Orosi, Friday

Fri 31st 1531 On hostel terrace having coffee. I dug my fleece out a few mins ago for first time in ages; it's mildly chilly and I am probably (despite fact it means getting an early bus to Cartago first) going to try Irrazu tomorrow so will need it then anyway. (In hindsight should have done Irrazu from Cartago and JBL from here - the Cartago-Orosi bus is a supersrt of Cartago-Paraiso bus, so goes past road down to JBL. But hindsight is 6/6 etc.)

Ended up chatting a lot (at first in English, then at his suggestion we switched to Spanish) with German guy yesterday afternoon/evening. I popped out and got some beers about 4ish and we shared a couple of those later in the evening. Good to chat with him and it definitely elevated yesterday from a slightly wasted day to a "good" day.

I did pop out for quick look round town (very nice on the whole) after check in, couldn't see any tour offices and almost all eateries were either closed or expensive so I got bread and ham at a supermarket and had some bread/toast+ham sandwiches back at hostel. I popped into the church for a look, the attached museum should have been open according to posted times but wasn't.

Evening mildly marred on going to bed by me being slightly careless, putting outside gate key in dorm door and ripping the key in half by twisting it. Luckily we got it out with a pin and although I was a smidge worried (kind of my fault, but also an accident) they replaced it this morning without (touch wood) making a fuss about it or trying to charge me.

[Intermittent chat with a German woman who is at the Spanish school at this hostel. Apparently a couple who just turned up with an orange 4WD are Swiss and shipped the car across from Switzerland and have been driving round Latin America since last May! They have/are going to ship the car down the Panama canal, apparently.]

Got up 8ish, bit of chat with German guy (Julian, BTW) and aforementioned German woman (not asked name yet) and Julian left to get bus to Monteverde via San Jose about 10 and I set off to do the "High Mountain Cross" hike (taking a flyer with me) which is one of the activities mentioned on wall display in hostel.

Incidentally hostel has a thick folder full of tours etc you can do. Some of this is "as of 2014" and some of (eg the visit to Turrialba) is almost comically "The way is long/Fremen don't like to say no" as the advice on getting there by public transport from here is to take three separate buses and then a taxi.

The lack of tour agencies makes me think I *will* try Irrazu (sp) myself tomorrow despite annoyance of doing it from here. It will be "work" of a tourist kind, but different from this morning's slog. I *will* probably stay on here the extra night, worst case is I just have a super quiet day the last day but that's OK.

Today's hike was sort of cool but sort of stressful. Weather is cloudy and cool, actually quite nice given rain held off. The hike was basically a long loop along public roads over a mountain pass. Some very nice views (tho I couldn't see the "little hill" you can climb which the instructions mentioned). However, a lot of it was very lonely (virtually no traffic) and towards the end I had to go past some gates which blocked road off to traffic. Essentially about the last 60-70% of the route was a road/track with no real forks and I was getting a bit shitted up a dog would appear blocking the way and I'd end up having to try to retrace the entire damn route up to that point.

As it happens one big dog was sitting peacefully in the road (by the red gate, IIRC) and let me walk past unmolested, and one or two dogs barked invisibly from within their properties but couldn't get at me. Of course I didn't know this was going to be OK. The very last bit had a trick bit of road where the (very rocky and steep) road carried straight on into a dead end (semi-passable on foot if you really scrambled) and - thanks to GPS/OSM - I realised you actually had to go through (the side - a tiny pedestrian gap) a gate and naturally this made me think "private land" and thus "dogs" , but despite an increasing sense of funk GPS did at least show I was on the right road and as it happens it was fine.

I was super relieved to get back into town - the leaflet said 4-5h, I did it in a hair over 3h - and I went to supermarket to get stuff to cook and came back and then had to go out again as there's no oil here (a bit of a pisser, but I'm mentally setting it off against them being so decent about the broken key, plus the fact it is only USD11/night inc tax here) and came back and cooked and had little bit of chat with German woman and stuffed myself and been sitting here with coffee (I got milk yday, and coffee is free) and reading book on phone and browsing web and now writing this.

It is *borderline* possible I will pop out for a little stroll round town in the mist this afternoon but I may not.

There's a chance I will have the dorm to myself tonight, I think.

There are some nice cats here, the black and white one is (when the mood takes it) particularly friendly.

1615 Bit of drama, German woman tripped just outside hostel and has a biggish graze on her chin. Have proferred antiseptic cream, so at least getting some use out of having carried it round.

1718 Been out for little circuit round town. Vague "I should have done more" thoughts but don't think that's fair - this morning's hike was a fair effort. Maybe the slightly cool overcast weather has a slightly depressing effect, combined with general "end of trip" feelings. That said, assuming (as I think yesterday showed) it's not always cool and overcast, this is somewhere I could vaguely see myself living for a few months - it is beautiful, it isn't stiflingly hot (I think even Lake Arenal area is hotter than this), the town is nice enough with shops etc and the capital/airport are close enough to be reached without enormous fuss. I have no idea what the local rental scene is like but it feels like for whatever reason it isn't overrun with expats like eg Arenal area.

1731 OK, just paid USD16.95 on line (re-using my login details from when I bought Manuel Antonion ticket) for Irazu tomorrow - checked with hostel guy (Rafa) and booked for 10am (to 11am) slot. Fingers crossed all goes OK.

Incidentally tho had bag with shell jacket in, I was just wearing thin black RS top during the hike this morning and that was fine, it was on the whole pleasantly cool but not cold and of course I was walking which will have helped me feel warmer.

1801 Just read Ngaio Marsh's "Moonshine" . Little bit cheesy but to be scrupulously honest quite touching and a little sad.

Incidentally unnamed German woman didn't use any of my antiseptic, but at least I had it to offer.

1816 Obviously in a vaguely funny/melancholic mood. Just been and "packed" ready for tomorrow (shoved overtrousers in daypack along with shell jacket, put nuts in there jic, put gloves and "Acatenango" hat in fleece pockets) and also taken second-to-last hidden 20k note out of belt and put it in my binder clip wallet and there's a vague "running things down" feeling. It's fine, I feel broadly OK, I am eg doing "cool stuff" tomorrow, better to be sad about leaving than otherwise, it will be good to be back home and I can probably travel again in near future when it will be fresh and exciting etc etc etc.

Nose is a tiny bit runny and I am coughing a bit. I suspect/hope this is nothing more than the slightly chilly weather.

I have a couple of beers in fridge and was going to have one but current feeling is I don't really want one - it's a smidge chilly and I'm not quite in the mood. I still have two nights here so hardly a rush to consume them. I am drinking some chilled H2Oh lima limon anyway, partly because I want to and partly because I want to refill the bottle with water to take with me tomorrow.

Swiss family (their parents have apparently flown out to join them on their CR travels for four weeks) chatting quietly in corner, German woman sitting solo at nearby table. Not a problem, don't feel BNM or anything, just jotting down atmosphere.

(I think it *is* a little chilly, incidentally - it is possible (but fingers crossed not the case) I am getting a mild cold or something, but I'm fairly confident the weather really is like this and it's not just me.)

Incidentally I finished the bag of rice I was carrying when I cooked today. I have half a biggish pack of sausages left as well as a pack of ham from yday and some bread, and had half intended to cook rice+sausages day after tomorrow, but not buying another bag of rice at this point. It's fine, I can eat the sausages solo or maybe get some hot dog buns or maybe have them in a sandwich, I might or might not get some extra bread tomorrow and/or I might supplement this "cooking" at hostel with eg some fried chicken in town - there is a Pollolandia of the type I visited in IIRC San Ramon and I could have a wing and breast or whatever it is cheap-ish and with all this extra food at hostel I am not going to be hungry.

Depending how things go and how I feel I will prob be back in Cartago 1pm ish tomorrow and I may see if that historical museum is open and/or have a quickish visit to the ruins before getting the bus back here.

There is another longish hike and some short ones on these "direction" leaflets at hostel, but after today I kind of feel I don't want to "risk" problems doing the other long one and the short ones maybe a bit dull. We'll see. I might just walk the few km up the road to some viewpoint on OSM the day after tomorrow, and perhaps see if the museum attached to the church is open - no need to put too much pressure on myself etc.

1843 Nearly finished H2Oh. Might move towards bed, perhaps lie down in dorm where might feel a smidge warmer (as not slightly open air), not exactly go to bed but in that general direction. Swiss family seem to be heading off as well, by coincidence.

2011 OK, been watching bit of YT in bed and had shower (running water *v* feebly to get it warm-ish - yes cold showers maybe not bad in general, but not in mood for it tonight) and shave and cleaned teeth.

Not exactly tired but going to bed and will read and let myself fall asleep as/when. Have alarms set for 7 so fingers crossed.

Do have dorm to myself FWIW. Someone still *might* check in but fingers crossed. Not that it would be a huge deal TBH but nice to get bonus privacy etc.