Thu 22nd 1247 Got up about 10. Been puttering round flat. Still dithering slightly about hip belt but TBH not going to take it. Last minute decision to do so would be a bit of a red flag. As far as I can see ES/N have volcano hikes etc and maybe some trekking but unlikely to be anything massively intense and multi day and given I've been fine without the hip belt before I should be fine without one this time, unless increasing age has somehow played a role. But it's not as I am expecting to be lugging huge weights anyway.
Cooking a very early "dinner". Feeling a bit jittery, even though I know I have literally hours before I need to even think about leaving for the airport.
Have turned the "80% battery protection" off on boty phones (A06 and P7 for the record, as doubtless already said) for the flight and topping them up now. Right now TfL and Heathrow sites show public transport and my flight are fine.
1350 FWIW checking journey time to Heathrow on TfL site and it says just over an hour door to door if I use the Elizabeth line, which I am not of course. To be fair, they do at least let you explicitly disable it in the preferences. Although it's now trying to send me on the HeathroW express, which is about 7m slower and probably just as expensive and way more hassle. Let's turn that off. Can only turn off "National Rail" AFAICS but that's not too bad. Now it wants me to take a bus which I could walk in about the same time - 1h 26m door to door. OK, 1h 27m now and this is actually the route I'd likely have taken left to my own devices, but the main thing is that I have an official time estimate. Hmm, the top entry is 1h27m changing at Hammersmith but lower down not expanded by default there is excactly the same route but changing at South Kensington and that is 1h24m, so why isn't that top?! Anyway.
So if we say I aim to be at the airport three hours before the flight at 2140, I want to be there 1840 and therefore barring problems which cause me to leave earlier, I want to be leaving the house at about 1710.
I am starting to feel a bit pre-homesick, I will miss the comforts of home etc but of course it is not forever and part of the point of travelling is that I can appreciate having things like my own fridge when I get back after having lived without them.
FWIW just checked and the Fuller's "London's Pride" pub at T2 apparently closes at 2100. This isn't really an issue of course but FWIW. Food stops being served at 2030, so presumably you are allowed in for just a drink despite appearances, and to a very limited extent this may be helpful for me. It's £5.50 for a pint of London Pride or £5.75 for a pint of ESB, which isn't great but isn't terrible.
It is going to be weird not taking the O6 with me, but I do only want to travel with two phones and the P7 has a better camera and the A06 is there to handle things where I need stock Android reliability like Uber or local equivalents, and also as "something cheaper than the P7" to have on me at night or if things feel in any way dodgy (which includes risk of water damage or other breakage, not just theft).
Thu 22nd 1737 On District line. Left home 1720 about 10 mins later than planned, despite having so much spare time today I still somehow managed to put off the final shut everything down and check everything phase just a bit too long. Not a huge deal of courae.
Feeling broadly OK, bit jittery but I have my passport, several carss, my boarding paaa and my bag so I can't have forgotten too much, fingers crossed.
1802 On Piccadilly. Train goes to t4 first so I suspect I will be advised to get off one or two stops early and wait for the followong train, as is semi-traditional. I checked my boarding pass to confirm I am flying from Heathrow.
Not feeling too bad. Typing on phone sucks of course. Just the usual "did I forget something in terms of leaving flat OK or packing?" (despite having checklists for both and most stuff not being that critical) combined with vague pre-homesickness, but really it should be fun and perhaps even random encounters might have positive life changing impacts etc, and at the end of the day it is 9 weeks not indefinite or forever etc etc.
fwiw if we say the expensive options take 1h each way, the absolute last point at which I could dash back home and just maybe make the flight would be 2h before departure, so 1940. in reality it's probably more like 1900 and that would still be massively pushing it. It would pretty much have to be a forgotten passport to justify taking the risk, given I could (albeit yes it might be hard to get good travel type clothes etc) probably buy literally everything I have with me over there for less than the cost of a replacement ticket if I did miss the flight. So this is probably not really worth thinking about.
1817 I do wonder if I swapped put my spare pair of glasses for the latest single vision pair or if it is still the older pair I was carrying before I got the varifocals and all my pairs of glasses got "bumped down one". But it may be I changed them at some point during the partial packing stretched over the last week or so, and if I didn't it isn't the end of the world - they aren't as good as the latest pair (in terms of physical condition as much as correctness of prescription) but they are fine and I probably (fingers crossed) won't need them.
If this is the worst packing gaffe I will be happy. :-)
Did find myself wondering if I "should" have more luggage while changing tubes but apart from the fact I have been travelling light for ages, the idea that having a big bulging suitcase which makes it harder to move around and makes me even more obviously a tourist would make me *safer* is ridiculous. Having some extra stuff might just add comfort, but there'd be corresponding downsides and I have established a decent-ish tradeoff over the years.
1823 all thrown off at Northfields, train now terminates here. there had been an inaudible announcement. next train is 1 min so shouldn't be a big deal and even if i cant get on i don't think there is any cause for real concern at this point. auto correct utterly failing to make even the most noddy corrections of course.
1858 Just got into T2. always forget what it is like and it reminda me of coming back in 2020. flight looks OK.
1949 JFC. £7.35 for a pint of ESB at London's Pride, which the website menu clearly showd as £5.xx when I looked back at home. Oh well.
Quite impressed with new rules letting you take water through security and not take liquids bag out, but I did get pulles up and nice enough security woman took my 2 sunblock bottles, saltidin spray and something else off to scan and we ended up taking more sutff out of bag than Id have liked as she thought liquids were in cap and I didn't really (i could have) say "strongly enough " that I thought they were in main bit. no real harm sone but did add some harmless delay.
1954 ah, there is a drinks menu (sitting at bar as requested by woman when i came in and queued for a table) and everything is expensive, eg Amstel is £7.25. So at least glad I did order the strong esb. took photo of menu fwiw.
before came into pub saw departure boards saying gate announced 2030 so feel reasonably safe to be here.
toothpaste might have been the other thing taken off for a scan at security, not sure.
2012 just looked at screen in here and we might have a gate. not rushing though.
2033 just finished pint. overgearing various staff aaying last orders aa they arw closing at 9. leta go find the gate. have moatly been trying to sit and think bit modest fiddling with phone, eg writing this. not runk, juat not fizing the utterly ahit autocorrwct. and may leave it like this to show wuat it is like.
bell just rung! last orders.
2037 bparding at gate b48!
2047 at gate, boarding froups abc and i am in g. had piss.
2056 just called mum, all ok, boarding group e.
2100 Had some water direct from drinking fountain by gate. Wandering round, seems silly to sit when I will be on plane for houra.
half wondering if i ahoils leave the airport im bogota on return teip. i disnt bring ny tranamilenio card or any colombian caah. tbf this may be ailly and i could get a tm carsld on the day if i wanted or juat walk into that area i atayed near airport before ans ita maybe not ideal if i had brough aignidicant colombian cash and was riaking loaing it juat for thia uncertain few houra. i sont know if i would be allowed to leave airport and may prefer not to risk it anyway, esp as a) i may havw sealed duty free b) i may not want to pay inaane price to leave bag at airpoty or risk taking it round wkth me during this hypothetical jolly.
2103 at back of big groip g queue. maybe a bit slack paying attention to screen (didnt hear annpuncemwnt and prob waant one) but not likely a big deal esp with allocated seating.
2120 just got seated, aisle aeat as expected, two rows behind me fwiw not just one. i dint think my passport has had any inspection other than a visual photo check by a human when passing along the boarding queue, but i guess that is not my problem. no machine seems to have been used to scan it. misdle aeat ia oxxupied but not a problem of courae, fairly slim woman. as you can aee the autocorrect is juat amazingly goos.
ok, i turned off trandofmer lm but jo it doeant work ang bwttwr. if anything it is worse.
ok,if i am not editing in a text editor and uae email profram the correction works, because reaons.
Ok, let's try editing with markor, that may give me the autocorrect. Not going to fix the above up. Want to show how drustrating this can be. But apparent "drustrating" is a real word and didn't need to be autocorrected, except if I deliberately mistype it for that quoted bit in which case it is fixed up. Yay. Much much better than those hardware keyboard, why would anyone want that?
No airport wifi here BTW, not a problem but good job I hasn't assume there would be any.
2208 in flight. No idea at all if I am allowed to use my Bluetooth transmitter to watch in flight entertainment. To be fair having skimmed the list of films nothing massively appeals anyway. Did just got for a piss the instant seatbelt sign went off just in case. No idea if there will be good. Does look like the pair of two seats would be fine to recline. The seats behind me look sort of aemi isolated and may in practice be crew. Can not hear announcements even when I take my headphones out, bearing in mind I am not hooked into the plane audio system.
We have not been offered any headphones fwiw. I cannot actually aee anyone watching a film with a transmitter or wired headphones connected t the 3.5mm jack. Afaics the system has no built in bluetooth transmitter.
Earbud noise cancelling is doing some good but it isn't amazing. Hard to say whether better or worse than old wired ones.
787 BTW.
2219 ok, just been given headphones in a little packet. Wobt open then just yet but good to have option. Did ask if I could use my transmitter (partly as couldn't remember word with confidence but mainly so as not to cause delay), could ask later if I wanted I guess.
2228 OK, I need to give these earbuds a good push in (which feels a bit counterintuitive given the touch sensitive panels) to really get a good seal. The noise ancellation is decidedly better now.
2258 half watching minibods (by Moonbug?) on someone else's screen as listening to hmhb all Asimov and no fresh air. (Had heard first 2-3 tracks before trip but not while album.)
2321 been given food. Main dish reeks and I think it is pasta in cheese, it has p wrtten on lid, I suspect for once any choice got used up before it got to us right at the back, though since I couldn't hear any announcements with no connection to plane audio I have no idea if they announced what the choices (if any) might have been. Still, I ate heartily today and I can eat the ancillaries.
Although the salad has some foul sort of dressing on it too, fwiw.
2335 had quite attractive bit of vaguely scallop shaped bread with butter (too cold to spread, but perhaps actual butter?) And a quite nice dense cke thing, and a glass of red wine and got a small glass of water too. Not too bad, meal is a shame but I wasn't even sure if there would be one and not getting over worked up about it.
I would probably normally have gone for white wine (afaics they didn't have beer and I didn't ask) but I kind of fancied the red and my gamble on no turbulence or other spills paid off.
Was feeling a little sleepy an hour or so ago but no idea if that will return. I suppose I could put minibods on my own screen with no audio, not too bothered but I could. Might be more in my face that way than just watching it at a distance. Also watching the odd scene from Shawshank redemption in screen of chap in front of me.
0051 watching snoopy showith Spanish subtitles and no audio. Just got up to let woman out to toilet and the seats behind me are curtained off, presumably so crew can sleep?!
0809 Didn't get to sleep that fast, read a bit of Moonstone, did drift off eventually. Kept waking up, quite dry mouth and had bit of water from my 600nl bottle from home. We had breakfast a bit ago, not bad omlette and fruit salad and another scallop bread with butter.
0820 went for piss before any rush (not desperate). As I say, did sleep and I was semi-pleasantly dantasising about a real bed tonight but also a tiny bit "argh that is so long will I stay awake". It was sort of nice to be sleeping even on plane and there was a bit of that cocoon/womb sort of feeling. We are probably due to land in about half an hour (not heard any announcements) and not super keen but OTOH I don't have to do much except probably clear security again and although it feels vaguely cosier here on the plane it is of course technically more comfortable being in the terminal.
P7 battery at 60%, started at 100% and has battery saver on all the time but this feels OKish given it has had some use. Haven't faffed with powerbank as no need and can probably charge from maina or powerbank while killing time at terminal anyway.
Was a bit cold overnight (-80F outside??) but borderline cosy with dkeece zipped up and as usual didn't use blankets or pillows.
0929 UK/0429 Bogota Airside at Bogota via international connections route. No trouble at security, though I asked a woman wearing uniform by queue if I could take a bottle of water through and she said no (though TBH I half wonder if it would have been OK) so I went back and drank it before passing through. (I may risk a chlorine dioxide tablet on toilet water here but I am fairly sure there are no fountains). Security really very low fuss tho had put all my stuff in bag, didn't take liquids out and wasn't asked, so just bag and then a tray with fleece and my two phones, had stuffed belt in bag and everything else in fleece pockets. I was last one through because of this but no problem and it wasn't busy anyway given the time and that this is transit security not main entrance from landaide, though now I am through it is all the same area.
Feel broadly OK. We touched down 0845 but a lot of taxiing etc. I did sit briefly in one of those pair of two seats as the plane was emptying and tried recline and superficially seems just like my seat on this flight.
Did have some very mild "omfg it is going to be so hit and I won't be able to sleep and I'll be hot all day and maybe I shouldn't have brought the blue craft top" type thoughts but I did rexognise this as just my brain being an arse and it was a briefish moment and I didn't flip out.
10950 COP or thereabouts (I was furtive) at 24/7 Grab & Go for 600ml water.
4870 COP to the pound. To be fair that is not absolutely insane pricing by airport standards for water, but I am not super keen. Plenty of time to think about it of course.
1008 Woohoo, there is a water refill station by gate B5/C9. I just cleaned my teeth in adjacent toilet with tap water but spat it out, there were no "not drinking water" signs and a quick web search before had suggested (as I half remembered) that tap water in Bogota is drinkable but older buildings may be iffy (lead). I also filled my bottle at tap in toilet but tipped it out at the fountain, partly filled and swirled it round and drank that (could have tipped it away but didn't) and then refilled. I think this is fine, I am guessing that a microacopic quantity of lead (if any, this feels pretty modern of course) is fine, and that I'd there are parasites my body can overcome a very small dose.
My outbound flight is on time and goes from gate B1.
Free wifi works although only 30 mins at a time, but still not bad. Electric charging points too and will probably use one in a bit. Headphones lasted the flight, possibly aided by micro top ups when I put them back in the case for toilet visits (didn't want them falling down it!)
1107 Called mum, wandered round a bit, had piss and topped up water. Used a charging point but you couldn't sit right at it and I wasn't desperate enough (even to leave the power bank charging) but have wandered down by the A gates and found the airside Juan Valdez I remembered and may have a coffee there in an hour or two, but there are also some charging points with seats further down so tipping up Putin (topping up P7) as I write this. I could have used power bank anywhere of course.
It is vaguely cool to be here and I half wondered if I ought to have broken my journey here and had a few days in Bogota but that wasn't really an option anyway as I evidently got a subsidised flight to Bogota because I was connecting to San Salvador, and also while it would be vaguely cool I don't have so much time on this trip that spending a few days here would be a great use of time.
Having some fruit and nuts, not desperately hungry but won't hurt and it passes the time and this way if I do have to give the lot up at SS airport (which I hope I won't) it will slightly take the sting off. I do hope to eat in a cheap restaurant in SS but it will be good if I'm not desperate.
1132 right index (? The one nearest the thumb) finger seems to have a sort of sore knuckle, it's the skin not the joint, not a big deal but no idea how it happened. Right middle finger is similar but not really hurting, just skin a bit rough.
1144 feeling a bit warm in fleece. Suddenly and irrationally thinking "omfg I am going to miss winter and it will be boiling hot when I get back to UK". That Pog song all over again. Like I wasn't worrying about summer ending, and like it is going to be stiflingly hot in UK in late March. And it may be a touch warm here but I will acclimatise and or can splurge on air on sometimes and or can spend time in the mountains.
P7 at 63%, reading Agatha Christie on A06 sitting here at maina charging point. Have mildly over snacked on nuts/raisins but not a big deal, especially as they likely won't aty good more than about a week anyway.
Going to put both phones back at 80% charge limit.
1250 Having large tinto at Juan Valdez (8900). Mucked up the pay+queue system but did cope with language. Realised after ordering on seeing the ice swirly gadget things I could have had a granizado but maybe not quite what is wanted right now. Maybe on the return leg though.
Got P7 up to 78%ish and also found another water bottle fill atation by toilet over this end, oppositeish the something chicken & beer booth.
1304 seeing that you can have whiskey or baileys added to your drink here reminds me of a small coffee place over gate B way which I couldn't photo which had a "Baileysciosa!" Sign on a screen, I am not sure I am spelling that right, but presumably playing on it sounding a bit like "delicious" which oddly tickled me.
Notwithstanding the issues noted earlier, I am vaguely tempted by the prospect of a jaunt into La Candelaria and a granizado at the Juan Valdez there during the layover on the way back. Just a thought.
1317 Flight now showing at gate A7c? Just walked right past that, not that it really matters.
1330 At gate which is downstairs in a sort of cool little area all to itself. Had coffee induced dump, no bad thing. Some passengers called to gate by name but not me unless I missed it.
Gate sign says 24C at 9, 27C at 12, 30C at 1500 in San Salvador. Hot but not by any means unprecedented, take it slow, don't rush round, etc.
1346 on bus waiting to go from gate. Passport was scanned by some kind of swipe terminal at gate but it seemed to work fine. fwiw.
Feeling sort of excited but also touch of vague homesickness. Thought (not sure I did) I heard a flight to London announced as I was heading over to gate
Kept forgetting to put toilet paper in bin instead of down toilet at airport. Maybe the plumbing just looks too modern or I am out of practice.
1259 on plane, sign about wheeled bags only in compartments but I sneaked mine in anyway and no one seems to be making a fuss. I have moaned about this before and I don't see why when I pay a fare with cabin baggage I should lose my foot space just because my bag has no wheels, it is not reasonable. I don't think k the flight is massively full. A319 BTW 3+3 seating (as I already knew from the seat booking stuff while back home).
Looks like middle seat in my group of 3 might be free. There are generally quite a lot of free seats.
I snapped several photos (perhaps a bit touristy but sod it, whi am I trying to impress?) From bus and also inside terminal (kills time and it is memories, not interrupting actual "enjoying it as it happens" stuff), including some of this plane as the bus had just pulled up.
I did manage to be mildly meditative and appreciate being here etc while having coffee at JV. of course there is always that slight "am I supposed to be at the gate? Have I somehow missed the plane?" Niggle at back of mind in airports.
Wearing fleece, I can always put it in day pack but I figured it might be better to keep it on for the flight and it wasnt terribly uncomfortable in terminal even if necessary, and maybe getting used to feeling a little warmer isn't a bad thing. Will likely take it off at ss airport if I get chance.
1411 IFE is via wifi on your phone but I don't see any reason to bother,I may watch a video of my own. But warm on flight with fleece fwiw, not a big deal.
I set my watch to Bogotá time after security and just set it to what I think is el Salvador time. Left phones alone, they are in airplane mode so have just stuck with London time and it didn't seem worth overriding them in transit.
Feel slightly sleepy, perhaps that "on transport" thing rather than outright tiredness. Am sure coffee will have perked me up a bit but I didn't feel I was gasping for it to keep me going. Yes this is a longish flight and I didn't sleep amazingly well (very dry mouth at times as I probably said for example) but I did sleep a big and although there is a timezone difference I don't think I am massively troubled by jet lag and I have no pressure to do much when I get there, so it should be fine. TBF this journey is probably similar to going to Guatemala in 2018, albeit with a longer connection. I do remember feeling tired towards end of my staying awake goal there but not awful.
Safety card has "no transmitter" logo on it in the what you can do when bit (its pictorial) but an announcement just told us to use our own headphones and since it is entirely phone based they must know that 99% of phones have no headphone socket these days so it must be Bluetooth so presumably that is ok, and my tx gadget would have been too, not that I was desperate to use it.
1420 we are taxiing backwards now, so probably be off shortly.
1456 just taken off. Because I have a window seat I thought id film it and have loads of provably quite boring and bulky videos. Not a huge deal. We are probably going to be a bit late - was an announcement in Spanish I 90% understood - but not end of world.
1507 mostly using P7 to photo whixh is free from this sort of shit, but fuck me is it annoying having the bloody A06 make the legally mandated (I think) camera shutter sound when I'm just snapping eg a photo of my other phone.
1540 got a black coffee and 37g chokis clasica biscuits. I had a choice if sweet or salty but figured salty might end up being sour cream and chive pretzels or something.
1602 half nodding off (train style). Just been called on for applause for some people's birthdays - I did join in. There was an extremely abortive attempt at a clap on landing when we touched down in Bogota by the way, but hardly anyone joined in and it died more or less on its arse
1607 half wonder if I should let myself go to sleep if I want to.
1611 GPS seems to be working on P7 and shows altitude 12318m!
1622 just had a slash, wasn't absolutely desperate but with the coffees and the extra delay before takeoff it was mildly necessary. Overt sleepiness has gone but may come back or maybe the xcoffee on flight has kicked in.
Tiny bit edgy about arrival.
1627 OM shows we are over Costa Rica, about 100km north of San Ramon. I really thought consumer GPS did not work on planes, even if you are in a window seat.
1636 I think I can see some of the islands in the south end of lake nicaragua.
1923 I am at the hotel, really things have gone pretty smoothly but I am massively discombobulated and struggling to put my things in order before heading out (not that there is any real rush).
1904 EL Salvador time (6h behind UK) okay so I'm back in the hotel room I've probably got about an hour before I intend to go to bed it's not been too bad a day overall things not been perfect but all things considered probably okay I'm just gonna have a shower and then I will try and bash out the rest of this. As you can probably tell I'm using the voice typing now.
1911 right, I had a shower. The water's cold, it doesn't even look like there's a suicide shower, but some of the reviews did mention this. It's fine, the water's probably 20 Celsius and I've been practicing a bit at home anyway.
The rooms quite nice for what it is it's just a shame there appears to be not a single hook to hang any clothing on so I'm putting it all on a couple of tables and stuff which is a bit annoying but not the end of the world.
So I had a few nuts out of my bag pocket whatever when I was feeling discombobulated earlier maybe that helped I was dithering around for about an hour and I had to ring parents several times but I did get out probably about an hour after I checked in and I probably checked in roughly at the one o'clock check-in time the way it worked out.
So going back when I got to the airport I got off the plane and I walked up the terminal and Whiter Shade of Pale instrumental version was playing which was kind of cool. I connected to the airport Wi-Fi and I had a load of Whatsapp messages about the pickup Long story short I sent a quick response to one of those just to be polite and then I went through Immigration which was an absolute formality I well, it's not quite that but I went up there. No forms to fill in the guy spoke to me He took a photo of me without my glasses on He gave me a passport stamp I think I only got 90 days, but I didn't ask for more and he didn't ask how long I was staying. Obviously this is fine anyway, even ignoring he fact I am likely to cross a border and come back and get another stamp. He asked where I was staying tonight, and I showed him the printout otherwise. He was really fine. It was really chill.
There was a kind of customs check but there was no real information there was a woman at a desk and she said have you got anything to declare and I said well I've got some nuts and she said no no like have you got more than so many thousand dollars and I said no and she just waved me through and there were some machines for scanning bags and I walked up and I said do I need to do this and the guys just waved me past them so it was all really relaxed the taxi touts outside were not particularly fierce possibly the guy who was supposed to be picking me up was actually there but I didn't see him and I wandered over to a nearby cash machine which was out of order. The voice typing is randomly throwing in transcriptions of bits of previous speeches. I'll try and catch it but you know good to see it's really being worked on. Anyway, so I wandered round to the arrivals area and Sorry the departures area and I asked someone about a cash machine and he didn't understand me at first and then he did and it was like they were probably in the passengers only area so I decided I'd go back to the departures area because I did have some cash enough to get by and I was exchanging WhatsApp messages. The trouble was there were three different accounts that were speaking to me About the pickup and I got a tiny bit worried about it But it was fine and I went back to the arrivals area and I met the driver who said he'd probably been waiting outside I don't know whether he'd actually seen me but quite possibly I had accidentally walked past him. He was really friendly I was speaking to everyone including the immigration guy in Spanish, by the way, I'm sure people could have spoken English, but no one seemed to want to do that, force it on me so to speak Which was nice.
I asked the driver about cash machines and he said we could stop off at one on the way over and I thought yeah that's probably for the best and I kind of decided I'd probably end up tipping him five dollars on top of the thirty instead of one or two as I'd been planning on doing but although it's what you're paying for the flight was a bit delayed and there'd been these slight mix-ups and he seemed quite nice guy and he was quite chatty and friendly and helpful on the drive over so yeah I did that in the end.
So we stopped off at sort of mini supermarket place and there was a cash machine there it looked like it was one of the banks that I'd picked out as possibly being good. my chase card just didn't work at all it wouldn't even let me type a pin it just said no applications available but the Barclaycard worked so that was all right I need to check but maybe there wasn't a fee anyway so that was good.
So I was chatting with the driver in Spanish on the drive over it's about 30 minutes 40 minutes ish and you know he told me about pupusas and I asked him about the sauce and unprompted he said oh yeah it used to be really violent and gracias adios it's much better now I don't know whether that's because he really is just that pleased about it or he feels that it's something he ought to say to tourists or that you know people ask him about he told me about some volcanoes near here which I already sort of knew about but I didn't know exactly what he was telling me so like you can go to Cerro Verde I think it is and then from there you can walk up Volcan Sant'Ana I don't know how close this is I need to look into it I'm feeling just a tiny bit pressured in general about what to do and whether I need to extend here or whether I need to be moving on and stuff like that but I'm trying not to worry about it too much right now I need to think tomorrow or I also need to not let this sort of self-generated pressure ruin the trip.
So yeah we got to the hotel and I gave him the money and it was fine and I came in and I checked in and that was all fine paid on the credit card I asked them for a towel because I knew you could have one and they probably wouldn't give him if I didn't and the guy showed me to my room and I asked him what the Wi-Fi password was it turns out it was on the back of the door but he went away and brought me a bit of paper on which was nice so then I got to the discombobulated phase where I'm thinking well everything's basically fine but I'm just really struggling to get my act together in terms of shuffling money around and stashing cash away and you know getting ready to go out so that that was what I wrote about before I started waffling about the drive over.
So I went out and it did feel reasonably safe I wasn't I felt tiny bit conspicuous but not particularly so and by sheer chance I saw a couple of restaurants and some little news agent type places and some little restaurants that did sims but I by chance I found this half decent looking little restaurant I can't remember the name of it I've got a photo and I'll dig it out and I went in there I thought they had a thing in the menu and I spoke to the woman she didn't really understand me but basically I asked about the salad being undressed because it was a comedor kind of place and anyway she brought me in and showed me the salad. And some local chap asked me if I spoke English and he sort of jumped in and I think it turned out the woman I've been speaking to the owner or whatever was his sister I'm not quite sure he was a guy called Richard and I think he's presumed wife who Stacy was with him I think they might have been visiting from LA with their small child anyway so he I said I was from England he talked to me about the Beatles and saying when he was little in El Salvador he learned love me do I assume he emigrated to LA and is back for a visit he spoke very good English that very sort of that's hard to describe that sort of reminded me a bit of Sergio at Casa Satoshi.
He had to keep like going outside to tell the woman what option 3 was, which was odd because I don't think that was like a linguistic problem in my part she just didn't really seem to know what option 3 on the window in her own restaurant was but it was nice enough it was fine and I got some purple juice with it and it was all fine and I had a tiny chat with Richard and Stacey but nothing major they weren't intrusive it was just really nice and while it was a little bit disconcerting to not be understood I always had this trouble with the salads and it was really nice and I think I did manage to appreciate their friendliness and helpfulness when they left I said can I ask you something I asked how to ask for an undressed salad and like there's a bit of back chat between them and Richard said like look nowhere puts dressing unless it's really fancy place somewhere like this they just don't put it on and I do think this isn't what he said this is part of my problem because a lot of the time it's such a strange quest they just wonder what I'm talking about I've been through this with my Spanish teacher and she says what I'm asking makes perfect sense I just don't know anyway for what it's worth. And yeah like I think I have noticed in similar places in Guatemala and Colombia yeah the salad often is undressed and it's presumably the same here but it's not always maybe I should just not hammer it home so much or maybe I was gabbling a bit out of nerves when I was asking but I do always seem to have disproportionate trouble with asking about that anyway. So that was $3, it was $3.50 in the window but I'm not sure I got everything so I'm not complaining. I've seen some other places since, I don't think that was absolutely astounding value but it was okay. I did notice when I was waiting to pay they had what I'm fairly sure were chickens feet as one of the things in the sort of, you know, those Banmarie type things they have behind the counter. I didn't really want one, I'm glad I didn't get one but I'd not seen them before, I didn't realize quite how big they were and they looked a bit disgusting but not as bad as I might have expected them to look because I'm not sure I've ever seen one except on a live chicken before. The place from the photo is Calzado Berta... - the last part of the name is hidden behind the tree in the photo but it's a yellow building and I'm sure I could find it again if I wanted to. Oh Stacey said that she was going back to LA tomorrow when I first started talking to her so I assume they're all going back tomorrow so I probably wouldn't see them again even if I went back.
So after that I felt I was doing fairly well and I went for a wander and I saw a small kiosk selling several different kinds of Chip, sorry sim, and I went and had a look at the prices and I spoke to the woman and She basically she said oh, yeah, this one that says $10 on thing is $13 But it's 10 gigs and it's got 30 days validity So I gave them and I said, oh you can help me set it all up and she asked for a copy of my id and she was doing it and I'd taken the A06 out and she put it in it just would not work and I was a bit confused but Anyway in the end she charged that was a digi-cell in the end She charged me $2 for a Claro chip, which comes up as a phone number, but utterly does not work at all So I was a bit worried about losing my UK sim and my SD card Which had stupidly left in when I went out and I went back to the hotel and I had a quick play with it And I was feeling a bit like I'd been ripped off, but not quite It didn't quite feel like a ripoff, but it also sort of did it was only out $2, but it was annoying. Partly it was annoying just because I thought oh wow I'm gonna get the sim business sorted out now and that's really great and then I'm sort of ahead of the game and it was a bit of a blow not to be
So I came back to the hotel and I had a quick fiddle and then I left my SD card from the phone that is and the UK sim back at the host hotel and I went out again I'd picked out what I think was an actual like digital business you know like a building not just a kiosk and I was walking over in that direction but on the way there was a woman sort of touting in the street by a more hole in the wall sort of kiosk not an actual kiosk in the street and I spoke to her and I explained in Spanish again perhaps a bit I wasn't angry as such but you know perhaps a bit talking quickly whatever I explained the situation and there was a bloke in the booth as well and he I think tried and they tried some chips at least one chip in my phone and basically he said oh look Tigo works but the others don't we back and forth a bit but basically Tigo seemed more expensive but I paid $8 for a 15 day validity 5 gigabytes in which is plenty of data the validity is not great I could have had 30 days but it would have been $13 or something and I'm kind of feeling after all the other stuff not working I didn't want to over commit and I suppose there is a chance that I'll leave for Nicaragua before that's all poor or that I'll you know just want five days on top to top up before I go to Nicaragua so I do at least have it it comes with loads of like free local calls and unlimited WhatsApp and YouTube but that's all pretty much worthless to me the way I plan to use this same and everything look for what it's worth
At least it's sorted. After I'd been away for about five minutes I doubled back because I realised they'd still got my useless $2 Claro sim. I peered over the counter and saw it had fallen on the floor and the guy pulled it out with a brush which I think they were slightly annoyed with me but I figured I might play with it a little bit more though I probably won't or as I said to them just maybe I'd give it to someone. I didn't get asked for ID when I got the T-Go sim so I don't know what's going on slightly worried about this other woman having my ID associated with maybe this did you sell chip that she's going to resell to someone else but I mean it's not in my phone nothing's likely to happen there's nothing I can do about it and if it does happen I say well it wasn't my phone that that chip was in and as I say it's not going to happen it's just that's one of those things but this other kiosk where I got the tiGo they did not ask for ID.
So I didn't go over to that digi-cell business that I'd seen on Google Maps in the end I just carried on wandering around and obviously I had the A06 with me so I'm snapping photos in the A06 which aren't the best quality but it's what I had saw the presidential palace and I wandered around the centre generally and there were other people on their phones and quite a few cops and security guards and stuff and maybe I'm being naive but it didn't feel particularly dangerous it did feel fairly safe so I kept wandering and then I had a one of the specials of the day a $2 a house coffee and a quite nice small spongy sort of cake with a very cheesy flavor at Elsys's cakes (?) and I wandered around and I went to Parquet Cuscatlan and I wandered around most of that and it felt quite nice as well and then I came back via some small restaurant-y shop thing where I got a litre bottle of water for a dollar I wanted a litre one because I brought a 600ml out with me and the tablets are for a litre so it's good to have a litre bottle I've not used any tablets yet and then I came back to the hotel.
I popped briefly back into the room and then I asked one of the staff guys if there was a terrace after going up some other stairs and just finding some rooms and he showed me yeah there is and you can go up there and there's like there must be some difference in the street levels because there's like a garage up there where people can obviously park their cars but there was quite a nice sort of covered area sadly it was covered so and it had sofas in I was the only one there I sat there did some photo uploading and tidying and I was drinking the coldish water I got from the restaurant and a few people came past and said hello, but it's a very hotel environment and there was what's presumably a El Salvadoran family and they came and sat out there and they were talking to each other and then they went away but I think it was just brief and there was nothing wrong with it but it didn't feel super matey and I'd been toying with having a beer but I kinda didn't want one and then when they came I thought no I'll come back to the room so that's what I did and that's when I started updating this entry.
So I think that's the actual what's happened and where we stand that I'm not feeling super tired But I'm probably going to go to bed fairly soon Kind of hope to be up relatively early, and I'm kind of thinking I need to avoid too much pressure on myself If I spend the day wandering around maybe go to an odd museum Maybe see if there's a swimming pool even if I don't necessarily go at the weekend Have some purposes have a few coffees wander around maybe see if I can find some kind of meet-up for the evening Maybe read about this volcano, maybe try and think about Ruta de las Flores. I don't need to be Really panicking I've got to try and not ruin things for myself and just relax.
The trips long enough. I've never been in El Salvador before as long as I don't spend the whole day Sitting in my room watching videos on YouTube. I don't really think I can write the day off But treat the day as wasted even if I don't do much formal touristy box ticking You know, I don't particularly want to but if I end up choosing to extend a day or two here now So I can do something like this volcano tour. That's great I don't want to feel I've got to rush into it because it's the weekend and that's a good time to go or anything I really just need to take it easy I don't have so much time that I can absolutely burn it But the whole point is that I'm supposed to be having a leisurely kind of slow travel ish trip.
Socially, you know, it's a bit disappointing. I didn't expect this hotel to be super sociable, and it probably isn't, but then I'm not sure anywhere else would have been. It was nice to have that little chance encounter with Richard and Stacey. You know, I've chatted to people a bit, I suppose. I kind of felt a bit guilty after talking to all these kiosk people because it's like, was I rude or angry? But I think even with the woman who, and I don't think it really was her fault in the end, sold me the $2 one that didn't work. I don't think I was rude. Oh, incidentally, I have a feeling I saw her with some bloke in Parque Cuscatlan. Maybe I'm just recognising the top I think she was wearing and someone else was wearing it, but it might have been her. I don't know. Obviously, it's not implausible. I only realised after they'd walked past s neither of us gave a sign of recognition if it was her.
As I say, I do feel slightly pressured because it's like I need to do the route of the last Flores before it's too late, although we're by no means pushing it for that. It is true that it makes sense to do Nicaragua early apart from that ruta de las flores thing because the uncertainty over the boat, which I also need to research to see if it really is a thing. I mean, given I'm not planning on dashing to try and get up the volcano tomorrow, and I only have two more full days on this booking including tomorrow, and if I am leaving here I'll maybe need to be faffing around trying to find a bus terminal. I may not get to do the volcano here if I don't extend because on Sunday I won't want to be rushing around trying to do the bus ticket and the actual volcano hike, so maybe I'll extend or maybe I'll do one of them later or something like that, or maybe the volcano is not even from town (but there's definitely some volcanoes you can do from here). I just need to be a bit chilled and if I extend I extend and if I don't extend I'll obviously I can come back and I will come back during this trip because it's very central and I haven't planned very much because up until now it's all been a bit not wanting to think too much about the trip or concentrating on packing or flights or preparations. It's fine, it's fine. I just need to make sure that I am not putting myself under the same pressure and spoiling things and rushing around like crazy. As I say, even if I feel a bit guilty afterwards, if I can do a few basic bits of touristing tomorrow, just experience being here, I'm not hanging around in my room. That's great and it will just all have to work out.
Just before we finish on the sim business I think I was and maybe still I'm a bit annoyed and it's not quite clear who with because I thought that that AO6 would work fine in Latin America. The current thinking by the way I've not really researched this properly but despite what the bloke said about it maybe being locked or even though it's not and I told him I bought it from the UK anyway my current thinking based on a tiny bit of web searching is that maybe that phone doesn't do some band that those other networks really like using and that's why T-Go works but it just feels like well the phone should have worked and it's a bit annoying that I was paying money to this woman for the chip that didn't work because of my phone but that's not her fault and then I've got to use T-Go more expensive and I've had to have this 16 day validity and it's all just a bit unsatisfactory but no one's really to blame not me either and I didn't get really nasty with anyone or anything like that maybe a bit voluble and poor Spanish but not in a shouty kind of way just in a maybe nervous or trying to get the point across way so anyway that's what it is.
And obviously I could extend here for another day or two I mean it might be nice to go somewhere matea with a chance of socializing But not sure that's really a thing here in San Salvador based on the accommodation I was looking at and maybe I can find a meet-up or something But I just didn't want to overbook here because maybe I hated it or I hated the area and you know But now I know it's kind of okay. I could add an extra night subject to availability, but probably would be possible So if that would help me with the volcano and then moving on and then I could come back and do some different later on Lots of options. Hopefully tomorrow will be kind of a bit more relaxed now I'm actually here and if I can avoid pressuring myself as I keep saying You know if I'm wandering around I can sit and have coffee and think and maybe poke at the web on my phone a bit And stuff like that and play it by ear You know, I don't want to waste time, but I also don't want to rush like crazy. This is not the greatest write-up There's lots of repetition and verbal tics and errors I haven't corrected but I think it gets the gist of the day down and it gets the gist of my mood down and That's probably all we can really ask for it's 2003 now, so I've been writing this for a while I'm not super tired, but it wouldn't hurt to go to bed And I think I've just about got most of what I wanted to say down.
2008 skimming this before posting I an reminded there is a Juan Valdez in centre here althoug h not sure it has tables outside, but maybe at some point a granizado is on the cards (or of course some other coffee chain or independent cafe/kiosks own version, its just that I specifically remember the Juan Valdez one from the 2024 trip when it was recommended to me).
Cooking a very early "dinner". Feeling a bit jittery, even though I know I have literally hours before I need to even think about leaving for the airport.
Have turned the "80% battery protection" off on boty phones (A06 and P7 for the record, as doubtless already said) for the flight and topping them up now. Right now TfL and Heathrow sites show public transport and my flight are fine.
1350 FWIW checking journey time to Heathrow on TfL site and it says just over an hour door to door if I use the Elizabeth line, which I am not of course. To be fair, they do at least let you explicitly disable it in the preferences. Although it's now trying to send me on the HeathroW express, which is about 7m slower and probably just as expensive and way more hassle. Let's turn that off. Can only turn off "National Rail" AFAICS but that's not too bad. Now it wants me to take a bus which I could walk in about the same time - 1h 26m door to door. OK, 1h 27m now and this is actually the route I'd likely have taken left to my own devices, but the main thing is that I have an official time estimate. Hmm, the top entry is 1h27m changing at Hammersmith but lower down not expanded by default there is excactly the same route but changing at South Kensington and that is 1h24m, so why isn't that top?! Anyway.
So if we say I aim to be at the airport three hours before the flight at 2140, I want to be there 1840 and therefore barring problems which cause me to leave earlier, I want to be leaving the house at about 1710.
I am starting to feel a bit pre-homesick, I will miss the comforts of home etc but of course it is not forever and part of the point of travelling is that I can appreciate having things like my own fridge when I get back after having lived without them.
FWIW just checked and the Fuller's "London's Pride" pub at T2 apparently closes at 2100. This isn't really an issue of course but FWIW. Food stops being served at 2030, so presumably you are allowed in for just a drink despite appearances, and to a very limited extent this may be helpful for me. It's £5.50 for a pint of London Pride or £5.75 for a pint of ESB, which isn't great but isn't terrible.
It is going to be weird not taking the O6 with me, but I do only want to travel with two phones and the P7 has a better camera and the A06 is there to handle things where I need stock Android reliability like Uber or local equivalents, and also as "something cheaper than the P7" to have on me at night or if things feel in any way dodgy (which includes risk of water damage or other breakage, not just theft).
Thu 22nd 1737 On District line. Left home 1720 about 10 mins later than planned, despite having so much spare time today I still somehow managed to put off the final shut everything down and check everything phase just a bit too long. Not a huge deal of courae.
Feeling broadly OK, bit jittery but I have my passport, several carss, my boarding paaa and my bag so I can't have forgotten too much, fingers crossed.
1802 On Piccadilly. Train goes to t4 first so I suspect I will be advised to get off one or two stops early and wait for the followong train, as is semi-traditional. I checked my boarding pass to confirm I am flying from Heathrow.
Not feeling too bad. Typing on phone sucks of course. Just the usual "did I forget something in terms of leaving flat OK or packing?" (despite having checklists for both and most stuff not being that critical) combined with vague pre-homesickness, but really it should be fun and perhaps even random encounters might have positive life changing impacts etc, and at the end of the day it is 9 weeks not indefinite or forever etc etc.
fwiw if we say the expensive options take 1h each way, the absolute last point at which I could dash back home and just maybe make the flight would be 2h before departure, so 1940. in reality it's probably more like 1900 and that would still be massively pushing it. It would pretty much have to be a forgotten passport to justify taking the risk, given I could (albeit yes it might be hard to get good travel type clothes etc) probably buy literally everything I have with me over there for less than the cost of a replacement ticket if I did miss the flight. So this is probably not really worth thinking about.
1817 I do wonder if I swapped put my spare pair of glasses for the latest single vision pair or if it is still the older pair I was carrying before I got the varifocals and all my pairs of glasses got "bumped down one". But it may be I changed them at some point during the partial packing stretched over the last week or so, and if I didn't it isn't the end of the world - they aren't as good as the latest pair (in terms of physical condition as much as correctness of prescription) but they are fine and I probably (fingers crossed) won't need them.
If this is the worst packing gaffe I will be happy. :-)
Did find myself wondering if I "should" have more luggage while changing tubes but apart from the fact I have been travelling light for ages, the idea that having a big bulging suitcase which makes it harder to move around and makes me even more obviously a tourist would make me *safer* is ridiculous. Having some extra stuff might just add comfort, but there'd be corresponding downsides and I have established a decent-ish tradeoff over the years.
1823 all thrown off at Northfields, train now terminates here. there had been an inaudible announcement. next train is 1 min so shouldn't be a big deal and even if i cant get on i don't think there is any cause for real concern at this point. auto correct utterly failing to make even the most noddy corrections of course.
1858 Just got into T2. always forget what it is like and it reminda me of coming back in 2020. flight looks OK.
1949 JFC. £7.35 for a pint of ESB at London's Pride, which the website menu clearly showd as £5.xx when I looked back at home. Oh well.
Quite impressed with new rules letting you take water through security and not take liquids bag out, but I did get pulles up and nice enough security woman took my 2 sunblock bottles, saltidin spray and something else off to scan and we ended up taking more sutff out of bag than Id have liked as she thought liquids were in cap and I didn't really (i could have) say "strongly enough " that I thought they were in main bit. no real harm sone but did add some harmless delay.
1954 ah, there is a drinks menu (sitting at bar as requested by woman when i came in and queued for a table) and everything is expensive, eg Amstel is £7.25. So at least glad I did order the strong esb. took photo of menu fwiw.
before came into pub saw departure boards saying gate announced 2030 so feel reasonably safe to be here.
toothpaste might have been the other thing taken off for a scan at security, not sure.
2012 just looked at screen in here and we might have a gate. not rushing though.
2033 just finished pint. overgearing various staff aaying last orders aa they arw closing at 9. leta go find the gate. have moatly been trying to sit and think bit modest fiddling with phone, eg writing this. not runk, juat not fizing the utterly ahit autocorrwct. and may leave it like this to show wuat it is like.
bell just rung! last orders.
2037 bparding at gate b48!
2047 at gate, boarding froups abc and i am in g. had piss.
2056 just called mum, all ok, boarding group e.
2100 Had some water direct from drinking fountain by gate. Wandering round, seems silly to sit when I will be on plane for houra.
half wondering if i ahoils leave the airport im bogota on return teip. i disnt bring ny tranamilenio card or any colombian caah. tbf this may be ailly and i could get a tm carsld on the day if i wanted or juat walk into that area i atayed near airport before ans ita maybe not ideal if i had brough aignidicant colombian cash and was riaking loaing it juat for thia uncertain few houra. i sont know if i would be allowed to leave airport and may prefer not to risk it anyway, esp as a) i may havw sealed duty free b) i may not want to pay inaane price to leave bag at airpoty or risk taking it round wkth me during this hypothetical jolly.
2103 at back of big groip g queue. maybe a bit slack paying attention to screen (didnt hear annpuncemwnt and prob waant one) but not likely a big deal esp with allocated seating.
2120 just got seated, aisle aeat as expected, two rows behind me fwiw not just one. i dint think my passport has had any inspection other than a visual photo check by a human when passing along the boarding queue, but i guess that is not my problem. no machine seems to have been used to scan it. misdle aeat ia oxxupied but not a problem of courae, fairly slim woman. as you can aee the autocorrect is juat amazingly goos.
ok, i turned off trandofmer lm but jo it doeant work ang bwttwr. if anything it is worse.
ok,if i am not editing in a text editor and uae email profram the correction works, because reaons.
Ok, let's try editing with markor, that may give me the autocorrect. Not going to fix the above up. Want to show how drustrating this can be. But apparent "drustrating" is a real word and didn't need to be autocorrected, except if I deliberately mistype it for that quoted bit in which case it is fixed up. Yay. Much much better than those hardware keyboard, why would anyone want that?
No airport wifi here BTW, not a problem but good job I hasn't assume there would be any.
2208 in flight. No idea at all if I am allowed to use my Bluetooth transmitter to watch in flight entertainment. To be fair having skimmed the list of films nothing massively appeals anyway. Did just got for a piss the instant seatbelt sign went off just in case. No idea if there will be good. Does look like the pair of two seats would be fine to recline. The seats behind me look sort of aemi isolated and may in practice be crew. Can not hear announcements even when I take my headphones out, bearing in mind I am not hooked into the plane audio system.
We have not been offered any headphones fwiw. I cannot actually aee anyone watching a film with a transmitter or wired headphones connected t the 3.5mm jack. Afaics the system has no built in bluetooth transmitter.
Earbud noise cancelling is doing some good but it isn't amazing. Hard to say whether better or worse than old wired ones.
787 BTW.
2219 ok, just been given headphones in a little packet. Wobt open then just yet but good to have option. Did ask if I could use my transmitter (partly as couldn't remember word with confidence but mainly so as not to cause delay), could ask later if I wanted I guess.
2228 OK, I need to give these earbuds a good push in (which feels a bit counterintuitive given the touch sensitive panels) to really get a good seal. The noise ancellation is decidedly better now.
2258 half watching minibods (by Moonbug?) on someone else's screen as listening to hmhb all Asimov and no fresh air. (Had heard first 2-3 tracks before trip but not while album.)
2321 been given food. Main dish reeks and I think it is pasta in cheese, it has p wrtten on lid, I suspect for once any choice got used up before it got to us right at the back, though since I couldn't hear any announcements with no connection to plane audio I have no idea if they announced what the choices (if any) might have been. Still, I ate heartily today and I can eat the ancillaries.
Although the salad has some foul sort of dressing on it too, fwiw.
2335 had quite attractive bit of vaguely scallop shaped bread with butter (too cold to spread, but perhaps actual butter?) And a quite nice dense cke thing, and a glass of red wine and got a small glass of water too. Not too bad, meal is a shame but I wasn't even sure if there would be one and not getting over worked up about it.
I would probably normally have gone for white wine (afaics they didn't have beer and I didn't ask) but I kind of fancied the red and my gamble on no turbulence or other spills paid off.
Was feeling a little sleepy an hour or so ago but no idea if that will return. I suppose I could put minibods on my own screen with no audio, not too bothered but I could. Might be more in my face that way than just watching it at a distance. Also watching the odd scene from Shawshank redemption in screen of chap in front of me.
0051 watching snoopy showith Spanish subtitles and no audio. Just got up to let woman out to toilet and the seats behind me are curtained off, presumably so crew can sleep?!
0809 Didn't get to sleep that fast, read a bit of Moonstone, did drift off eventually. Kept waking up, quite dry mouth and had bit of water from my 600nl bottle from home. We had breakfast a bit ago, not bad omlette and fruit salad and another scallop bread with butter.
0820 went for piss before any rush (not desperate). As I say, did sleep and I was semi-pleasantly dantasising about a real bed tonight but also a tiny bit "argh that is so long will I stay awake". It was sort of nice to be sleeping even on plane and there was a bit of that cocoon/womb sort of feeling. We are probably due to land in about half an hour (not heard any announcements) and not super keen but OTOH I don't have to do much except probably clear security again and although it feels vaguely cosier here on the plane it is of course technically more comfortable being in the terminal.
P7 battery at 60%, started at 100% and has battery saver on all the time but this feels OKish given it has had some use. Haven't faffed with powerbank as no need and can probably charge from maina or powerbank while killing time at terminal anyway.
Was a bit cold overnight (-80F outside??) but borderline cosy with dkeece zipped up and as usual didn't use blankets or pillows.
0929 UK/0429 Bogota Airside at Bogota via international connections route. No trouble at security, though I asked a woman wearing uniform by queue if I could take a bottle of water through and she said no (though TBH I half wonder if it would have been OK) so I went back and drank it before passing through. (I may risk a chlorine dioxide tablet on toilet water here but I am fairly sure there are no fountains). Security really very low fuss tho had put all my stuff in bag, didn't take liquids out and wasn't asked, so just bag and then a tray with fleece and my two phones, had stuffed belt in bag and everything else in fleece pockets. I was last one through because of this but no problem and it wasn't busy anyway given the time and that this is transit security not main entrance from landaide, though now I am through it is all the same area.
Feel broadly OK. We touched down 0845 but a lot of taxiing etc. I did sit briefly in one of those pair of two seats as the plane was emptying and tried recline and superficially seems just like my seat on this flight.
Did have some very mild "omfg it is going to be so hit and I won't be able to sleep and I'll be hot all day and maybe I shouldn't have brought the blue craft top" type thoughts but I did rexognise this as just my brain being an arse and it was a briefish moment and I didn't flip out.
10950 COP or thereabouts (I was furtive) at 24/7 Grab & Go for 600ml water.
4870 COP to the pound. To be fair that is not absolutely insane pricing by airport standards for water, but I am not super keen. Plenty of time to think about it of course.
1008 Woohoo, there is a water refill station by gate B5/C9. I just cleaned my teeth in adjacent toilet with tap water but spat it out, there were no "not drinking water" signs and a quick web search before had suggested (as I half remembered) that tap water in Bogota is drinkable but older buildings may be iffy (lead). I also filled my bottle at tap in toilet but tipped it out at the fountain, partly filled and swirled it round and drank that (could have tipped it away but didn't) and then refilled. I think this is fine, I am guessing that a microacopic quantity of lead (if any, this feels pretty modern of course) is fine, and that I'd there are parasites my body can overcome a very small dose.
My outbound flight is on time and goes from gate B1.
Free wifi works although only 30 mins at a time, but still not bad. Electric charging points too and will probably use one in a bit. Headphones lasted the flight, possibly aided by micro top ups when I put them back in the case for toilet visits (didn't want them falling down it!)
1107 Called mum, wandered round a bit, had piss and topped up water. Used a charging point but you couldn't sit right at it and I wasn't desperate enough (even to leave the power bank charging) but have wandered down by the A gates and found the airside Juan Valdez I remembered and may have a coffee there in an hour or two, but there are also some charging points with seats further down so tipping up Putin (topping up P7) as I write this. I could have used power bank anywhere of course.
It is vaguely cool to be here and I half wondered if I ought to have broken my journey here and had a few days in Bogota but that wasn't really an option anyway as I evidently got a subsidised flight to Bogota because I was connecting to San Salvador, and also while it would be vaguely cool I don't have so much time on this trip that spending a few days here would be a great use of time.
Having some fruit and nuts, not desperately hungry but won't hurt and it passes the time and this way if I do have to give the lot up at SS airport (which I hope I won't) it will slightly take the sting off. I do hope to eat in a cheap restaurant in SS but it will be good if I'm not desperate.
1132 right index (? The one nearest the thumb) finger seems to have a sort of sore knuckle, it's the skin not the joint, not a big deal but no idea how it happened. Right middle finger is similar but not really hurting, just skin a bit rough.
1144 feeling a bit warm in fleece. Suddenly and irrationally thinking "omfg I am going to miss winter and it will be boiling hot when I get back to UK". That Pog song all over again. Like I wasn't worrying about summer ending, and like it is going to be stiflingly hot in UK in late March. And it may be a touch warm here but I will acclimatise and or can splurge on air on sometimes and or can spend time in the mountains.
P7 at 63%, reading Agatha Christie on A06 sitting here at maina charging point. Have mildly over snacked on nuts/raisins but not a big deal, especially as they likely won't aty good more than about a week anyway.
Going to put both phones back at 80% charge limit.
1250 Having large tinto at Juan Valdez (8900). Mucked up the pay+queue system but did cope with language. Realised after ordering on seeing the ice swirly gadget things I could have had a granizado but maybe not quite what is wanted right now. Maybe on the return leg though.
Got P7 up to 78%ish and also found another water bottle fill atation by toilet over this end, oppositeish the something chicken & beer booth.
1304 seeing that you can have whiskey or baileys added to your drink here reminds me of a small coffee place over gate B way which I couldn't photo which had a "Baileysciosa!" Sign on a screen, I am not sure I am spelling that right, but presumably playing on it sounding a bit like "delicious" which oddly tickled me.
Notwithstanding the issues noted earlier, I am vaguely tempted by the prospect of a jaunt into La Candelaria and a granizado at the Juan Valdez there during the layover on the way back. Just a thought.
1317 Flight now showing at gate A7c? Just walked right past that, not that it really matters.
1330 At gate which is downstairs in a sort of cool little area all to itself. Had coffee induced dump, no bad thing. Some passengers called to gate by name but not me unless I missed it.
Gate sign says 24C at 9, 27C at 12, 30C at 1500 in San Salvador. Hot but not by any means unprecedented, take it slow, don't rush round, etc.
1346 on bus waiting to go from gate. Passport was scanned by some kind of swipe terminal at gate but it seemed to work fine. fwiw.
Feeling sort of excited but also touch of vague homesickness. Thought (not sure I did) I heard a flight to London announced as I was heading over to gate
Kept forgetting to put toilet paper in bin instead of down toilet at airport. Maybe the plumbing just looks too modern or I am out of practice.
1259 on plane, sign about wheeled bags only in compartments but I sneaked mine in anyway and no one seems to be making a fuss. I have moaned about this before and I don't see why when I pay a fare with cabin baggage I should lose my foot space just because my bag has no wheels, it is not reasonable. I don't think k the flight is massively full. A319 BTW 3+3 seating (as I already knew from the seat booking stuff while back home).
Looks like middle seat in my group of 3 might be free. There are generally quite a lot of free seats.
I snapped several photos (perhaps a bit touristy but sod it, whi am I trying to impress?) From bus and also inside terminal (kills time and it is memories, not interrupting actual "enjoying it as it happens" stuff), including some of this plane as the bus had just pulled up.
I did manage to be mildly meditative and appreciate being here etc while having coffee at JV. of course there is always that slight "am I supposed to be at the gate? Have I somehow missed the plane?" Niggle at back of mind in airports.
Wearing fleece, I can always put it in day pack but I figured it might be better to keep it on for the flight and it wasnt terribly uncomfortable in terminal even if necessary, and maybe getting used to feeling a little warmer isn't a bad thing. Will likely take it off at ss airport if I get chance.
1411 IFE is via wifi on your phone but I don't see any reason to bother,I may watch a video of my own. But warm on flight with fleece fwiw, not a big deal.
I set my watch to Bogotá time after security and just set it to what I think is el Salvador time. Left phones alone, they are in airplane mode so have just stuck with London time and it didn't seem worth overriding them in transit.
Feel slightly sleepy, perhaps that "on transport" thing rather than outright tiredness. Am sure coffee will have perked me up a bit but I didn't feel I was gasping for it to keep me going. Yes this is a longish flight and I didn't sleep amazingly well (very dry mouth at times as I probably said for example) but I did sleep a big and although there is a timezone difference I don't think I am massively troubled by jet lag and I have no pressure to do much when I get there, so it should be fine. TBF this journey is probably similar to going to Guatemala in 2018, albeit with a longer connection. I do remember feeling tired towards end of my staying awake goal there but not awful.
Safety card has "no transmitter" logo on it in the what you can do when bit (its pictorial) but an announcement just told us to use our own headphones and since it is entirely phone based they must know that 99% of phones have no headphone socket these days so it must be Bluetooth so presumably that is ok, and my tx gadget would have been too, not that I was desperate to use it.
1420 we are taxiing backwards now, so probably be off shortly.
1456 just taken off. Because I have a window seat I thought id film it and have loads of provably quite boring and bulky videos. Not a huge deal. We are probably going to be a bit late - was an announcement in Spanish I 90% understood - but not end of world.
1507 mostly using P7 to photo whixh is free from this sort of shit, but fuck me is it annoying having the bloody A06 make the legally mandated (I think) camera shutter sound when I'm just snapping eg a photo of my other phone.
1540 got a black coffee and 37g chokis clasica biscuits. I had a choice if sweet or salty but figured salty might end up being sour cream and chive pretzels or something.
1602 half nodding off (train style). Just been called on for applause for some people's birthdays - I did join in. There was an extremely abortive attempt at a clap on landing when we touched down in Bogota by the way, but hardly anyone joined in and it died more or less on its arse
1607 half wonder if I should let myself go to sleep if I want to.
1611 GPS seems to be working on P7 and shows altitude 12318m!
1622 just had a slash, wasn't absolutely desperate but with the coffees and the extra delay before takeoff it was mildly necessary. Overt sleepiness has gone but may come back or maybe the xcoffee on flight has kicked in.
Tiny bit edgy about arrival.
1627 OM shows we are over Costa Rica, about 100km north of San Ramon. I really thought consumer GPS did not work on planes, even if you are in a window seat.
1636 I think I can see some of the islands in the south end of lake nicaragua.
1923 I am at the hotel, really things have gone pretty smoothly but I am massively discombobulated and struggling to put my things in order before heading out (not that there is any real rush).
1904 EL Salvador time (6h behind UK) okay so I'm back in the hotel room I've probably got about an hour before I intend to go to bed it's not been too bad a day overall things not been perfect but all things considered probably okay I'm just gonna have a shower and then I will try and bash out the rest of this. As you can probably tell I'm using the voice typing now.
1911 right, I had a shower. The water's cold, it doesn't even look like there's a suicide shower, but some of the reviews did mention this. It's fine, the water's probably 20 Celsius and I've been practicing a bit at home anyway.
The rooms quite nice for what it is it's just a shame there appears to be not a single hook to hang any clothing on so I'm putting it all on a couple of tables and stuff which is a bit annoying but not the end of the world.
So I had a few nuts out of my bag pocket whatever when I was feeling discombobulated earlier maybe that helped I was dithering around for about an hour and I had to ring parents several times but I did get out probably about an hour after I checked in and I probably checked in roughly at the one o'clock check-in time the way it worked out.
So going back when I got to the airport I got off the plane and I walked up the terminal and Whiter Shade of Pale instrumental version was playing which was kind of cool. I connected to the airport Wi-Fi and I had a load of Whatsapp messages about the pickup Long story short I sent a quick response to one of those just to be polite and then I went through Immigration which was an absolute formality I well, it's not quite that but I went up there. No forms to fill in the guy spoke to me He took a photo of me without my glasses on He gave me a passport stamp I think I only got 90 days, but I didn't ask for more and he didn't ask how long I was staying. Obviously this is fine anyway, even ignoring he fact I am likely to cross a border and come back and get another stamp. He asked where I was staying tonight, and I showed him the printout otherwise. He was really fine. It was really chill.
There was a kind of customs check but there was no real information there was a woman at a desk and she said have you got anything to declare and I said well I've got some nuts and she said no no like have you got more than so many thousand dollars and I said no and she just waved me through and there were some machines for scanning bags and I walked up and I said do I need to do this and the guys just waved me past them so it was all really relaxed the taxi touts outside were not particularly fierce possibly the guy who was supposed to be picking me up was actually there but I didn't see him and I wandered over to a nearby cash machine which was out of order. The voice typing is randomly throwing in transcriptions of bits of previous speeches. I'll try and catch it but you know good to see it's really being worked on. Anyway, so I wandered round to the arrivals area and Sorry the departures area and I asked someone about a cash machine and he didn't understand me at first and then he did and it was like they were probably in the passengers only area so I decided I'd go back to the departures area because I did have some cash enough to get by and I was exchanging WhatsApp messages. The trouble was there were three different accounts that were speaking to me About the pickup and I got a tiny bit worried about it But it was fine and I went back to the arrivals area and I met the driver who said he'd probably been waiting outside I don't know whether he'd actually seen me but quite possibly I had accidentally walked past him. He was really friendly I was speaking to everyone including the immigration guy in Spanish, by the way, I'm sure people could have spoken English, but no one seemed to want to do that, force it on me so to speak Which was nice.
I asked the driver about cash machines and he said we could stop off at one on the way over and I thought yeah that's probably for the best and I kind of decided I'd probably end up tipping him five dollars on top of the thirty instead of one or two as I'd been planning on doing but although it's what you're paying for the flight was a bit delayed and there'd been these slight mix-ups and he seemed quite nice guy and he was quite chatty and friendly and helpful on the drive over so yeah I did that in the end.
So we stopped off at sort of mini supermarket place and there was a cash machine there it looked like it was one of the banks that I'd picked out as possibly being good. my chase card just didn't work at all it wouldn't even let me type a pin it just said no applications available but the Barclaycard worked so that was all right I need to check but maybe there wasn't a fee anyway so that was good.
So I was chatting with the driver in Spanish on the drive over it's about 30 minutes 40 minutes ish and you know he told me about pupusas and I asked him about the sauce and unprompted he said oh yeah it used to be really violent and gracias adios it's much better now I don't know whether that's because he really is just that pleased about it or he feels that it's something he ought to say to tourists or that you know people ask him about he told me about some volcanoes near here which I already sort of knew about but I didn't know exactly what he was telling me so like you can go to Cerro Verde I think it is and then from there you can walk up Volcan Sant'Ana I don't know how close this is I need to look into it I'm feeling just a tiny bit pressured in general about what to do and whether I need to extend here or whether I need to be moving on and stuff like that but I'm trying not to worry about it too much right now I need to think tomorrow or I also need to not let this sort of self-generated pressure ruin the trip.
So yeah we got to the hotel and I gave him the money and it was fine and I came in and I checked in and that was all fine paid on the credit card I asked them for a towel because I knew you could have one and they probably wouldn't give him if I didn't and the guy showed me to my room and I asked him what the Wi-Fi password was it turns out it was on the back of the door but he went away and brought me a bit of paper on which was nice so then I got to the discombobulated phase where I'm thinking well everything's basically fine but I'm just really struggling to get my act together in terms of shuffling money around and stashing cash away and you know getting ready to go out so that that was what I wrote about before I started waffling about the drive over.
So I went out and it did feel reasonably safe I wasn't I felt tiny bit conspicuous but not particularly so and by sheer chance I saw a couple of restaurants and some little news agent type places and some little restaurants that did sims but I by chance I found this half decent looking little restaurant I can't remember the name of it I've got a photo and I'll dig it out and I went in there I thought they had a thing in the menu and I spoke to the woman she didn't really understand me but basically I asked about the salad being undressed because it was a comedor kind of place and anyway she brought me in and showed me the salad. And some local chap asked me if I spoke English and he sort of jumped in and I think it turned out the woman I've been speaking to the owner or whatever was his sister I'm not quite sure he was a guy called Richard and I think he's presumed wife who Stacy was with him I think they might have been visiting from LA with their small child anyway so he I said I was from England he talked to me about the Beatles and saying when he was little in El Salvador he learned love me do I assume he emigrated to LA and is back for a visit he spoke very good English that very sort of that's hard to describe that sort of reminded me a bit of Sergio at Casa Satoshi.
He had to keep like going outside to tell the woman what option 3 was, which was odd because I don't think that was like a linguistic problem in my part she just didn't really seem to know what option 3 on the window in her own restaurant was but it was nice enough it was fine and I got some purple juice with it and it was all fine and I had a tiny chat with Richard and Stacey but nothing major they weren't intrusive it was just really nice and while it was a little bit disconcerting to not be understood I always had this trouble with the salads and it was really nice and I think I did manage to appreciate their friendliness and helpfulness when they left I said can I ask you something I asked how to ask for an undressed salad and like there's a bit of back chat between them and Richard said like look nowhere puts dressing unless it's really fancy place somewhere like this they just don't put it on and I do think this isn't what he said this is part of my problem because a lot of the time it's such a strange quest they just wonder what I'm talking about I've been through this with my Spanish teacher and she says what I'm asking makes perfect sense I just don't know anyway for what it's worth. And yeah like I think I have noticed in similar places in Guatemala and Colombia yeah the salad often is undressed and it's presumably the same here but it's not always maybe I should just not hammer it home so much or maybe I was gabbling a bit out of nerves when I was asking but I do always seem to have disproportionate trouble with asking about that anyway. So that was $3, it was $3.50 in the window but I'm not sure I got everything so I'm not complaining. I've seen some other places since, I don't think that was absolutely astounding value but it was okay. I did notice when I was waiting to pay they had what I'm fairly sure were chickens feet as one of the things in the sort of, you know, those Banmarie type things they have behind the counter. I didn't really want one, I'm glad I didn't get one but I'd not seen them before, I didn't realize quite how big they were and they looked a bit disgusting but not as bad as I might have expected them to look because I'm not sure I've ever seen one except on a live chicken before. The place from the photo is Calzado Berta... - the last part of the name is hidden behind the tree in the photo but it's a yellow building and I'm sure I could find it again if I wanted to. Oh Stacey said that she was going back to LA tomorrow when I first started talking to her so I assume they're all going back tomorrow so I probably wouldn't see them again even if I went back.
So after that I felt I was doing fairly well and I went for a wander and I saw a small kiosk selling several different kinds of Chip, sorry sim, and I went and had a look at the prices and I spoke to the woman and She basically she said oh, yeah, this one that says $10 on thing is $13 But it's 10 gigs and it's got 30 days validity So I gave them and I said, oh you can help me set it all up and she asked for a copy of my id and she was doing it and I'd taken the A06 out and she put it in it just would not work and I was a bit confused but Anyway in the end she charged that was a digi-cell in the end She charged me $2 for a Claro chip, which comes up as a phone number, but utterly does not work at all So I was a bit worried about losing my UK sim and my SD card Which had stupidly left in when I went out and I went back to the hotel and I had a quick play with it And I was feeling a bit like I'd been ripped off, but not quite It didn't quite feel like a ripoff, but it also sort of did it was only out $2, but it was annoying. Partly it was annoying just because I thought oh wow I'm gonna get the sim business sorted out now and that's really great and then I'm sort of ahead of the game and it was a bit of a blow not to be
So I came back to the hotel and I had a quick fiddle and then I left my SD card from the phone that is and the UK sim back at the host hotel and I went out again I'd picked out what I think was an actual like digital business you know like a building not just a kiosk and I was walking over in that direction but on the way there was a woman sort of touting in the street by a more hole in the wall sort of kiosk not an actual kiosk in the street and I spoke to her and I explained in Spanish again perhaps a bit I wasn't angry as such but you know perhaps a bit talking quickly whatever I explained the situation and there was a bloke in the booth as well and he I think tried and they tried some chips at least one chip in my phone and basically he said oh look Tigo works but the others don't we back and forth a bit but basically Tigo seemed more expensive but I paid $8 for a 15 day validity 5 gigabytes in which is plenty of data the validity is not great I could have had 30 days but it would have been $13 or something and I'm kind of feeling after all the other stuff not working I didn't want to over commit and I suppose there is a chance that I'll leave for Nicaragua before that's all poor or that I'll you know just want five days on top to top up before I go to Nicaragua so I do at least have it it comes with loads of like free local calls and unlimited WhatsApp and YouTube but that's all pretty much worthless to me the way I plan to use this same and everything look for what it's worth
At least it's sorted. After I'd been away for about five minutes I doubled back because I realised they'd still got my useless $2 Claro sim. I peered over the counter and saw it had fallen on the floor and the guy pulled it out with a brush which I think they were slightly annoyed with me but I figured I might play with it a little bit more though I probably won't or as I said to them just maybe I'd give it to someone. I didn't get asked for ID when I got the T-Go sim so I don't know what's going on slightly worried about this other woman having my ID associated with maybe this did you sell chip that she's going to resell to someone else but I mean it's not in my phone nothing's likely to happen there's nothing I can do about it and if it does happen I say well it wasn't my phone that that chip was in and as I say it's not going to happen it's just that's one of those things but this other kiosk where I got the tiGo they did not ask for ID.
So I didn't go over to that digi-cell business that I'd seen on Google Maps in the end I just carried on wandering around and obviously I had the A06 with me so I'm snapping photos in the A06 which aren't the best quality but it's what I had saw the presidential palace and I wandered around the centre generally and there were other people on their phones and quite a few cops and security guards and stuff and maybe I'm being naive but it didn't feel particularly dangerous it did feel fairly safe so I kept wandering and then I had a one of the specials of the day a $2 a house coffee and a quite nice small spongy sort of cake with a very cheesy flavor at Elsys's cakes (?) and I wandered around and I went to Parquet Cuscatlan and I wandered around most of that and it felt quite nice as well and then I came back via some small restaurant-y shop thing where I got a litre bottle of water for a dollar I wanted a litre one because I brought a 600ml out with me and the tablets are for a litre so it's good to have a litre bottle I've not used any tablets yet and then I came back to the hotel.
I popped briefly back into the room and then I asked one of the staff guys if there was a terrace after going up some other stairs and just finding some rooms and he showed me yeah there is and you can go up there and there's like there must be some difference in the street levels because there's like a garage up there where people can obviously park their cars but there was quite a nice sort of covered area sadly it was covered so and it had sofas in I was the only one there I sat there did some photo uploading and tidying and I was drinking the coldish water I got from the restaurant and a few people came past and said hello, but it's a very hotel environment and there was what's presumably a El Salvadoran family and they came and sat out there and they were talking to each other and then they went away but I think it was just brief and there was nothing wrong with it but it didn't feel super matey and I'd been toying with having a beer but I kinda didn't want one and then when they came I thought no I'll come back to the room so that's what I did and that's when I started updating this entry.
So I think that's the actual what's happened and where we stand that I'm not feeling super tired But I'm probably going to go to bed fairly soon Kind of hope to be up relatively early, and I'm kind of thinking I need to avoid too much pressure on myself If I spend the day wandering around maybe go to an odd museum Maybe see if there's a swimming pool even if I don't necessarily go at the weekend Have some purposes have a few coffees wander around maybe see if I can find some kind of meet-up for the evening Maybe read about this volcano, maybe try and think about Ruta de las Flores. I don't need to be Really panicking I've got to try and not ruin things for myself and just relax.
The trips long enough. I've never been in El Salvador before as long as I don't spend the whole day Sitting in my room watching videos on YouTube. I don't really think I can write the day off But treat the day as wasted even if I don't do much formal touristy box ticking You know, I don't particularly want to but if I end up choosing to extend a day or two here now So I can do something like this volcano tour. That's great I don't want to feel I've got to rush into it because it's the weekend and that's a good time to go or anything I really just need to take it easy I don't have so much time that I can absolutely burn it But the whole point is that I'm supposed to be having a leisurely kind of slow travel ish trip.
Socially, you know, it's a bit disappointing. I didn't expect this hotel to be super sociable, and it probably isn't, but then I'm not sure anywhere else would have been. It was nice to have that little chance encounter with Richard and Stacey. You know, I've chatted to people a bit, I suppose. I kind of felt a bit guilty after talking to all these kiosk people because it's like, was I rude or angry? But I think even with the woman who, and I don't think it really was her fault in the end, sold me the $2 one that didn't work. I don't think I was rude. Oh, incidentally, I have a feeling I saw her with some bloke in Parque Cuscatlan. Maybe I'm just recognising the top I think she was wearing and someone else was wearing it, but it might have been her. I don't know. Obviously, it's not implausible. I only realised after they'd walked past s neither of us gave a sign of recognition if it was her.
As I say, I do feel slightly pressured because it's like I need to do the route of the last Flores before it's too late, although we're by no means pushing it for that. It is true that it makes sense to do Nicaragua early apart from that ruta de las flores thing because the uncertainty over the boat, which I also need to research to see if it really is a thing. I mean, given I'm not planning on dashing to try and get up the volcano tomorrow, and I only have two more full days on this booking including tomorrow, and if I am leaving here I'll maybe need to be faffing around trying to find a bus terminal. I may not get to do the volcano here if I don't extend because on Sunday I won't want to be rushing around trying to do the bus ticket and the actual volcano hike, so maybe I'll extend or maybe I'll do one of them later or something like that, or maybe the volcano is not even from town (but there's definitely some volcanoes you can do from here). I just need to be a bit chilled and if I extend I extend and if I don't extend I'll obviously I can come back and I will come back during this trip because it's very central and I haven't planned very much because up until now it's all been a bit not wanting to think too much about the trip or concentrating on packing or flights or preparations. It's fine, it's fine. I just need to make sure that I am not putting myself under the same pressure and spoiling things and rushing around like crazy. As I say, even if I feel a bit guilty afterwards, if I can do a few basic bits of touristing tomorrow, just experience being here, I'm not hanging around in my room. That's great and it will just all have to work out.
Just before we finish on the sim business I think I was and maybe still I'm a bit annoyed and it's not quite clear who with because I thought that that AO6 would work fine in Latin America. The current thinking by the way I've not really researched this properly but despite what the bloke said about it maybe being locked or even though it's not and I told him I bought it from the UK anyway my current thinking based on a tiny bit of web searching is that maybe that phone doesn't do some band that those other networks really like using and that's why T-Go works but it just feels like well the phone should have worked and it's a bit annoying that I was paying money to this woman for the chip that didn't work because of my phone but that's not her fault and then I've got to use T-Go more expensive and I've had to have this 16 day validity and it's all just a bit unsatisfactory but no one's really to blame not me either and I didn't get really nasty with anyone or anything like that maybe a bit voluble and poor Spanish but not in a shouty kind of way just in a maybe nervous or trying to get the point across way so anyway that's what it is.
And obviously I could extend here for another day or two I mean it might be nice to go somewhere matea with a chance of socializing But not sure that's really a thing here in San Salvador based on the accommodation I was looking at and maybe I can find a meet-up or something But I just didn't want to overbook here because maybe I hated it or I hated the area and you know But now I know it's kind of okay. I could add an extra night subject to availability, but probably would be possible So if that would help me with the volcano and then moving on and then I could come back and do some different later on Lots of options. Hopefully tomorrow will be kind of a bit more relaxed now I'm actually here and if I can avoid pressuring myself as I keep saying You know if I'm wandering around I can sit and have coffee and think and maybe poke at the web on my phone a bit And stuff like that and play it by ear You know, I don't want to waste time, but I also don't want to rush like crazy. This is not the greatest write-up There's lots of repetition and verbal tics and errors I haven't corrected but I think it gets the gist of the day down and it gets the gist of my mood down and That's probably all we can really ask for it's 2003 now, so I've been writing this for a while I'm not super tired, but it wouldn't hurt to go to bed And I think I've just about got most of what I wanted to say down.
2008 skimming this before posting I an reminded there is a Juan Valdez in centre here althoug h not sure it has tables outside, but maybe at some point a granizado is on the cards (or of course some other coffee chain or independent cafe/kiosks own version, its just that I specifically remember the Juan Valdez one from the 2024 trip when it was recommended to me).
