Saturday, 7 December 2024

Colombia/Panama trip post-mortem

I wrote most of this fairly soon after coming back from the trip but am only just getting round to posting it now. It's a bit raw and also pretty tedious even by my usual standards - this is meant for me to look back on to help deciding what (not) to buy/take with me on future trips. I've tried to avoid tidying it up too much now in order to avoid losing whatever trustworthiness/authenticity it has from having been written shortly after getting home.

Trouser pockets and zips:
- Having zips on the main trouser pockets is essential, but the ones I added myself worked surprisingly well (even if I could have put a bit more effort into sewing them in securely if I'd been less rushed) so this doesn't need to stop me buying an otherwise decent pair which doesn't have zips fitted by the manufacturer.
- Having at least one "knee" pocket is desirable, given the system I evolved of keeping small bills in one. Having two is probably helpful (and likely anyway), but since I am no longer carrying a separate camera it's not such a big deal.
- Although I don't keep anything incredibly valuable in the back pockets, having at least one zip on the back pockets is desirable given my new system of keeping loose change in there.
- The addition of a second zip towards the bottom of the right hand main pocket to create a sort of semi-hidden pouch didn't prove very useful in practice. With the system I eventually adopted of keeping loose change in a back pocket instead of in the right hand main pocket it might have been less inconvenient and more useful, but it's still a faff to get stuff into and out of. If the zip was (unlikely) just present at manufacture it would be a small net positive (I didn't find it causing me *problems* to have it), but if (likely) I have to sew it in myself, it is a massive faff to add (much more so than sewing top of pocket zips when the manufacturer didn't put any on), is almost inevitably going to be a bit crappy to use because it's an amateur addition (e.g. it won't slide nicely because it isn't "straight") and probably not worth the effort.
- There might be some value in adding an internal zip to a knee pocket to split it into two parts, but I don't know. It might also be easy to hand sew a second zip in there given they're perhaps squarer than the main hip pockets. I could imagine keeping my room key zipped up in there to help protect it against casually falling out, especially in the knee pocket I don't keep my loose change in [this is what I originally wrote, but I think I wrote this forgetting I had started to keep change in back pocket anyway] - if I have a knee pocket which mainly just holds a hanky, it isn't likely to be too fiddly to get at an internal zipped pocket on the relatively rare occasions I need to access my key.
- Even if I'm not worried about pickpockets, I need to make it a habit to zip up at least the right hand main hip pocket to stop things (like my Vaseline tin) getting lost. Zipping up the left pocket with the phone in is mainly for pickpocket protection only, but I suppose under some circumstances it might be a concern that the phone will get lost. Keeping small bills in a knee pocket and loose change in a back pocket significantly reduces the inconvenience of keeping the right hand main pocket zipped up.

Clothes condition (after a 30C wash in machine at home):
- the red short-sleeved T-shirt isn't too bad but has a kind of dark stain towards the bottom on the front
- ignoring the logos coming off, both blue Raging Sport tops seem to be in decent condition - as does the black
- the blue Craft top has really bad dark stains on in multiple places, including back of neck
- both pairs of trousers have some rips/tears, they are not on the verge of collapsing but I definitely wasn't looking at my best wearing them
- the black pair has some mud stains on the lower legs which didn't come out in the wash, this may just require more washing to come out
- the blue pair has really faded or persistently dirty-dusty knees, I had noticed this while I was away and I suspect it is fading
- without actually trying it on again to check (and I have spares and body size changes mean it's prudent to be checking this and buying new as necessary nearer the date of a future trip anyway, so there's no rush to buy replacements if necessary now) this [underwear?] all seems in fair condition, one pair of the bamboo socks has gone a bit "fuzzy" near the top (but this happened very early in the trip)
- My travel baseball cap is a bit old and slightly faded and (given it can't be machine washed) perhaps a tiny bit "greasy", but I've given it a hand wash and it isn't terrible. It might not be a bad idea to look into getting another one, ideally in a slightly lighter (but not dirt-showing) colour if possible.
- The fleece seems in pretty good condition, I'm a bit surprised given how long I've had it but then again it spends most of the time in my bag rather than being worn. I don't really think it needs replacing, although a slightly lighter colour might be nice and if I could find something equally warm which is lighter that would be nice. I don't know if lightweight-but-warm is a reasonable demand of a fleece type garment.
- rain jacket and waterproof trousers appear to be fine, not too surprising given how little use they've had
- the bandanna looks OK and given I carry it mainly for swimming or for use as extra sun protection when out walking etc it isn't all that critical either

I really don't know what these dark stains are, I have to assume they are sweat or dirt rather than food or coffee stains (some of them are in places food stains don't make sense). I suppose they could be sunblock, but some of the stains aren't in places where that's logical either. The red T-shirt says wash at 30C so I haven't rewashed that, it isn't that bad and I will just relegate it to everyday round the house type wear. I washed the blue Craft top at 40C (and in biological detergent, FWIW) and it hasn't helped, so I may do the same with that.

There is definitely no way I'm wearing either pair of trousers on a subsequent trip, the rips/tears are just bad enough that even if I didn't care at all about how they looked I'd be setting myself up for catastrophic failure mid-trip. I suspect the RS tops will be fine for another trip (though I may want to mix in some of my newer RS tops to hedge my bets).

I will probably keep the underwear set aside for travel and try it all on nearer the next trip (I may have gained/lost weight, though not such an issue for the socks). I may prefer to buy or use existing unworn items for another trip just to be safe, especially for the socks where I could easily put them into my daily wear rotation, but for now I'll probably just set them aside and see how things look when the next trip comes round. I do also want to be vaguely ready for the unlikely but possible case of a sudden unexpected trip where I don't have time to buy lots of new stuff.

Clothes selection:
- I wish the Raging Sport tops came in a lighter colour, but looking back I don't think even the "black" (dark grey-ish) one was a big deal in terms of being too hot.
- I definitely preferred the RS tops over the Craft one, feeling (perhaps fairly, but not sure) they were a bit lighter. When I wasn't tight on clean clothes, I'm fairly sure I tended to wear the RS tops more frequently than the Craft one as a result.
- The red short-sleeved top was comfortable and did see use in the evenings and for swimming.
- The trousers were comfortable and while I might like something even lighter weight, in practice I'm unlikely to be able to get it. They seemed adequate for the relatively cold conditions on the three day trek as well. They were cheap and I think on the whole they did last well enough, I would prefer something a little more durable (and wouldn't mind paying a bit more for it, if I could be confident I was paying for quality and not for nothing or a fancy brand), but I would at least consider buying more of the same model (if that's even possible) for a future trip.
- I think the balance of clothes was about right. Having the short-sleeved top definitely helped both with stretching out laundry by being a "worn in not-so-sweaty evening conditions" top and was a comfortable option in the evenings too, not to mention its use for swimming. I could vague see going to three long-sleeved and two short-sleeved tops, but given I do like long sleeves during the day for sun and (maybe) insect resistance, I suspect I'd end up doing laundry more often or it being more inconvenient when there are no decent laundry facilities.
- The slightly thicker Craft top might have been something of a benefit in colder conditions like the three day trek, but I didn't IIRC wear it every single day so it's not as if the RS tops weren't adequate once layered with fleece and rain jacket as required. Ignoring this possible benefit in cold conditions and - perhaps a bigger concern - the lack of variety in style and especially colour, I would probably have been even better served by having four RS long-sleeved tops.
- Both the four pairs of "bamboo" socks and the single thicker Quechua probably-mostly-synthetic socks were fine. I am not sure it was necessary to have the thicker pair, I did wear them sometimes for hiking but I am fairly sure even on the three day trek I didn't wear the thicker socks every day. It probably wouldn't have helped if I had, but it's hard to be sure about this. I did prefer wearing the thinner socks in hot places when I wasn't hiking (most of the time) and probably avoided the Quecha ones when I had plenty of clean socks in hand, but I don't recall feeling significantly annoyed when I ended up wearing the Quecha socks under "normal" conditions. So this balance was probably OK, even if it isn't necessarily optimal or that critical.
- While I ended up carrying the fleece in my bag most of the time and something lighter or (perhaps actually more important) less bulky, if it exists, would be nice, as a layering solution it works well.
- I did wear the rain jacket a little bit and I at least kind of needed the waterproof overtrousers. As I've said before, even this new rain jacket is decidedly not lightweight and getting a much lighter one would definitely help for next time, both in terms of lowering overall pack weight and making it more palatable to carry the rain jacket around in my day pack on casual day hikes and similar.

Unless there's something hiding somewhere I've overlooked, I seem to have come back with COP266000. That's the kind of amount I feel fairly comfortable keeping on hand, it doesn't leave me with that much inflation exposure and it's enough to comfortably pay for emergency taxis or food or accommodation the first night of a subsequent trip if I can't withdraw cash at the airport. I also have USD469 (only counted once, could have made a slip) so I did (as I planned/hoped) bring back more than I took out by quite a wide margin - yes cash is exposed to inflation, but holding USD isn't a bad thing and it's disproportionately useful to take on future trips even to non-USD countries.

The flip belt pouch thing seems to be in good condition. While it isn't perfect (it's annoying it won't fit banknotes lengthwise without being folded) it worked well on the whole and was undoubtedly way more comfortable than the inside waist belt I used to use. I did keep a 32GB SD card in it with the intention of keeping a copy of my photos on there, but (although it didn't) this always felt a little precarious as once the pouch was unzipped it would have been easy for it to fall out, and more to the point I was too lazy to go to the extra faff of copying stuff onto that SD card after already copying it from the O6 to the 128GB USB thumb drive and the K1.

Stuff I took with me and didn't use if memory serves:
- masks
- cable ties
- elastic cord (I *did* IIRC use the non-elastic string to make a makeshift glasses holder when abseiling, even if the instructor made me a better one)
- sewing stuff (I *should* have used this to repair the pocket zip, but I didn't)
- safety pins
- elastic bands
- spare headphone earbuds
- Howsarlock
- bandages/plasters
- whistle
- most of my SD cards (I did use a single 32GB card in the flip belt but gave up on it early on)
- water purifying tablets
- diarrhea (and hangover) rehydration salts (unless I used these when I was ill before the boat trip and forgot?)
- tenacious tape (though I did give some to Liam)
- double sided sticky foam tape strips
- bubble wrap
- spare glasses
- waterproof overtrousers (but I did take them and came close to using them on the three day hike, which I think justifies having them)
- fridge magnets to use as gifts
[November 2024: This is based mainly on the stuff I keep in the tube cube, which is the bulk of the miscellaneous small items. I didn't get round to going over the rest of the stuff I took and reviewing that to see what was used, although since it is generally fewer and larger items it's more obvious whether I used them or not anyway.]

Obviously some (if not all) of this is still worth taking, particularly for spares or things which are there if I need them in an "emergency" but don't expect to use them routinely. But I want to write this out honestly for future reference when considering packing list tweaks.

The "Bag Bag" daypack with drawstring top worked really well once I tied knots in the straps to shorten them. Sometimes a zip would have been nice for more secure closure but I did like the reliability and "auto closing when worn" aspect of not having a zip. It seems to be in reasonable condition and would probably be fine for another trip.

My short USB A-USB C cable, intended for charging phones from powerbank in bag or in pocket, didn't really work. I may have used it once or twice and it may have come in handy as a spare if (I'm not sure) my main long A-C cable was becoming unreliable towards the end of the trip, but in general it was too stiff and thus too prone to coming out (the USB C port on the O6 is just possibly going iffy or this particular plug was quite fat and didn't interact well with the case or both or something similar) to be really useful. Since I on the whole got by fine without it, this suggests I don't really need it, and thus I could drop it and not take a second full length cable as a replacement. Outside of a few rare situations (like being in the middle of a hike or something), you can buy a USB A-C cable anywhere (even if you might not like the price for the not-guaranteed quality) and even in those rare situations you can probably (but no guarantee, because iPhones) borrow one off someone at a push. To be fair, my over-stiff one weighed 9g. Paja pesa and all that, but this is pretty negligible, and if I could get a truly flexible one of half-decent quality, 9g-ish isn't necessarily a bad deal in order to have a spare. I also need to remember that I did take this with me on (IIRC) the Volcan Baru hike, where the reduction in bulk and weight over a full length cable made carrying it much more palatable. (I had taken my powerbank with its torch head adapter as a backup torch, so adding the nice but not essential ability to recharge my phone from it only cost me this extra 9g and not much space. On a hike like that weight is more significant, but even ignoring that, the reduced bulk compared to a full length cable is valuable.)

[November 2024 - I can't remember the timeline, but I did continue to have trouble with the USB C port on the O6 once I got home. One or two cables worked fine, but others didn't. In the end it turned out to be nothing more serious than an accumulation of dust/lint in the port, and cleaning it out with IPA and a stiff-bristled brush seems to have fixed it. I haven't retested my travel cables, but it's possible they are fine. That said, I suspect the short one *is* still too stiff to stay reliably in the port, or might strain the port, if used to charge in a bag or pocket.]

As far as I can tell - I did give it a look over - the Deuter backpack is still in good shape and would be fine for another trip. It was a tiny bit dirty in places, I gave it a wipe down with a damp cloth but haven't gone out of my way to really try to clean it. It doesn't look conspicuously dirty at a quick glance.

On a random note, when I was sitting with my iced coffee in that coffee place I liked in Salento there was a religious leaflet with a painting of Jesus on the front. When I got back to London, there was a leaflet (presumably the same but translated) with the same painting on the front waiting in my mailbox. The London one says jw.org on the back, so I assume it's Jehovah's Witnesses and the Salento one was too, although I suppose it is just possible this is a stock image which multiple organisations chose to use - although the pamphlet is a similar shape and design which makes me think it is the same thing in both places. I just snapped a photo of the London one for reference, not that it matters.

Skimming by chance the post-mortem notes for my 2020 Colombia trip on the blog, it seems all the language exchanges I went to in Medellin were apparently on Couchsurfing not Meetup. I don't *think* this is why I couldn't find any this time, because I was only looking on Meetup, but I can't really rule it out.

Looking back at some of my photos and videos from the Costa Rica trip last year, I am reminded that I did miss having the optical zoom on my digital compact camera. But this mostly can't be helped, since as I think I've said various times, digital compact cameras of the actually compact consumer grade type don't seem to be a thing any more - it's smartphones or pricy "prosumer"-ish digital cameras which are big and in particular far more expensive than I want to be carrying around routinely (risk of loss/theft/damage).

[December 2024: I have actually bought a Pixel 7 Pro now, and part of the justification for splurging on the Pro was the fact it does have an optical zoom. So fingers crossed that will improve photos on a subsequent trip, although even second hand it is an expensive enough phone that I'm a bit edgy about carrying it round and exposing it to muggers or simple damage. It's also possible that the digital zoom on more modern smartphones like say a Pixel 6/6a/7/7a with a 50MP sensor would provide some genuinely useful digital zoom, compared to the O6's ~12MP sensor, but I thought the optical zoom was worth getting, at least as an experiment. The increased physical screen size of the Pro is a mixed blessing, but when my phones are my only "computers" on a trip, having that slightly larger screen may make viewing videos on quiet-ish evenings in a bit more pleasant. It was the optical zoom that really sold me on the Pro though.]

On another random note, the postcards I sent from Panama City have still not arrived [as of December 2024] and presumably never will, although I guess there's always a microscopic chance they magically turn up.

As I write this in late November 2024, I have still barely started to sort out the photos for the 2024 trip, because I got massively blocked on the 2023 photos. The big problem is that because I "had" to backup to Google Photos (because my homebrew solution IIRC broke in different ways during both 2023 and 2024 trips), I ended up with thousands of duplicate photos which are *not* binary identical - my own full quality copies and the Google Photos copies. Because of things like HDR photos and just repeated clicking of the shutter sometimes, I can't use "visual duplicate" detection software to absolutely reliably identify duplicates and this has mired me in a situation where checking for actual duplicates I can safely delete rather than keep (because they're lower quality Google Photos copies of photos I still have the full quality original for) has been a massive chore. I haven't even started on the GPS tagging yet, and it may be that I'll decide to let that go. [Despite using phone cameras, a lot of photos don't seem to have been GPS tagged - probably because my O6 doesn't have wifi triangulation, although it may just be some other random glitchiness. I am taking a GPS track log and that works on the whole, so it's not as if the phone can't get GPS locks in general.] Every now and then I make a bit of an effort to push through with the de-duplication and final cleaning up but it never seems to quite get done.

I'm not blaming Google Photos for this, it did get me out of a hole (of not being able to back up my images and being vulnerable to physical theft or loss or data corruption while abroad and losing all my photos), but it's still a fact that having all these visual but not binary duplicates has been a huge drag.

I did sort the 2023 photos into folders based on location (albeit imperfectly) ages ago and I think I even made a start on this for the 2024 photos. This is mildly tedious but not a huge job (especially since I have the blog to refer back to for dates/times). It's the cleaning up of duplicates and wondering if I remembered to locate random photo set X (e.g. the ziplining stuff) that turns it into a bit of a nightmare.

Videos are a little bit more unpleasant to sort as they never seem to have any metadata, notably "the actual date and time of recording" (there's just the timestamp on the file, which often as not gets turned into the time it was copied around a few days later to put on an SD card or phone, not the time of recording), but luckily I don't have *that* many.

I hope to avoid Google Photos on a future trip, but if my homebrew backup solution breaks again (touch wood) I may have no choice, of course.

Another irritation is that because I have all these various multiple copies and downloads but I can't do a nice "formal" backup (e.g. on to optical media) until the work of tidying the photos is finished, I end up with pretty bulky copies of e.g. Google takeout and my own copies of the files occupying valuable space (including on miscellaneous USB sticks, stopping me reusuing them for anything else). Which also reminds me that I *hope* I "moved" rather than copied (but that feels risky) the files off the phones and USB stick I took with me, otherwise wiping that off to make space for a future trip is going to be its own "argh, can I safely delete these?" nightmare. I suppose if I do this before I do any GPS tagging (or at least, if I keep checksums of the files before GPS tagging) this is at least a binary duplicate issue, but it's still something which is a regularly occurring source of faff and stress when I'm trying to get things ready pre-trip. I hope I already learned this lesson, but I can't be sure I did.

1st December: Just been doing a bit of basic sorting into folders of 2024 photos and this is feeling incredibly easy. Slightly tedious but really not that big a deal at all, especially with the blog to refer back to for dates. I suspect it was actually similar back when I was initially sorting the 2023 photos into folders. This isn't hard. It's dealing with the duplicates and trying to collate assorted random photographs, sound recordings, GPS tracks, etc that end up in miscellaneous places plus the GPS tagging which takes the time.

Saturday, 6 April 2024

Bogota-London

Wed 27th 0749 Didn't sleep too badly. Woke up a few times. Vaguely needed a piss and at 0700ish got up and went for piss and a (hot) shower and used the possibly intended for hands only towel to dry myself as I'd rather not have my PackTowl festering in my bag for 36h.

No emails from Avianca re checking in online but a mildly alarming one (which for all I know is generic, but iirc I didn't get one before rhe outbound flight) saying some passengers may get bumped (paraphrasing) and offering me the chance to volunteer and get a USD500 voucher if I am bumped. Or something like that. Under circumstances (Jaffa, seeing family at Easter which is why I chose this return date instead of taking advantage of 90 days tourist visa and contents insurance limit, the fact that at the end of a trip an extra day or two in Bogota is not *that* much fun when I already rushed to get here a bit) I am not volunteering. I went and did the online checkin and have a boarding pass and I had already paid for a seat. FWIW the middle seat in my row still showed as empty when the seat selection/change screen came up. Anyway, I am at least checked in, I am 95% confident I could show the PDF at the airport (and I have downloaded it to both phones) and 99% confident I could show it in the Avianca app on the O6 but as I am gonna be hanging around a lot today I will get it printed when I go out (though I plan to loiter in hostel until nearly checkout time).

Gut feeling is I am going to carry my passport round with me today in flip belt. Probably lesser of two evils and I suspect the beggars etc are annoying but not actively dangerous or skilled pickpockets.

Will go down to breakfast soon-ish but no major rush.

0935 In room. Have mostly packed. Bag bulgier than I'd like but it's not insane and of course I will be wearing the fleece at the airport, at least any time it possibly matters. Filled my water bottles in kitchen and downloading some videos to help kill time at airport if it feels appropriate (with powerbank I probably do have some power to spare). Drinking bit of water now so I'm hopefully starting the day fairly well hydrated and will prob top up bottles before I check out and leave bag with staff so I have the full 2ish litres to drink at the airport landside before going through security.

Fingers crossed they will store my bag, if they say no I will have to get on web and see if I can find another hostel which will (whether that means paying for a room or not) or some paid luggage storage near here.

I plan to spend the day wandering around very circumspectly in areas round here I've mostly already been in, having two biggish meals (prob a "casado" ish thing for lunch fairly soon after I check out, tho will prob go get boarding pass printed first, then a pizza at that place near hostel 5ish) and coming back for bag about 6 so I can get on the TM (Los Heroes-Gelhada - incidentally some ads which I photoed at station make me wonder if the Gelhada bit is some kind of sponsorship) which is v close to hostel (82Hostel) before dark - it's v close but always a bit edgy in transit. (Albeit - fingers crossed - while having bag stolen would always be a pisser, if it happens today as long as I still have my passport the harm to the trip is about as minimal as it can be.)

I may have the odd beer during the day and probably quite a few coffees.

1045 OK, refilled water bottles. Bag *is* absolutely bulging with those in, but it does shut and obviously those are no issue with flight bag size or weight. Going to shut K1 down, lock it in top of bag and then check out, so unless they refuse to store my bag next entry will probably be at airport. Fingers crossed.

1757 On J74 from Heroes to Las Aguas. K23s to portal dorado pass but don't stop and I suspect if I only knew what the fuck I was doing (or there was a fucking sensible map to show me actual routes) I could get to airport in half the time, but as it is at least I'm not in a rush.

O6 batt dead after lots of use today, can't charg en route as short usb cable is super stiff and plug too fucking fat to sit nicely with phone case.

Not a bad day, not amazing but not bad. Wandered, had sobrebarriga and (after some awkward negotiation) undressed salad at Delicias del Cheff (sic) David near hostel, after paying 400 to get boarding pass printed.

Wandered, found microbrewery but prices even higher than BBC for same shit, then found Bruder pub which was 20k pintish but at least had novel selection and had 2 pints (maracuya 5% and choc 8.5%) then americano then (after aking for lulo beer but it was off) another pint (can't remember what right now, have note on o6) and another americano, paid on card as no extra cost and cash low enough that im happy to take it all home, then had two pericos at "il buen cafe" (have photo whatever it is called), then had lush but late jugo de mora en leche and pizza mediana mexicana (which had eg crumbled tortillas and afaict no pico de gallo, completely unlikely mexicana there two days ago) at Rafaello (?) near hostel, then picked up bag and K1 (which had been stored sep; i did dither about handing over passport at this point but decided to keep it on me) and then came over to los heroe and farted around looking for "good" route before getting this one. tullave card balance too low so topped it up with all my loose change.

1935 At airport landside. Being an out loud whiny fuck. Mile long platform at Portal Dorado, so obviously you just wander the entire length of both sides til you happen to spot the K86 airport bus. (I asked a policewoman and then some other chap helped me as I tried to board a K86 dropping off only by the H54-or-whatever sign.) And now I'm at the airport and there are no seats so sitting on floor (why provide enough seats?) with O6 on lap charging from powerbank using shitty fat inflexible short cable. (I also charged it - having to physically hold the cable in - on the TM, both on way to Las Aguas then from Universidades (via foot tunnel) to Portal Eldorado.)

Oh, and you have to "know" (or see everyone else getting off and take it on faith) that the stop for the actual airport on the K86 is "Muelle Internacional" .

I seem to have been noticing a small but noticeable minority of people wearing masks the last few days. Maybe this is a Bogota thing vs rest of country or maybe I'm imagining it or being more irritable. there are a few around here.

Did see Torre Colpatria lit up in flag colours with Montserrate in background on TM en route to airport. Minor shame I didn't get to go up Ms at end of trip but it's not a huge deal and it really wasn't super convenient. I will be back anyway, and I have been up it before. (There was a souvenir for Ms on wall at Finca La Playa, BTW. Think have photo.)

On random note, I did see a local-ish guy wearing a poncho in Salento. (No hat with it.)

2025 Got ex large tinto (8.3kg, 16oz) at Juan Valdez landside after getting O6 up to 70%. Going to drink this and then go airside. Definitely not showing to advantage in terms of staying calm and cheerful today, the actual day in town not too bad but since heading out to airport have been feeling decidedly on tilt.

2120 Just got through immigration and security. No real fuss esp w security but auto gates at immigration (migration?) didn't let me through and had to queue briefly for manual attention and woman said something about 21 days and (just chattily I think) that I had a lot of entries and I said I liked colombia. Not entirely sure but hey they let me out, this 21 days just *may* be how long I have been in the country since entering from panama but don't think so as that was prob 4th. anyway, I guess it's fine.

Just checked passport, I have a stamp dated today which is presumably exit and I do have an entry stamp for 4th which says 90 days (validity). Anyway, I didn't say "si" to anything I didn't understand (I did say "gracias" at one point when I was tbh a bit vague but suspect this was OK) and since I am free here airside I guess it's all sweet.

Let's check out prospect of buying aguardiente.

2149 Wandering over towards gate. Looked in couple of duty free places just past security, first didn't seem to have AA but got a litre bottle for "USD13" (but had to choose COP or GBP when paying on ccard, confusingly - I picked COP) at attenza and I asked and the guy there said it was OK for carry on baggage. Have squashed it into bag (I pulled clothes out onto floor and packed them round the nice-ish bag I got with the bottle - now doubting myself as write this but I *did* check hadn't left anything on floor after) and subsequently stopped for a bit of a tinker and to throw one of my litre plastic bottles out. I don't think my bag looks too huge and if they *do* quibble with it being oversize I think (I just checked avianca site) I can take daypack out of main bag and use it as my "personal item" which should make everything technically compliant but fingers crossed it won't come to that.

2201 Sitting at gate A10. Found water dispenser and have filled the remaining litre bottle; I have this in inside pocket of fleece. I feel vaguely overburdened but there is no way I am overweight (unless the water somehow counts, and worst case I can discard it) and if forced to repack I am 95% confident I can fit my main bag and personal item in the regulation guides - it's just that I have the daypack inside the main bag for reduced fuss until I get to my seat.

I don't *like* having this mildly fragile glass bottle in my bag but I guess it will fingers crossed be fine. In theory being able to bring an alcoholic souvenir back (even if I had to buy it airside - but COP50k approx is not bad for a litre, iirc I paid 14-15k approx for that 375ml? bottle I got in Manizales) is an extra benefit of a direct flight (though it *may* be possible given security seals or receipts or whatever to do a non-direct flight with these liquids in hand luggage, I should check this out next time I fly non-direct rather than assuming it isn't OK).

Squashing some more charge into O6 using powerbank, there are power stations along this "corridor" of gates but I have enough power in the powerbank to not need to faff with them.

For some reason Dropbox has duplicated this file a billion times and it may be some parts have got "lost" into some versions but not others. I may be able to sort this out when I get home if I remember.

Avianca didn't tell me to do checkmig form this time and I didn't and given no one mentioned it (even tho there are small signs I didn't read with a qr code on the migration officer cubicles) I assume this is fine and is nothing to do with why the automatic gates didn't work for me.

People intermittently being called up to desk to show documents. I assume I won't be called (it is a direct flight and I am a UK citizen, unlike that time I was called flying from Bucaramanga to Panama City) but this sort of thing always makes me edgy.

I feel mildly over-warm in the fleece but it's not terrible, and I will want it on on the flight (and if I don't I can stick it in my daypack once I am on board).

2310 On plane (B787), all seems OK. Not even a mention of wheeled bags only in overhead lockers. Flight does not look massively full but people still boarding.

Oddly the English language automated boarding announcement kept saying destination was "Londra" , which is IIRC Italian.

2322 No, looking quite full now. And all three seats in my row are occupied, not a big deal of course.

2325 Quite a lot - poss all - of the cabin crew seem to be wearing masks. I don't think they were when I flew out. I hope this is just their choice.

Lots of different lA country ads playing on seat back screens. As on flight inbound, it looks like the seat back screens are fixed in place and won't pivot to accomodate the seat being reclined. Meh, even less important this time on a night flight.

Ads vaguely annoying as they spur vague desire to travel plus a kind of fomo as they show "idealised" travel experiences. Think we've had CR, Panama, Mexico and Guatemala so far, and it  may not have looped back round.

On the plus side the soundtrack is afaict just music with the "commentary" in subtitles only.

Thu 28th 0001 Slightly disconcerted (visions of leaking duty free) by the odd drop of water but a) figured out the angles were wrong and it was probably coming from an overhead vent b) a cabin crew member just came by (I suspect guy in window seat pressed call button) and explained it is just a bit of condensation.

He at least is not wearing a mask, so presumably it is at least not entirely mandatory for crew.

Watching The Duke.

0114 Meal served, not too bad really. TD isn't bad either, not finished it yet, sort of enjoying it yet it's also sort of vaguely cringe (but not quite that) and annoying - maybe cos I sort of half agree and half disagree with a lot of what's going on.

Left leg hurting, fuck knows why this happens when I sit for prolonged periods (but not eg at computer at home - it seems to be more a vehicle thing). Will get up and go for piss/walk a bit once meal service finished.

0732 Finally nodded off (listening to music) but it took a while. Semi-woken with vague and confusing impressions everyone on plane was rushing to get forward - it was just the two people to my left wanting to get out .

I have drunk a bit of my litre of water just now and a bit earlier. I am glad I have it though trying to husband it. I don't feel great but for sleeeping on a plane I don't feel that bad.

We are 1010 miles from London and I suspect they might serve breakfast soon-ish.

Just been for a piss since I was up anyway and did kind of need it.

0738 Cabin lights came on a few mins ago and the trolleys are starting to make their way up to the fancy end of the plane, I think.

0826 Finished breakfast (scrambled eggs, fruit salad, bread rolls with butter, black coffee).

(days later) I've just merged the weird duplicate versions Dropbox insisted on creating for this file. Only one small chunk (the 1045 entry) had gone missing anyway and I've restored it. My other notes say I got back to flat about 1700.I think we maybe landed 15-30 minutes late but I'm not (and wasn't at the time) completely sure. We may have touched down at the time the flight was due to land but obviously it takes longer to get to the gate. Not that important.

I got all my edible souvenirs home intact. I may do some kind of post-mortem later but for now I just wanted to finally get the merged version of this final day(s) of the trip posted before it gets lost or forgotten.

Wednesday, 27 March 2024

Bogota, Tuesday

Tue 26th 1234 Back at hostel. Topping up O6 before heading down to LC to try to have lunch at La Tinaja de la Abuela and meet G/J at 3. I have signed up for the lang exch near here (and I found the place on my wanderings earlier), it starts at 4 and is free before 6 and finishes/turns into a "party" at 9, so it looks like I can more or less turn up when i like and I think it may reduce awkwardness of "saying goodbye" to G/J and not overly intruding on them if I can say I'm off to lang exch and see them for say an hour or two.

Didn't sleep too badly, tho woke up several times and was drowsing semi-comfortably in bed before 8am alarm. Actually down at breakfast by 830, cornflakes and bread and marmalade and coffee, I was only one there tho local-ish (staff/resident?) guy with walking frame came in and said hi, he asked me to tell reception the milk was "dañada" and I vaguely worry it was slightly off - the cereals tasted slightly weird but I haven't eaten cereals of *any* brand in years and they didn't taste terrible. Fingers crossed.

Water was and still is off. I shaved using water from a bottle.

Feel vaguely sweaty but I almost certainly won't have time to shower before lang exch.

I had arepa de huevo and empanada de carne and a white coffee at Parilla San Martin (they don't seem to understand "pintado" here, tho PSM staff didn't seem to understand me much at all - it is possible they use "perico" to mean white coffee, not sure) (about 12K? not sure) and wandered and found lang exch venue and got sick+mildly scared of being accosted by maybe beggars or maybe ambulant vendors round the region "SE" of BBC and then had a white coffee (4.5K, used up some change) at place didn't get name of but had "Il buen cafe..." or something sign inside which isn't far from hostel and now back here.

I think the area near hostel may be Zona Rosa or Zona T rather than Chapinero but really not sure, this is just based on some street signs.

All this is broadly fine. These beggar-ish types do make me wonder if I'm safe to walk round tomorrow post-checkout with my passport in my flip belt. But I also don't much like the idea of leaving it in my bag at the hostel, even if in a padlocked compartment, just in case my whole bag goes astray. Have to see how it goes.

No idea when is "best" to leave to head down to LC. I reckon TM could well take 30-45m and given lang exch timing I want to eat a "main" meal before I meet G/J - I hope tdla is open/not chocked, probably be OK. I can probably kill a modest amount of time wandering LC and/or drinking coffee but don't want to go nuts.

Oh, my first foray out was to Carulla nearby where I got 1kg panela and some stupidly expensive sweets for nephew/niece. I brought that back and emptied my bag out and have semi-packed. 1kg panela is perhaps a lot to carry but even with 750ishml water and the fleece in blog says bag was under 7kg when I came out and I will wear the fleece on the plane (and temporarily while passing through any checkpoints) and I think I am also allowed a personal item (my daypack, which I can put whatever in in unlikely event weiht is a concern) and the only "extra" stuff compared to when I came out are the flip flops, tiny souvenirs, some papers and today's purchases. I also expect/hope to buy a litre-ish bottle of aguardiente airside unless the price is insane, but that's only going to be about another kg so we're kind of looking at 9kg plus flip flops and a few papers and I think my limit is 10kg and this is before you factor in wearing the fleece instead of having it in bag and using daypack to offload some weight at a push.

Yes I will have to lug this weight (minus aguardiente) to airport and all of it across London, but that is hardly an epic journey and if it works properly it will be nice to bring back these consumable souvenirs.

1251 Been to bog, water might be back on.

Did see young eng guy from last night and his two mates in street earlier but as we've never spoken didn't acknowledge them.

Nothing really against him to be clear. He was saying on his phone call everything is really cheap and if he sees a beer is like £1.50 he's all "maybe I won't have that, it's expensive" and I could completely identify with this. He also said he had an hour Uber ride and it was like £3, obviously he is more comfortable with this kind of thing than I am.

Chocolate does seem expensive here, but iirc it certainly also felt expensive (even compared to generally high prices) in CR and also looking further back it does feel like in LA in general it is quite pricey, ISTR discussing this at lang exch in Santiago in maybe 2018.

Somewhat arbitrarily gonna head out at 1pm.

2057 Just got back from lang exch.

Went into LC (about 30 mins on TM plus modest waiting time). Went to TdlA and saw messages from Mum and called and got "possibly bad" news about Jaffa but won't discuss that here. Felt a bit upset but things may be OK and of course me eg going back to hotel to feel crap would not help anyone.

Met G/J no problem, I found corner 12 near Botero museum. Good to see them and have a chat. I left about 6 as I wanted to be on TM before dark, they very generously said they'd pick up the bill. Had three bers with them, first a fancy mora stout at 6% and the other two more basic Poker. Corner 12 seems a nice enough place and has a reasonable selection of beers and I suspect it's not super pricey (tho not sure) and I could see myself going again.

Got back to hostel about 1845ish and had a piss and called Mum and then walked on to Vintrash for lang exch. Queue to get in, 10k cover as after 6pm, it was maybe 1930-1945 when got there. Inside lots of tables but no obvious space and also no obvious Spanish group except a basic one and even then it wasn't clear I could (there may not have been a seat) or should sit down and just join them. Maybe if I'd been there at 4-5pm it would have been different, not that I regret meeting actual proto-friends like G/J instead of going to that.

Couldn't see any prices for beer, they only had Stella and Corona in fridge so I asked for a Corona and it was fucking 17k! For the usual 330ml bottle. I was mildly hacked off but made an effort to remain smileyish and I loitered around (by an advanced spanish and basic korean pair of signs at an empty table) and more by luck than judgment ended up speaking English with a couple of locals - one spoke better English than the other and I am not sure they understood me perfectly but it was nice to have a chat. They turn the volume up around 830-9pm and by 830ish there was just one of the locals talking to me and he was going to leave so we left together and tho I think it was in his direction he very kindly walked home with me (tho from a safety POV I half wonder if this was bad as solo I'm not advertising my foreigner status by speaking English). One (apparently they are mostly Venezuelan) guy fist-bumped me and asked for money but I said no without it being a big deal.

I nursed the one beer both on price and "not getting too drunk esp when it didn't feel that fun" grounds and that was fine.

I am actually yawning now.

I think given I want to be up for breakfast and that is 8-10 and checkout is 11 I will probably go to bed now. I'll clean my teeth but not shower and then I can shower after breakfast and be as "fresh as possible" for the longish day+night until I get home and can shower again. It will also be easier to pack tomorrow when I have showeed etc. I will set alarms on both phones to reduce risk of oversleeping but given I've had like four beers since 3pm and I am going to bed not much after 9pm I don't think there's a huge risk of oversleeping and having to pack in a mad rush.

Still not entirely sure what I will do with passport tomorrow but either option (leave it in bag at hostel vs keep it on me in flip belt) is probably not terrible and it just comes down to which particular (fingers crossed) unlikely event ("deep-ish" mugging vs bag loss at hostel) could happen.

Yawning again, so yes, I think let's move towards bed. Vaguely tempted to snack on the mani garapinado I have but I will resist, I am not really hungry and they will be a good reserve for flight (tho I plan to eat a lot tomorrow during day and prob two "main" meals) and if I don't need them a bonus treat (tho I am sure you can buy them in UK) back home. Let's go do teeth.

Kudos for at least going to LE and making an effort and despite it feeling socially unpromising (lots of people seemed to be in groups and maybe I could/should have boldly introduced myself to a stranger but it didn't quite feel that kind of place) not just necking my beer and walking out and not utterly flipping out about the crappy pricing and the queue (which really made no sense, it wasn't that busy inside tho it was busy, and even the reservados/vip line hardly seemed to move) and the cover charge. I could prob have done better (thrown caution to the wind and spoken to random people) but I could have done worse and with it being last night and so forth I didn't do too badly.

But let's go do my teeth and go to bed.

2140 Copied photos off O6 onto USB thumb drive and onto K1 (so tho it may run battery down overnight some may get backed up).

Found e-mail from Avianca in spam from Sat about bidding on a business class upgrade. No e-mails about checking in, I might expect one to turn up 2355ish tonight.

Just checked *again* and flight is 27th March at 2335. Paranoia kicking in. Anyway, let's send this and finally get into bed.

Tuesday, 26 March 2024

Salento-Bogota and Paramillo del Quindio hike (part 2)

Mon 25th 0616 Sitting in front passenger seat of otherwise empty bus to Armenia. 6.xk.

Slept borderline OK but did keep waking up and the damn plastic mattress advertising every roll or turn (mine and other people's) was getting a bit annoying. Woke up maybe 5ish feeling tired and "oh fuck, I have to get up soon" .

Bit of a whiny git during packing etc in dark in dorm with eg cleaning teeth feeling noisy as fuck at the open sink inside dorm and at phone GPS refusing to lock.

Bag feels like it is utterly bulging despite my only new acquisitions being some tiny souvenirs, and I have about half a litre of water and ate most of the 250g packet nuts/fruit I had been lugging round since start of trip. I suspect it just needs packing "cleanly" and maybe things like having dirty trousers in dry bag instead of loose inside bag and able to fit round stuff doesn't help. There's also the general dorm thing where you can't really pack properly.

FWIW sink was just open in dorm, sep toilet and shower cubicles also in dorm and the shower cubicle was basically "all wet" - there were two hooks, and my trousers got sprinkled hanging on those as I showered, so you had to get mostly (un)dressed in dorm. Not end of world but a bit crappy and just describing situation.

I hope this *is* the first bus to Armenia. Probably is. Driver chap said unprompted (he asked where I was going) I'd easily get a bus to Bogota, so fingers crossed.

0723 On bus (luckily got aisle seat despite forgetting to ask) at Armenia, due to leave 0730. 60k. asked three companies, first said 0830 and I nearly stupidly bought without asking round. Would have been slightly nice to visit bog before getting on but no time really and tbh I don't need to go. 7h trip, so with luck will be in Bogota 1430 and even with delays or breaks should be OK with daylight. See how it goes but gut feeling is am going to try via Transmilenio, it will require three changes but still. I have my tullave card in pocket, dunno if it has credit but it's a start.

Bag fits nicely in overhead rack and I have my daypack at my feet with a few nuts and my nc headphones in.

0951 Ibague. Got off and had piss (wasn't busting) and a warmed up ham and cheese croissant (4k). Also finished off the nuts and fruit mix from home earlier.

1601 At recep in new hostel. No one here but not fussed as entering wifi pwd. Got into terminal about 1420, walked over to Transmilenio with only one guy (on footbridge right by TM) trying to talk to me but I rudely said "no gracias" and kept walking and no fuss.

Do not understand TM routing or labelling, but altho poss went round houses my route via Universidades (Venezia just playing, Hombres G) and Av Jimenez worked.

Tiny bit watched Bond film (2006ish? that was date of death of one character on a grave) with no audio (Spanish audio playing quietly but I had headphones on with music) on bus.

1852 Back at hostel. Went out for personal mexicana pizza at place right by hostel (not bad, v lush jugo de lulo en leche), then wandered up towards a possible BBC just north of here which seemed to be another bar and went over to an actual BBC a bit east of there. Bit expensive at 20k a pint (was 16k in Medellin IIRC) and maybe just cos I've drunk a bit lately the two pints I had were OK but not "wow" . Started to piss it down towards end of second pint and toyed with staying for third but it was expensive and wasn't feeling it. Got bit soaked on way back, was gonna go into supermarket for panela and maybe some snacks/soft drinks for tonight but I missed it, went into an Oxxo and got an econolitre of Colombiana for 2.8k and 185g of Takis Fuego for a shocing (no price on shelf, natch) 9.8k but I figured fuck it under the circumstances. Colombiana is in fridge, not labelled as per instructions COS THERE IS NO FUCKING PEN OR TAPE.

room is quite nice, top floor, roof terrace with french people talking out on it. bit hacked off I still need to finish writing up trek. in hindsight despite minor extra weight given I had a lot of time on my hands it would have been good to take K1 with me and do writeups during it (unlike San Blas trip where I was constantly occupied).

mildly soaked, gonna go have a shower and wash one top and one set of uw so I have enough for the next two days and can if i want maybe shower and/or change either here at say 4pm on last day (shared bathroom etc, they might let me - oh, no towel here either, grr) or at airport (can sneak into bog and change if I want even if I don't shower) as well.

Feeling vague "ought to do something special" as last day(s) but need to take it easy. Was a lang exch 20ish blocks south today, there is a more local one tomorrow and I may go but not forcing myself.

2021 Out at sole (large) table on (enclosed) roof terrace, no one else here. Got my econolitre.

Fwiw it was raining quite heavily this morning as we were on bus going into Armenia (which is quite big, and has a cool old steam train on a roundabout - no photo).

There is a nice brown-ish tabby cat here.

I am in Sierra Nevada room. And the - ffs can't remember where I was - last night hostel was called Combi, I didn't twig until I got there and saw all the murals etc - it is "themed" around what I'd call the VW camper, but on seeing the murals and combi clicking I was inevitably reminded of Men At Work's "Down Under" .

So day 2 of hike I wasn't entirely clear where we were going but we walked up steep feeling hillside from finca and then trogged some way and came into a kind of valley where (as it turned up) we walked up to the ridge between the paramillo proper (I half wondered if we were going up there; the extra height is prob negligible but it's prob unsafe or not path or risk of falls or whatever) and quindio norte, with surprise amazing views (including Lago del Otun) in the distance (so from ridge you get cool view across in dir of LdO and also back across valley we had come up) and then up the ridge of quindio norte, which peaks at something like (have photo of height in rocks) 4750m asl. I was generally finding it hard on my legs and altitude may or may not have played a part in that but I didn't feel significantly (not saying there was nothing) headachey or anything. I *was* a bit worried as i only had 1.5l water (which guide had said was OK) and didn't want to run out, so it did perhaps mean i got a bit dehydrated.

Meeting Joanie and Garry at 3pm tomorrow BTW by the Botero museum. This works well, as it means I can prob avoid going to LC on Wed and thus will *prob* carry passport all day in hidden belt rather than leaving it in bag at hostel.

On the way down I slipped a few times (even after Nico gave me a hiking stick thing) on the very loose gravelly steep inclines but I didn't do anything worse than mildly bash up my arm and wrist.

We came back a different route and even Nico seemed intrigued/surprised by the terrain (some muddyish but almost ice texture underfoot feeling green mossy "islands" with muddy pools around). It felt a bit of a slog, tho fortunately mostly flat, walking back after we got down into the valley and through this "island" area but not too bad.

Lunch was a bit of a pisser. Served decent soup and then some decent rice and a 99% prob dressed salad and some prob chicken but genuinely not sure covered in tomatoey muck and a large potato in the same. I wasn't *ecstatic* at getting inedible-to-me food, but it clearly wasn't a serious issue. Main concern was risk of causing offence or something. In the end I scraped the muck off the potato and ate as much of the inside as I could and "hid" my plate under the bench in the raised kitchen area we were sitting in and went off at an opportune moment on pretext of cleaning teeth.

This threw me into a bit of an emotional tailspin. I felt really awkward and like I ought to keep out of the way and there were loads of new people from some big groups turning up today and it all just felt weird and shit and by the time Nico came to tell me to come in to dinner (me wondering as always if I should just go in but not wanting to shove my way in esp with so many people there today so needing to eat in relays) I felt kind of shitty and I ended up taking (I was asked) only a small portion of the bad-sounding goulash which was actually fine in order to try to head off the possibility of further offense even though it was good and more would have been nice and I think I was mostly eating with family/guides by this point and I just felt super awkward.

All very irrational but even in hindsight not sure I know what I "should" have done. I suppose if I'd been there (I was in bog when Nico called me) when dinner was being dished out I could have asked for none of the sauce stuff and headed it off. But apart from that, I don't see (given I'm not kicking up a fuss and demanding an alternative etc) that not liking the sauce makes me a terrible person. And while maybe I should just have assumed it *wouldn't* give offence and not worried about it, worrying about giving offence hardly seems like a terrible failing on my side. meh. I dunno. But rightly or wrongly this definitely made me feel shit and compared to the v cool scenery (even if I felt a smidge awkward with the group as prob already noted) of the morning and the feeling of achievement, the lunch-onwards part of day 2 was pretty shitty.

Anyway, woke up quite a bit in night (prob not cos of this) and altho iirc breakfast was supposed to be 7ish I might have got up 630. Did chat bit with Daniel and Pia and they said they had had to turn back. Chatted with Felix over breakfast (which was fine, slightly watery scrambled egg stuff but not a big deal) and he showed me his glacier photos. Paid Patricia and it was 182k, I didn't tip, dunno if I should have done. there was some minor doubt as to whether I was just paying for myself or Nico too, I (perhaps stupidly) said I wasn't sure and I'd paid Nico for his guide services, and she "luckily" said prob just me then, and given that was a (reasonableish) 182k and N had told me 200-300 total I am guessing that was right. But lesson learned: I should confirm this with guide when booking any kind of pay-as-you-go non-inclusive tour in future, to avoid problems.

Felix and his Colombian friend whose name I have sadly forgotten came with us for the walk back (maybe 25ish km, and same-ish on way out - I do have GPS logs but not looked at them). There were some cool views and some nice dogs/cats/fluffy chickens en route but I won't try to duplicate photos. Also some meanish dogs at one finca we passed through and though they were fine I'd have been freaking out if I'd been on my own.

After the initial bit the walk wasn't *massively* uphil but of course descending is not trivial and (tho nothing like day 2) I did fall over once or twice, despite having hiking stick. TBH while I tried to be positive and wasn't *too* whiny even internally and don't think I did whine or ask questions externally, esp as we were setting a fair pace and I didn't always like to stop and ask for a water break, I did frankly get to feel fucking sick of walking on the way back and was telling myself stuff like it has to be over within an hour or two and every step is a step closer. It wasn't physically terrible but I think my legs were getting slightly wobbly/uncertain towards the end, dunno if that was just today's walk or the cumulative effects of the three days.

I was also a bit "annoyed" we clearly weren't gonna be back by midday or even 2-3. We hadn't set off til somewhere between 8 and 9 and in the end we got into the tourist park bit of valle de corocora about 1445 (approx time of arrival at finca la playa on days 1 and 2, by coincidence) but still had a fair walk to the jeep place (I paid 10k for two, Nico decently gave me 5k for his share - not a lot but shows decent principle so to speak) and by the time I had gone back to atardecer de salento with Nico, given him a 100k tip, squashed contents of plastic bag into main bag and walked round to Combi it was about 1600.

I'll be honest - perhaps low blood sugar, not sure - I was a whiny git while unpacking/repacking at Combi. I just wanted to go out and have food but I was faffing with a seemingly endless quantity of plastic bags and general crap and I had a shower in the small facility etc.

I was gonna go to Rincon de Lucy but their menu del dia board wasn't out. I went to Ewhatsit in hope of curry but again they were shut afaict. So - and to be fair this had been one of my "fantasy" options during day 3 hike anyway - I went to supermarket and got some bread and mortadela and gorged on sandwiches back at hostel.

I then went out and had two craft draught beers at Callejon (pricey but nice), 2 pintados (8k plus 1k tip for elderly-ish waiter who seemed v friendly and reminded me of Alf from the Swan in City years back) and then went to kafe del alma where I'd been first night in Salento and listened to OK live music. Despite being served a drink for someone else on arrival, I then seemed to be invisible and while I wasn't waving and flailing arms no staff seemed to want to deal with me for about 20 mins and I vaguely wondered if I was somehow persona non grata, tho in the end they did serve me and I had 3 club colombia roja, gave musician 5k tip and went back to hostel and cleaned teeth and went to bed.

Random note: sign at FdlP showing various prices (eg beer at 8k, not insane but didn't have any) showed "brandy with milk" at COP70k. This feels insanely expensive, I have no idea why or why this would be so desirable or whatever, but mentioning it fwiw.

Oh yeah, on day 2 walking back through valley I suddenly thought "I haven't seen a coconut for weeks" . :-)

I'm just gonna shove in these rough notes I made during the hike on o6, they are prob duplicates but I don't think they're harmful and might as well keep them:

trek

day 1
5k Jeep
6k sendero finca el porton
met bloke from villa de leyva hostel
lost Vaseline
lunch at finca la playa pretty good
watched video and nearly fell asleep
mooching, invited into kitchen where met vdl guuly
left as was warmer and felt bit awkward w "family", asked about using sockets to chafg ephone and said yes so I took phone off Charing on power bank it had reached 88pc ish and put power bank on to top back up
3700m at finca according to GPS
not seen nico all afternoon tho no actively sought out
overcast at finca, light rain last part of hike, put rain jacket on - it is drying on line outside now
got to fimca maybe bit before. 3pm

German couple Daniel and pia

day 2
up at 520 tho breakfast not 530
natty and maybe ash??prob alon
"amor para dos"? song

sudden thought on walking back that hadn't seen a coconut for ages
up to 4760mish
back for lunch r 1445ish sim to day 1
sauce
showered but didn't change any clothes as didn't sweat that much and wanted to conserve non musty clothes for salento/bogota

day 3
finca la playa both nights
walked back with Felix? Spanish guy and his Colombian friend whose name i forget - plus my guide nico of course
cop182k finca la playa food and accom (mine only)
got back to touristy park bit maybe 1445 v approx but still some walking from there, jdep ride on back butbsyarted to rainvsovwe squeezed in, prob got to new hostel about 1600ish maybe a hair before, was internally rather whiny aboutbsortinf out all crap in bag and showering when just wanted to go out, also bit internally whiny but not too bad during seemingly endless walk
5k Jeep
89k hostel 2 nights
100k tip
14k approx supermarket bread and mortadela 250g
37k inc tip 2x330ml craft beers at callejon first wheat second between red and black 10pc
2 pintado 8k+1k recuerdo
3 330ml club Colombia roja 4.7pc kafe del Alma
<20k inc tip beers kafe DeL alma
5k tip for live music

hostel combi didn't realise meaning til arrived and saw artwork etc then had down under stuck in head

brandy and milk was 70kbat finca la playa, no idea why



*Slightly* annoying youngish English guy on a phone call telling how good his trip is and asking about a friend's life. I'm probably just a touch jealous of what he's doing here, it sounds like he is travelling with a group, and he also seems to have way more friends back home than I do. But notwithstanding the fact things could always have gone better and some end-of-trip blues etc, on the whole I can't say it's been a bad trip for me either.

I think that's me caught up. I prob packed a bit better than for SBA but a) having stuff inside plastic bags is still a fucking nightmare for packing and getting stuff out etc b) I still found myself wondering where the fuck item X was that I knew I'd brought but wasn't sure which compartment of bag or whether I'd buried it at bottom or hidden it in some plastic bag full of misc junk was still a bugger.

I am not going to "run away" from this English guy but my plan always kind of was to have my takis fuego in my room and I have nearly finished this econolitre and was mainly sitting out here in order to grind out the trek report, so I will hang on here a bit - some chap has come up with a comically large armful of food and appears to be about to sit in hammock, maybe he is just waiting for Eng guy, loads of people coming up now and think they know him - anyway, I don't want to run away but I was planning to go back to room soonish anyway so will probably hang on here reading and then go back to room in a bit.

2112 OK, he is still on phone and I think his mates are gonna play cards. I am probably going to go in a minute, sick of sitting here. I wouldn't mind going to bed etc but will snack first.

I asked and tap water is supposedly potable here. I may slog down to kitchen and fill my bottles there just in case bathroom water is not the same somehow.

2118 In room, did go down to kitchen, brief pip-pip with hostel staff cleaning out fridge.

In some ways I find it hard to believe I am in Bogota/a big city, despite the terrible traffic last half hour of bus ride in and approx 1h30 fucking round on TM to get here. Maybe it just feels different here in Chapinero (or wherever it really is, I wonder if hostel flatters itself by saying it is in Chapinero) or it's just because it isn't quite the same as when I first arrived and was in LC or it's because I have been in smallish towns.

Not actually that bothered but a thought to maybe analyse: wrt mild "jealousy" of youngish Eng guy maybe having a better time than me, even putting age aside, it is perhaps easier if you're travelling with friends as it is less intimidating to eg go out at night to bars/clubs etc. I shouldn't make excuses, and I haven't done *too* badly overall, but I also maybe shouldn't beat myself up over an apples to oranges comparison. Of course (age aside) in principle I could meet people to travel with/go out with in hostels etc but again quite often it has felt like the hostels I've been in just weren't that lively/friendly, rather than it seeming like their was a lively social scene I just wasn't invited/able/confident enough to join in with. Meh. Just an observation.

2204 I feel a bit bloated. Vaguely down, prob end of trip blues and some reflections on my social situation etc. I maybe will make an effort to attend the near-ish lang exchange tomorrow - it slightly "clashes" with seeing G/J at 3pm, but I think it *starts* at 5 but runs fairly late and is not something you have to attend the whole of.

Going to go clean teeth and go to toilet and then to bed I think. I plan to be up for the (apparently meagre, but whatever) free breakfast tomorrow and I will try to get to a supermarket and buy some panela and ideally some novel-ish sweets for nephew and niece and then that's sorted. I will also try to eat before meeting G/J so if I want I can go on to lang exch without eating. I just double checked and my flight is 23xx on 27th, I prob need to do online checkin at some point but given I paid for a seat this isn't critical and it's something I could likely do (I don't know when it will open, I rather suspect Avianca will e-mail me) on Wednesday and then go (even tho I don't need a printout) to a net cafe type place to get it printed.

No harm in doing a "social" post-mortem on trip once I'm back home (as I also will do - this is nothing fancy, just musing and writing - on the more practical/technical aspects of packing and tools and techniques and so forth) but no point getting hung up on it now, when my mind is naturally a bit clouded by end of trip blues and the minor stresses of getting back home etc.

I will make the observation - sadly I have no system for "remembering" these later - that in terms of improving my Spanish, it may be that the kind of travel I'm doing is not "optimal" , as I am mostly speaking tourist kind of stuff with the odd "flourish" and interacting mostly with non-Spanish-speaking tourists. I am sure it does some good and there is the hearing it being spoken in colloquial form a bit aspect, but if I really wanted to push higher some combination of an actual Spanish school or something immersive with more contact with native speakers would probably be better. This is not my only goal with travelling, of course.

2229 FWIW the shower here (earlier, not just now), against my initial expectations, was genuinely hot. Maybe wussy but after getting mildly soaked it was nice. To be fair Combi also had hot-ish water in moderation. In some ways Combi was a nice hostel - they had curtains on the bunks, for a start - but the super-crinkly plastic mattresses and the lack of anywhere to *chain* my bag to (given you were supposed to store it in a kind of wooden frame) and the super low privacy dorm shower etc situation spoiled it. (They were also super unhelpful re my request for a lower bunk, even though I asked days ahead it was all "depends on availability" rather than saying "yes, we have reserved one for you" - I did get one FWIW anyway.)

2233 Right, bed. Have set an alarm for 8 and we'll see what happens.


Monday, 25 March 2024

Salento, Sunday and Paramillo del Quindio hike (part 1)

Sun 24th 0846 At Molinero (sp?! and also from mem as no sign inside) with choc croissant and a white coffee. Didn't sleep super well, new hostel dorm is sort of nice (curtained off bed/cubicle) but the mattress is plastic-wrapped and makes crinkling noises (mine and other people's) and my little toes were perhaps hurting a bit after trek etc. Who really knows why didn't sleep well tho. Kept waking up in night, didn't feel too bad, finally got up 730 as didn't seem much point hanging on in bed just for sake of it, tho didn't leave till 0830ish as was eg adding photos to album on GP and having huge dump.

Brought K1 out and left O6 in locker, the idea being that today is mostly about bumming round, eating junk and some non-junk and drinking coffee and the only major "job" being to buy a few souvenirs. So I figured I can risk not having internet on the go (and a lot of places will have wifi) and I can gradually write up last few days as I go.

0853 Think I didn't sleep super well night before trek, or rather slept OKish but kept waking up.

Met guide at appointed time (can't remember, 6ish, think I wrote it down before) and gave him my plastic bag of stuff to store and he stashed it away. Gave him the other 400k too so it couldn't get lost on trip.

We walked into town and got on a jeep - he rode on the back but I sat inside. He told me if anyone asked we were just going for a walk in the valley, which seemed odd but whatever. Guide was Nico(las) BTW, if didn't already say - youngish, early-mid 20s? Unlike everyone else we paid when we got there - 5k. I was feeling vaguely edgy at this point but it gradually diminished over time.

0911 At bus terminal, happened to be passing so popped in to ask. First bus to Armenia tomorrow is at 6, there's one every 15 mins and it takes an hour.

1003 At Cafe Danubio for a pintado. Shopped round for keyrings and fridge magnets and probably overpaid for tat but in any case I have a fridge magnet (8k) and two leather keyrings (sadly not the same) for 8k each, got magnet in one shop and keyrings in another. But this is at least a baseline set of tat for nephew and niece and if I see anything half decent here or in Bogota I might buy that as well.

So we got off the jeep and iirc walked off and a bit later I had to pay 6k to enter Sendero Finca El Porton (it's written on the wristband). We then walked on, at some point we did some stretching exercises (iirc by a green painted caravan I photographed) and walked on further. Gonna be vague about this kind of stuff. Had a piss at side of  path there. For whatever reason I didn't need to take much in the way of dumps during the whole trek, I squeezed a tiny bit out at the finca we stayed at a couple of times but very little.

Didn't always take photos as we were moving quite a lot and I did my best not to ask for extra rests/water stops etc. Guide on first day only quite insistent on me drinking water with the suero hidratante "diarrhea rehydration" stuff in, but on subsequent days he never mentioned it and so I only used it on first day and still have two of the sachets left.

I took about 7 bananas with me, IIRC had one or two on first day, two on second day after lunch and ate four partly just to finish the now slightly manky remaining ones off on day three - the very last back at Atardecer de Salento (hostel for first two nights in Salento and where guide lives) before heading off to new hostel.

I did feel a little bit headachey at one point but mentioned it and guide told me to drink more of the hydration solution stuff and it wasn't a big deal.

Guide shared some food (brownie, tin of tuna and crackers) with me during walk. We saw Morrogacho (sp) and he said he had camped up there a lot with friends, esp at full moon. Apparently it was (?) a "templo universal" for the natives, and as a general note he seemed to be quite a spiritual-y sort of person.

We crossed Cerro La Virgen at IIRC 3800m. The rain mostly held off, it started to drizzle a bit round about there and put rain jacket on. Had worn fleece in morning but guide said it was important to sweat as little as possible to minimise dehydration and I took it off round about the green caravan point. I didn't wear waterproof overtrousers at any point but he did ask if I had them and I did and I think this justifies having brought them with me. I will say now we got lucky with the weather generally, except for this drizzle for the last few km into Finca La Playa (where we stayed the two nights) and the jeep ride and walking from old to new accom it was mostly dry and the second day at least was pretty bright.

1037 Back at hostel. I had left alarm on on the o6, ffs. No one seems too upset but bit embarrassing all the same. I normally set alarms on the o6 instead of k1 precisely because the k1 stays behind while o6 goes with me but got tripped up by taking k1 out today. (I do set alarms on k1 but either earlyish ones which will almost certainly go off when I am in bed or when it's super critical or when I am travelling and will both phones with me.)

k1 being super laggy.

Have shaved with my new blade and it has of course drawn blood, albeit only one "significant" cut, so I'm just loitering round now waiting for it to stop bleeding before I go out.

1137 At El Rincon de Los Recuerdos - got a granizado de cafe (12k) which isn't bad. Took a while to prepare. Bit fancier than Juan Valdez with cream and what looks like choc sauce on top, which looks cool but is perhaps not so easy to drink.

I am not certain my guide was official. all the other guides seemed to know him which gave me confidence, but things like him telling me to say we were just going walking in the valley (it never came up) and the fact eg the sign at the (apparently closed) office type hut at what was probably the entrance to PNN said stuff like "min groups of 3" vaguely suggests otherwise. TBF things like this may be winked at with locals who obviously come into the park a lot etc.

1143 Sitting on balcony ("lucky" as would have sat lower down inside had it not been so busy) and some sort of parade (prob related to semana santa) is passing/has passed in main square. Videoed quite a bit of it, there wasn't that much more after I stopped. (But for all I knew there was going to be a long stream of people and I couldn't record forever.)

I had an oblea (4k - I picked "simple" with just arequipe, not 8k with literally four or five other syrups on, I think it was all of them not a choice) before coming here, quite nice if a bit sticky.

Anyway, when we got to Finca La Playa it all felt a bit chaotic and I was standing round like a spare part to some extent but not a huge deal. They gave us cups of warm agua panela and in some order we had lunch (sitting on the raised bit in the cosy and warm but a tiny bit smoky kitchen area, eating off our knees - lunch was soup and then roughly speaking rice with meat) and I was shown to a 4 bed dorm (super low top bunks, I picked a lower one and I had to be careful with my head against top bunk getting in/out) and ended up sharing with a couple from Munich (Daniel and Pia IIRC, though spelling is a guess) who we had periodically leapfrogged on the walk in - spoke to them a moderate amount over the three days, they were there to go up Tolima (I think - the one with the glacier crossing) and even had their own ice axes with them. They were suffering differently from altitude sickness (and he at least wasn't a believer in masking symptoms), though (jumping ahead) they did feel better the next day (when they had an acclimatisation hike up to 4x00m) and they did attempt the summit of Tolima but had to turn back becaue of altitude sickness. Obviously kudos to them for giving it a go and they didn't seem too upset, Daniel said he had mainly wanted to see the paramo (the region between iirc 2600 and 3200m where nothing iirc is over 3m and in practice at least round there was much lower - Nico said a lot of the frailejones which grow only 1cm a year had died or been cut back or something a while ago due to cultivation and as they grow so slowly the paramo was absolutely heaving with tiny ones which were still probably 100ish years old).

We got to FLP at about 1445 and after dinner and sorting out bed I was mostly left to my own devices. I was a bit cold at times and at one point I was sitting in "corridor" and they invited me to sit in kitchen for a bit. Did iirc at this point have a bit of a chat with some poss French people staying at another  finca 2km off and one of them - who I did half recognise - recognised me and he was one of the guys (not the coffee semi-business German guy or his Colombian friend) I'd met at the hostel in Villa de Leyva. Small world etc etc.

I really wish I could recognise people like that, I do need to work on it.

I did watch a saved video on my phone while lying on bed at some point during afternoon - I had taken my headphones and I'm glad I did. It was possible to charge phones there, they had solar power and there was a socket strip to plug chargers in. I also left my phone charging on bunk off power bank and it did work but I am 95% sure my long USB C cable is getting iffy and even when it is connected properly it is probably high resistance and charges slowly.

I did have a shower and change clothes after dinner. The shower had afaict two outlets, one of cold water and the other of "chill taken off" tepid water from a gas boiler gadget prob running off bottled gas. The cubicle was from from wind tight and I left bulk of clean and dirty clothes on chair outside with an opening in the wall to the outside and while not *terrible* it was probably character building, and I didn't spend ages under the tepid water stream and didn't use the other one at all. The water temperature itself wouldn't necessarily have been bad but in the generally rather chilly and damp (I might guess air temps in the 10Cish region, but I really don't know - except it was clearly not getting down towards 0 as my water bottle did not freeze overnight and the water was generally running not freezing etc). (I assume the water came from a small stream running under the property - there were some planks across it outside - as for eg the only hand/tooth washing sink was outside (a bit chilly for morning/night tooth cleaning but I was diligent and even flossed at night) and the tap was perpetually running with a trickle even when turned off, and presumably the only reason they didn't care about this was that they effectively had an infinite free water supply from this stream instead of eg relying on rainwater collection).

1209 Finished granizado a bit ago - ate the cream etc with the cut end of the (pleasingly plastic) straw, which I assume is the point. Will prob go see if Rincon de Lucy has their menu del dia on (they didn't 4-5pmish last night when I was feeling a bit desperate and maybe low blood sugar irritable) in a minute.

FWIW lots of tourists about, as think said before Salento feels v touristy but in quite a nice way. I do have a feeling that at least last night/today the majority of the tourists are Colombian - I might guess during the week foreigners predominate, as for >1 week trip people who travelled a long way (including I guess a smallish group of Colombians on holiday, but mostly people from outside Colombia, be they from europe/US or other LA countries or whatever) to get here weekends aren't that important, whereas at weekends localish people from "not too far away" can come in as they have time off work and they then predominate. (eg perhaps people from Medellin or Bogota, both of which are probably 6ish hours away by bus and maybe less by private car - Cali is probably even closer)

I did go into quite a few souvenir places and had a little chat with the owners earlier. As I say I suspect I overpaid as a lot of places were doing stuff at 6k (and one place even 5k iirc) but it is what it is.

1224 at rincon de lucy.

1301 Now at Restaurante Bar Casas Viejas on plaza. Getting tres cordilleras rosa to try it (9k). Had same as pre-trek at RdL, went down pretty well.

Yes, this is pretty nice, does definitely have a frutiness even to my limited palate. I might try one of the others after this, tho don't intend to drink a lot right now.

Dinner on day 1 was also pretty good, soup and then prob rice and a chicken drumstick and a piece of homemade choc cake. generally given agua panela to drink tho did get given a cup of black (prob instant) coffee during afternoon when talking to the guy from VdL and his friends.

Most of the chat over dinner IIRC in Spanish, though I think the two Germans from my dorm were there, and I did have a bit of a chat with a Spanish guy called iirc Felix and his Colombian friend who were going to go up Tolima (and spoiler they made it and I chatted with them at breakfast on day 3 and he showed me photos which were both impressive and scary of him on the glacier with the holes in it and he said you could hear the ice cracking underneath and the sunrise was very impressive). I didn't say that much in general and a lot of the very local slangy and rapid chat went over my head but got gist, even if slightly disappointing (and not for first time I do feel my Spanish is rather lumbering when I speak).

Made my excuses after and went to bed, having checked when I should get up and told iirc breakfast at 0530.

1311 TV here is showing stock type footage (no sound - "Wake me up before you gogo" is playing) of blue seas and green islands and rocky coasts and stuff and it reminds me (perhaps it *is* the same footage/YT channel/whatever) of the stuff on the TV in the Bogota hostel at the start of the trip.

Flashdance playing now...

Feel vaguely sad to have to leave but it's all good, as usual better than being glad and while it will be a little "rushed" (2 nights Bog, 1 night on plane, 1 night London then train up to visit family for easter) it will also be nice to get home and (after the family visit) try to resume "normal" life except (aspirations etc) not wasting so much time and being slightly more productive.

Perhaps its just the v scratched screen protector but despite putting brightness up to full the K1 screen seems v hard to see in bright sunlight compared to the o6.

1316 "Never gonna give you up" playing :-)

I don't think it was expected but I left a 3k tip on top of 17k bill at RdL. I didn't tip last time. And I took two folded 50k notes out of zipped belt while back at hostel earlier (and replaced them with my two folded USD20 bills from Panama part of trip - in a pinch, better to have USD than nothing) and I used one of those to pay at RdL to use it up rather than (not that I seriously expect a problem) being unable to pay for the bus when time is of the essence tomorrow morning because they don't like my creased 50k bills.

My completely unofficial self-inferred way to distinguish a frailejon (which appearently collect water from mist and feed the underground springs and contribute to n rivers which provide water to large proportion of the country) from a wax palm is that a frailejon has that kind of lumpy bumpy "trunk" all the way down to the ground, while a wax palm has the lumpy bumpy bit up near the crown and the trunk is relatively slender and smooth for almost its whole length.

And while I remember in the photos of the trek the guide is probably the one wearing the biggest backpack - on day 2 he was the only one of four of us with a "full-sized" pack.

1343 Completely unable to attract attention of either waiter, short of (which I haven't tried yet) vigorous and probably insulting arm waving. If this wasn't just my second beer I'd have some niggling suspicion they didn't want to serve me.

Still, it's not as if I'm in a huge rush and I'm occupying their table (not that they are scarce) for free. Last night I managed to be invisible for at least 20 minutes at Kafe del Alma, despite being served with a drink someone else had ordered almost as soon as I got there. (Again, I didn't go out of my way to indulge in perhaps excessive attempts to attract staff attention, but I was hardly hiding, and there I didn't even have a drink on the table as I'd just arrived.)

I never know what to do in these situations. Once a modest arm wave and a "disculpe" has been ignored once, it feels vaguely undignified to keep trying. I have been trying to make a bit of eye contact but it doesn't seem to help. There is a waiter standing right behind me but he has ignored me at least twice and is intermittently drinking a coke and might for all I know be on his break.

I'm gonna experimentally put my empty beer bottle across the far end of this four person table and see if that makes a difference.

1352 It is a bit annoying I'm probably going to be expected by them and/or compelled personally to tip 10% for service when I appear to be almost deliberately being ignored.

1354 Actually I will go up to the counter and order. This feels slightly like saying "actually you know, I would like some service and this is evidently the only way I am gonna get it" and will also mean I actually get my drink.

1355 Got my 3C mestiza. Guy didn't seem to find it odd I went up to order (perhaps sadly), but anyway.

Just seen group of 3-4 cyclists in matching kit on plaza, and seen similar (either on bikes or in cafes) earlier today. I assume these are local cycling club types or the like.

1402 Prob went to bed about 8ish on day 1. There was a huge stack of maybe 4 blankets on the bunk, I put two of them on (the top an oddly fetching childish cow design which I photographed) and felt reasonably warm.

Woke up at 520ish on alarm and manfully got up despite it being cold and dark (there was some suggestion the sunrise would be good, but it was cloudy and TBH we seemed to be kind of without great views to the west anyway, tho clouds prob big problem). Went for piss and after a few mins Nico appeared and it seemed breakfast would be a while but I asked about dogs and he said they'd be fine (and they were) so I went out and cleaned my teeth and ended up outside watching sunrise-ish with German couple and chatting to them a bit and Pia (who is apparently quite the photographer) took a photo of me and I took one of them together.

Inside for breakfast which was roughly scrambled eggs-ish (poss with added veg) and maybe some rice type stuff and prob some crackers with the (quite nice but don't know name of) very common white slightly rubbery cheese they have here.

Maybe 730-8ish (but photo timestamps would be definitive) set off out with Nico, Natty (20ish woman who may be one of the family and live there, but not sure - full name prob Natalia) and a guy who might have been caled Alon but not sure. (Just poss "Ash" but if I had to choose I'd go with Alon.) I got the vague impression Alon kind of knew the area but wasn't a guide as such (and Nico definitely seemed to take the lead) and that Natty knew the area a bit but if I understood some chat correctly had tried to go where we were going but had gone off down a different track at some point.

They were all chatting together in Spanish which I mostly followed. I felt a tiny bit awkward given they all knew each other but it wasn't too bad, and I generally do feel a bit awkward with groups and it probably wouldn't have made much difference if they'd all been native English speakers.

I'll observe here while I remember that I had terrible trouble knowing whether to use tu or usted and was flip-flopping horribly. To be scrupulously fair I am fairly sure eg Nico had been addressing me as "tu" at some point before we started so I'd try to remember to use tu, then during the day 1 walk with the two of us when I was in front (as he wanted me to set a pace I felt comfortable with) and we'd come to a fork and I'd ask him if it was this (gesturing) way or similar, he'd reply "si, señor" in an apparently deadpan way and so I'd try switching to usted, etc. And this is before we get on to the fact that I'm a lot less used to speaking to people using usted anyway, except I've been trying to default to it over here so I've got a sort of rusty clunky default usted going too. This is hardly the biggest problem with my Spanish but it probably contributed to some of the lumbering feeling when I spoke.

On a random note, I will say that based not just on my visit this morning but on walking past a few times, contrary to gb's prob outdated opinion that Cafe Danubio is "every LA fantasy" or something like that, I'd say that shop-cum-bar I had a couple of beers in when arriving in Guatape (?) after walking over from Barichara was *way* more stereotypically but apparently authenically LA in a cool kind of way.

Oh, on day 1 shortly after leaving the "office" bit in the park I realised I'd lost my vaseline tin out of my pocket. I went back to bench by "office" to check but no dice. And as I'd switched to my spare tin post SBA trip as the original tin had somehow gone kind of rusty and manky I hadn't brought the manky spare with me, so I was a bit stuck. Not utterly devastated by this but was a bit concerned. Serious lesson learned: esp now I don't keep change there and have small bills in another pocket, *even if I don't fear pickpockets*, I should make a point of keeping rh upper pocket zipped.

Been meaning to make a note on pocket use during trip for future ref. I have got into habit of:
- bit toilet paper in a plastic back in back left pocket
- loose coins in back right pocket (it zips, and the absolutely value is low if I am pickpocketed, and this keeps them accessible easily to try to make it easier to spend them, and avoids the annoying weight in a lower pocket as my legs move while walking)
- phone (and nothing else - would normally have hanky in here, but perhaps due to flip belt being in same region inside pocket I found hanky and phone getting vaguely entangled) in front left pocket - sometimes zipped but often not as it's awkward to pull phone out to take photo (zipped really only if I particularly fear pickpockets or something else shaking phone loose)
- binder clip wallet with bigish bills, misc tin and vaseline tin in front right pocket
- smallish bills in left leg above-knee pocket - these are my go-to for eg street food purchases along with coins in back right, and make it more practical to keep upper right pocket zipped if I want
- hanky, maybe some spare tissue and any random receipts etc in right leg above-knee pocket.

Obviously this is massively nerdy to write up but since it took me time to form these habits (my travel needs, habits and the quantity of pockets - I normally only have/use the two "standard" upper pockets back home) it might be useful to refer back to for a future trip.

I will say at this point that the zips I sewed in myself just cos these trousers had none in "main" upper pockets have worked well. The left pocket zip on black pair has come loose but I could have done repairs had I prioritised it/been less lazy/not had such a long dorm stretch in Panama, and I was sewing them all up a bit against the clock pre-trip and could prob have reinforced them more.

The extra zip I put in towards the bottom of the rh pocket (which is non-standard and would not be in a pair bought with zips on all the pockets like the Karrimor Panther trousers) has not in practice been that useful and I prob wouldn't bother putting it in on a new pair - a few times I zipped enough cash to pay hostel bill in there when travelling between places, but in reality the flip belt is easy enough to get to that since quite some time ago I just flip that out at reception to get cash out to pay on arrival. To be fair, altho I've got out of habit of using it, now I've stopped keeping loose change in there (loose change inevitably makes it hard to put stuff in/take stuff out of bottom part as it wants to fall in there) that bottom of pocket bit might be a bit more useful but I haven't felt any real need to use it anyway.

IIRC that "bottom of rh pocket" zip was also pretty fiddly to put in and took a disproportionate amount of time. It might possibly have been helpful to put "bottom of pocket" zip into one or both of the knee pockets, to allow something light and infrequently accessed to be stashed at the bottom of one of those pockets while leaving top free for other stuff, but I'm not sure I'd have found it all that useful - just not ruling it out right now.

1434 Finished second beer, gonna go pay and then get myself an ice cream and then prob go for a coffee and maybe a pastry.

1437 That worked out nicely. Paid 20k, got given 6k in change which was too much, so I was honest and pointed this out and handed 4k back. I wasn't going to tip unless they "defaulted" to it as genuinely prob not nec, but this way I have acted well towards them *and* I didn't have to tip for poorish service.

1458 It's hot out. Not insanely so but warm.

Had ice cream at the "old couple" place nearish bus terminal (3k there - I asked one place on street leading to old hostel which is way busier, went in in hope they had the more homemade style - which they didn't - and while they had more flavours they wanted 4k) - went for quesobocadillo - and now at Molwhatsit for pintado and a pastry which the woman keeps telling me something about that I don't understand, just maybe it's stale but she's serving it since I asked but I *really* don't know.

1509 Feeling hot.

On iirc first night of trek someone asked me what I thought of the finca/the kitchen and I said it was chevere and checked i'd used it correctly and that it was a v Colombian word and it is and I had (it means roughly "cosy/cool" aiui). Apparently you can also say "chimba" among friends although it is slightly rude and it means basically the same thing.

(If I didn't already note this in general I have overheard a lot of people saying "marrica" . I can't quite believe they mean this in the sense of "poof" as it just seems too common and it just doesn't feel like should come up as often as it does if that is the meaning, but I really don't know.)

While not ideal - esp given I feel sweaty now, tho didn't earlier - I am prob gonna wear these clothes inc uw (all clean on yday when had shower 4-5pmish) again tomorrow. That will *possibly* give me enough clean clothes for rest of trip without laundry, and at the very least should help eke things out so (subject to privacy of shared bathroom in Bogota hostel) I have a chance to do a final wash there to see me through the trip maybe tomorrow night.

Place is La Molienda, just seen it on back of MoS T-shirt.

I have noticed on some of the big cakes here and in large eg balloon letters in some shops/restaurants the text "Feliz dia" . I wonder if this is *meant* to be generic or if in practice it is a standard shorthand for something like "happy birthday" .

I haven't seen a "free stuff" box but I will ask reception at hostel and see if I can dump my nearly full can of pressurised aerosol 25% DEET repellent on them in case someone else can use it. It's bulky enough (and I don't know if it's allowed anyway) that I don't want to fly home with it, the space is better used on misc edible/drinkable souvenirs etc, it's not as if I'm likely to use it again as I prefer the saltidin repellent when it's not safety critical (and it may be fine even when it is) and if it is safety critical on a future trip I'd want to buy non-pressurised 50% DEET in a simple atomiser type spray before leaving home.

1546 6.9k, made it up to 10k as they do have a tip jar and I've been there quite a lot. Feel slightly guilty and turning back on oldish sounding woman calling "muchacho" (probably) at me as I was putting cash away on leaving, but what can you do? I also feel like this only happened because I had the cash in my hands and I'm not going to be guilt-tripped into a random donation just because I happened to come out before putting cash away.

1551 In supermarket, going to get chilled soft drink and have on street then go to BdlR for a pintado or two before going back to hostel for shower then head up to lookout points a bit ebfore sunset. Anyway, have a photo but I found some panela with instructions on how to make which I'm not sure is always there - 240ml water to 30g of panela.

1912 Back at hostel for second time. There is a nice (if slightly old-skinny looking) fluffy white and black cat here and it has let me stroke it a bit. It came running into dorm meowing and woman from desk explained it didn't want to go out - it's pissing it down - but it pees everywhere and it ran under the bed in corner and she had to fish it out with a broom (she called it señor when she got it out).

Changed plans earlier. Felt stuffed after soft drink so came back to hostel. Was watching bit of YT with curtain across and in short order two blokes and a woman (no idea if this is same woman spoke to briefly this morning re alarm, as well as speaking to one of staff women - I didn't really "see" the people this afternoon) came in and were asking each other if "that" was their locker and mentioned the alarm and I pulled curtain back and said it was mine and apologised and that was all OK, they were more curious than fussed.

I was on verge of going in shower and did so but I kind of ignored them and they kind of ignored me. I can't really blame them and I am not sure who "started" it and arguably they were being tactful but rightly or wrongly I felt a bit peeved/invisible at this three-way conversation going on as if I wasn't there - as I say, can't really blame them but I did feel a bit of a sad git etc.

Anyway, I went out to Recuerdos and had two pintados and then (getting rather irritated - prob off back of mild low mood induced by invisible bit - by the extremely thick and doddery crowd) up to the cross, brief look there, then across to the lookout over the valley. It was starting to rain as I headed up, I got a canelazo with aguardiente for 7k from the bloke there and watched (and videod badly) quite a cool thunder and lightning storm with both sheet and a few quite cool lightning bolts before (trying not to milk it) walking back through very light rain (and streets still busy) to come back here. I can here it is still pissing it down.

Partly came back as had left K1 charging in basket by bed and risk of loss was making me edgy, even tho seemed unlikely.

Oh, I handed woman at desk my insect repellent aerosol after a brief chat to see if they had a "free stuff" box (which they don't, but she's left it on the desk) - I hope it doesn't just get chucked out but I can't do much about it, obv could have waited til Bogota but I suspect the place there may not have one (on no major grounds, but it gives off a bit of a cheap hotel vibe).

Plan for tonight was to go out and have a couple of beers and then come back to go to bed 9-10ish to be up 6ish. I still may go out but we'll see what happens with the rain.

Bit edgy about getting to hostel in Bogota but I'm sure it will be fine and can only hope.

2127 Back at hostel heading towards bed. Went out, had stopped raining. Wandered street up to cross, went to place have forgotten name of but have photo, guy was playing guitar when I arrived but stopped soon after. Three Tres Cordilleras (27k, made it 30 with tip), two Mestiza and one Mulata (?). Everywhere v busy and lively when I came out but not the night to stay out.

Bit of a whiny git (even tho mostly over earlier annoyance re dorm conversation) to myself re trying to sort out Transmilenio stops etc re tomorrow.

Gut feeling is if I get to Bogota with plenty of daylight in hand I will prob walk to TM from bus terminal (gb makes out it is a pretty upscale area) and then take rather circuitous route on TM to Heroes where it is a short walk to new hostel and Chapinero is supposed to be pretty safe etc. This is nearly the inverse of route I will take to get to airport.

Don't think finished vaseline story re day 1. At dinner I took an empty sealable plastic bag with me and was going to and did ask for some cooking oil or grease at end - they asked why, I explained for lips and mentioned losing vaseline and they (Patricia I think, owner-ish woman/wife) generously gave me a pretty big "finger load" of vaseline, which I was really chuffed about and which got me out of a hole. (And since I have it I am still using it now, tho won't take that rather messy bag home, even tho I made an effort to clean up my SBA-rusted-ish tin at hostel middayish and do have it in pocket.)

Got a load of photos from Nico via WA, think I have them saved.

Felt tiny bit sad git BNM to be on own in that bar tonight but not a big deal.

Oh, press stud "brand tag" on PackTowl which had been hanging on by a thread happened to come off in this afternoon's shower (no fucking towel at this hostel, even tho IME most Colombian hostels give you one - fwiw no towel provided at Finca La Playa BTW). Not a massive deal as rarely used it and the whole PT is (surprisingly, doesn't feel like it's had huge amount of use) rather worn and holey and in need of replacement, but FWIW. have shoved loose tag in bag and if it makes it home it just may come in useful for sewing on to something I guess, or I can throw it out at home.

2220 Others come back, have curtain drawn. Anyway, bed.