hour fifty for the walk from where the bus dropped me, obviously less for the actual official walk up, and it's not a competition, I'm not saying that's absolutely stunning, but I'm fairly pleased with that, and it was not easy but it was not trivial, and as for it being hot, like I say, it was actually hotter in Lao Nyam proper, it's just, you know, you've got shade there in a different way and you can have cold drinks and stuff. To be honest, I think it was hotter in my room this morning, I was feeling a bit worried about it than when I left the room, because I think the sun had just been beating down and it's obviously not as well ventilated. Anyway, I mean the mattress is very hot and the tent is hot, but it won't be at night and that's fine. I can't find anything to fasten my bag too, short of risking tripping people upon the railing outside, which isn't because the pack, the chain would be running across, so I mean in reality no one's gonna stay in anything, I think I'll try to keep my phones on me, although I'm gonna turn one of them off soon to try and save some power. I'm gonna have a little bit of a wander around, maybe snap a few more photos from the various towers and stuff, and then I might use a bit of phone power just listening to some music on my headphones, which I did bring. I'm gonna lock the tent when I'm not here, the tents have got rips in them, but it did say they're not waterproof, I think it's fine, I've got waterproof gear and the unlikely event it matters, it should all be fine, I'm not really worried about it to be honest, this has all gone pretty well so far, and I think the big part is over with now, I may have something to eat just for the hell of it and a bit of a drink, I think they might sell beer here, but I will save that for tonight if they do and obviously go very careful, yeah I'm probably gonna lock the tent with a padlock when I go out of it just to try and safeguard the bag, although I'm not even sure there's anyone else here or that it's very likely anyone will steal stuff, and you know if I keep my phone with me, phones with me, then that's okay too, so yeah okay

1415 on top of the lookout tower, I think some little people just arrived, left my tent a lot, but I think it's cost us ok. I've turned the AO6 off and shoved it in my bag, it's at about 80 odd percent, I think it will be fine and I do have the peril bank with me. And it might be the sort of place where you can manage to get a charge in your peril bank, but I don't think I need to get it. I've done a bit of a wander round of signs, snapped a few photos for sort of memory and pseudo-documentation purposes. So hopefully I can now kind of relax, I mean I'm bound to keep stamping a few more here and there, obviously the sunset and sunrise. But you know, I don't think there's a lot to do here, that's not the point. I do half wonder if there's like cabins available or something, but looking at some of the buildings round the main square before the tunnel. But it's not too clear, I haven't actually found the toilet yet, but I know there is one, so I mean there might be a shower, but there's no need to rush in just yet. To be honest I don't feel incredibly sweaty, I mean I'm sure the dirtiness from not having a shower so there isn't one will accumulate. But I was imagining feeling an absolute disgusting smelly mess for the bus tomorrow if I do go on to El Salvador, which I probably will, but I haven't to decide now. But I don't feel too bad at the moment, I mean I've got the wet wipes anyway and I've got a change of clothes and maybe I can shower at the accommodation, we'll just play it all by here. I'm really glad I'm here, it is pretty cool, I've summarised and said it should be good if the weather plays ball and I think it will be okay. We've got a few clouds, we may have had some drama, but not hiding things too much. I think you can basically see Lao Nian, not all the terrain from the angle, but I think you can. Yeah, I think you can see some of the islands we sort of went past on the boat yesterday, because you have to sort of hook round to get into Lao Nian proper. And yeah, everything's good, so I think I'm going to have a couple of hotdog rolls. I may go and I'm tempted to see if I can buy a cold coke or something, but oh I had a quick poke at the locked up dining hall where the guy says there's dinner. Like Poirot, Pescado de Poirot is a bit under $10 and other stuff is like $12 or $13, that is a little bit on the expensive side, right. But obviously it's remote and everything and they're going to take slight advantage and it could be a lot worse. I don't need it, but I probably will have something to eat in there, we'll see what the menu actually is tonight. I probably will because it might be social and it's still a bit of an event. The prices are not utterly insane, you know, for $2 or $3 I paid last, I can't remember, but I was astounded. That is probably very cheap in my household or standards, you know. But I mean I was paying, I paid $4.30 for pupusas this morning with a horchata and an extra $0.30 for a take away coffee because I wanted to get my bowels moving if that helped. And so, you know, $4 or $5 for a meal is not ridiculous and if you were to eat at KFC it would probably be $6, $7, $8, $9 or whatever. So given the remoteness and everything and the specialness it's fine and at least the food looks kind of the sort of stuff I can mainly eat based on that menu. So yeah, I probably will have the dinner part because I'd say there may be a social aspect to it as well and it's all part of the experience. But But yeah, so anyway, I think I'm going to probably go back down, maybe eat some food just for the hell of it. I'm not worried about not being hungry tonight, but I brought a lot up and I don't want to be carrying it all night down. So yeah, anyway, so that's all pretty good I think basically and it's not the sort of place where you okay, I just lost the last bit of that, because I turned the camera on to take a quick photo, and I think you can just throw it to the input away. But I did get most of it, I'd say. I think it's not the sort of place where you do stuff, you sort of hear it for the view, and peace and quiet and so forth. So, yeah, so I'm going to go and sit around with some music. Ill ask about the toilet in a bit, and what was I going to say? Oh yeah, I mean, I imagine the Coke is quite expensive, given the prices of the food in the restaurant, albeit probably not insane. But, you know, it's like, yes, a cold Coke might be nice, it might be nice to have one in an hour or two, but I don't need to rush into that sort of thing. I need to save the novelty for an hour or two.

Well, there is a suggestion that this might be a tiny bit boring, at the same time it is also kind of cool to be forced to just do nothing and sort of relax, and it does feel kind of nice to be here. I've no idea how busy it will get tonight, it's near the weekend, but it's not a weekend, but, you know, I imagine with people coming up in 4x4s, even if they don't stay, I imagine roundabout sunset will be a lot busier, they're hopefully not too raucous, and even tonight there'll probably be more people here camping and stuff. So, other that's fine, it might be social, it might be a nice atmosphere, it is also quite nice to be here on my own and have the place almost to myself. There's a couple of staff around, but I've not seen any other likely guests on the camping side of the tunnel, as it were. Anyway, just some notes, let's eat some food and put some music on.

1452 just having a quick look around and open street maps and the commerce and everything and lining up the islands. Yeah, you can see three countries, obviously. It's very, very easy to see El Salvador from here. I can see the Nicaraguan mainland behind the two El Salvadoran islands and everything to the left of that, basically, that's not actually the land, more or less, is all the distant stuff there, is Honduras. So there's some Honduran islands and in the distance is the Honduran mainland, that's a bit blurry. but yeah, absolutely, you can totally see three countries.

1505 finished an entire packet of mixed nuts, a bit greedy but what the hell, I might get a coke in a bit, if they've got any maybe they haven't got any, yeah I mean it's a bit dull but in the same way it's still in the good way, I'm very glad I came, I can't believe that everyone made such a big deal about walking up here, it was not trivial but it really was not a big deal and it's way less camping than I expected as well, so it's like well I'm glad I brought the waterproof stuff just in case and a fleece because I can imagine it might be valuable at night just the fleece you know, it's like it's fine, I was gonna say something else just a general observation, but it's gone.

Oh yeah, that's not it, but I would say also, if I'd known how short the walk was, I mean, admittedly I don't know what the food's going to be like here, and I have got to walk down tomorrow. I wouldn't have brought anywhere near as much food. Some of the stuff I was reading was, oh, two, three hours, oh, it's really stiff and really hot, I mean, it just laid it on a little bit too thick, it doesn't really matter, I've just looked up slightly more food than I need, and if I don't eat some of it, I might even take some of the sweets home, though they're probably the things I'll eat first anyway, and give them to family or something, but, oh, commerce in the last bit is compass, as in the thing you use on the phone to show which direction it is to help me line up with the map, but it didn't transcribe correctly. Anyway, what I was actually going to say, it's just a silly observation, this is a palm tree, and the decking's been built up around it, I didn't realise it was so tall at first because I'm a bit dumb sometimes. Anyway, I was thinking about, oh, how much water have I got, and can I afford to finish this first litre bottle, which I nearly have, and it just reminded me of the bit near the start of June where they're talking and someone says, oh, those guys are thinking that a man needs eight litres a day, and a palm only needs 40, so there go five of us. I don't know whether those figures are even true, but it just did make me think of it all of a sudden. I think I've probably already said, but some other little things that just come to my head sometimes. Whenever I'm worrying about a dog, I think of that hideous dog snake appears lying from that cartoon, and I can't remember, a web comic strip from years ago, and I'm sure there's something else as well.

I think Dr Wellington Yueh says that to Jessica right near the start of the book, but it's been a long time since I read it. And I'm just thinking about that cartoon and I'm fairly sure that the dog snake is just saying woof in the most mundane voice possible. Anyway, that does sort of cheer me up when I'm worrying about whether a dog will suddenly appear. There were no problems on the walk up, by the way. I didn't really expect any but you never absolutely know, do you?

It's not unpleasant but the wind is getting up just slightly and I'm sitting here in just the now pretty dry though I suspect pretty still smelly, long sleeve blue Rohan not Rohan raging sport t-shirt and I'm not cold and it's quite nice but it is just on the pleasant side of feeling a tiny bit chilly so yeah I'm definitely glad I brought the the fleece because I could imagine for sort of hanging around sunset sunrise maybe a little bit afterwards as well perhaps there could be some nice stars here having the fleece would be good and I've got the shell jacket and I can put a second layer on top because I've got a clean t-shirt because I was thinking not from personal camping experience but you know just from watching Geowizard  videos and reading random books I had this idea that you know I'd get up here after the hike up and I'd be absolutely exhausted and knackered and it probably rained on me and my clothes would be filthy and wet and I'd need something clean to change into to feel comfortable around camp I mean I suppose if it had pissed down that might have been true but honestly this is just what my mind had kind of built this up into but based entirely on reading but trying to read around it and figure out how to get up here and the stuff people say and the way people huff and puff about the distance of the walk up and what to bring and everything so yeah anyway it is what it is no harm done and I say I'm a tiny bit bored but in a kind of good way.

So what it's worth, the thing on the back of my right hand is scabbed up nicely as I think I said the other day and it's starting to turn pink around the edges and the scab is falling off, the left thumb, maybe because I'm keeping a bandage on it, it hasn't scabbed up whenever I change the bandage because it keeps getting wet and coming off, it looks really good like it's healing up in a sort of pinkoozy kind of way, vaguely, it's not that disco, but it's not scabbing up, I suspect that's because it's got the bandage on it and based on some vague LLM advice I've had when talking about things like this, maybe this is the modern moist healing technique and that will reduce the chances of it scarring someone's climbing into one of the tents, so I'm not here alone, I'm not saying anything embarrassing but I will moderate my voice and maybe not voice type so much, but anyway, yes it's just a progress report, I don't know whether I've taken any photos of the left thumb because I keep putting the plaster on and forgetting to take a photo and not wanting to disturb it, but anyway.

1533 fwiw mainland Honduras is clearly visible to the north, I was looking more west before.

1618 I decided I'd go over and go the toilet which I found the hand washing is just a water barrel with a tap on but the bathroom is actually quite proper I don't think there's any showers I haven't asked I got a coat 125 which isn't actually terrible considering that little shot was once not super cold but then a truck was pulling up big green thing I thought it was a delivery and I was looking at it and it's actually fitted up like a sort of enormous bus and a load of people were coming in and they were getting some sort of welcome talk so I sort of joined in on the back of that nothing really I didn't know and they didn't seem to desperately want me to join them at all they didn't seem to mind and there's a few people around now some of them are on day passes leaving six-ish I think and the camping people some of them are camping and I guess I don't know how it works not lot of them seem to have tents but sure they can't all be fitting in the remaining tents I don't know but see they leave at nine in the morning so depending on how much I care and how much rush I am I may want to hang around after that but we'll see what it's like in the morning the kiosky things open till eight so I can get a beer up till that time I think that the restaurants home for six to eight but I guess no one's gonna want to go during sunset so after sunset yeah I just want a couple notes about that

I am sitting in lower platform below tent area, and was earlier, it is maybe slightly more private now other people are here but ibnoved down here originally after sitting up on some of those three chairs because when the wind was up this was more sheltered.

I wasted some of coldness of coke liste ing tot hat little intro to those people but not a big seal. Also the guy is going to talk to them about the islands later so I may try to earwig on that. People ate assembling tents so i guess as i should have realised from my prior reading these tour groups have brought their own tents as a company thing, not with the individuals bringing their own camping gear. These people may (not saying they are, but just based on some random web articles I read while doing my research) have come in on a tour from san Salvador or el tunco or something for all I know, if so presumably switching to the truck type bus near here. But they may be a la union based group given they are quite large.

Fwiw the guy I saw going into a tent an hour or two ago was probably a member of staff changing mattress in one of the site owned tents, not a guest.

Although fwiw the guy giving this group a talk said if they needed to rent tents to go to the kiosk. So maybe some came in on different packages or something.

1632 had a third hot dog roll.

Incidentally I did see a group of about three people around a bit before this big tour group turned up.

I have mixed feelings about more people being here but I knew it would happen and I don't expect it to get over raucous, there is a no speakers rule etc, and I guess people do come here to see the sunset /sunrise etc.

Golden hour is 1734 fwiw, not sure if that is relevant here but might be. Actual sunset is 1802 and astronomical sunset 1912, albeit I expect to be investigating dinner by about 1845. I might get a beer to go with sunset, rather than (or instead of) having one after as I maymiss the 8pm close, albeit getting one just before 8 and then maybe going to bed 9-10 depending on chat and atmosphere and temperature for solo meditative sitting with or without music might well work.

Don't want to jinx it but hand repaired left shoe tip is holding up surprisingly well. My stitches are starting to give way every slightly but by backpacker standards they are fine.

It is mildly annoying there is so much decking with gaps for eg phones to drop through if you are unlucky. But it is at least not water underneath and at least in some places stuff may be recoverable even without staff help. But touch wood of course it won't be necessary.

It is too quiet for me to hear clearly but a staff guy is telling a Spanish speaking family about the view. I suspect the larger English speaking group will get their talk shortly and I might go up from this lower platform and wander round a bit. All exercise too.

1813 poice time, we missed the screen, Piche on the main area, the terracy bit, I glowed into a span of speaking of a train, getting the tour and talk about the Netherlands, as humans free and included, although they seem to be all be on the bus, which leaves at 6, I mean surely people ought to be staying for sunset, although that's kind of what I'm leaning on to. Anyway, I understood most of the talk, I mean obviously I'm not following all the names, but then we went on a sulte call, which we, to show it off, it was like a local museum, we had some random culture, it was not too wanky actually, it was kind of interesting, and then we walked on to a sulte call, which was a new point on the other side. I was getting confused and thinking this side would be the best to see the sunset, but of course the sunset's in the west and this looks to the east, however, so there's quite a cool old bus that they're converting into a cabin, we had a look at that, and then we walked on up to some place where they can search this new mirror door by one or two military bases in the area, which is perhaps where that 200 soldier store or someone took me came from. And everyone's just been hanging around and it's like they're leaving at 6, and I'm like, do you mind if I walk back to the other place and they're like, no, no, no, and I said, is that the end? And he goes, yeah, we're all talking Spanish, but, and I came back and then everyone was like, oh, no, no, I've got completely confused and this is not a west view, but I seem to see, I think I saw all the people from that little proof of about 7 or 8 Spanish speakers who'd gone on that little tour come back anyway, so people do seem to be coming around here to watch the sunset, it's pretty cloudy and you can't really see where they're going. You can't really see very much, even over towards the west, it's more like orangey skies, pinky whites. I got a beer when I got back, so I had to wander around, went up to the tower, and I got to the wrong side, had to have a big night, really big evening people and I was like, let's go get a good seat on the bus, so I don't think the sunset is such a big thing here, at least not with this weather tonight. I mean, I'm standing out watching, you know, it's quite cloudy, let's see if this is Trunk's private.

Okay, that's just utter trash. To be fair, I was speaking in a low voice and there was a wind, but that is just utter trash. Let's just try again. So I glommed onto a Spanish-speaking group, as I was allowed to. I understood them and they were having the islands talk. I didn't remember all the names, but it was fine. And then we went over to the little temple stroke museum and you had to take your shoes off, but it was quite a nice little exhibit about some local culture. And then we walked up, just about ten of us, maybe, and I think all the others were going back on the bus at six, which seems odd because you'd think people would stay for sunset. But I'm kind of getting an idea that sunset is not a huge deal here yet. And they got this old bus that they're converting into a cabin, and that was quite cool. And then we walked up to where they're constructing a new Mirador Tower, which might give you, and you could see, like, Tererendo and some El Cucor place that some other lamb had tried to semi persuade me on a decent basis to go and spend the day or two after that. Not said I won't, but anyway, where they do turtle release. And the sun was setting round there, but that was a more southerly view. So I said to the guy, can I go back to the other place to watch the sunset from there? And he said, yeah, fine, fine. I said, is there anything else? And he says, no, speaking to you in Spanish, of course. And then I came back and then I thought, oh, no, I've screwed up. I've completely got confused. The view from the main area is to the east for sunrise, and you won't see to the west from here. And you can't see very much, but as the guy himself had said earlier, it's very cloudy from here. Even from there, the sunrise was kind of off to one side because it was more of a southerly view. Here it's the other, you know, but there's a lot of cloud in that direction. So you're just seeing some sort of orange glow. Other people seem to be watching from here, but it doesn't seem to be that big a thing. I hope that's transcribed. So I got a beer when I got back. I went up the tower to see if the view from there was any good for the sunset, and it wasn't really. So I came back down and got a beer, not super great, but my first beer since back in El Salvador, a bit too cold for it, really. And I was thinking the sunset would be more spectacular, but I'm getting confused. Okay, I think that's about it.

I'm not saying that's great, but I think it's done better. I'm sticking outside for the sunset and a bit more photography and stuff.

1843 just had dinner, 5 dollars, not huge plate but from buffet and perhaps had my first ever female, which I had to unwrape myself. BNM but it feels fairly natural, it is quiet, a guy may have glommed onto to three girls but I half suspect one is his gf and she had met the other two before. Not remotely jealous, he is a bit posh and smug and young and tall but bizarrely long face looking and also his chat gives a vague entitled moneyed vibe  and more to the point i overheard one of these girls tell some fatuous story about a guy who shed had good vibes only with before leave her alone in medillin ("who does that to a girl?") And she was crying in the hostel? corridor after and the other girl (who hardly remembered this and so they presumably only just re-net now or something) comforted her and the girl saw him again in Netherlands moths later and he come over and said hi and she just told him she wasn't going to talk to him (but not saying why) and the others are all like "good for you" and maybe the guy was a dick, I don't know the context  but then rlpresumably neither do the girls she is telling this story to and I have formed this vision of her and perhaps them as rather fatuous and entitled etc.

Had hot chocolate with dinner and I may get another. I put fleece on a bit earlier and this fits right in with how others are dressed. As I say there is a bit of a BNM vibe but really it feels a fairly low social sort of night anyone, people in prefab groups, not that busy and it is neither clear to me it would be possible nor do I crave to blah in with anyone (least of all one of the several couples or this group of various girls).

There is a nice fluffy dog here, and maybe another one.

1852 got another hot chocolate which feels a bit pricey at a dollar on its own but wth. It fits the mildly chilly but not unpleasant camping type vibe  wind blowing round this dining hut. I will probably go to bed fairly soon anyway, may not sleep immediately, but sunrise will be starting 5ish.

Don't let the girls and the BNM comments make this seem a downer. Yes I thought sunset would be more than it was but I suspect sunrise is the main event, the whole thing has been quite evocative and interesting in its various aspects, the hike, getting tent, having the place eto myself in the sun and listening to music the interesting little tour in Spanish (no idea if there was an English tour I missed but this was probably better anyway from my POV), the sunset and ailhouetted objects in photos etc etc. And it will be oddly cool to sleep in a tent, yes I hldid it in Mexico last year but this is just a touch more "real".

The hot chocolate is good and thick and sweet but not super hotml this time. Still nice though.

Overall I do feel fairly chilled and relaxed and pleased I came.

I have three litres of water left. Will use some for cleaning teeth and I suspect I will probably drink a litre freely tonight, as tomorrow I probably need a litre to walk down with and that leaves me a litre in hand not to mention that I can and provably will have coffee or chocolate tomorrow either on its own or with breakfast depending on prices and how I feel (I do have a lot of my own food etc).

Ok, I finished that chocolate and I don't really want a third, probably not even if it was free and certainly not at a dollar.

Yeah, not that I am desperate but no chat is happening, Dutch girl has an oddly metallic pseudo american voice too which is rather grating, I can front run these people to the two for teeth cleaning, if there are stars I may stare at them but I rather doubt it with the cloud, can only hope sunrise we is good but it is already a win even if the sunrise is unlucky.

1901 I am reluctant to moce but yeah let's go.

1920 okay, so I'm in the tent, fully dressed except my shoes off, currently using a sleeping bag which is still rolled up as a pillow. The wind is blowing outside and the canvas is rattling. I've got my torch hair dangling from its homemade head strap from the hook on the top of the tent. On the walk over here I saw a couple of the tents lit up and it looked quite cosy and cool just for the record. I tried to take a few photos. I went and cleaned my teeth. I stupidly forgot to take my head torch with me so I used the foam torch. The battery is not critical by any means. It's down to about 41%, 40% and I'm topping it up now. But it would have made more sense to use the head strap. I've got it with me and as I say it's on the dangling from the tent top now. And it would have been better for cleaning my teeth, especially in the rather crappy thing. There was some smelly water on the floor and the sink I thought you were supposed to use looked like it was full of something dirty. I just did it standing up but I ran the battery down slightly, not a huge deal. Topping the phone up from the power bank now I haven't turned the AO6 back on. Fingers crossed everything's okay at home but I don't need to constantly check back in. Especially when there's nothing I can do.

I can hear the Spanish speaking family next to me, they're a little distance away, talking, I can't quite hear what they're saying without making a real effort and I'm not that interested. There's another tent much closer to me but I am sort of semi whispering this and I'm not saying anything embarrassing and I'm only doing it for a few minutes so I'm not going to worry about it and especially with the crappy phone screen. This is better than the online screenkeeper, well maybe, anyway that's what I'm using. So I don't know whether I'll actually try getting into the sleeping bag or see how it goes, as I know it doesn't tend to have some holes but it doesn't feel particularly drafty. I'm going to set an alarm for five after I check the sunrise. I'll probably lie here and read on the phone a bit while it's charging from the power bank and before sleep if I do and experiment with the sleeping bag is necessary. So I say I'm fully dressed, I've got the fleece on, I've got lots of junk along the floor but it's fine because the tent's small and it's wrap sealed and I'll be leaving in daylight so I can easily hunt around. I think that's mostly it. I mean it feels kind of cool to be lying here, there is a vaguely cosy element but it's not super duper cosy because I'm not used to the canvas rattling. I'm not feeling the wind though so that is good despite the small holes near the top. So yeah it's kind of nice and as I say because it is so windy even though this is a sort of pseudo glamping thing or a bit like when I stayed in that tent in the Mexican hostel just in their grounds that were set up with the fan and electric. I haven't got a fan and electric here, although it's not cool, it's not hot so there's no need for that. But this is just a tiny bit closer to a real camping experience at the time. Although the mattress is a great big solid foam rubber type thing, not an inflatable one because it's one of theirs.

For all I know there's no one in the tent right next to me, the one, you know, directly adjacent to me, because that's one of the pre-setup tents like this one, it's exactly the same model, and it's just not that busy tonight, which is great, I'm not complaining, you know, I don't think I would have really liked to be here at the weekend, although if I could have reserved a tent somehow, or brought my own, the vibe might have been different, but anyway, for all I know, that tent is just set up like this one would be always, but no one's staying in it, but maybe someone is staying in it, I'm not absolutely sure, doesn't matter, I'm not going to be doing this at all. and I've got a low enough voice doing this that even though they are very right next to me, tent wise, they may not be hearing me even if there's someone renting it and they're in there.

1930 just temporarily turn the brightness up on the torch, which I'm probably going to turn off in a minute once I sort of go to bed and just start reading, so I could take a quick video to try and capture the feeling of being here and the sounds. I'm going to turn it back down to the low setting, or just turn it off. Everything is basically fine, I'm going to check the sunrise time and set an alarm so I can at least in theory see sunrise really coming on early, and everything is basically okay. I did clean my teeth and floss tonight, I probably won't clean my teeth as soon as I get up tomorrow, but I will try and do it before I leave. Everything is basically fine, I think we'll see what happens. I was sure I was going to say something else, but I can't think what it is right now. Oh yeah, I was going to say that with the torch off completely, there is a bit of light coming through. This camping area doesn't really seem to have much in the way of lights. There are lights in the other courtyard where the kiosk and the toilets are, but this doesn't seem to have much, so maybe that light is coming more from the other tents with lights on. It wasn't very much, but just a little bit was coming through at least at the moment. Yeah, anyway, that is it.

I can totally see why the kiosk shuts at 8 o'clock if I remember correctly, right? I mean, you know, they really weren't selling very much at this point, obviously. There were still a couple of people in the restaurant. I mean, for all I know, the annoying girls were chatting in there, but, yeah, anyway.

1936 set alarm, I'm notionally going to bed now, of course I've been in bed for a while, but obviously I could send this because I have got reception in one way or another but I'm not going to faff, I just keep accumulating it. It is quite weird to be sort of so, you know, I've been in bed before and had the wind hailing around outside and felt like the world must be ending and surely I'm in the Arctic and actually it's really warm. But, or at least warm the next day, but it is a bit weird to be here and sort of intimately feeling the wind in the sense that it's crackling the canvas or whatever the hell it is, it's plastic isn't it, whatever it is. And moving it around right against my head, I'm not that tall but even so I've still got my head fairly close to the full end of the mattress and so I'm quite intimately feeling the wind in the sense that it's moving the material of the tent around but I can't actually feel it making me cold. Anyway.

I suppose, and I don't normally use rubber gloves to washing up, hence this is something I don't experience so often that the novelty wears off, it's vaguely analogous to the way when you're wearing washing up gloves and you put your hands in water, it sort of feels wet and not wet at the same time. Right now I have wind and not wind.

1940 unrolled sleeping bag and lying on top of it with one end a bit tolled up as a smaller pseudo pillow.

Lips feels oddly sticky despite genuinely cleaning teeth.

2149 I sort of woke up a bit and, uh, it's really quite windy now, anyway, it doesn't really matter, I've, uh, unzipped the sleeping bag, opened it up and I'm now wearing it like a kind of blanket, but I've not zipped myself into it, and I'm using my fleece as a pillow, it's, everything's fine, but I'm just, I feel a bit groggy, but, uh, can't wait. One pint has really done that, only that one pint, even anywhere.

Fri 0613 come back into tent and voice typing this. So I had an alarm for about 5. I did pull the flap of the tent open and have a quick look at and maybe snapped a photo. The photos by the way are generally sort of realistic except that the contrast is enhanced, the sky looks a lot darker blue when it was more lighter blue in the non-orangy areas but they don't look too bad judging, too unrealistic I should say. Otherwise, so I shoved my head out, I snoozed on that for about 10 minutes and then that sort of happened again and then I did finally get up I think about 5.20. The camera photo timestamps would show that, a couple of guys flying drones around as I write this, not before sunrise. We're not in Nicaragua now. And about that point I did get up and force myself to stay and watch the sunrise and it was pretty good to be honest, you know, the streak of orange on the horizon. And there was a towards, as the sun was coming up, ten minutes or so before, there was a tiny cloud above where it was going to come up that just looked like it was a static piece of flame floating in the sky. Also the sea is, it just looks like it's frozen. It's not clouds but I don't remember what it looked like yesterday but it's like, it's not flat but it's like the waves just aren't moving, that's obviously not happening but that's what it looks like. So I wandered around a bit, I popped up the tower just now while after sunset, very bit windy up there. I should perhaps have got my beanie hat and gloves out but I didn't really need them but I did bring them with me so there is at least that. I think they earn at least a half use and there's a potential use there just as there is with the shell jacket and the waterproof over trousers that I did bring. I didn't sleep super well, I kept waking up about every hour. I can't remember whether I made a note but maybe an hour after I went to bed I switched, I opened the sleeping bag up and used it as a kind of thick blanket stroke duvet (so sleeping on the vinyl own surface of the mattress directly) and I was using the fleece as a pillow and I think I'm more or less stuck with that all night. But oh yeah, despite it being windy I didn't really feel the wind too much, there was a bit of draught not surprising given the rips in the tent but that wasn't too big a deal but I keep waking up and I'd be all sweaty and at one point I tried taking my long sleeve top off and being topless and then I was sweaty and I stuck to the mattress and so I put the top back on a bit later, an hour or two later. I kept waking up every hour or so, I don't really know why but anyway I didn't sleep too badly, I may or may not spend a bit more time in the tent, I'll see how I feel. I haven't seen any signs of breakfast or hot chocolate or coffee yet so we'll see what happens.

0633 so, back in the tent, I went over to the kiosk and asked about hot drinks and they've got coffee which I think is 50 cents and hot chocolate for a dollar, so I got a cup of hot chocolate and I drank that as I did a lot of the sunrise watching on the little lower platform just below where my tent is. There's some website I'd read before coming said that you should camp there because you got more privacy. Don't know if that's true, I'm not sure anyone's actually allowed to camp down there. Maybe I got confused. But it is a nice little spot because the breeze is sort of hidden by various things so it's a bit warmer. Anyway, so I had the hot chocolate, I'm back in the tent now. I'm not necessarily rushing off, I don't know if they're even serving breakfast, I'm not particularly desperate. I am starting to think about vaguely needing to get down because obviously I've got to walk down, I've got to get the bus and then I've got to do something. I was also a tiny bit worried about only having one night booked at the place in El Salvador, but then again it was supposed to be a free option and I didn't want to over commit. I'm also a bit dubious as to where I should go but to be honest I think going to San Salvador is probably the best option. I'm going to let this transcribe and then I'll do some more.

Okay, so, I've got a bit of chafing on my thighs, I'm a bit surprised, maybe it's from sleeping fully dressed rather than the walk-up. I've had a bit of a go at that with a wet towel, moist towel, whatever you want to call it, and I'll maybe do a bit of wiping on my back or something later on. Anyway, just about where to go, I've got this cancellable booking, I cancelled it right up till 6 o'clock today, here for one night in San Salvador, at a hostel that, to be fair, came out of an LLM, i.e. artificial intelligence, discussion, but it's also one I'd heard of before. I mean, maybe I've been influenced by the AI, but to be honest, I was already thinking this, it's like, the AI suggested KUKO, as I think I already said, which we could nearly see from the other side. It's beachy, it's gonna be hot, I do baby turtle release, which might be cute, but makes me feel a bit edgy, it's like I've never wanted to do it anywhere else. Also, I don't think I could really, even if it goes really well socially, I don't think I could relax there with the timescales I've gotten in to get back to El Salvador, and getting over there from here is not massively difficult, but it's not. So, I don't think it's not that easy. I think it's not an El Tunco kind of place, apparently, it's a bit more chilled and laid back, but I'm not really in the mood for that kind of beach vibe, especially not at this end of the trip, when I've got tight timescales, and I can't just, oh, I like this, I'll stay another day or whatever. San Miguel, I've seen it, you can do some hikes and stuff around there, but I'm not in the mood for doing hikes in hot weather. I've done this thing today, it's like I've made an effort, I've done other stuff on these timescales, and at this point in the trip, I don't really want to do that. So, it's San Miguel, it would be more somewhere to stop over, and it's wasting a night to some extent. If I go to El San Salvador, I can maybe get some hostel time in, got time to try a couple of hostels, I can maybe do some day trips, I can wander around and people watch. It's not necessarily amazing, but the last few days of the trip, taking it easy. So, when I get back to civilisation, I might see if I can book another separate booking, ideally with free cancellation, they may get a bit arsy, but they may not. I probably wouldn't take the option up for tomorrow night at the same hostel, and if I can't get that, then I might cancel the first one. But I probably am going to El San Salvador, and I might do a side trip to somewhere, but probably not, given the timescales. It's not super satisfactory, but at the end of the trip, what are you going to do? You don't have that much choice, I don't really want to be getting involved in any major long trips. I've got to be back in San Salvador for the flight, I don't want to be stressing myself out. I've exerted myself a moderate amount lately, so I don't want to be doing anything too strenuous anyway.

0644 much needed and slightly urgent dump. :-)

0702 had breakfast  was piss first in here but daughter with her two parents are on now. Only hot chocolate in here so just had my own water, 1.85 for a hash brown and scrambled eggs, not huge but not bad. They are probably English BTW.

Looking at map re where la union terminal etc is I feel a bit "oh, I could have gone to el tamarindo or all sorts of cool random little places"  but apart from the possible reality that I am mildly constrained to places with online booking site presence (unless I can eg day trip in and wing it if there is accom or not), you can't go everywhere and do everything, I don't feel I have really massively wasted time.

Maybe these last few days ae not going to be absolutely crammed full but I repeat myself. Coming up here was a definite late trip effort and a highlight and I don't want to and it is probably ly inadvisable to really be pushing things over much in terms of travelling around when I have a date at the airport and I also like a pseudo slow travel style, where one or two nights in some random place is going to be like I half araes a visit there rather than maybe saving it fresh for a future trip.

I need to be careful not to milk being up here too much, given I so have to hike down and get a bus and then move on. Otoh I am probably not too disgusting and once I am in la union it should be 4hiah plus Uber within san Salvador to get to the hostel and if we assume I can check in at 2 arbitrarily, I don't need to be in la union before 10. Otoh that is hardly late, given it is likely at least an hours walk down and then maybe an hour waiting for the bus and kn the bus, and I am massively guessing at an hours walk down, it could well be 1.5 to 2h to the place I got the bus. And that is the least frequent bus too.

0804 wet wiped myself around armpits and torso and a bit on legs. Wearing same clothes, I brought a change but no point wasting rare clean clothes when I am likely to get some sweat up going down and in la union. Unlikely to ask to shower when I pclick back up but we will see.

Annoying Dutch girl telling her friends about a 1.5h podcast she listened to last night to learn about el Salvador. Abortion is not legal and 2% of population is in jail! I exaggerate a bit, their chat was not insane, but still, does feel a bit stereotyped no fucking clue liberal European youth attitudes/concerns. They discovered the warmer spot just below my tent, too late as they said. :-)

I have packed. Going to throw some rubbish away. Probably close to leaving but may wander round a little once I throw stuff away. Have one and a tiny bit litres left. Buy obviously a fair bit in my body. Piss has been generally a bit yellow, hardly a huge concern.

P7 at 67% and maybe power bank at 50%, should be fine, A06 been off all night and not turned it on and I suspec it is at 70-80%ish.

You can charge phones at the kiosk btw but I haven't really wanted or needed to.

Ahahahah, ADG is going to El Tunco today or tomorrow. As are her friends, on different shuttles.

0811 semi nice lying in tent but also need to be careful not to milk things. Let's go throw the rubbish away and have a little wander. I reapplied sunblock.

0826 mostly packed and has a wander round snapping photos. Think I will get a coffee and drink it and then go. This is already slightly milking it, it is getting a smudge late, but not insane.

0834 got a coffee 0.75 and on lower seated bit. Toying with asking about a spare seat and price for truck down at 9. Will finish coffee and leave it in lap of gods what happens when I ask. Both outcomes are probably a win.

0845 okay, so I took my sleeping bag back and I asked at the kiosk and it's five dollars for the bus so I handed over five dollars, mixed thoughts it would have been sort of nice to walk down on my own but the bus is an experience in itself I guess and it'll see me in Lonyan, I don't know, relatively earlier and I can then go and pick my stuff up and sort out a bus on to San Salvador starting a little bit earlier so yeah I think that's okay it also means I get an extra 10 minutes here because otherwise I would probably have left after a last look and whereas this way there's a fairly clear cap.

Perhaps I only really noticed this morning, but you can also see sort of how the bay finishes and turns into like land on three sides, round by land, yarn after it turns the corner, obviously the main viewpoint here is looking over the more open bit of the bay, but, or the gulf, whatever you've got to call it, but you can see round the corner as it were from the far end of the viewing platform, and I've been up there a lot, so I just didn't really twig that there was the bag bit of the sea, so to speak. Visible.

1037 maybe indulgent and maybe I will miss an excellent direct bus to san Salvador but at La neveria near hostel having a cafe helado chocolate before walking to terminal. Got bag at hotel fine, repacked badly but squashed everything in, they let me have a nuchvneeded piss (didn't ask about shower)

Bus down about an hour, bit bumpy but definitely faster than walking and getting public bus.

Did wonder about pupusas at Mwhatsit but it is hot and I have loads of nuts etc and probably best not to.

1057 just got here, stupidly walked behind the very bus I am now sitting on as it was teveraijg on, but paid a dollar to go to la union. This bus appears air conditioned (it is a slightly ratty but not bad coach type) and that is fine by me.

Once we are in motion I may start to poke at accom via local sim and see if I can extend for a second night, ideally bit not essentially with optionality, since I am now decided to go on to san Salvador.

(Yes  I could get off in san Miguel and not get on another bua. But as I already said as nauseam, I've puttered round san Miguel, it is hot and not unpleasant but not that special, I am not in the mood for hot sweaty excursions as shown on hotel blackboard on last visit, an aircon room would be nice if one were available but san Salvador is relatively cool and if I really want to indulge in aircon I can do it there, and there is more chance of random hostel chat, lang exchange or just going to some random bar on my own in san Salvador than San Miguel I think, not sure ss has a big backpacker scene even for the 20 somethings but don't think sm does either

Aircon baby!

1109 still not left, just saying. Neither booking nor hostelworld has availability at tonights hostel for tonorrow night. In hindsight I should have booked two bights, I would still have had the free cancellation almost certainly. Of course they may already have been sold out for sat when I was booking this wed night. But can't be helped now, I will ask when I get there on offchance and at least I can see what it is like and while having to move hostels within san Salvador tomorrow morning is annoying it isn't a huge deal. I was a bit frazzled and nervy when making the booking for tonight and I nearly didn't book anything at all so can't blame myself too much, but yes, in hindsight given it was free cancellation I should have booked two nights. I should also, while bit necessarily wanting to lock myself in, have paid attention to he fact it was the weekend. Coulda woulda shoulda etc. As I sa, can't be helped, may work out for best, not end of world. I have a bed for tonight and can get a bed somewhere tonorrow, lots of availability in general even if mostly hotels with private rooms on cheap (mixed blessing)

1113 we are on the move.

1120 probably unfair to say this is a slightly ratty coach. Perfectly decent.

1305 fuck knows. Been at san Miguel terminal a while. A yellow ex is school was 301 was waiting for ages and most locals didn't get on. A coach no air con type 301 ordinario turned up after that left  and most people waiting got on  there is apparently a special sometime round now which looks like it has just pulled in now I have paid 3 dollars to be on this one. I will stick with this, I have a seat near an open window. Of course eit the actual special timetable was just shown instead of merely being vaguely word of mouth and no one to task I might have waited. The special might leave at 130 in which case this might be nearly as fast anyway and with the window open I am not over worried about the heat. All a bit sucky but just keep metaphorically cool and just get to san Salvador. The fact all the locals got on this over the yellow school bus feels instructive.

Had slash here, one toilet insisted on exact change to pay the 0.50 and I didn't have it so had to go back over to another near where had got odd the bua. from La union.

Maybe I am focusing too much on AC vs non-AC. Maybe the seats are nicer in this non-ax coach than on the ex schoolbus. I just wish we would pull out.

I am also slightly shafted by only have one night at this accom unless they come through for me when I ask on check in because it makes it harder (not impossible) to hand in laundry tonight. I am not quite desperate to be fair, I think, but not sure. All the same, whenever I get it done, I am going to be feeling just pushed enough for time i may have to swallow a shitty price. Anyway, worry about all that later. I do have at least one complete change of clothes including trousers.

1329 still not left. Neither has the special mind you. It is all fine, I would just like to get there. Going to Uber from the terminal. Am q bit pissed off at shafting myself with tomorrow night and likely having to change hostel in the morning which disrupts the day even if I am just hanging out perhaps but can't be helped and I just may get lucky.

1330 special is pulling out. We may go now for all I know.

There is a luggage rack on this bus and I put my bag in it so even if I have to share a double seat I shouldn't be too squashed for the longsh trip. As far as I could see the school bus had no luggage rack (some have nice big racks hut couldn't wee one form my vantage point on the one that left before this one).

Also of course wrt the Saturday night missed booking as I already noted I was a bit frazzled and edgy and things were feeling a bit uncertain because I wasn't even confident I would be able to get to the volcano or get up or be able to get a tent.

Volcano place as per koads of photos was El Espiritu de las Montaña. Really very well done overall even if lack of option to reserve a tent a bit crappy and although not cheap it also didn't feel massively gougey.

Looks like another speilcial just pulled in. Ffs. Can we just go? It is not intolerable and I probably already stink but if we could just get moving wed have some airflow and I could feel I am getting towards the hostel.

But yeah  booking for one night should have been a red flag. Especially when I had no reason to believe and still don't the hostel might be awful. It was just the uncertain plans not sure if I wanted the booking generally contingency sort of nature of it, but even so. Anyway, I was frazzled etc to some extent as I jeep saying and can't be helped.

1338 we are moving!!!

1956 what a fucking day. That bus was the bus from hell, it didn't get in until something like 1730. Then a 16 min wait for an Uber and about 30 mins drive in Uber to hostel. Nueva manager is in the middle of fucking nowhere.

It got to hostel about 1815 feeling rushed as fuck, movie night was just atating but wanted a shower so didn't try to join it, various people around but not sure it is super social, in theory potential but I have only one night and was rushing to have a shower then went out to rinconcito de sabotage as tecommended by reception woman and it is very small and local and I was fluatered and rushing as fuck and the staff were nice enough but clearly had me down as clueless foreigner, which to be fair I was doing very well. But still only 3 dollars for a hot dog bun, scrambled eggs with ham and some rice and bean ish stiff.

2000 got beer,  movie night upstairs,"Harvey we did it we found all your paintings... Catalogued them... Databases", sitting at lone table asking pernission froma headphone guy here, fine by me.

And I  am going to el tunco! Chat with llms and reflection on bus from hell suggested that san Salvador is not great socially, suchitoto might be nice but Is probably quiet and el tunco might work despite age if I go somewhere not madly party.  because it is the fucking weekend and I am booking last minute the choice was tiny but fuck it, I have booked something for about thirty quid for two nights dorm (but at least aircon) with a probably ly good location and some prospect of hostle activities and failing that maybe bars nearby for hanging out earlyish.

I asked the hostel reception woman before I went out for food (where I also started poking at hostelworld and booking) and she said yes there is a bus 102 from occidente down there, which seems to back up what llms told me but sure as hell not trusting them.

I had a whine on when I got into dorm (upper bunk but woman did look round for a lower and they had said they were full), mainly occasioned by all the feeling of rushing around like fucking crazy, but the shower actually had genuinely hot water which did please me, albeit it took a while to kick in and out had had a shower pretty much completely by then.

Right now I feel a little stressy bit not too bad. At this point the die is cast, so to speak - I booked my bed for the next two nights and now I just have to sleep in it.

Just to be clear, I didn't even not choose the special bus to save money. I was just far from clear there was going to be one, it turned up after I boarded the other bus, and I thought the difference would be half an hour or so. Maybe it was and I just got worked up as fuck during the ride. At one point it was super tammed, people in aisle, fucker in front reclined his seat on me.

2027 I feel a bit BNM but not nuchvand not really justifiably. I feel a bit discombobulated, I had planned on today being arriiving calmly and earlyish and extending and chilling, instead today has been a mad rush and planning tonorrow and booking stuff and feeling stressy. I am a bit tired. I would like to see the upstairs terrace garden but don't really want to go up whole film is on.

I don't want to over hand around tomorrow but to be fair I can probably ly see it ilq bit in the morning

2049 phone screen is being a real fucking arse.

Seeing a poster, I half wonder if the film tonight was Problemista.

2053 got another beer and come up onto upper terrace. Two groups of two chatting, feel a bit BNM but not really rationally. At least I have seen it

2240 ok on genuine pretext of warning him about non special buses flon san Miguel route, scraped chat with nice English guy Luke and later a Danish guy Hayam (sp).  Bed.

2251 dorm lights on and no one else in bed. A few people chatting downstairs but don't really feel like risking or forcing it. Bed would be good.

0711 in bed. Not slept brilliantly. Oddly dry mouthed, surely two beers can't so that, do suspect I was rather dehydrated tobatart with. Did keep waking up a bit in night. Probably ly not slept too badly. Did have some "where am I and what an I doing today" fuzzy moments but realised I am not doing anything too scary. Absolute worst is I spend a day or two in El Tunco and it is a bit dull and lonely.

I may try to go back to sleep. To some limited extent getting to El Tunco early is good, as there is nothing for me here (unless I do a morning run to the Diablo rocks, just in case I decide to go to airport from El Tunco, but I almost certainly won't and it would suck rushing over and if it does come to that better to see them on a future trip) but there may be free coffee and the terminal isn't far and I may Uber if I don't want and there is some very limited social and solo relaxation possibility of just sitting around here an hour or two. Checkout is at 11 but probably want to go before then, then I can wander round et a bit and have some sightseeing today. I am open to extending the for Monday night if things go well, and I hope that would be possible given it isn't the weekend.

Not looking forward to huge laypver in Bogota but at worst it is sucky and a practical step towards getting home, not absolutely hellish.

Vague geopolitical takes on Twitter mildly shit me up but ultimately I don't trust anyone's opinion and it is what it is etc etc. Just have to deal with stuff if and when it happens. Fingers crossed I will want and be able to take another trip next year etc.

I am going to send this now. Btw all the uncorrected typos look  shit but when I am on screen keyboard typing fixing them means stopping, tapping back, trying to precisely position the cursor, the screen is playing up and it is even worse than normal. I know it looks illiterate and this whole blog probably have aemi unreadable sections (albeit more the voice typed ones risk this) but the attitude continues to be the bashing stuff out and trying to fix these kind of things can be done later when I read.