Dos Brazos, Wednesday

Wed 22nd 0717 Just had decent-ish chat with Sandra FWIW.

Didn't get up and go up to GTG at dawn, bite me. :-) Did get up about 0600 tho. It's fine, I don't want to push myself too hard and good to sort of lie in bed and vaguely appreciate the pseudo-outdoorsy nature of it.

Not feeling too edgy about SI accom. We'll see but I think it will be fine and there's I think a 60ish% chance I will be able to get Claro data going in order to have comms during the travel day. This is always the fuckery with airbnb but I had little choice in this situation.

FWIW Sandra is going to Carribbean side from here, but she is overnighting in PJ tonight, then a bus to San Jose tomorrow and overnighting there before going on to Tortuguero. I asked and she said she did look for better routes. So this is kind of reassuring as it does help to confirm my impression there is a kind of tourist desert between here and the rest of the country with just a few metaphorical caravan routes across it.

Not for first time but reminded by this conversation - I am half tempted to switch/try doing both my Duolingo activity from Brazilian Portuguese to French. Not a huge amount of the time but sometimes (eg Quepos off-grid place) it would have been nice to be able to make a stab at chatting with non-English speaking French speakers, and I suspect if nothing else my lurking memories of school French might come back a bit with prodding of this kind. It would probably be useful conversationally just to improve my vocabulary so I can understand more of what's said - while earwigging on fringes of Quepos conversation I could understand a fair amount of what was said except for unknown vocab issues - even if my ability to speak is extremely constrained. OTOH I only have limited time and BP is perhaps more useful for future travel. Then again, *maybe* Duolingo isn't helping here, whereas with the background of school French maybe it would help with French.

0944 Back having more coffee after doing Cacique trail to lower and upper waterfalls.

Was going to say I've now done all the trails except a couple of "up-river" hikes which I'm not doing today as hoping shoes will dry (tho there is the river to cross on way out) and maybe not stink. However, I just noticed the folder here in the common area has notes on all the trails and eg you can apparently go down Rio Tigre chest deep in water and it may well be I managed to miss the final bit of the Bonanza waterfall trail as there's mention (and Russell said about swimming) of an area to swim if you go an extra 200m and it would have been nice to see that.

However, I am not haring off trying to squash all this in today. It just adds decent reasons to come back another time etc etc. I still think I've made reasonable use of my time here, shame I "socialised" quite as much as I'd like but that's partly my fault, partly bad luck and partly unfair on myself as I haven't done too badly really.

Going to have coffee, take my time, then got up to GTG lookout and hang out there for an hour or so and then perhaps come back and put in some time in a hammock or something after cooking a 2-3pm-ish "dinner". Clothese weren't dry this morning but hopefully after day of sun they will be, main thing is to remember to pack them but should be fine, I will pack around sunset I think.

Incidentally did think yesterday " it's (approx) the equinox".

I think there's definitely an ongoing element (which I *suspect* is triggered more by closeness to end of trip, rather than having been away x weeks - so if this were a six month trip, I suspect these feelings wouldn't have kicked in so much) that while it's a shame the trip is ending, I also feel it would be good to be back home and enjoy some of the newly-appreciated luxuries that involves and do some of the projects I've thought I want to work on but can't because I'm on holiday (hard constraint is no laptop, but of course spending time touristing etc is the other issue here).

1211 On GTG lookout, like Piccadilly Circus. :-) Walked up here long way via Valle Frijol and Fila Quemada. bit hot and sweaty and less breeze and peace than I'd hoped. Reading on phone, it's fine. Will prob head down 1330 in absence of any solid reason otherwise and then I'll be "around" from 1400ish to hopefully keep an eye on kitchen and cook dinner (which I'm sure will make me even more uncomfortably sweaty as I eat it) in a lull in kitchen use.

(FTR four Germans in pairs up here with me. Not a huge deal but they are talking to each other so not super peaceful. They're not doing anything wrong, of course, just noting.)

1230 Ah, they've all gone. Probably going to mostly keep reading *anyway*.

1300 Few more people passed through here. I am not exactly hungry but my mind is also running on the prospect of food. No point going down early though as I suspect kitchen will be in heavyish use until at least 2 and I really do prefer to have it as much to myself as possible while cooking.

Incidentally the folder down in common area with trail etc info says bus to San Isidro is at 1pm. However, I suspect my information is more up to date, and I suppose at least if the 9am bus is just a fiction I won't have *missed* the only bus of the day, I'll just be stuck hanging around for four hours having rushed down from here to PJ unnecessarily early. Tho in reality I think after 7am bus from here next is midday which would be cutting it fine for 1pm bus out so in practice while sucky I wouldn't have done anything different either.

There has been mention in passing of a 9am bus to SJ which used to be useful and was canned around time of pandemic, which makes me wonder if I am seeing outdated info, but just have to hope.

There is a damn wasp hanging round which seems rather infatuated with me.

If I *can't* top up Claro SIM over net I should at least have plenty of time to go and leach some wifi somewhere and notify airbnb of new arrival time.

1309 Started to rain. Should I go down early or wait up here? I am *lightly* sheltered, and altho do have shell jacket getting *lightly* soaked may not be huge discomfort.

I might given it 5 mins and then head down.

1323 Walking back. Just checked photo on phone from terminal in PJ and the 9am bus is nominally to San Jose. It *may* exist but so much indirect evidence (people taking 5am bus to SJ when 9am would work) suggests it doesn't, or *just maybe* no one thinks it exists so no one uses it. You might hope a printed sign at the actual bus company's own terminal is authoritative, but I'm not holding my breath. As I say, at least if it doesn't exist I would *still* have to get the 7am bus from DB to PJ anyway and I would *still* have to kill time in PJ til 1pm anyway.

(There was no one *at* the terminal to ask when I took the photo. It was Sunday which may have contributed.)

1634 In hammock. Been raining a bit (stopped earlier) but pissing it down now. Vaguely edgy about needing to pay, early start tomorrow, Claro top up issues, possibly non-existent bus and airbnb. Nothing utterly devastatingly terrible but combined enough to give me the jitters.

1721 Had shower, rinsed today's top in hand soap and clean water in bathroom sink (no plug), not awful washing sink. Back in (different) hammock. Remembered needed to shower before dark. Not putting clean trousers on as prob only get dirty on walk out tomorrow. Will go have coffee and try to find someone to pay as it gets dark.

Be a bit sad to leave but hassles of tomorrow overlaying that feeling.

Prob pack in morning.

1817 Just paid 24k, it was USD42 and I had prev worked out 22.7k was market rate (and just checked and it still is) so this is a fairly hefty 5.7% premium and I borderline regret not paying in USD, *but* I don't want to get stuck with excess CRC as we come towards end of trip and on the whole I feel reasonably well disposed to this place and it is fairly cheap to start with so never mind. At least having paid means one thing is off my mind.

Tomorrow prob turn out to be fine-ish. I am probably going to try to top up phone after midnight (which given early bed here may mean 5am-ish when get up) but moderately optimistic and if I *am* forced to kill 4h in PJ a) I can eat - I may have a pinto for breakfast *and* a casado for lunch at Los Dragones, and maybe see if they'll tolerate me pseudo-hanging out there b) I may be able to find - now I'm semi-desperate - some shop (eg supermarket) which will let me do a Claro top up for cash if the credit card method fails.

I suspect it's going to feel like a long day, 1pm bus prob means getting into SI 6pm (after dark too) and then it's probably 7pm by time I get into airbnb at earliest, *maybe* 6:30 if they end up meeting me at bus. But it's hardly the end of the world or an ultra-gruelling day even if it is a bit sucky. And there's always (much as I hate to deploy it) the banker's solution of just walking into a random cheap-looking hotel and paying for a room there if I really come unstuck.

With a tiny bit of luck this might be the last "crappy" travel day. Assuming I make it to SI OK, I am assuming there will be lots of buses from there to Cartago at sane hours, and I have a vague plan to slowly do a partial circuit around SJ via the "nearby towns in order to get round to Alajuela without transiting SJ proper and to give me something to do. Obviously if I love eg Cartago I will not rush off just in order to do this partial circuit.

Electric light is so poor that the fact someone has lit (and maybe paid for, unless this is " on the house") an actual candle makes a big difference. It's sort of cool of course but also a bit ridiculous - I've stayed in other off-grid places and they don't have these firefly type lights.

Do feel a little BNM but not really, there seem to be some vaguely pre-existing groups, plus I am mentally half checked out, I don't exactly wish I was in any conversation I can understand, it feels vaguely companionable sitting here etc.

I may - subject to vagaries of travel - allow myself to snack a little tomorrow. I had a big lunch as usual (loads of rice) when cooking for self, and I am *not* hungry, but even when I could still taste the food after eating I felt some vague temptation to snack on something. I did resist cracking open the packet of mixed nuts I'm still lugging round though.

I should probably have shaved tonight but I forgot - carrying various bits and pieces back and forth when going to bathroom is always a faff. I was going to crack open a new razor too. It's fine, I don't look like Robinson Crusoe or anything and I can shave properly at the airbnb.

I am yawning and although it's on 1852 I may moved towards bed at say 1930. I don't plan to hike anywhere except down into town tomorrow morning but it wouldn't hurt to be up early and pack and try to top up phone credit without too much pressure, and if time permits maybe even have a coffee. (TBH despite feeling absolutely fine and eating bulky foot, I haven't had much of a shit today. Probably nothing wrong but I hope I don't get a nasty surprise once I'm out of reach of handy toilets.)

Group of idiots behind me slagging off "capitalism, even sustainable green capitalism" while, of course, being the sort of privileged fuckwits who can afford to visit CR on holiday precisely because they have the money and freedom to do so, and/or "volunteer" here on "worthy" projects. I am not sure that's a logically coherent sentence but I'm trying to avoid going off on a political rant. Yeah: "If you could make one rule everyone had to follow?" answer is "no money. Cooperative exchange but no money." Utterly economically illiterate. I suspect that's not even terribly controversial among people of different political stripes with even the slightest grap of practical reality. But I'm not writing any more, and the knowledge there are economically illiterate fuckwits running around at large spewing buzzwords like "sustainability" is scarcely news or surprising, is it? :-) And CR tourists and *especially* those somewhere like this place are probably disproportionately likely to be such types. But I'm not doing a very good job of shutting up, so let me try again and resist reporting any further crap.

Ah, the temptation to rant. But I have already given the flavour and suffice it to say it's kind of stereotypically twatty. There's a massive lack of meta-awareness and manipulability as well; obviously if something is shown on TV it is sincerely meant, and definitely can't just be an attempt to stir up controversy. Maybe I'm just being overly cynical myself.

1914 Ah, they have switched to German - maybe the sophisticated political and economic thoughts they want to express can't be done properly in English ;-) - so I can go towards bed (need to clean teeth first) without feeling I'm running away. :-)

(Disclaimer: Not particularly German-bashing here. We have no shortage of these fuckwits in the UK either, sadly; indeed I think the education system is geared up to turn them out en masse. TBH it wouldn't surprise me if the same is true in Germany and France too.)

1935 In bed. Last hostel being stroppy about my no show. FFS. German-ish group now discussing AI (in English again?), it is wanky pub philosophy but hey, I'm guilty of that too.

2004 Fuck it, just spent probably too long writing an "I was there, I chatted to X about Y at time Z" evidential reply when I should probably have just ignored them - the tone of their message was strop-tastic, it basically just said (paraphrasing; theirs is actually shorter) "you know you didn't stay here, why did you tell booking.com you did?" I am not sure this direct message from them is part of the complaint resolution mechanism and they may be acting out of turn anyway. I feel hamstrung because the net here is so slow navigating the site is a pain, otherwise I might just have got onto customer services about it. As it is if this shuts the fuckers up fine, and if not I will get onto CS. I had to reply via e-mail due to crappy net connection so it may or may not get there.

I tried to take a firm, polite but not terribly deferential tone - stating facts and not being outright rude but omitting misc pleasantries like "I hope this clears things up" . Meh. Fuck 'em. If - and I doubt it will come to this - they/booking.com attempt to charge my credit card over this, I will dispute it.

Anyway, will send this now.