Back at the hostel

I had to ask directions about four times but I GOT BACK (some quirk caused my phone to capitalise that and I felt I'd keep the emphasis) OK. The second guy I asked sort of helped and suggested I ask the police, I don't know if he was joking or mocking, but as it happened I did on the third occasion. That helped but I still found myself a bit lost, I asked a woman walking down the street who was pleasant but no help but I plucked up my courage and struck out in what turned out to be the correct direction after all.

Perhaps fortunately the wild nightlife here implied by some websites is a fiction. There are two groups in the courtyard, a couple (in the purest sense for all I know) talking peacefully and a few guys sat quietly round a laptop. I cleaned my teeth and guess I should go to bed. Fingers crossed for both getting up early and encountering hotel staff tomorrow to ask about the sandboarding trip, and if they can also sort me out with a trip to the geysers it will ease the pain of the 4am start (which is apparently done as they smoke more impressively around dawn) if I can be picked up at the hostel.

So many uncertainties but they are problems for tomorrow. Well, today, but only just.

I passed a few pseudo-open looking bars on the way home, it might have been interesting to try to get a beer in one but I was not really in the market.

Despite my success at navigating home tonight (down streets which were oddly lit at intervals, with darkish stretches in between), if I do have another night out here (and the 4am geyser trip may mean I don't) I will definitely take the GPS out for reassurance.