Orosi, Saturday/Volcán Irazú

Sat 1st 1648 At hostel terrace with coffee. Important stuff today went well but was (prior to eating - ham sandwiches, basically) feeling surprisingly disturbed by inexplicable mega traffic jam on bus back from Cartago-Orosi adding an hour or so to journey, leg hurting from sitting etc.

Woke up during night (including at 2230ish and couldn't believe it wasn't 3am when I checked time) but not in bad way as such. Was awake in bed before alarm so got up a smidge earlier, maybe 655? Got bus about 0730 no trouble, found place as expected in Cartago (tho it does head up past my Cartago accom so woman there's directions prob correct) and got some choripan and flautas at Musmanni right by queue and took advantage to double check right place for bus with M staff.

650 for bus from Orosi to Cartago, 1650 IIRC Cartago-Volcano.

Journey up a little interminable but quite nice views. Electronic ticket checked at vehicle entrance to park by guy who got on the bus to check.

Got off bus maybe 1010, not certain - photos prob help show this if it matters. I asked and return bus 1230, also one at 1515 but felt I really didn't want to be there that long or risk that bus not existing. It would have been nice to have an extra 15-30 mins up there but it was OK with the time I had.

Got quite lucky with weather, could see both craters from lower viewing area along their lip and the big crater from the upper viewing area (think little crater not in line of sight from there), and it was generally warm and sunny - took fleece off while slogging up road to higher viewing point, and tho I did put my gloves on to keep hands warm while doing lower viewing area I took them off later. Couldn't see Turrialba or much else in distance from the top but all in all I think I was reasonably lucky.

No water in either crater FWIW. Best views I think from upper viewing area. Not, to be scrupulously honest, utterly "wow!" views, but still, I am glad I went and it was cool to see the craters even if not "wow!" .

Did lower area first (upper area is very slightly "hidden" , TBH), went to upper area, I did a very quick visit to bogs and back to the lower crater viewing area after that and was at the bus 5ish mins before it started. Some minor not-a-big-deal confusion over whether the return trip was free or not - I asked another tourist guy and one way or another he misled me into thinking it was free to return and the driver (nicely) had to come and ask me to pay. Didn't feel too awkward or anything. I do wonder if it *should* have been free but prob not.

Back in Cartago I went over to municipal museum but it's shut for new exhibit work. Spent a few mins wandering round/sitting in ruins but did want to get back and seeing a guy going round soliciting money (no idea what for) sort of encouraged me to move.

Just missed a bus due to confusion and as already noted the bus I got was massively delayed (so prob was one I just missed).

So many people standing it was hard to get off the bus, but didn't seem to upset anyone as I squeezed through muttering "perdon" /"lo siento"/"disculpe"/"gracias".

I wanted to buy some snacky things for tonight and some hot dog buns for the sausages I have no rice left to cook. Got off bus a little early, went into Pali on N edge of town but the queues looked insane so I rather bad-temperedly left and managed to get what I wanted (felt fucking expensive, but I can't really say for sure it was down to the specific supermarket) at Super Norte as I came through town.

Football match taking place on field in middle of town, had seen kids practicing there yday etc but tonight it seemed to be an adult/young adult proper match and quite a lot of people spectating.

Having coffee now, may have some hot dogs later, we'll see. Want/need to wash tonight, ideally before properly dark, as there are facilities here for hand washing and lines to dry on, and then with luck that will mean I have enough clean clothes to see me through the rest of the trip. I will prob wear a wool top on flight as I did on flight here IIRC and having worn orange top with some reasonable comfort today I may wear the other blue wool top tomorrow.

Paid for the extra night tomorrow no problem, 6k which I think is fair for USD11 (and they give receipts here, so no worries about false claims of no show turning up) and I broke a 20k doing it.

1834 Done laundry, bit of a faff but if it doesn't rain (stuff on uncovered line to dry) will be good to know I'm sorted for rest of trip. Copying photos off camera memory card, had 4 hot dogs and now having 500ml can Cezka 5% bought with my misc alcohol purchases first afternoon.

Would be good if one or ideally both of my phones had big enough microSD cards fitted that I could keep a copy of *all* photos on them. The primary storage would still be external SD cards kept in two different places (one on my person), but this would be an extra copy and it would reduce glitches caused by phone internal storage filling up as I shuffle stuff around.

The Cezka is cheap-ish I think, but it seems a reasonably flavoursome lager, unlike Bohemia - maybe just prejudice on my part though. (Had it before I think, eg poss bought some way back in Grecia.)

Black and white cat came into dorm while I was fiddling with memory cards, and (one of?) black cats had a bit of fuss a few mins ago as I sit here on terrace.

Wearing fleece BTW.

Drinking beer out of a glass (with sunflowers on, and I half suspect it to be the same line as the "cow" glass I had in Uvita) which may add a small touch of luxury to the process.

1846 Thinking tomorrow I might go to Cachi or Ujurras (sp) - hopefully an easy bus or two bus hop, just have a wander round. Maybe do the Orosi viewpoint nearby. I think this whole area would definitely repay a visit on a future trip (and being near Cartago, it would sort of fit with travel to/from Carribbean side - I have vague thoughts of doing the Bocas del Toro boat in one direction or other and combining that with a visit to C side of CR and a visit to Panama. I've been to Panama but only in the most box-ticking sense, and it was a long time ago as well. Would definitely not just be retreading old ground - as is always a risk in eg Argentina, not that there aren't huge chunks of A I haven't seen - and based on talking to people on this trip though not necessarily super cheap it is cheaper than CR.

In some ways it is a shame to just scratch the surface of this area but at the same time the more you see the more it becomes "more of the same" , so perhaps it isn't such a bad thing if I end up coming back at some point and seeing some of the other stuff.

Finished that beer a bit ago, will prob have the 710ml can Imperial Original in a few minutes. Do want to be up early-ish (if only as I will need to be up 6ish to get bus back to Cartago in time to get train to SJ - tho I now feel a smidge less uneasy at the prospect of having to get a bus to SJ, I'd rather get train if I can) but it's hardly late nor am I getting massively pissed.

I haven't heard back from hostel in SJ about their "threat" to cancel if I didn't reply - I did reply, but no word from them. Not deeply worried but not ideal.

1855 OK, just asked Rafa, to get to Ujarras (sp) or Cachi I have to change in Paraiso. But I have been through Paraiso and it is nearby and not too "scary" . There may be a Ujarras-Cachi bus as well. Gut feeling is, since there are ruins at Ujarras which sound interesting and "easy to find" , I will go there first, then energy permitting maybe see about a bus over to Cachi and see if I can have a gander at the lake. I do at least feel I know this area well enough that although I'd rather not be out after dark, if I eg end up changing bus in Paraiso at 6pm and getting back into Orosi at 6:30 or 7 I am not going to be shitting myself (except for some minor dog related nerves, tho in Orosi most do seem to be shut in).

Let's have that other beer. Not saying I won't buy more tomorrow etc - vague "end of trip" excuses make it OK, plus I am hardly drinking  loads anyway. Will set an alarm for 7 before I forget and can always choose to change it later if I remember.

Sod it, last two sausages as hot dogs first. This leaves me two bread buns free which I can snack on tomorrow, and tomorrow I will eat out and/or have junk.

1909 Black cat charmed a few bits of sausage out of me. :-) Beer.

Cat has actually tipped kitchen bin over and is (I think) licking juice off sausage "skins" (as noted before they are individually wrapped here) and/or the container. Haven't the heart to stop it (they are ready to eat in packet so it's not raw meat), though it looks in excellent condition and probably lives here and gets fed well etc.

Prob already said but have stopped uploading photos to Google Photos - I am virtually out of space and deleting all the really old pre-trip photos *might* lose the only copy of something old and while I'm abroad I can't check to see if there's a takeout of all the old photos sitting on my PC back in London.

1959 Had some bizcotelas (not whole packet), feel bit bloated and was while finishing beer. Having little bit of leftover milk (only a small 1l pack) got first day mainly for coffee. Black cat hanging round. Said goodnight to Rafa, he's off tomorrow and I said I might not see him on Monday as leaving early but thanked him for everything.

Notwithstanding black cat hanging round I might go half to bed soon - I think (certainly did an hour or two ago) I have dorm to myself again, might watch a bit of YT in bed and then move properly to bed.

Shower earlier was cold (if there's any force to water here heater does nothing) but brief and not unpleasant. I didn't exactly want a shower at that point but as I was changing all clothes to max out number of dirty clothes (I swapped trousers for clean pair, even tho not strictly necessary - but be nice to have clean pair for flight) it seemed smart to have a shower before putting clean clothes on - it isn't super hot here, but the "change clothes at evening shower instead of morning as when at home" approach seemed to fit well here.

Minor faff washing three separate times (trousers, then tops, then underwear) but I do broadly feel given the iffiness of hand washing it's smart to keep underwear separate, and while I could have done trousers and tops together I don't usually, and the dedicated laundry sink was a bit large and hard to get decent depth of water in so didn't push it today.

(I keep dirty tops and dirty underwear separate in different dry bags, as prob noted. before. Trousers, only having two pairs, I generally don't shove in a dry bag when dirty but just swap to the clean pair when I'm read to wash the dirty pair.)

Owners seem to have returned from their beach excursion of a day or two, the (nice enough) big dog - Peanut, I think - is back and also a smaller black/tan dog that's probably theirs too. Black cat utterly unfazed by these dogs.

Reflecting on toast last night reminded me of Tamarindo and feeling insanely hot and sweaty - quite a contrast to here.

Also thinking recently that my well-intentioned and also quite reasonable plans to buy bit of fruit to supplement my diet (eg bananas in Grecia) kind of fell through and I stopped bothering. OK I did get those watermelon segments in Quepos etc but still. This is probably not that big a deal, and I think there's a semi-genuine "dorm" excuse here, but it really wouldn't have been that hard to buy just one or two bananas or apples or whatever when in supermarkets or whatever and just eaten them while walking down street or something.

My diet hasn't been great while I've been on holiday, but probably not utterly terrible. Obviously all the casados cooked in soya or palm or whatever oil but still, would have been hard to avoid. All the sugary snacks probably biggest weakness, but I *am* on holiday and I think I've just about erred on the right side in this area. We'll see how my weight looks when I get back home but the evidence of my belt would suggest I have probably not put on weight and may have lost a little.

2016 Bit bloated, feel OK - lingering "end of trip" ish sadness etc etc, but OK. Think will clean teeth and maybe go lie on bed and maybe actually go to bed in a bit.

2032 Cleaned teeth. Not in mood to watch YT so will probably actually get into bed and read and fall asleep as and when feel like it. Will leave alarm set for 7am and hopefully won't snooze past that much - as I say I need to be up 6ish on Monday to go to San Jose using train, and although no day after that should have a mandatory really early start it's also vaguely nice if I am up early to make most of my remaining time.

Dorm here (which is just me again tonight - and if not obvious, just me and Julian first night) does have fan on wall but it's completely not needed in this weather. It is actually very pleasant, especially in bed.

Do feel neither phone battery is lasting as long as it ought to but they seem borderline OK and I do have my power bank to help stretch things if necessary, plus can probably charge phones/powerbank while loitering round airport and once on the flight I don't really need to use phones very much as I will prob be watching films on plane entertainment system or maybe just listening to music on phone as I try to fall asleep. Not to mention the vague always (to me) indefinite prospect of charging at seat using USB port there.

Anyway, bed. It's 2036. If anything occurs to me etc later I'll just shove it in tomorrow's entry.