Mon 29th 1609 Going swimming in 20ish mins but will start writeup now.
Didn't sleep super well. Not consciously worried about all this flight boat accom stuff but probably played into it. Got up maybe 930ish but not sure.
Basically took me about 4-5h to get fucking stuff sorted. Will try to brieflyish summarise. Towards the end of this imagine me literally semi-shouting things like "You couldn't fucking making it up" , "You utter fucking c*s!" , "Why does it have to be so hard?" and "I'm losing the plot!" To my credit I was not rude with any actual humans, even with the Avianca rep I tried to be polite albeit slightly broken-record-ish.
- Avianca replied to my ticket saying to call them and giving a link. Which just redirected to their home page. At the time I put this down to sheer incompetence, in hindsight it may be an interaction with mobile browsers and fiddling with "request desktop site" setting might have fixed it. Still semi incompetent on their part if so.
- I found (via web search, not their own site) a Colombian Avianca number and called it using the free mins (I think) on my local SIM. They did speak English but I half wonder if I'd have done better in Spanish. Long story short, about 20 mins of actual chat with a low-level agent who didn't really seem to understand my problem and kept telling me I could book online or book over the phone (or start booking online and then call to make payment) but there would be a USD30 surcharge for booking over phone. He asked for my name and at one point I got a bit worried they'd charge me the USD30 for *this* call using my existing ccard details. In the end I said to him (I had told him my nationality earlier) "so if I book the ticket online and it goes through, it will be valid?" and he said "yes" and that had to be good enough.
- In hindsight (though touch wood, as obv not actually flown yet) my getting worked up about it not asking for my nationality was silly. Why would it matter (before checkin) unless told otherwise? I think my general distrust of airlines/travel agents has been boosted by the trebling of the price on that one the other day and the general refundable fare collywobbles and I'm starting to jump at shadows. FWIW the agent quoted me a dollar price on the phone which was practically £168 (but there'd be service fee on top) which encourages me to think the web price *is* valid for me as a Brit.
- I toyed with buying the £112 XS fare, so as to lose less if my ticket does turn out to be invalid and to deprive Avianca of revenue. But my bag is a bit borderline (the carbon fibre-ish frame is flexible, but flat it is probably 50-55cm long and limit for personal item is 45cm) and I decided I didn't want to risk creating extra problems. I want to fly with bag in overhead rack given I've paid so much extra over personal item only fare, but I may try to sneakily see if it does fit under seat in front of me as a data point for future flights. (This is the acid test, but you maybe have to get it past size inspections from staff first too.)
- So I booked the £168 fare on 2nd Feb.
- I then booked via expedia an Avianca "L" fare for £186ish to come back from Panama to Bogota just in time to catch my flight home. It said "cancellation included" etc but all the usual utter vagueness applied. Aqua then declined the payment and sent me a text - which I couldn't reply to as it's about £1.50/message to send when roaming. So I had to call them using my Skype credit (knew it would come in handy sooner or later) and spent ten minutes and had to give them my personal details three separate times but eventually confirmed all txns on account valid.
- They said to wait 5 mins and retry but I decided (should have done this all along) to use a different card for this flight to reduce scope for fuckery. So booked £186 flight and immediately after it shows all kinds of "ticket is non-refundable" shit. I can see my booking on airline website but neither they nor expedia will show the fare class (even though I know it was L) and words like "non-refundable" are plastered everywhere. Freaking out i went into the cancellation stuff on expedia site, saw i was at least able to cancel for free within 24h and spoke to an agent and *explicitly* confirmed I can cancel for a full refund (I quoted the actual amount) any time in the next few weeks (he clarified pre flight, which is fair enough). I have a screenshot and fingers crossed this will be OK.
- I then went and booked same hostel as pre-trip (since I figure it is close to metro and it will help to familiarise myself with the area ready for pre-trip) on their site with the discount code - USD52ish for private room shared bathroom with aircon for two nights. Had to fill in all my details again. Gave them Aqua card just for reservation (not payment) and presumably because of this Aqua robo-called me (instead of sending a text) and in my frazzled state I answered it before frantically hanging up (which seemed unresponsive) 20s later. So I suspect that's £1.50 or so pissed away, even though I already confirmed the earlier things with Aqua were not fraud and can't see why this was flagged and why not by text.
- So I have a nagging suspicion the hostel booking may *not* be confirmed but they have not e-mailed me to say that and I have not had any other texts or calls from Aqua so sod it.
- I went into town to print stuff - accom gates shut and had to go find someone to open them, ffs - but the place I had in mind was shut. Was about 1340 at this point so figured they might reopen at 2 and went for lunch (*la* sobrebarriga) at MLB, for some reason got a free soup of day started today tho didn't yday, had jugo de guanababa con leche with it and it was nice though more like drinking thick foam and maybe en agua would have been more thirst quenching.
- internet-ish cafe was open, in hindsight I should have asked to use a PC and print myself so I "only" leaked my webmail password and 2FA would make that semi-useless, but when I asked about printing they said to e-mail stuff so I had to do that and it feels a minor security risk but prob be OK. Got the printouts - inkjet not laser sadly, and I asked for B&W and they printed colour and not sure I didn't get charged for colour, but maybe not, and it was only 3.4k anyway.
- I then went and had a white coffee (5k in paper cup) at Panaderia Central on main square - slightly less "snobby" atmos than Nona's Bread but at Nona's it was at least a "real" cup for same price, maybe paper one was larger.
- Got bottle of water and some of those ruined-by-ants-yday snacks at little shop at top of road from accom into town, asked about beer but 3.7k so I decided I get some at the little place nearer accom that was shut yday and I did, 4xPoker at 14k the lot, perhaps bit OTT but sod it.
1631 Gonna go swim. Mostly written the day up. Just need to book accom (will be private, so I can exercise there and may not force myself to tonight) for Buc tonight and otherwise can semi-relax. Anyway, let's swim.
Hostel wifi came back maybe earlyish this morning BTW. Was worrying it would crap out and kill my Skype phone call to Aqua but it was fine.
1732 Swimming OK, prob in water about 30 mins. I (politely I hope, but always scope for Spanish errors) offered attendant woman a 5k tip (over 10% on the 3 days I've been) for looking after my things as I left (for the last time, at least this trip) and she didn't seem offended but politely declined, which (I think) was nice of her.
FWIW after coffee but before buying snacks/water I popped into the church on the main square. Had been there first-ish day, it felt like an absolute age ago.
Still nothing from aqua so maybe me answering and immediately hanging up on that weird fraud call was enough to convince them it's OK. I've had another e-mail about the Aqua-purchased flight on 2nd Feb saying it's confirmed and that it is coming up soon, so I'd strongly hope nothing can fuck that booking up on Aqua's end, but you never know - this is why in hindsight the lesson here is to use separate cards where possible for a) "big" , possibly "iffy" if retrospectively cancelled by card company purchases b) separate big purchases on same day (eg my two flight purchases today) to reduce chances of triggering fraud alerts.
Couple of other people in water at start, then later on also them plus a mum and little girl in a rubber ring. Not crowded enough to be a problem, I did some widths instead of lengths but it was for stuff I'm not very good at anyway, and I mostly did lengths anyway. As usual biggish 10-15 or so group of guys sitting round booth drinking beer, a bit offputting but not actively "threatening" or anything.
White woolly dog very affectionate with me as I came back into hostel from swimming. The kitten-y one of the cats was also quite friendly earlier, and was also rolling around and pseudo miaowing+purring at the same time.
Gonna have a shower and then prob go sit outside with some water and book Buc hostel and then I'll have a beer and meditate a bit and fill in gaps in this log and maybe jot down some lessons to learn from this whole debacle.
1754 I asked attendant woman and she wasn't sure but thought the pool was 20m. This feels vaguely right, as I'm sure it's shorter than the 25m one I'm used to but not enormously so.
Since there are no photos (I never took phone plus vague perv issues even if I had), a quick verbal description of pool:
- on street there's just a white wall with "piscina municipal" painted on (think do have outside photo of this) and a gap to go in through, which prob gets closed off by a metal barred gate when closed
- going through the gap, there is a booth/hole in wall on right where attendant sits, with a couple of fridges of beer and some spirits in bottles.
- in front of this in evenings at least is vaguely semicircle of chairs for the drinkers - pool is not really visible from here
- beyond this to the right in same building as booth/hitw are first the women's changing rooms/toilets and then the men's.
- inside the men's floor is tiled and to left are toilets (I peeked in there today, someone was having piss so didn't want to go right in but don't think there are showers) and to right are two changing cubicles
- carrying "straight" on instead of turning right into changing rooms the pool itself is surrounded by low metal railings with a sort of half-open gate to get through
- around the pool is vaguely tiled, to the right as you approach is quite a large tiled terrace where there are a couple of tables with chairs, around the other three sides area between pool and railing is just about wide enough to walk
- there is a covered railed off basketball court off at far end but you can't actively see people on it, tho at times you can see the ball flying if you look
- I think there is a football pitch somewhere off to left but you can't really see it properly
- pool is prob 10-15m "left to right" (viewed as if walking through gap in wall from stteet) and maybe 20m "front to back"
- as said already pool is all one depth, says 1.6m on floor but it's really about shoulder depth for me when standing flat footed
- edge of pool is a sort of semicircular concrete "boss" , quite thick (8 inches diameter??) so although I didn't try it wouldn't be trivial to climb out at an arbitrary point, it's not the "flush right angle water slops out of pool and back into a kind of flush grille in floor" style I am used to in London
- there is a step of steps (which are kind of set into the pool wall and have a very slight "climbing" feel to them) in the "near right" and "far left" corners
- water/pool base fairly chloriney light blue, with a moderate quantity of dead leaves and so forth but not disgustingly so
1830 OK, had shower/shave. Sitting outside room with bottle of lukewarm water. Let's look at Buc accom and then get a beer.
1849 Booked. The hostel gets good reviews and is in a "good" location but I think that's more for bars and general tourism. I got a twin room (which I think - but there's always 5% doubt - is just for me) with shared bathroom for IIRC USD52 for three nights, dorm would IIRC have been 30 so this isn't too bad and the social opportunities are still mostly there, it also has a rooftop which is always cool. I am not sure it's a great location wrt bus terminal but it's a big city and prob couldn't be helped. They do have an airport shuttle service which I may consider (but given convenient ish departure time I may at least look into bus/taxi colectivo, as much for experience/confidence building as for cost saving). I assume I can also ask for advice on how best to get to this canyon, and as for arrival it will be daylight and it is about 5km walk so maybe doable and it may also be there will be a bus I can get but hard to know where they go of course. (I suspect getting a bus from hostel *to* main bus terminal(s) is easy.)
Feel reasonably happy with this.
Gonna get a beer in a minute. While the boat trip and associated Panama stuff has loomed large lately and spoiled things a bit, it has *mainly* been the last 2-3 evenings - I had a solid and pleasant day of touristing yday and day before, today was kind of lost but I did at least swim and so forth and not end of world. Broader thinking about boat trip and the upsets around wanky not-true FAQs about paypal and needing to pay in USD have occupied mental space and time earlier in trip but looking back (apart from fact all this planning makes trip feel nearly over and I'm probably less than 3 weeks in) it doesn't feel like it's been a huge dominating factor stopping me doing other stuff. Definitely some lessons to learn and will waffle about them later, but while last couple of nights and this morning-into-afternoon have been pretty stressful (albeit minor in grand scheme of things), the stress just feels very prominent now because it's so recent - it *hasn't* really been a dominating factor in the trip even thus far.
1855 OK, first beer.
Lessons learned:
- segregate big/"critical" (eg air ticket) purchases on same day onto separate credit cards, try to avoid mixing any ordinary small purchases on those same cards on same day too
- I really should have forced myself to think through the boat trip (bluesailing vs SBA, payment issues) before leaving home. While my general reluctance to think about trip in advance is a bit of a psychological weak spot, it mostly works fine as I like "bumbling round" with a vague plan. But with stuff like the boat trip with a) international travel aspects b) awkward payment c) limited availability d) need for associated travel tickets, including refundable ones, it really would have been better to sort it all out from home. It *would* have reduced flexibility to choose travel dates mid trip, but as I've kind of experienced, booking flights at short notice can be expensive and/or stressful. Also if I had gone into the whole SBA thing before leaving home I would have flown almost immediately to Panama and only the date of the boat trip would have been fixed mid-trip, and all that would really do is force me to pre-decide the time split between Panama and Colombia, something I have had to somewhat wing rather than choose under current circumstances. (As it happens I guess I'll have approx four weeks in Panama plus the boat trip, which I think is fine, but over last few days I've seen that being three weeks and toyed with it being two.)
[Incidentally these cans of poker say excess is harmful for health; the bottles I drank in Guane yday added "and friendship" to the end. On unrelated note, at least in "D1" supermarket wall sign, it says it's illegal to sell intoxicating beverages to minors *and pregnant women*. I wonder how well that addition would go on with the "nanny state YAY, women's rights YAY" crowd back home. The bit about pregnant women is not always present on this text when I've seen it, FWIW.]
I think the only trip starting from 2018 when I've crossed borders mid-trip was the Jan 2019 one. Although Panama has a bad reputation for being anal here, I think the concern about "proof of onward" travel is usually a concern. My single-ish country trips just tend not to hit it. Plus I think where the border crossing is by bus, the stakes feel less high (the bus ticket probably didn't cost *that* much if you get knocked back, plus the staff are perhaps less concerned about this at land borders but maybe I'm just guessing there) and the prospect of just buying a return bus ticket/putting a deposit down or simply hoping your return ticket home from a neaby country will be accepted is more viable. This particular case is especially difficult as it involves flying in by air, Panama's notoriously strict attention to this mediated by variable airline standards and having this inconsistently-accepted boat ticket out. I could as I think I said have paid USD10 for a deposit on a bus ticket into CR but apart from losing USD10 whereas modulo stress (poss more than USD10 worth) and time, the refundable air ticket is free, I would not be too confident turning up in Panama after a flight in with that bus ticket deposit thing as proof of onward travel - it would probably be different if I were just doing a local hop across a land border (eg CR into Panama, and offering this bus ticket deposit as proof I intend to leave Panama).
Just because a trip/tour is a "big ticket" item doesn't necessarily mean I "ought" to consider it before leaving home - the defining "organisational fuckfest" aspects of this boat trip are a) the need to pay in USD cash and b) the border crossing aspects, including the flight into the country it is paired with and satisfying immigration. A hypothetical four or five day boat tour costing as much or more but within the territorial waters of the country you're already in would probably be much more acceptable to leave thinking about until after leaving home. (The main reason to book ahead there being to avoid disappointment or soaring costs. A good example would probably be a boat tour of Galapagos starting in Ecuador - notoriously expensive and need to book ages in advance, *but* none of the immigration type headaches here.)
If I didn't say the printouts I got today are inkjet and I'd have preferred laser, but it's not the end of the world, especially for this by air leg. I will need to get more stuff printed/photocopied (eg multiple copies of passport with entry stamp, printed accom reservation for arrival in Colombia and printed flight out of Colombia) before the trip but I will get that done in Panama, and (although I will put papers in sealed plastic bags etc) I will see if I can get them laser printed for better resistance to any casual water splashes they experience.
1921 Finished beer.
I think when I get to airport on 2nd I want to go airside ASAP, as although (fingers crossed) it all really out to be smooth, any problems are going to crop up there so I want as much time as possible to resolve them.
I should also, if there is one, try putting my bag in a "personal item" metal guide box - if I am spotted and it doesn't fit, I am in the clear as my ticket allows a larger carry-on bag anyway (though I'll still be furtive about it, and I also don't want to try putting my bag in a carry-on guide box, just in case, though I am 95% sure it will fit, especially if I am wearing the fleece in the airport to reduce bag bulk).
When hearing these ranchera?/mariachi? ish songs I am trying to just let my brain "hear and understand" the lyrics instead of consciously thinking about them. Not sure it's working. I guess fluency comes gradually and every little helps etc etc. All these little mistakes I am catching myself making in day-to-day trivial conversations will hopefully pay off too.
1924 Second beer.
Just checked. If we say trip started Fri 12th (I landed early that morning), *this Friday* is the three week point. And right now I'm 2w3d in. It really is early days despite all this planning ahead booking flights/boats makes it feel nearly over. And while not an orgy of socialisation or excitement, I've already I think formed some decent memories and done some cool stuff and chatted with a few people.
And as I noted earlier about seeing church on main square and when I arrived feeling ages ago, this is what I like about the "four day min" guideline. It's just enough time to start to feel vaguely at home without constantly being disrupted by travel and new places and associated hassle and planning. Obviously break it when necessary - eg my upcoming 3n/2d in Buc, which I will definitely not see in the least depth - but as a general guideline I do like how it feels.
1958 If wasn't clear earlier, I figured by booking same hostel for first visit to PC as the near-mandatory one pre-boat, I at least only have to "find" an unknown hostel once instead of twice. I dunno what the area is like but the reviews are not terrible and don't go on about feeling unsafe and it is nearish metro which should be handy both for arrival and getting to bus terminal for departure for my bummel.
They do offer an airport pickup for USD30 but gut feeling is I'd rather public transport it - get a plastic "Oyster-equivalent" card at airport and so on, then I have it and can use it for my total time in PC. I can research this a bit more tomorrow night maybe. If I were flying in from the UK - so more zonked - and landing late-ish at night I might be keener to splurge on airport pickup service.
(My plan is not to spend over-much time in PC as I have been there before, whereas rest of country outside David is completely unknown to me. But it is possible I will arrive there a bit early before the boat trip and thus have 3-4 nights pre trip instead of just 2, entirely depends how the bummel goes.)
2015 Finished beer a while ago, may go get third now. Not orgasmic or anything but quietly enjoyable, and hardly extreme.
2026 Been doing some chores like checking bank balance. All looks OK. Third beer.
2027 Got those breadish things which got ants yday. And the new pack has aquired some - not too many so far - as well. I'm damn well eating them anyway! Ants are supposed to be very clean and I can blow the few there are off.
Quite nice, at first a bit dull but after a bite or two they grow on me. There were no ants in when I got them home, I did check - may even have checked in shop but don't remember.
2043 In case it's not obvious, treating myself to private rooms in Bucaramanga and PC because they are either side of a flight, and because they are not tremendously expensive. Do intend to roughly continue alternating dorms with privates (depending on prices in Panama), and to mostly prefer hostels or (if it seems to work) airbnb or other homestays over hotels (no matter how reasonably priced) so there is at least some prospect of social contact.
FWIW left ear felt slightly "waterlogged" in pool - doing that "hold nose and blow" thing you do on planes to equalise pressure felt a bit strange. I think it's fine now but will mention it FTR. Nothing major even at the time, but not completely usual.
On random note wearing freshly washed short sleeved red T-shirt tonight - consumes slightly more repellent as need to put it on arms, but it is comfortable and I don't need the sun protection and I can/will wear it 2-3 nights (only) in a row to spread out laundry. Do plan to do some laundry in Buc and/or PC hostels as convenient, though with shared bathroom it's not as good as here.
I am going to pack in morning. Vague plan is to be up 9ish and off by 10-11ish. I think that even 11 departure would see me in San Gil by 12 (prob earlier), allow a generous hour to trog to long distance terminal and get a bus (I believe they are half hourly-ish) and I leave at 1 and am probably in Buc by 3-4, then an hour to get to hostel. I may well leave here at 10, but even 11 works. Formal checkout time here is not til 1pm so there's no rush. I didn't wash anything tonight but uw from last night still slightly damp and given the lack of rush in the morning it makes sense to pack then.
2058 Fourth beer. White dog has come to see me again.
2120 Just finishing beer. Guy came past, said "hello" in English (I replied in kind) and went into room next to mine. I still have 1.7l soft drink in fridge, will go get that in a minute - might as well have it tonight rathert than creating toilet problems tomorrow on bus, I still have some water in room and a fresh 1l in fridge for tomorrow. Incidentally since I'm paying 2k for a 1l bottle of water and the soft drink at D1 is about 2.5k for 1.7l the sugar free soft drink actually works out cheaper - not saying it's super healthy, but still.
Two women - oldish, I think one is the one I spoke to yesterday and who did say hi tonight in passing - chatting in French (I suspect once is French Canadian, maybe both) in upstairs area where fridge is, just FWIW.
2126 I think it may actually be raining.
2240 That was quite cool, oldish (vaguely my age, maybe bit older) Austrian guy - the one who said hello - who is in next room to me came out and sat outside his room and we had a long chat, he has been just about everywhere on his motorcycle. Chat probably was since more or less that 2126 entry. (He had wandered off a second, I was gonna go into room and leave door open while I had a much needed piss but he came back and said goodnight, dunno if he thought I wanted to go to bed or he was going to say that anyway. Not a big deal and I certainly hope I didn't accidentally come across as rude, but just wanted to note how it ended maybe by accident.)
There is a really weird and not exactly unpleasant but musty smell in the air from the rain on the presumably very dry (I don't think it has rained in months) ground. It is quite cool, I just hope we're not in for a prolonged massive wet spell (tho I suppose I am leaving Colombia on Friday) and in particular I hope it isn't raining or flooded on the walk into town tomorrow morning.
Gonna watch a bit of YT before cleaning teeth. Don't need to be in bed before midnight-ish given proposed 9am-ish getting up.
2339 Going to go to bed - I do have private tomorrow so I can eg watch YT tomorrow night and I feel slightly tired and it would be good to maybe get a solid night's rest - I hope I am going to feel more relaxed and less stressed than I maybe did last night.
Didn't sleep super well. Not consciously worried about all this flight boat accom stuff but probably played into it. Got up maybe 930ish but not sure.
Basically took me about 4-5h to get fucking stuff sorted. Will try to brieflyish summarise. Towards the end of this imagine me literally semi-shouting things like "You couldn't fucking making it up" , "You utter fucking c*s!" , "Why does it have to be so hard?" and "I'm losing the plot!" To my credit I was not rude with any actual humans, even with the Avianca rep I tried to be polite albeit slightly broken-record-ish.
- Avianca replied to my ticket saying to call them and giving a link. Which just redirected to their home page. At the time I put this down to sheer incompetence, in hindsight it may be an interaction with mobile browsers and fiddling with "request desktop site" setting might have fixed it. Still semi incompetent on their part if so.
- I found (via web search, not their own site) a Colombian Avianca number and called it using the free mins (I think) on my local SIM. They did speak English but I half wonder if I'd have done better in Spanish. Long story short, about 20 mins of actual chat with a low-level agent who didn't really seem to understand my problem and kept telling me I could book online or book over the phone (or start booking online and then call to make payment) but there would be a USD30 surcharge for booking over phone. He asked for my name and at one point I got a bit worried they'd charge me the USD30 for *this* call using my existing ccard details. In the end I said to him (I had told him my nationality earlier) "so if I book the ticket online and it goes through, it will be valid?" and he said "yes" and that had to be good enough.
- In hindsight (though touch wood, as obv not actually flown yet) my getting worked up about it not asking for my nationality was silly. Why would it matter (before checkin) unless told otherwise? I think my general distrust of airlines/travel agents has been boosted by the trebling of the price on that one the other day and the general refundable fare collywobbles and I'm starting to jump at shadows. FWIW the agent quoted me a dollar price on the phone which was practically £168 (but there'd be service fee on top) which encourages me to think the web price *is* valid for me as a Brit.
- I toyed with buying the £112 XS fare, so as to lose less if my ticket does turn out to be invalid and to deprive Avianca of revenue. But my bag is a bit borderline (the carbon fibre-ish frame is flexible, but flat it is probably 50-55cm long and limit for personal item is 45cm) and I decided I didn't want to risk creating extra problems. I want to fly with bag in overhead rack given I've paid so much extra over personal item only fare, but I may try to sneakily see if it does fit under seat in front of me as a data point for future flights. (This is the acid test, but you maybe have to get it past size inspections from staff first too.)
- So I booked the £168 fare on 2nd Feb.
- I then booked via expedia an Avianca "L" fare for £186ish to come back from Panama to Bogota just in time to catch my flight home. It said "cancellation included" etc but all the usual utter vagueness applied. Aqua then declined the payment and sent me a text - which I couldn't reply to as it's about £1.50/message to send when roaming. So I had to call them using my Skype credit (knew it would come in handy sooner or later) and spent ten minutes and had to give them my personal details three separate times but eventually confirmed all txns on account valid.
- They said to wait 5 mins and retry but I decided (should have done this all along) to use a different card for this flight to reduce scope for fuckery. So booked £186 flight and immediately after it shows all kinds of "ticket is non-refundable" shit. I can see my booking on airline website but neither they nor expedia will show the fare class (even though I know it was L) and words like "non-refundable" are plastered everywhere. Freaking out i went into the cancellation stuff on expedia site, saw i was at least able to cancel for free within 24h and spoke to an agent and *explicitly* confirmed I can cancel for a full refund (I quoted the actual amount) any time in the next few weeks (he clarified pre flight, which is fair enough). I have a screenshot and fingers crossed this will be OK.
- I then went and booked same hostel as pre-trip (since I figure it is close to metro and it will help to familiarise myself with the area ready for pre-trip) on their site with the discount code - USD52ish for private room shared bathroom with aircon for two nights. Had to fill in all my details again. Gave them Aqua card just for reservation (not payment) and presumably because of this Aqua robo-called me (instead of sending a text) and in my frazzled state I answered it before frantically hanging up (which seemed unresponsive) 20s later. So I suspect that's £1.50 or so pissed away, even though I already confirmed the earlier things with Aqua were not fraud and can't see why this was flagged and why not by text.
- So I have a nagging suspicion the hostel booking may *not* be confirmed but they have not e-mailed me to say that and I have not had any other texts or calls from Aqua so sod it.
- I went into town to print stuff - accom gates shut and had to go find someone to open them, ffs - but the place I had in mind was shut. Was about 1340 at this point so figured they might reopen at 2 and went for lunch (*la* sobrebarriga) at MLB, for some reason got a free soup of day started today tho didn't yday, had jugo de guanababa con leche with it and it was nice though more like drinking thick foam and maybe en agua would have been more thirst quenching.
- internet-ish cafe was open, in hindsight I should have asked to use a PC and print myself so I "only" leaked my webmail password and 2FA would make that semi-useless, but when I asked about printing they said to e-mail stuff so I had to do that and it feels a minor security risk but prob be OK. Got the printouts - inkjet not laser sadly, and I asked for B&W and they printed colour and not sure I didn't get charged for colour, but maybe not, and it was only 3.4k anyway.
- I then went and had a white coffee (5k in paper cup) at Panaderia Central on main square - slightly less "snobby" atmos than Nona's Bread but at Nona's it was at least a "real" cup for same price, maybe paper one was larger.
- Got bottle of water and some of those ruined-by-ants-yday snacks at little shop at top of road from accom into town, asked about beer but 3.7k so I decided I get some at the little place nearer accom that was shut yday and I did, 4xPoker at 14k the lot, perhaps bit OTT but sod it.
1631 Gonna go swim. Mostly written the day up. Just need to book accom (will be private, so I can exercise there and may not force myself to tonight) for Buc tonight and otherwise can semi-relax. Anyway, let's swim.
Hostel wifi came back maybe earlyish this morning BTW. Was worrying it would crap out and kill my Skype phone call to Aqua but it was fine.
1732 Swimming OK, prob in water about 30 mins. I (politely I hope, but always scope for Spanish errors) offered attendant woman a 5k tip (over 10% on the 3 days I've been) for looking after my things as I left (for the last time, at least this trip) and she didn't seem offended but politely declined, which (I think) was nice of her.
FWIW after coffee but before buying snacks/water I popped into the church on the main square. Had been there first-ish day, it felt like an absolute age ago.
Still nothing from aqua so maybe me answering and immediately hanging up on that weird fraud call was enough to convince them it's OK. I've had another e-mail about the Aqua-purchased flight on 2nd Feb saying it's confirmed and that it is coming up soon, so I'd strongly hope nothing can fuck that booking up on Aqua's end, but you never know - this is why in hindsight the lesson here is to use separate cards where possible for a) "big" , possibly "iffy" if retrospectively cancelled by card company purchases b) separate big purchases on same day (eg my two flight purchases today) to reduce chances of triggering fraud alerts.
Couple of other people in water at start, then later on also them plus a mum and little girl in a rubber ring. Not crowded enough to be a problem, I did some widths instead of lengths but it was for stuff I'm not very good at anyway, and I mostly did lengths anyway. As usual biggish 10-15 or so group of guys sitting round booth drinking beer, a bit offputting but not actively "threatening" or anything.
White woolly dog very affectionate with me as I came back into hostel from swimming. The kitten-y one of the cats was also quite friendly earlier, and was also rolling around and pseudo miaowing+purring at the same time.
Gonna have a shower and then prob go sit outside with some water and book Buc hostel and then I'll have a beer and meditate a bit and fill in gaps in this log and maybe jot down some lessons to learn from this whole debacle.
1754 I asked attendant woman and she wasn't sure but thought the pool was 20m. This feels vaguely right, as I'm sure it's shorter than the 25m one I'm used to but not enormously so.
Since there are no photos (I never took phone plus vague perv issues even if I had), a quick verbal description of pool:
- on street there's just a white wall with "piscina municipal" painted on (think do have outside photo of this) and a gap to go in through, which prob gets closed off by a metal barred gate when closed
- going through the gap, there is a booth/hole in wall on right where attendant sits, with a couple of fridges of beer and some spirits in bottles.
- in front of this in evenings at least is vaguely semicircle of chairs for the drinkers - pool is not really visible from here
- beyond this to the right in same building as booth/hitw are first the women's changing rooms/toilets and then the men's.
- inside the men's floor is tiled and to left are toilets (I peeked in there today, someone was having piss so didn't want to go right in but don't think there are showers) and to right are two changing cubicles
- carrying "straight" on instead of turning right into changing rooms the pool itself is surrounded by low metal railings with a sort of half-open gate to get through
- around the pool is vaguely tiled, to the right as you approach is quite a large tiled terrace where there are a couple of tables with chairs, around the other three sides area between pool and railing is just about wide enough to walk
- there is a covered railed off basketball court off at far end but you can't actively see people on it, tho at times you can see the ball flying if you look
- I think there is a football pitch somewhere off to left but you can't really see it properly
- pool is prob 10-15m "left to right" (viewed as if walking through gap in wall from stteet) and maybe 20m "front to back"
- as said already pool is all one depth, says 1.6m on floor but it's really about shoulder depth for me when standing flat footed
- edge of pool is a sort of semicircular concrete "boss" , quite thick (8 inches diameter??) so although I didn't try it wouldn't be trivial to climb out at an arbitrary point, it's not the "flush right angle water slops out of pool and back into a kind of flush grille in floor" style I am used to in London
- there is a step of steps (which are kind of set into the pool wall and have a very slight "climbing" feel to them) in the "near right" and "far left" corners
- water/pool base fairly chloriney light blue, with a moderate quantity of dead leaves and so forth but not disgustingly so
1830 OK, had shower/shave. Sitting outside room with bottle of lukewarm water. Let's look at Buc accom and then get a beer.
1849 Booked. The hostel gets good reviews and is in a "good" location but I think that's more for bars and general tourism. I got a twin room (which I think - but there's always 5% doubt - is just for me) with shared bathroom for IIRC USD52 for three nights, dorm would IIRC have been 30 so this isn't too bad and the social opportunities are still mostly there, it also has a rooftop which is always cool. I am not sure it's a great location wrt bus terminal but it's a big city and prob couldn't be helped. They do have an airport shuttle service which I may consider (but given convenient ish departure time I may at least look into bus/taxi colectivo, as much for experience/confidence building as for cost saving). I assume I can also ask for advice on how best to get to this canyon, and as for arrival it will be daylight and it is about 5km walk so maybe doable and it may also be there will be a bus I can get but hard to know where they go of course. (I suspect getting a bus from hostel *to* main bus terminal(s) is easy.)
Feel reasonably happy with this.
Gonna get a beer in a minute. While the boat trip and associated Panama stuff has loomed large lately and spoiled things a bit, it has *mainly* been the last 2-3 evenings - I had a solid and pleasant day of touristing yday and day before, today was kind of lost but I did at least swim and so forth and not end of world. Broader thinking about boat trip and the upsets around wanky not-true FAQs about paypal and needing to pay in USD have occupied mental space and time earlier in trip but looking back (apart from fact all this planning makes trip feel nearly over and I'm probably less than 3 weeks in) it doesn't feel like it's been a huge dominating factor stopping me doing other stuff. Definitely some lessons to learn and will waffle about them later, but while last couple of nights and this morning-into-afternoon have been pretty stressful (albeit minor in grand scheme of things), the stress just feels very prominent now because it's so recent - it *hasn't* really been a dominating factor in the trip even thus far.
1855 OK, first beer.
Lessons learned:
- segregate big/"critical" (eg air ticket) purchases on same day onto separate credit cards, try to avoid mixing any ordinary small purchases on those same cards on same day too
- I really should have forced myself to think through the boat trip (bluesailing vs SBA, payment issues) before leaving home. While my general reluctance to think about trip in advance is a bit of a psychological weak spot, it mostly works fine as I like "bumbling round" with a vague plan. But with stuff like the boat trip with a) international travel aspects b) awkward payment c) limited availability d) need for associated travel tickets, including refundable ones, it really would have been better to sort it all out from home. It *would* have reduced flexibility to choose travel dates mid trip, but as I've kind of experienced, booking flights at short notice can be expensive and/or stressful. Also if I had gone into the whole SBA thing before leaving home I would have flown almost immediately to Panama and only the date of the boat trip would have been fixed mid-trip, and all that would really do is force me to pre-decide the time split between Panama and Colombia, something I have had to somewhat wing rather than choose under current circumstances. (As it happens I guess I'll have approx four weeks in Panama plus the boat trip, which I think is fine, but over last few days I've seen that being three weeks and toyed with it being two.)
[Incidentally these cans of poker say excess is harmful for health; the bottles I drank in Guane yday added "and friendship" to the end. On unrelated note, at least in "D1" supermarket wall sign, it says it's illegal to sell intoxicating beverages to minors *and pregnant women*. I wonder how well that addition would go on with the "nanny state YAY, women's rights YAY" crowd back home. The bit about pregnant women is not always present on this text when I've seen it, FWIW.]
I think the only trip starting from 2018 when I've crossed borders mid-trip was the Jan 2019 one. Although Panama has a bad reputation for being anal here, I think the concern about "proof of onward" travel is usually a concern. My single-ish country trips just tend not to hit it. Plus I think where the border crossing is by bus, the stakes feel less high (the bus ticket probably didn't cost *that* much if you get knocked back, plus the staff are perhaps less concerned about this at land borders but maybe I'm just guessing there) and the prospect of just buying a return bus ticket/putting a deposit down or simply hoping your return ticket home from a neaby country will be accepted is more viable. This particular case is especially difficult as it involves flying in by air, Panama's notoriously strict attention to this mediated by variable airline standards and having this inconsistently-accepted boat ticket out. I could as I think I said have paid USD10 for a deposit on a bus ticket into CR but apart from losing USD10 whereas modulo stress (poss more than USD10 worth) and time, the refundable air ticket is free, I would not be too confident turning up in Panama after a flight in with that bus ticket deposit thing as proof of onward travel - it would probably be different if I were just doing a local hop across a land border (eg CR into Panama, and offering this bus ticket deposit as proof I intend to leave Panama).
Just because a trip/tour is a "big ticket" item doesn't necessarily mean I "ought" to consider it before leaving home - the defining "organisational fuckfest" aspects of this boat trip are a) the need to pay in USD cash and b) the border crossing aspects, including the flight into the country it is paired with and satisfying immigration. A hypothetical four or five day boat tour costing as much or more but within the territorial waters of the country you're already in would probably be much more acceptable to leave thinking about until after leaving home. (The main reason to book ahead there being to avoid disappointment or soaring costs. A good example would probably be a boat tour of Galapagos starting in Ecuador - notoriously expensive and need to book ages in advance, *but* none of the immigration type headaches here.)
If I didn't say the printouts I got today are inkjet and I'd have preferred laser, but it's not the end of the world, especially for this by air leg. I will need to get more stuff printed/photocopied (eg multiple copies of passport with entry stamp, printed accom reservation for arrival in Colombia and printed flight out of Colombia) before the trip but I will get that done in Panama, and (although I will put papers in sealed plastic bags etc) I will see if I can get them laser printed for better resistance to any casual water splashes they experience.
1921 Finished beer.
I think when I get to airport on 2nd I want to go airside ASAP, as although (fingers crossed) it all really out to be smooth, any problems are going to crop up there so I want as much time as possible to resolve them.
I should also, if there is one, try putting my bag in a "personal item" metal guide box - if I am spotted and it doesn't fit, I am in the clear as my ticket allows a larger carry-on bag anyway (though I'll still be furtive about it, and I also don't want to try putting my bag in a carry-on guide box, just in case, though I am 95% sure it will fit, especially if I am wearing the fleece in the airport to reduce bag bulk).
When hearing these ranchera?/mariachi? ish songs I am trying to just let my brain "hear and understand" the lyrics instead of consciously thinking about them. Not sure it's working. I guess fluency comes gradually and every little helps etc etc. All these little mistakes I am catching myself making in day-to-day trivial conversations will hopefully pay off too.
1924 Second beer.
Just checked. If we say trip started Fri 12th (I landed early that morning), *this Friday* is the three week point. And right now I'm 2w3d in. It really is early days despite all this planning ahead booking flights/boats makes it feel nearly over. And while not an orgy of socialisation or excitement, I've already I think formed some decent memories and done some cool stuff and chatted with a few people.
And as I noted earlier about seeing church on main square and when I arrived feeling ages ago, this is what I like about the "four day min" guideline. It's just enough time to start to feel vaguely at home without constantly being disrupted by travel and new places and associated hassle and planning. Obviously break it when necessary - eg my upcoming 3n/2d in Buc, which I will definitely not see in the least depth - but as a general guideline I do like how it feels.
1958 If wasn't clear earlier, I figured by booking same hostel for first visit to PC as the near-mandatory one pre-boat, I at least only have to "find" an unknown hostel once instead of twice. I dunno what the area is like but the reviews are not terrible and don't go on about feeling unsafe and it is nearish metro which should be handy both for arrival and getting to bus terminal for departure for my bummel.
They do offer an airport pickup for USD30 but gut feeling is I'd rather public transport it - get a plastic "Oyster-equivalent" card at airport and so on, then I have it and can use it for my total time in PC. I can research this a bit more tomorrow night maybe. If I were flying in from the UK - so more zonked - and landing late-ish at night I might be keener to splurge on airport pickup service.
(My plan is not to spend over-much time in PC as I have been there before, whereas rest of country outside David is completely unknown to me. But it is possible I will arrive there a bit early before the boat trip and thus have 3-4 nights pre trip instead of just 2, entirely depends how the bummel goes.)
2015 Finished beer a while ago, may go get third now. Not orgasmic or anything but quietly enjoyable, and hardly extreme.
2026 Been doing some chores like checking bank balance. All looks OK. Third beer.
2027 Got those breadish things which got ants yday. And the new pack has aquired some - not too many so far - as well. I'm damn well eating them anyway! Ants are supposed to be very clean and I can blow the few there are off.
Quite nice, at first a bit dull but after a bite or two they grow on me. There were no ants in when I got them home, I did check - may even have checked in shop but don't remember.
2043 In case it's not obvious, treating myself to private rooms in Bucaramanga and PC because they are either side of a flight, and because they are not tremendously expensive. Do intend to roughly continue alternating dorms with privates (depending on prices in Panama), and to mostly prefer hostels or (if it seems to work) airbnb or other homestays over hotels (no matter how reasonably priced) so there is at least some prospect of social contact.
FWIW left ear felt slightly "waterlogged" in pool - doing that "hold nose and blow" thing you do on planes to equalise pressure felt a bit strange. I think it's fine now but will mention it FTR. Nothing major even at the time, but not completely usual.
On random note wearing freshly washed short sleeved red T-shirt tonight - consumes slightly more repellent as need to put it on arms, but it is comfortable and I don't need the sun protection and I can/will wear it 2-3 nights (only) in a row to spread out laundry. Do plan to do some laundry in Buc and/or PC hostels as convenient, though with shared bathroom it's not as good as here.
I am going to pack in morning. Vague plan is to be up 9ish and off by 10-11ish. I think that even 11 departure would see me in San Gil by 12 (prob earlier), allow a generous hour to trog to long distance terminal and get a bus (I believe they are half hourly-ish) and I leave at 1 and am probably in Buc by 3-4, then an hour to get to hostel. I may well leave here at 10, but even 11 works. Formal checkout time here is not til 1pm so there's no rush. I didn't wash anything tonight but uw from last night still slightly damp and given the lack of rush in the morning it makes sense to pack then.
2058 Fourth beer. White dog has come to see me again.
2120 Just finishing beer. Guy came past, said "hello" in English (I replied in kind) and went into room next to mine. I still have 1.7l soft drink in fridge, will go get that in a minute - might as well have it tonight rathert than creating toilet problems tomorrow on bus, I still have some water in room and a fresh 1l in fridge for tomorrow. Incidentally since I'm paying 2k for a 1l bottle of water and the soft drink at D1 is about 2.5k for 1.7l the sugar free soft drink actually works out cheaper - not saying it's super healthy, but still.
Two women - oldish, I think one is the one I spoke to yesterday and who did say hi tonight in passing - chatting in French (I suspect once is French Canadian, maybe both) in upstairs area where fridge is, just FWIW.
2126 I think it may actually be raining.
2240 That was quite cool, oldish (vaguely my age, maybe bit older) Austrian guy - the one who said hello - who is in next room to me came out and sat outside his room and we had a long chat, he has been just about everywhere on his motorcycle. Chat probably was since more or less that 2126 entry. (He had wandered off a second, I was gonna go into room and leave door open while I had a much needed piss but he came back and said goodnight, dunno if he thought I wanted to go to bed or he was going to say that anyway. Not a big deal and I certainly hope I didn't accidentally come across as rude, but just wanted to note how it ended maybe by accident.)
There is a really weird and not exactly unpleasant but musty smell in the air from the rain on the presumably very dry (I don't think it has rained in months) ground. It is quite cool, I just hope we're not in for a prolonged massive wet spell (tho I suppose I am leaving Colombia on Friday) and in particular I hope it isn't raining or flooded on the walk into town tomorrow morning.
Gonna watch a bit of YT before cleaning teeth. Don't need to be in bed before midnight-ish given proposed 9am-ish getting up.
2339 Going to go to bed - I do have private tomorrow so I can eg watch YT tomorrow night and I feel slightly tired and it would be good to maybe get a solid night's rest - I hope I am going to feel more relaxed and less stressed than I maybe did last night.
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