Cartago, Monday

Mon 27th 1811 Woke up maybe hour before alarm, felt *slightly* chilly but didn't bother getting up to get blanket out of cupboard. Got up more or less on alarm at 930ish IIRC. Felt a bit "WTF am I gonna do?" in bed but had a quick look at guide book on phone and Orosi sounded good and (given there may be tours to Irazu from there) worth using as a base rather than trying to go there from here as a day trip so I booked three nights there this morning with free cancellation and I may book a fourth night with free cancellation in a minute.

Incidentally somewhat unhelpful refusal of Alajuela last night hostel re my request for lower bunk but never mind.

I went out to kitchen/common area for coffee and ended up having quite decent chat with the Canadian father and son for a couple of hours (I was in no rush) and walked part way into town with them as they went off to get a taxi to somewhere they can hopefully get on a San Isidro bus.

I went into town, went round the basilica and the little bit about the statue that appeared and drank a bit of the blessed (?) water, which entertaingly has a scientific compostion analysis notice from the local authorities posted next to it. Then had decentish casado at nearby soda, although I asked beforehand and it was 3.5k and when I asked price at end told 4k which felt a bit iffy but didn't make a fuss.

Then walked over to ruins, quite busy and quite nice actually, sat in there for a bit including lengthy Signal call to parents. Wandered round a bit and went past another church/cathedral or two tho these seemed shut.

Oh, just after basilica I found the Los Angeles station and after ruins I went and checked out Cartago station. I also went into a couple of phone shops to ask something which was a bit of Spanish practice.

I also prob just before ruins walked down to where OSM showed Orosi buses going from and found that, so I'm set for going there without too much fuss.

Oh, I did see a bus this afternoon saying Volcan Irazu on front but the guide book insists there is only one a day in the morning, so fuck knows. Given the need to reserve for the damn park and the getting there early to be luckier with clouds and the fact guide book suggests there are organised tours from Orosi and the fact that while I would like to go it sounds enough of a lottery that like Poas I'm not going to get myself too worked up about going, I am probably *not* going to try getting this bus there myself from here (eg I don't want to get stranded when it turns out the last bus back is really early or something).

So while I need to do a bit of guide book and web poking tonight, I may try doing a day trip on public bus to Guayabo tomorrow - Canadians recommended this, I'm a bit fuzzy about what's there but if the buses are OK why not? I am then thinking I will take up my option of an extra night here (I don't like to abuse the free cancellation offers to excess) and the last day I will commute into San Jose by train. I don't need to visit San Jose on consecutive days of course so I can do a day the day after tomorrow and then say a day or two later (maybe from Alajuela - I feel Heredia may get bumped from draft itinerary on this trip). This way I can get a feel for the train and the safety etc of San Jose while I'm not lugging my backpack with me with all my belongings - if all goes well post-Orosi I could see myself wanting to do Orosi-Cartago-San Jose-Alajuela or maybe Heredia instead of Alajuela, the O-C being a bus trip (short, frequent) and the other two hops being by train. It may be you don't need to change trains to get to Alajuela and/or Heredia from Cartago but I haven't looked yet.

I got a 710ml can of Bohemia at Megasuper for 1080 before walking back to accom, it's in fridge now and I may have it in a bit. Picked Bohemia for variety (couldn't see the Bavaria Black recommended as dark beer by airbnb host) and because in the supermarket I could at least see it *was* cheaper than IO or Pilsen - it's OK and want to try it again but I don't think it is as good as IO or Pilsen and when prices aren't shown clearly I don't want to risk paying as much for Bohemia as I would for the others.

Given I am extending for another night here I will ask about doing laundry tomorrow night, not tonight.

When I got back to accom about 1630ish I snacked on leftover junk from yday's purchase and watched a bit of YT.

I think that's most of today documented but if I think of anything or anything else interesting happens tonight I can always write more of course.

1942 Feeling vaguely "low" - not exactly bad, just a bit kind of bored/flat, like I should be having more fun. It's fine.

I just booked an extra night in Orosi, I can cancel up to and including end of this month, so I will be at the place for the first booking before I need to decide. If I do go with this I have just two nights un-booked before the final night in Alajuela, current feeling is I will probably book those in the final night hostel and use at least one of them and perhaps both (I have "done" Alajuela already to some extent) to commute into San Jose for some sightseeing. If I prefer I could book those two nights in SJ itself - I would check accom situation before deciding, it may be there's a "fun" sounding hostel in centre of SJ which is worth a go.

I am 95% sure there is a SJ-Alajuela train but I haven't checked yet. 99% sure there is a Cartago-SJ train but again not checked, prob look into this tomorrow night.

Maybe dingyish light in room isn't helping mood.

I've counted my USD and I have 220 in USD20 bills. I think withdrawing another hundred wouldn't hurt if I can get them. I haven't checked carefully but I'm fairly sure I have CRC90k in local currency (modulo a few bills I will probably be reasonably happy to take home as souvenirs if no emergency occurs) which works out at about 9k/day - if I am paying for accom and tours in USD I may not get through all that, so as I come closer to end of time I may want to make more effort to pay in CRC even if exchange rate is a bit crap. We'll see how it goes, we might say a meal in a soda is about 4k and a beer a day from supermarket (I could drink "expensive" stuff like IO/Pilsen) is 1.5k that's 5.5k/day already - I kind of hope not to drink beer every day (but maybe some days I'd have more than one so it averages out at that over remaining time, as I run out of time the temptation to indulge every day grows) but there's also scope for treats like an empanada as a snack or maybe some ceviche or something.

I also need to remember that as long as there's a BCR or BN machine, I can withdraw small sums to top up and I'm not stuck in the usual quandry of trying to reduce fees by withdrawing big lump sums.

I think the worst case is I go home with about 40-50k of CRC, which isn't great (it could well be a year or two before I come back, and it could easily be longer of course) but isn't too bad, and I think I can probably manage to do better than that without artifically spending on crap just to "get rid" of money I'd otherwise be stuck with.

Google Maps shows there is a BNCR ATM (it's the only ATM) in Orosi, which is good if true as it means I don't have to worry too much about being caught short - everywhere I plan to be between now and end of trip should have a "free" and convenient ATM where I can just go and withdraw 10 or 20k if I need it.

2017 OK, maybe Guayabo isn't on the menu for tomorrow. Guidebook (and as this is basic stuff I am sure it's right) says it is east of Turrialba and has slightly inconveniently timed buses from there, so I'm reluctant to go over there by an extra hop from here to Turrialba.

Poking at guide book, I might go over to Turrialba tomorrow as a day trip and perhaps go to CATIE (a second bus, or a probably doable 4km walk at a push).

Incidentally I quietly enjoyed myself today and after the first half hour or so I got rid of my probably incorrect impression that Cartago is a bit dodgy-feeling - I'm sure bad stuff can happen etc etc but broadly speaking it felt fine today.

OK, further guide book skimming suggests a better day trip tomorrow (it's more local, so feels "better" to do from here as a base, plus of course is easier) would be Jardin Botanico Lankester, 4km away and I get dropped by Paraiso bound bus, of which there should be a profusion, plus at a stretch I can walk back that kind of distance. This feels like it would be a fairly natural "half-ish day" of touristing, ie I'll feel I've done something but it won't leave me feeling excessively knackered or like I'm overdoing it etc. I could see myself leaving at maybe 9-10am and getting back into Cartago 3pm-ish or something like that.

Incidentally I didn't actually *see* La Negrita in the basilica - perhaps as I am too wary of offending people and tend to hang round the back and edges of churches a lot of the time rather than getting close to the altar - so maybe if I am back early-ish tomorrow I might pop in again and have another look.

I wasn't too sure about having that beer earlier but I think I might now. Not a huge deal either way really.

(Wrt what to do tomorrow, if I did a day trip to Turrialba it would probably feel as if I've been there, even if I see very little, so I'd be more reluctant to go and maybe stay a few nights there on a future trip. So it's kind of a good idea, in the absence of any "wow, must do" things there, to stay away completely. I think there's enough interesting stuff nearby it would be a good place to use as a base for a few days.)

Incidentally not considering staying at same place in Alajuela as when I arrived in Jan not because it's "bad" but because a) I am no longer freshly arrived and edgy about dorms and want to avoid the extra stress when I've got a lot of other adapting to do - on the contrary, given it's end of trip it would be nice to have at least a chance of meeting people and chatting b) the free airport transfer at the place I have booked c) the self-check-in aspects of that place where I stayed in Jan are not a huge deal but still a bit of a stress when checking out to head to the airport, eg I (albeit it's middle of day so *prob* could be let back in) accidentally lock myself out with my bag still inside.

There's apparently some planetary alignment thing today but it's way too cloudy here to see anything, just FTR.

2111 Been sitting out on terrace/patio outside room (it's quite a nice little property) with headphones watching YT and drinking beer - come back in as lights gone out (they seemed to be on auto and I had to periodically wave a leg to get them back on, but that stopped working) and a smidge cold out there (tho if I dug fleece out would have been super comfy, and borderline nice cold as it was).

FWIW I do wonder if my regular sweet junk consumption lately has been growing into a minor "habit" and contributes to vague feeling of deprivation when I have only a bit (leftover junk purchased other day). Maybe that's bollocks. Not a huge deal but there is an aspect of this "hard to show restraint as trip draws to an end" business, and in particular because the time in this place may well be my last non-dorm (I could go to that private room place in Alajuela for two nights but I kind of want to be in a hostel as much as I can for possible meeting people stuff, and I either have felt private room cost more than I wanted to pay or didn't exist in hostels) and for me it feels better to be indulging in eating an entire pack of Takis Fuego or a bag of vaguely baked biscuity snack things in the privacy of my own room, so rightly or wrongly it kind of feels now as if I should go nuts while I have the privacy, even though I'd probably be otherwise getting more enjoyment by showing restraint for a day or two and then having a bit of a pig out on this kind of stuff. (I semi-justify it to myself as "OK" because I am at least eating a local-y kind of junky sugary/processed carb snack, rather than just any old crap that I could eat back at home.) Not a huge deal but just noting this kind of thing.

Beer not super enjoyable - I do find the Bohemia a little flat-tasting anyway, unless I just imagine this - but kind of quietly nice I suppose.

Just had quick check on official website and JBL is USD10+2% (?!) IVA for foreigners, not brill (do hate this extra charge for foreigners) but not terrible and the key thing is it *is* presumably open (says every day 830-1630) and it also says no reservation needed. So tho need to check buses etc I will prob do that tomorrow.

Feeling less "low" than I did, not super energised but not bad, quietly enjoying a quiet night in.

Website (if you click on C19 page) *seems* to say masks are mandatory, but I suspect this is just a hangover from a previous legal mandate. It isn't a medical facility or anything. I will chance it, if masks are mandated I just won't go in.

Utterly unimportant but FWIW I was given a towel when I checked in here.

Incidentally I don't think there are any other guests here tonight - not heard anyone, kitcheny common area seems empty (even of family), etc.

2213 Feeling surprisingly tired, beer may be part of this but prob not a huge part. Can see Paraiso bus stop on OSM so prob mostly cool for tomorrow, let's clean teeth and go to bed and set an alarm for say 9am and see how it goes.

2226 OK, about to get into bed. Have vague feeling I wanted to make another misc observation but can always write it later. JBL does look quite close (I just checked it is on OSM) but I suppose it's still a fair hike to do it both ways and taking the bus is a bit of Spanish practice etc and unlikely to be super pricey.