Sat 27th 1612 Back at accom, going out to swim (but bit edgy it will be extra busy on a Sat) in 15 mins or so. Bit miffed as accom seems to be having some sort of family party, people are sprawled everywhere including right outside my room, kids running around etc. I can't get on the wifi and it's not critical but I half wonder if I've forgotten the password (which is not written down anywhere) or if so many people being here has swamped the wifi and the router won't accept any more devices.
As I came up to accom all three dogs (fortunately not quite in sync) came running up barking. They did have their tails up but the two bigger ones did give me a bit of a shock and they didn't seem entirely friendly and I found myself nudged off the path into some bushes. I didn't completely freak out and shouted "callense" and they did seem to go away without any intervention from the owners. The white woolly dog also came up but it was obviously friendly, I stroked it a bit both because I like it and because I figured it accepting me might carry some weight with the other dogs if they were paying attention, though I suspect they'd lost interest by then.
Got an email from SBA this morning and have a general feeling of "fuck, there is so much to sort out" . I suspect I may be kind of stuck in my room tonight anyway depending how late this party runs.
I have just washed the trousers that got wet at JC.
The refundable ticket from Panama to Colombia looks to be an utter fuckfest of uncertainty and feels like an inevitable shafting.
I am vaguely dreading swimming but I am going to do it anyway.
I will write about today earlier, I didn't get out til about 11 or 1130 given getting up maybe 930-10 and faffing around with SBA email and cancellable ticket this. Not a bad day in terms of sightseeing and I bumped into Tim (he recognised me) at the end of it and we had a chat and went to MBL for lunch and while I have my usual "was I OK?" and maybe vague jealously concerns, that was still quite cool.
The upstairs kitchen door was locked when I got back, I had brought two biggish bottles of zero cal soft drink back with me and wanted to put them in to chill. I was a bit miffed but I did manage to find the owner and he unlocked it for me but it just feels a little bit awkward and off somehow and is maybe contributing to a vague off-kilter feeling.
Plan is not to have any beers tonight (nothing to do specifically with this party or having so much boat trip adjacent stuff to sort out), I am kind of thinking if I don't have any tonight then have some tomorrow night it may feel a bit more "special" and/or refreshing.
I bought 2x2l bottles of water in town before going off sightseeing, and I drank most of them while out. Didn't bring any new water back but I still have that litre bottle in fridge plus these two big bottles of soft drink for hydration purposes tonight and some dregs of water knocking around in a couple of bottles so I think that will be fine.
1822 Sitting outside room, all very quiet, just like last night. I don't think I was too whiny earlier but probably vaguely off-kilter.
Did swim, it was OK, maybe 6-8 people in water and few more sitting by side, staff (?) bringing beers to some of people in water - it is more a "lounging" env than a "swimming" env, so to speak. I was in water for about 30 mins and it was all OK, I did widths instead of lengths at one point as other people seemed to be doing widths and I didn't want to collide. Felt a tiny bit "alone" but really it was fine. I put shoes inside bag instead of handing them to woman at booth separately to look after which felt a bit more streamlined, and I tried not to care about the 10 or so people sitting round drinking beer at the booth (not poolside) when I went to hand in and collect my things. Glad I did go.
Need to write up today but let's try to sort out some admin. I "need" to book the "official" hostel for the two nights before start of boat trip just to keep things simple. I suspect this will mean dorm which isn't ideal but can't be helped. Need to see if it's cheaper to book direct with discount code been given or to use booking.com.
Yay, still no wifi. I can "share" the movistar wifi from the O6 but it's gonna be a faff and it may use a VPN which may upset booking.com.
Wearing brightish blue ("Swedish blue" I think is how manufacturer describes it) top tonight for first time during trip FWIW.
OK, owner just walked past so I asked and wifi password has changed, got it working.
Right, phone and wifi playing up but... booking.com will do me 2 nights in dorm for USD20 or 2 nights in double with shared bathroom for USD58, both with free cancellation until about five days beforehand. Let's check price direct before waffling. The price is nominally the same booking direct but I can get 10% off bringing the double down to USD52.2, not a huge saving but borderline worthwhile. The cancellation policy when booking direct is vague, the wording half suggests you get free cancellation as long as it's more than a day in advance, *but* the text actually only talks about cancellation within 1 day of booking.
Gut feeling is that given I'm going to be in dorm for the trip (effectively) and I may well want to be prepping gear, washing clothes and spreading stuff out as I repack across possibly two different bags and so on it may be worth splurging on the private, even if it feels a bit expensive esp given it's still shared bathroom. Yes there will be other trip people in the hostel but there's no guarantee they would be in same dorm as me or that I'd talk to them (and there is a bar etc) anyway. I may (not checked) also end up in a dorm on arrivial in Colombia depending on prices and availability.
So the question is am I gonna book direct? It is a faff as they required credit card details etc which booking.com already has but I shouldn't be lazy. It really comes down to cancellation. Obviously I don't expect to cancel - it vastly simplifies pre-trip, esp briefing, if I am in this hostel - but you never know what might happen.
1856 OK, sod it, booked direct - the cancellation T&Cs as written contradict themselves but it is probably actually free cancellation more than 1 day beforehand and the chances of me actually wanting to cancel are small enough it felt a worthwhile gamble to get the 10% off. I booked the double, the extra cost is negligible in the long run and I think being able to eg stash my gallon of water securely and wash/dry clothes and repack in relative comfort is worth it pre-trip.
Got confirmation e-mail, in English except for cancellation terms in Spanish, and they are exactly the same self-contradictory terms in Spanish as in English. Meh.
I still need to write rest of today up and - first - look into booking a flight to Panama, but I'm gonna go get a big bottle of hopefully chilled soft drink first. Omi Maracuya, quite nice.
Notwithstanding need to print a hell of a lot of stuff, including as yet unbooked accom for first night to show to immigration, I don't strictly speaking have that much to do before I go. I would all else being equal prefer 4 nights in Buc in order to reduce pressure (a bit - gonna feel it regardless) but I can accept 3 nights if flight is much cheaper.
So this is Sat 3rd Feb as "core" date. Looking on kayak, there's avianca-via-kiwi.com for £98 on 4th but although it doesn't explicitly state avianca fare class, this appears to only allow a "personal item" not a "carry on bag" and I suspect my bag exceeds the 45cm dimension for that.
There is an avianca fare on 3d for £124 but this is XS and it jumps up massives to go to S which allowed a carry on bag. (It's switched to dollars, but about £178. Which is insane given that's the kind of differential they charge to actually have a checked bag.)
Fuck me I hate flying.
Cat been chasing biggish grasshopper thing which is currently camped out on my trouser leg and cat can't see it.
1929 Just saw biggish (not exceptional) spider scuttering about on floor.
I maybe left booking this flight too late. Bucaramanga really is not ideal. There is a Copa flight direct at arse o'clock (0652) on 7th Feb for £122 on kayak (showing as an Opodo booking) which says it includes 1 carry on bag, at 56x36x26 which is probably fine and 1cm more each way than Avianca anyway. This is going to mean getting hostel to book me a taxi and paying arse am prices, but it may be the best bet. Copa may mean I have to buy a refundable ticket to "prove" I have onward travel out of Panama, but I am half feeling I'll have to do that anyway.
It also gets into Panama at 0831 so by time I'm getting to accom is it maybe 10-11ish, I may not be allowed to check in but it's probably not too long to wait. And it is broad daylight which helps, and modulo tiredness it gives me an "extra" full day in Panama - though of course I've lost four days by waiting for this flight. But I don't really have time to make it over to any airport with better services and save time that way.
I suppose I could potentially also just put in a single night in Panama on arrival to claw back a day, especially if my first stop on my little mini-tour within Panama is not that far away and thus an easy-ish hop the next day. "All" I really need to sort out in PC is a local SIM, and even that's not essential as I can buy one anywhere.
It is a shame to lose four days in Panama (maybe only three if you squint) but it probably can't massively be helped - I could pay about £200 for a via-Bogota flight on Sat or Sun, but that is kind of sucky too in its way. By the time you factor in taxi to the airport in Buc some of the saving disappears. But this single no connection flight does kind of appeal anyway. I haven't checked if it's available *this* Wednesday at a sane price, but TBH that's probably really rushing stuff. It would give me one single night in Buc, I wouldn't get to go to that canyon *and* I'd be really under the cosh to get immigration-satisfying onward refundable flight and accom for arrival in Panama booked and printed. I'm not doing that even if there is a decent priced flight this Wednesday.
I can easily use the four extra days to visit (either staying there, or using San Gil as a base) some of the other towns round here. That's fine and probably what I'd be doing if I didn't have the distortion of needing to get to Panama.
IIRC the only "good" place to fly from anywhere near here is Cartagena, and while of course I *could* get to Cartagena by bus within four days, I wouldn't be enjoying myself or seeing much and it's pointless - I'd be better either paying more to fly from Buc on 3rd as originally planned, or just spending the four days round here and flying on 7th.
I don't like this 7th flight but I also sort of do. I'm losing 3-4 days in Panama (I kind of claw one back, or have the option to, because I arrive in Panama early in morning rather than getting to accom about 9-10pm) and I have an arse o'clock flight I need to get a taxi for (but I would hope hostel will be able to arrange that) and check out of hostel at like 4am. *But* it is direct, which is psychologically pleasing (no backtracking) and also much more comfortable (no hanging around hours in Bogota, no missed connections, no double security screening). And while I'm always edgy, it does appear to allow an acceptable cabin bag no muss no fuss. It is an airline that may force me to buy a refundable ticket to satisfy onward flight requirements, *but* I have an extra four days to help sort this out and I was *probably* going to be compelled to do this anyway - the idea of chancing it and booking a refundable flight if permitted last minute at the airport when not allowed to board sounds stressful.
OK, I'm gonna chew on this for half an hour or so and *maybe* book it before prices go up. I think the key thing is that viewed with some flexibility, whether this flight is the best possible option in the circs or not, it is clearly workable and the only real "suffering" is the arse o'clock checkout and taxi to the airport.
OK, and happily expedia.co.uk will allow me to book this flight for £114.
(Incidentally I had been thinking that I am not going to pay for a seat reservation on these flight(s). They are like 1h-2h and I have chanced it before and I think it's fine and just comfort zone stretching not terrible if I don't get an aisle seat.)
You are also allowed a personal item, which would help work round unlikely event my bag isn't OK as cabin bag on its own. (The only possible issue is the internal rigid frame, which isn't huge but is borderline 55cm IIRC.)
This gets me three weeks in Panama before the two nights in PC pre-trip. So probably 20 days for a circular tour if I only allow one night in PC on arrival. This is a bit sucky but not terrible - and if I haven't already said, it's evident that the desire to do this boat trip plus the sheer impracticality of catching it from Colombia to Panama as I'd hoped at a "natural" point in the trip is warping things, but it's fine-ish. If I'd put hours of thinking in back home (though *could I* have really managed to think about it? I dunno) I could have realised SBA do not want you doing C-P and make it as hard as possible (or I could have obtained USD back home and flown out with say 700-800 on me, though bit stressful) and I could have booked flights to go straight C-P on arrival, spend n weeks in P then boat to C and spend m weeks in C rather than having C split up into m1 and m2 week periods. But I didn't, and it's fine, and I can make it work, and I may learn something (like maybe there's an upside to having time forcibly chopped up like this, and if not to appreciate and maximise freedom of long unconstrained periods of time on future trips) etc etc etc.
Doubtless an element of ideas "growing their own legs" here, but this does at least also give me an extra four days round here which as I say I probably would have liked to do (not nec 4 days exactly of course) on a less hurried trip. And depending how I choose to spend them, if I did end up staying in SG and did a day trip to the canyon from there instead of Barichara, I could potentially only do 3 nights in B instead of 4 - but then again, is there any real saving, and all else being equal it might be nicer to have 4 evenings in B for new experience when I have already spent some time in SG.
I'm loath to actually commit myself but this could sell out and it would be good to have a decision made. The flight seems basically decent - the cabin baggage situation is probably fine (I always worry but no specific reason to), it is direct which is nice, the airline may not accept SBA ticket as proof of onward travel but there are workarounds which would be good to gain experience with, it is at arse o'clock (which incidentally would argue against staying in dorm, at least for that final part night, as I want to be able to pack final bits and pieces with no faffing in the dark) but that can be handled and it does have the compensating advantage of arriving in PC nice and early in broad daylight and thus increasing chances I can calmly and safely get to accom via public transport.
I think also if I checked and (touch wood) the flight was sold out I'd be peeved.
I don't have specific plans for 4 extra days round here but absolute worst case I could try another hostel dorm in SG and spend those four days visiting semi-random destinations from the local terminal in SG. (Doing a dorm in say SG would also "fit" with an alternating dorm/non-dorm pattern between private room here and private room in Buc, not that I am that anal about it.)
I will say Tim said he usually only books hostels for one night and then he can move if they're dull (as perhaps SG one we met in was) or otherwise bad, and extend if not. I see some appeal to this but also some disruption (spider scuttling about again, it's maybe two inches leg span but perhaps I exaggerate, it's fine though I'd rather it didn't run up my leg) possibility if eg you like it but they have no space or they let you extend but you have to change beds. OTOH my experience and I think Tim was in agreement despite his much greater social success (he is 30 BTW) if I didn't hear what I wanted to hear is that hostels and the tourist circuit in general are not chock full despite it being peak season, Tim said Colombians are being priced out and we both reckoned post 2020 fallout foreign tourist numbers are down and flights are a bit expensive etc, so it's not as if that's super likely. (It did happen to some people at the surprisingly sociable hostel in Quepos last year, but that was prob rare and it was CR too.) I note - not something we dicussed - this is completely compatible with intending to spend 4+ nights in any given town, it's just a question of hostel selection and leaving an option to change hostel.
I may try to take this strategy if I end up back in SG for 4 more nights, but not worrying aboutt hat just now.
2028 I think I'm gonna book it. Absolute worst case I can camp out at the airport drinking coffee all night (but I'm sure getting a taxi at 330 or something is gonna be fine with help from hostel). Direct *is* very nice, despite the other stuff it really adds that extra touch of comfort. The price is not bad at all. I can make this work, if I get a "ffs, I forgot X" thought once I click buy, it sucks but it isn't going to be trip-ruining.
2030 Right, let's book.
Hahahaha, despite refreshing before clicking buy price is now showing as £380!
2046 Hahahahaha. Spent ages going through opodo showing £122 and it's now £377 on the final page. FFS. I hate this. Why can no one show the price up front correctly?
Jeez. So I just wasted like an hour thinking about a flight that isn't even available at the listed price. What a fuckdustering turd.
Incidentally, could opodo try to nickel and dime you for any more additional services? Page after page of this shit. Not creating a trustworthy impression.
I don't mind the price being what the price is, but this bait-and-switch or (tbh it feels more like) incompetence is seriously frustrating.
2104 OK, been on Copa's (shitty) website and they are showing this flight at a USD amount that is probably £380ish. So this is out. (Copa have also "strengthened their bio-security protocols so I can fly without worry" . Frankly I wasn't worried at all until I wondered what the - no details provided - bio-security protocols might involve.)
I'm annoyed. I thought I had this solved and I don't.
I'm now super reluctant to pay £200 for some shittyish non-direct flights. I don't *have* to decide tonight - though having this fucking boat trip auxiliary booking stuff constantly hanging around like a bad smell is damned annoying, I want to just fucking relax in the evenings.
TBH I am kind of thinking *if* that's what it takes, I may cut my time in Panama down to a week or two and perhaps continue on my original-ish itinerary up towards Cartagena and an onward flight from there. Let me see if I can find my old blog post where I waffled about different flight options to Panama.
2114 Right, searching direct on avianca site, there is a shittyish times/duration flight on 3rd Feb from Bucaramanga for £94.60, and this is an S fare with 10kg cabin bag included. I need to adjust my mental gear, but this makes me feel flying approx 3rd Feb might be doable. No no no no, the price shown when you click is £150, even though I got offered no choice about fare class. OK, if you scroll right to bottom you get the original price for XS fare class. Why does everyone hate airlines? I can't think.
FFS, this is basically £55 *for a 10kg cabin bag*.
Clutching at straws. From *Barranquilla* on 9th Feb, Wingo fly direct to BLB in Panama for £89 including cabin baggage (£8 more than no cabin baggage fare). Wingo's rules for personal items and normal cabin baggage seem sane (dimensions for cabin baggage 55x25x45cm, 12kg max).
r2r says it's 9h50m by bus from Bucaramanga to Barranquilla. Mind you, also says it's 10h45m from Bucaramanga to Cartagena, so on that basis there isn't much in it. (It simultaneously says it's 13h????)
While not *every* day, there are a variety of cheap-ish flights from Barranquilla to Panama. I'd definitely want to be booking soon and who knows if these prices might evaporate on booking, but I think this might be doable.
I could put in my planned 4 days in Buc, checking out morning of Sat 3rd. If I stomach an early bus and an all-day journey and accepting getting into Barranquilla after dark but still early evening, I could be in Barranquilla the night of Sun 4th.
kayak claims kiwi.com has a Wingo direct flight with cabin bag included on 5th Feb for £89. This is cutting it too fine really, unless I chop a day out of my four days in Buc to allow a safety margin.
Copa allegedly have a direct flight from Barranquilla for £106 on 6th Feb.
You know, given how sucky all the above is, despite the fact the idea grates: r2r shows San Gil-Bogota terminal del norte as about 7-9h. So it might actually be easier to bus it back to Bogota for a flight to Panama than to push on towards Barranquilla. I don't much fancy the idea of getting into Bogota after dark, especially if I ended up putting in just a single night in LC or something, *but* I could maybe split the journey (doing the lion's share of it first, then a short couple of hours into Bogota another day).
Let's say I cut Bucaramanga and put in two nights in San Gil 30th/31st so I can do a day trip to this canyon. 1st I take a day bus to town X. I put in two nights in town X and leave on 3rd, so I'm in Bogota evening of 3rd, arriving during daylight. I could then fly to Panama on 5th and still have a day's buffer.
This just feels fucking insane and shit, but then it's *all* shit.
It occurs to me town X could maybe be Zipaquira. I've done the salt cathedral but it struck me as a pleasant enough town way back in 2014 and putting in two nights/one day there might be nice-ish without leaving me feeling I've hardly seen the place, given I did at least see it briefly during my daytrip in 2014.
I could also maybe day trip *in* to San Gil from here on say Mon (I have tomorrow earmarked for camino real as mentioned by Tim) and then go on from there to the canyon. This is a bit sucky. I'd still like to be back by dark given the road to this accom, and it would rule out swimming on Mon evening (not a killer, but not ideal).
To whine briefly: my lovely leisurely trip is being turned inside out by trying to get into fucking Panama to take this boat out. It's pretty clear every evening for the next two or three days is gonna be taken up with this kind of logistical shit whatever happens. OK, whine over.
I do want to "try" Panama, but I'm not desperate. I don't *really* want to fly in just to get the boat straight out, but if we accept the apparent reality the entire trip revolves around the fucking boat, if I did fly into Panama just (say) two weeks before the boat trip, that's maybe kind of OK. I could make a beeline for somewhere I've picked out in advance and still do 3x4 night stays outside PC. Leisurely and with the opportunity to say "it's nice here, let's stay longer" it is not - well, there is opportunity, but very constrained. But we were already looking at 3 weeks which is obviously less constrained but still not super luxurious. So frankly accepting that I'm getting more of a quick taster of Panama than a proper wander around at my leisure might be worth it - the return being that (although I'd maybe want to be booking a flight from northern city X to Panama ASAP and thus have a hard deadline) I extend this first visit to Colombia to (finger in air) 5 weeks instead of 3 weeks and it becomes correspondingly more leisurely and I can (to some extent, though definitely with an itinerary in mind and an eye on the clock) bumble my way north to Barranquilla or Cartagena without the rushing around some of tonight's post-flight-price-change wafflings seem to indicate.
2158 Let me write up the missing bit of today before I risk running out of energy/time.
Plan was just to wander across to west side of town where OM has a series of lookout icons. I decided to head over towards salto de mico and did. The first lookout at the west end of carrera 4 was already a minor "wow" moment, and as you walk south down the road onto the (pleasingly unfenced and with a sign warning they might crumble and with lots of other tourists happily wandering around on them) slightly more open view it gets even better. Amazing view over the (still green, at least from a distance - close up I suspect it's got the dried up yellow-ish quality observable from lookout) valley, mountain range shading off in the distance, mist in the air, condors (?) soaring around mostly below your feet.
I trogged down the *much* more deserted and practically overgrown path towards El Salto de Mico. I did make it - quite pleased with myself - though I didn't actually see any fall, but could hear something. Still, felt quite pleasingly adventurous getting down there without seeing anyone and getting a *slightly* different view. Hung around vaguely meditatively quite a while but undeniable the logstics of Panama floating in brain. Could feel heat from rocks coming up through shoes at times when standing, and the rocks were often too hot to hold your hand on comfortably. Nice breeze at times though.
I then came back up the overgrown path, wandered down the road towards OM's "cascada de barichara" which is maybe what I'd been able to hear when at the salto de mico point on map but couldn't see anything. Then walked back up v steep hill slowly, made my way back north along the cliff admiring view and Tim found me while I was at the northernmost point at the end of carrera 4 just before I was intending to head into town for lunch.
So reverting back to fucking Panama... Let's pretend I want to fly there about 13th Feb, which gives me about two weeks pre-boat. If we assume 4 nights here and 4 nights in Bucaramanga are a given, I am leaving Bucaramanga on morning of Sat 3rd. So that's about 10 nights before flying on 13th (arb date, not checked for cheap flights).
r2r says Buc-El Banco is about 5h by bus, which feels a borderline acceptable hop.
I am not sure I trust r2r here, but it seems to make out El Banco to either Barranquilla or Cartagena is a 10-13h mare of changes, in both cases via Aguachica and even then it's an 8h-ish hope from Aguachica.
Oh, Tim was equally down on Cartagena BTW. ("Maybe it would be OK if I visited it with a local".) *All else being equal*, and it would depend heavily on flights and buses, I would probably rather head up towards Barranquilla to get my flight out. As I've already said, Cartagena may be semi-mandatory on the post-boat leg anyway, so no need to go there twice.
But we could maybe pencil in something like 6 nights in El Banco/Mompox (split how I like and just maybe day-tripping from one to other, though I don't think they are that close, and maybe not doing Mompox) - I was gonna say then 4 nights somewhere between there and Barranquilla, but that leaves no buffer to get the flight. (And jeez, I don't want to end up in Barranquilla by accident during carnival. FFS, just checked - it's 10th Feb to 13th Feb. I'm guessing flights out from 13th unlikely to be affected, but this is gonna make accom in Barranquilla pricey. FFS. Yes I could go to the carnival but I went in 2020 and it's very hard to see the parade with no prep etc etc. At least I know and this will now be taken into account in my planning.)
Looking at map, Capurgana is a billion miles from Cartagena. But I do have an idea it is "recommended" as the route. Maybe this once a day boat is a much longer sea hop than I expected - I had (irrationally in hindsight) being it just across a river or something.
OK, read up/refreshed this - 2-3 day series of hops via boat and bus to Monteria where there are infrequent buses on eg to Santa Marta. This region is in the high risk antimalarials advised section of map too and the west of monteria bits are advised against all but essential travel. ffs.
Fuckety fuck fuck. I can't be dealing with that shit now.
2231 I probably ought to move towards bed. This is just an epic fuckfest. I half wonder if the problem - reverting to a planned route up towards Barranquilla - is that El Banco and then Mompox even more are maybe on a bit of a dead end as far as bus networks go. So maybe visiting them is asking for "problems" in terms of long journeys.
2240 Come back into room. Gonna have to give up for the night soon and go to bed.
El Banco isn't even mentioned in guide book and while it does mention Mompox it says it is remote. I am not sure there are any super-"desirable" places to visit between Bucaramanga and the north coast but maybe I should try to find somewhere else. OK, re-reading guidebook, Mompox sounds like it's maybe worth going to but forget El Banco. If the guidebook is to be believed there are direct buses of one sort or another between Mompox and all of Bucaramanga, Barranquilla and Cartagena with travel times in the 5-7h range, which is doable.
So putting aside carnival concerns, maybe 4 nights Mompox after Bucaramanga, then either Barranquilla or Cartagena for just a couple of nights before getting a flight. Based on what I'm just reading it sounds like this *rough* itinerary, while involving longer bus journeys than I'd like (but borderline OK) is maybe what I'd be doing anyway even without any time pressure.
2250 Looking on booking.com, there are maybe not so many hostels in Mompox but there are some cheap-ish hotels, so this is probably doable.
Have guzzled a packet of pan integral with raisins and "taste" of honey over the course of the afternoon. Meh.
I am going to have to try to pop into a chemist (just as a starting point, expecting to be referred to some kind of doctor or travel clinic) asking about antimalarials at some point.
I am feeling a bit overwhelmed. I think it's mainly because I've suddenly been forced to start making plans for fuck knows how many parts of the trip simultaneously rather than taking it a day at a time, combined with the general stress of trying to sort out flights.
FWIW - and I'm not sure I trust it, but any crumb of comfort is welcome - guide book makes out Capurgana-ish region is safe enough, just remote and slow to travel through. It also mentions a small plane to Medellin, though gut feeling is that I'd be as well not bothering with that as I'd need antimalarials or be at risk *anyway* just from being in the region and it's not worth it just to save a day or two when I'm in it for the experience and have my three week buffer. But maybe worth bearing in mind.
2319 Quick read up on web re malaria turns up all sorts of (dated) comments about unpleasantness of antimalarials. FFS. Obviously the maps paint a broad-brush picture and it feels a bit odd that IIRC *nowhere* in Panama are antimalarials recommended yet just over the border in Colombia they are; maybe the mosquitoes have strong nationalist feelings or something. I probably shouldn't get *too* worked up about this, but maybe part of that would be not hanging around Capurgana/Necocli much longer than necessary.
I am not utterly shitted up or feeling terrible, but I guess I do feel a certain "emotional exhaustion" from all this shit tonight (not talking specifically about malaria etc here).
Without checking flight prices and just very quickly poking at calendar (I've had enough; at this stage I'm just sort of priming my mind for ongoing mulling and resuming all this shit again tomorrow night), it might well be that 4 nights Buc and 4 nights Mompox (maybe even an extra night on top) plus a night or two in Barranquilla before getting a flight on to Panama *might* fit quite nicely just before the carnival kicks in. There are two 6ish hour bus hops but that's borderline OK and as noted above it's looking like there isn't anywhere else "obvious" to visit in that kind of area anyway.
Sun 28th 0008 Been watching a bit of YT. Brain not spinning too much. Bed, and hope to be up 9ish to walk this camino real to Guane and get the bus backet.
As I came up to accom all three dogs (fortunately not quite in sync) came running up barking. They did have their tails up but the two bigger ones did give me a bit of a shock and they didn't seem entirely friendly and I found myself nudged off the path into some bushes. I didn't completely freak out and shouted "callense" and they did seem to go away without any intervention from the owners. The white woolly dog also came up but it was obviously friendly, I stroked it a bit both because I like it and because I figured it accepting me might carry some weight with the other dogs if they were paying attention, though I suspect they'd lost interest by then.
Got an email from SBA this morning and have a general feeling of "fuck, there is so much to sort out" . I suspect I may be kind of stuck in my room tonight anyway depending how late this party runs.
I have just washed the trousers that got wet at JC.
The refundable ticket from Panama to Colombia looks to be an utter fuckfest of uncertainty and feels like an inevitable shafting.
I am vaguely dreading swimming but I am going to do it anyway.
I will write about today earlier, I didn't get out til about 11 or 1130 given getting up maybe 930-10 and faffing around with SBA email and cancellable ticket this. Not a bad day in terms of sightseeing and I bumped into Tim (he recognised me) at the end of it and we had a chat and went to MBL for lunch and while I have my usual "was I OK?" and maybe vague jealously concerns, that was still quite cool.
The upstairs kitchen door was locked when I got back, I had brought two biggish bottles of zero cal soft drink back with me and wanted to put them in to chill. I was a bit miffed but I did manage to find the owner and he unlocked it for me but it just feels a little bit awkward and off somehow and is maybe contributing to a vague off-kilter feeling.
Plan is not to have any beers tonight (nothing to do specifically with this party or having so much boat trip adjacent stuff to sort out), I am kind of thinking if I don't have any tonight then have some tomorrow night it may feel a bit more "special" and/or refreshing.
I bought 2x2l bottles of water in town before going off sightseeing, and I drank most of them while out. Didn't bring any new water back but I still have that litre bottle in fridge plus these two big bottles of soft drink for hydration purposes tonight and some dregs of water knocking around in a couple of bottles so I think that will be fine.
1822 Sitting outside room, all very quiet, just like last night. I don't think I was too whiny earlier but probably vaguely off-kilter.
Did swim, it was OK, maybe 6-8 people in water and few more sitting by side, staff (?) bringing beers to some of people in water - it is more a "lounging" env than a "swimming" env, so to speak. I was in water for about 30 mins and it was all OK, I did widths instead of lengths at one point as other people seemed to be doing widths and I didn't want to collide. Felt a tiny bit "alone" but really it was fine. I put shoes inside bag instead of handing them to woman at booth separately to look after which felt a bit more streamlined, and I tried not to care about the 10 or so people sitting round drinking beer at the booth (not poolside) when I went to hand in and collect my things. Glad I did go.
Need to write up today but let's try to sort out some admin. I "need" to book the "official" hostel for the two nights before start of boat trip just to keep things simple. I suspect this will mean dorm which isn't ideal but can't be helped. Need to see if it's cheaper to book direct with discount code been given or to use booking.com.
Yay, still no wifi. I can "share" the movistar wifi from the O6 but it's gonna be a faff and it may use a VPN which may upset booking.com.
Wearing brightish blue ("Swedish blue" I think is how manufacturer describes it) top tonight for first time during trip FWIW.
OK, owner just walked past so I asked and wifi password has changed, got it working.
Right, phone and wifi playing up but... booking.com will do me 2 nights in dorm for USD20 or 2 nights in double with shared bathroom for USD58, both with free cancellation until about five days beforehand. Let's check price direct before waffling. The price is nominally the same booking direct but I can get 10% off bringing the double down to USD52.2, not a huge saving but borderline worthwhile. The cancellation policy when booking direct is vague, the wording half suggests you get free cancellation as long as it's more than a day in advance, *but* the text actually only talks about cancellation within 1 day of booking.
Gut feeling is that given I'm going to be in dorm for the trip (effectively) and I may well want to be prepping gear, washing clothes and spreading stuff out as I repack across possibly two different bags and so on it may be worth splurging on the private, even if it feels a bit expensive esp given it's still shared bathroom. Yes there will be other trip people in the hostel but there's no guarantee they would be in same dorm as me or that I'd talk to them (and there is a bar etc) anyway. I may (not checked) also end up in a dorm on arrivial in Colombia depending on prices and availability.
So the question is am I gonna book direct? It is a faff as they required credit card details etc which booking.com already has but I shouldn't be lazy. It really comes down to cancellation. Obviously I don't expect to cancel - it vastly simplifies pre-trip, esp briefing, if I am in this hostel - but you never know what might happen.
1856 OK, sod it, booked direct - the cancellation T&Cs as written contradict themselves but it is probably actually free cancellation more than 1 day beforehand and the chances of me actually wanting to cancel are small enough it felt a worthwhile gamble to get the 10% off. I booked the double, the extra cost is negligible in the long run and I think being able to eg stash my gallon of water securely and wash/dry clothes and repack in relative comfort is worth it pre-trip.
Got confirmation e-mail, in English except for cancellation terms in Spanish, and they are exactly the same self-contradictory terms in Spanish as in English. Meh.
I still need to write rest of today up and - first - look into booking a flight to Panama, but I'm gonna go get a big bottle of hopefully chilled soft drink first. Omi Maracuya, quite nice.
Notwithstanding need to print a hell of a lot of stuff, including as yet unbooked accom for first night to show to immigration, I don't strictly speaking have that much to do before I go. I would all else being equal prefer 4 nights in Buc in order to reduce pressure (a bit - gonna feel it regardless) but I can accept 3 nights if flight is much cheaper.
So this is Sat 3rd Feb as "core" date. Looking on kayak, there's avianca-via-kiwi.com for £98 on 4th but although it doesn't explicitly state avianca fare class, this appears to only allow a "personal item" not a "carry on bag" and I suspect my bag exceeds the 45cm dimension for that.
There is an avianca fare on 3d for £124 but this is XS and it jumps up massives to go to S which allowed a carry on bag. (It's switched to dollars, but about £178. Which is insane given that's the kind of differential they charge to actually have a checked bag.)
Fuck me I hate flying.
Cat been chasing biggish grasshopper thing which is currently camped out on my trouser leg and cat can't see it.
1929 Just saw biggish (not exceptional) spider scuttering about on floor.
I maybe left booking this flight too late. Bucaramanga really is not ideal. There is a Copa flight direct at arse o'clock (0652) on 7th Feb for £122 on kayak (showing as an Opodo booking) which says it includes 1 carry on bag, at 56x36x26 which is probably fine and 1cm more each way than Avianca anyway. This is going to mean getting hostel to book me a taxi and paying arse am prices, but it may be the best bet. Copa may mean I have to buy a refundable ticket to "prove" I have onward travel out of Panama, but I am half feeling I'll have to do that anyway.
It also gets into Panama at 0831 so by time I'm getting to accom is it maybe 10-11ish, I may not be allowed to check in but it's probably not too long to wait. And it is broad daylight which helps, and modulo tiredness it gives me an "extra" full day in Panama - though of course I've lost four days by waiting for this flight. But I don't really have time to make it over to any airport with better services and save time that way.
I suppose I could potentially also just put in a single night in Panama on arrival to claw back a day, especially if my first stop on my little mini-tour within Panama is not that far away and thus an easy-ish hop the next day. "All" I really need to sort out in PC is a local SIM, and even that's not essential as I can buy one anywhere.
It is a shame to lose four days in Panama (maybe only three if you squint) but it probably can't massively be helped - I could pay about £200 for a via-Bogota flight on Sat or Sun, but that is kind of sucky too in its way. By the time you factor in taxi to the airport in Buc some of the saving disappears. But this single no connection flight does kind of appeal anyway. I haven't checked if it's available *this* Wednesday at a sane price, but TBH that's probably really rushing stuff. It would give me one single night in Buc, I wouldn't get to go to that canyon *and* I'd be really under the cosh to get immigration-satisfying onward refundable flight and accom for arrival in Panama booked and printed. I'm not doing that even if there is a decent priced flight this Wednesday.
I can easily use the four extra days to visit (either staying there, or using San Gil as a base) some of the other towns round here. That's fine and probably what I'd be doing if I didn't have the distortion of needing to get to Panama.
IIRC the only "good" place to fly from anywhere near here is Cartagena, and while of course I *could* get to Cartagena by bus within four days, I wouldn't be enjoying myself or seeing much and it's pointless - I'd be better either paying more to fly from Buc on 3rd as originally planned, or just spending the four days round here and flying on 7th.
I don't like this 7th flight but I also sort of do. I'm losing 3-4 days in Panama (I kind of claw one back, or have the option to, because I arrive in Panama early in morning rather than getting to accom about 9-10pm) and I have an arse o'clock flight I need to get a taxi for (but I would hope hostel will be able to arrange that) and check out of hostel at like 4am. *But* it is direct, which is psychologically pleasing (no backtracking) and also much more comfortable (no hanging around hours in Bogota, no missed connections, no double security screening). And while I'm always edgy, it does appear to allow an acceptable cabin bag no muss no fuss. It is an airline that may force me to buy a refundable ticket to satisfy onward flight requirements, *but* I have an extra four days to help sort this out and I was *probably* going to be compelled to do this anyway - the idea of chancing it and booking a refundable flight if permitted last minute at the airport when not allowed to board sounds stressful.
OK, I'm gonna chew on this for half an hour or so and *maybe* book it before prices go up. I think the key thing is that viewed with some flexibility, whether this flight is the best possible option in the circs or not, it is clearly workable and the only real "suffering" is the arse o'clock checkout and taxi to the airport.
OK, and happily expedia.co.uk will allow me to book this flight for £114.
(Incidentally I had been thinking that I am not going to pay for a seat reservation on these flight(s). They are like 1h-2h and I have chanced it before and I think it's fine and just comfort zone stretching not terrible if I don't get an aisle seat.)
You are also allowed a personal item, which would help work round unlikely event my bag isn't OK as cabin bag on its own. (The only possible issue is the internal rigid frame, which isn't huge but is borderline 55cm IIRC.)
This gets me three weeks in Panama before the two nights in PC pre-trip. So probably 20 days for a circular tour if I only allow one night in PC on arrival. This is a bit sucky but not terrible - and if I haven't already said, it's evident that the desire to do this boat trip plus the sheer impracticality of catching it from Colombia to Panama as I'd hoped at a "natural" point in the trip is warping things, but it's fine-ish. If I'd put hours of thinking in back home (though *could I* have really managed to think about it? I dunno) I could have realised SBA do not want you doing C-P and make it as hard as possible (or I could have obtained USD back home and flown out with say 700-800 on me, though bit stressful) and I could have booked flights to go straight C-P on arrival, spend n weeks in P then boat to C and spend m weeks in C rather than having C split up into m1 and m2 week periods. But I didn't, and it's fine, and I can make it work, and I may learn something (like maybe there's an upside to having time forcibly chopped up like this, and if not to appreciate and maximise freedom of long unconstrained periods of time on future trips) etc etc etc.
Doubtless an element of ideas "growing their own legs" here, but this does at least also give me an extra four days round here which as I say I probably would have liked to do (not nec 4 days exactly of course) on a less hurried trip. And depending how I choose to spend them, if I did end up staying in SG and did a day trip to the canyon from there instead of Barichara, I could potentially only do 3 nights in B instead of 4 - but then again, is there any real saving, and all else being equal it might be nicer to have 4 evenings in B for new experience when I have already spent some time in SG.
I'm loath to actually commit myself but this could sell out and it would be good to have a decision made. The flight seems basically decent - the cabin baggage situation is probably fine (I always worry but no specific reason to), it is direct which is nice, the airline may not accept SBA ticket as proof of onward travel but there are workarounds which would be good to gain experience with, it is at arse o'clock (which incidentally would argue against staying in dorm, at least for that final part night, as I want to be able to pack final bits and pieces with no faffing in the dark) but that can be handled and it does have the compensating advantage of arriving in PC nice and early in broad daylight and thus increasing chances I can calmly and safely get to accom via public transport.
I think also if I checked and (touch wood) the flight was sold out I'd be peeved.
I don't have specific plans for 4 extra days round here but absolute worst case I could try another hostel dorm in SG and spend those four days visiting semi-random destinations from the local terminal in SG. (Doing a dorm in say SG would also "fit" with an alternating dorm/non-dorm pattern between private room here and private room in Buc, not that I am that anal about it.)
I will say Tim said he usually only books hostels for one night and then he can move if they're dull (as perhaps SG one we met in was) or otherwise bad, and extend if not. I see some appeal to this but also some disruption (spider scuttling about again, it's maybe two inches leg span but perhaps I exaggerate, it's fine though I'd rather it didn't run up my leg) possibility if eg you like it but they have no space or they let you extend but you have to change beds. OTOH my experience and I think Tim was in agreement despite his much greater social success (he is 30 BTW) if I didn't hear what I wanted to hear is that hostels and the tourist circuit in general are not chock full despite it being peak season, Tim said Colombians are being priced out and we both reckoned post 2020 fallout foreign tourist numbers are down and flights are a bit expensive etc, so it's not as if that's super likely. (It did happen to some people at the surprisingly sociable hostel in Quepos last year, but that was prob rare and it was CR too.) I note - not something we dicussed - this is completely compatible with intending to spend 4+ nights in any given town, it's just a question of hostel selection and leaving an option to change hostel.
I may try to take this strategy if I end up back in SG for 4 more nights, but not worrying aboutt hat just now.
2028 I think I'm gonna book it. Absolute worst case I can camp out at the airport drinking coffee all night (but I'm sure getting a taxi at 330 or something is gonna be fine with help from hostel). Direct *is* very nice, despite the other stuff it really adds that extra touch of comfort. The price is not bad at all. I can make this work, if I get a "ffs, I forgot X" thought once I click buy, it sucks but it isn't going to be trip-ruining.
2030 Right, let's book.
Hahahaha, despite refreshing before clicking buy price is now showing as £380!
2046 Hahahahaha. Spent ages going through opodo showing £122 and it's now £377 on the final page. FFS. I hate this. Why can no one show the price up front correctly?
Jeez. So I just wasted like an hour thinking about a flight that isn't even available at the listed price. What a fuckdustering turd.
Incidentally, could opodo try to nickel and dime you for any more additional services? Page after page of this shit. Not creating a trustworthy impression.
I don't mind the price being what the price is, but this bait-and-switch or (tbh it feels more like) incompetence is seriously frustrating.
2104 OK, been on Copa's (shitty) website and they are showing this flight at a USD amount that is probably £380ish. So this is out. (Copa have also "strengthened their bio-security protocols so I can fly without worry" . Frankly I wasn't worried at all until I wondered what the - no details provided - bio-security protocols might involve.)
I'm annoyed. I thought I had this solved and I don't.
I'm now super reluctant to pay £200 for some shittyish non-direct flights. I don't *have* to decide tonight - though having this fucking boat trip auxiliary booking stuff constantly hanging around like a bad smell is damned annoying, I want to just fucking relax in the evenings.
TBH I am kind of thinking *if* that's what it takes, I may cut my time in Panama down to a week or two and perhaps continue on my original-ish itinerary up towards Cartagena and an onward flight from there. Let me see if I can find my old blog post where I waffled about different flight options to Panama.
2114 Right, searching direct on avianca site, there is a shittyish times/duration flight on 3rd Feb from Bucaramanga for £94.60, and this is an S fare with 10kg cabin bag included. I need to adjust my mental gear, but this makes me feel flying approx 3rd Feb might be doable. No no no no, the price shown when you click is £150, even though I got offered no choice about fare class. OK, if you scroll right to bottom you get the original price for XS fare class. Why does everyone hate airlines? I can't think.
FFS, this is basically £55 *for a 10kg cabin bag*.
Clutching at straws. From *Barranquilla* on 9th Feb, Wingo fly direct to BLB in Panama for £89 including cabin baggage (£8 more than no cabin baggage fare). Wingo's rules for personal items and normal cabin baggage seem sane (dimensions for cabin baggage 55x25x45cm, 12kg max).
r2r says it's 9h50m by bus from Bucaramanga to Barranquilla. Mind you, also says it's 10h45m from Bucaramanga to Cartagena, so on that basis there isn't much in it. (It simultaneously says it's 13h????)
While not *every* day, there are a variety of cheap-ish flights from Barranquilla to Panama. I'd definitely want to be booking soon and who knows if these prices might evaporate on booking, but I think this might be doable.
I could put in my planned 4 days in Buc, checking out morning of Sat 3rd. If I stomach an early bus and an all-day journey and accepting getting into Barranquilla after dark but still early evening, I could be in Barranquilla the night of Sun 4th.
kayak claims kiwi.com has a Wingo direct flight with cabin bag included on 5th Feb for £89. This is cutting it too fine really, unless I chop a day out of my four days in Buc to allow a safety margin.
Copa allegedly have a direct flight from Barranquilla for £106 on 6th Feb.
You know, given how sucky all the above is, despite the fact the idea grates: r2r shows San Gil-Bogota terminal del norte as about 7-9h. So it might actually be easier to bus it back to Bogota for a flight to Panama than to push on towards Barranquilla. I don't much fancy the idea of getting into Bogota after dark, especially if I ended up putting in just a single night in LC or something, *but* I could maybe split the journey (doing the lion's share of it first, then a short couple of hours into Bogota another day).
Let's say I cut Bucaramanga and put in two nights in San Gil 30th/31st so I can do a day trip to this canyon. 1st I take a day bus to town X. I put in two nights in town X and leave on 3rd, so I'm in Bogota evening of 3rd, arriving during daylight. I could then fly to Panama on 5th and still have a day's buffer.
This just feels fucking insane and shit, but then it's *all* shit.
It occurs to me town X could maybe be Zipaquira. I've done the salt cathedral but it struck me as a pleasant enough town way back in 2014 and putting in two nights/one day there might be nice-ish without leaving me feeling I've hardly seen the place, given I did at least see it briefly during my daytrip in 2014.
I could also maybe day trip *in* to San Gil from here on say Mon (I have tomorrow earmarked for camino real as mentioned by Tim) and then go on from there to the canyon. This is a bit sucky. I'd still like to be back by dark given the road to this accom, and it would rule out swimming on Mon evening (not a killer, but not ideal).
To whine briefly: my lovely leisurely trip is being turned inside out by trying to get into fucking Panama to take this boat out. It's pretty clear every evening for the next two or three days is gonna be taken up with this kind of logistical shit whatever happens. OK, whine over.
I do want to "try" Panama, but I'm not desperate. I don't *really* want to fly in just to get the boat straight out, but if we accept the apparent reality the entire trip revolves around the fucking boat, if I did fly into Panama just (say) two weeks before the boat trip, that's maybe kind of OK. I could make a beeline for somewhere I've picked out in advance and still do 3x4 night stays outside PC. Leisurely and with the opportunity to say "it's nice here, let's stay longer" it is not - well, there is opportunity, but very constrained. But we were already looking at 3 weeks which is obviously less constrained but still not super luxurious. So frankly accepting that I'm getting more of a quick taster of Panama than a proper wander around at my leisure might be worth it - the return being that (although I'd maybe want to be booking a flight from northern city X to Panama ASAP and thus have a hard deadline) I extend this first visit to Colombia to (finger in air) 5 weeks instead of 3 weeks and it becomes correspondingly more leisurely and I can (to some extent, though definitely with an itinerary in mind and an eye on the clock) bumble my way north to Barranquilla or Cartagena without the rushing around some of tonight's post-flight-price-change wafflings seem to indicate.
2158 Let me write up the missing bit of today before I risk running out of energy/time.
Plan was just to wander across to west side of town where OM has a series of lookout icons. I decided to head over towards salto de mico and did. The first lookout at the west end of carrera 4 was already a minor "wow" moment, and as you walk south down the road onto the (pleasingly unfenced and with a sign warning they might crumble and with lots of other tourists happily wandering around on them) slightly more open view it gets even better. Amazing view over the (still green, at least from a distance - close up I suspect it's got the dried up yellow-ish quality observable from lookout) valley, mountain range shading off in the distance, mist in the air, condors (?) soaring around mostly below your feet.
I trogged down the *much* more deserted and practically overgrown path towards El Salto de Mico. I did make it - quite pleased with myself - though I didn't actually see any fall, but could hear something. Still, felt quite pleasingly adventurous getting down there without seeing anyone and getting a *slightly* different view. Hung around vaguely meditatively quite a while but undeniable the logstics of Panama floating in brain. Could feel heat from rocks coming up through shoes at times when standing, and the rocks were often too hot to hold your hand on comfortably. Nice breeze at times though.
I then came back up the overgrown path, wandered down the road towards OM's "cascada de barichara" which is maybe what I'd been able to hear when at the salto de mico point on map but couldn't see anything. Then walked back up v steep hill slowly, made my way back north along the cliff admiring view and Tim found me while I was at the northernmost point at the end of carrera 4 just before I was intending to head into town for lunch.
So reverting back to fucking Panama... Let's pretend I want to fly there about 13th Feb, which gives me about two weeks pre-boat. If we assume 4 nights here and 4 nights in Bucaramanga are a given, I am leaving Bucaramanga on morning of Sat 3rd. So that's about 10 nights before flying on 13th (arb date, not checked for cheap flights).
r2r says Buc-El Banco is about 5h by bus, which feels a borderline acceptable hop.
I am not sure I trust r2r here, but it seems to make out El Banco to either Barranquilla or Cartagena is a 10-13h mare of changes, in both cases via Aguachica and even then it's an 8h-ish hope from Aguachica.
Oh, Tim was equally down on Cartagena BTW. ("Maybe it would be OK if I visited it with a local".) *All else being equal*, and it would depend heavily on flights and buses, I would probably rather head up towards Barranquilla to get my flight out. As I've already said, Cartagena may be semi-mandatory on the post-boat leg anyway, so no need to go there twice.
But we could maybe pencil in something like 6 nights in El Banco/Mompox (split how I like and just maybe day-tripping from one to other, though I don't think they are that close, and maybe not doing Mompox) - I was gonna say then 4 nights somewhere between there and Barranquilla, but that leaves no buffer to get the flight. (And jeez, I don't want to end up in Barranquilla by accident during carnival. FFS, just checked - it's 10th Feb to 13th Feb. I'm guessing flights out from 13th unlikely to be affected, but this is gonna make accom in Barranquilla pricey. FFS. Yes I could go to the carnival but I went in 2020 and it's very hard to see the parade with no prep etc etc. At least I know and this will now be taken into account in my planning.)
Looking at map, Capurgana is a billion miles from Cartagena. But I do have an idea it is "recommended" as the route. Maybe this once a day boat is a much longer sea hop than I expected - I had (irrationally in hindsight) being it just across a river or something.
OK, read up/refreshed this - 2-3 day series of hops via boat and bus to Monteria where there are infrequent buses on eg to Santa Marta. This region is in the high risk antimalarials advised section of map too and the west of monteria bits are advised against all but essential travel. ffs.
Fuckety fuck fuck. I can't be dealing with that shit now.
2231 I probably ought to move towards bed. This is just an epic fuckfest. I half wonder if the problem - reverting to a planned route up towards Barranquilla - is that El Banco and then Mompox even more are maybe on a bit of a dead end as far as bus networks go. So maybe visiting them is asking for "problems" in terms of long journeys.
2240 Come back into room. Gonna have to give up for the night soon and go to bed.
El Banco isn't even mentioned in guide book and while it does mention Mompox it says it is remote. I am not sure there are any super-"desirable" places to visit between Bucaramanga and the north coast but maybe I should try to find somewhere else. OK, re-reading guidebook, Mompox sounds like it's maybe worth going to but forget El Banco. If the guidebook is to be believed there are direct buses of one sort or another between Mompox and all of Bucaramanga, Barranquilla and Cartagena with travel times in the 5-7h range, which is doable.
So putting aside carnival concerns, maybe 4 nights Mompox after Bucaramanga, then either Barranquilla or Cartagena for just a couple of nights before getting a flight. Based on what I'm just reading it sounds like this *rough* itinerary, while involving longer bus journeys than I'd like (but borderline OK) is maybe what I'd be doing anyway even without any time pressure.
2250 Looking on booking.com, there are maybe not so many hostels in Mompox but there are some cheap-ish hotels, so this is probably doable.
Have guzzled a packet of pan integral with raisins and "taste" of honey over the course of the afternoon. Meh.
I am going to have to try to pop into a chemist (just as a starting point, expecting to be referred to some kind of doctor or travel clinic) asking about antimalarials at some point.
I am feeling a bit overwhelmed. I think it's mainly because I've suddenly been forced to start making plans for fuck knows how many parts of the trip simultaneously rather than taking it a day at a time, combined with the general stress of trying to sort out flights.
FWIW - and I'm not sure I trust it, but any crumb of comfort is welcome - guide book makes out Capurgana-ish region is safe enough, just remote and slow to travel through. It also mentions a small plane to Medellin, though gut feeling is that I'd be as well not bothering with that as I'd need antimalarials or be at risk *anyway* just from being in the region and it's not worth it just to save a day or two when I'm in it for the experience and have my three week buffer. But maybe worth bearing in mind.
2319 Quick read up on web re malaria turns up all sorts of (dated) comments about unpleasantness of antimalarials. FFS. Obviously the maps paint a broad-brush picture and it feels a bit odd that IIRC *nowhere* in Panama are antimalarials recommended yet just over the border in Colombia they are; maybe the mosquitoes have strong nationalist feelings or something. I probably shouldn't get *too* worked up about this, but maybe part of that would be not hanging around Capurgana/Necocli much longer than necessary.
I am not utterly shitted up or feeling terrible, but I guess I do feel a certain "emotional exhaustion" from all this shit tonight (not talking specifically about malaria etc here).
Without checking flight prices and just very quickly poking at calendar (I've had enough; at this stage I'm just sort of priming my mind for ongoing mulling and resuming all this shit again tomorrow night), it might well be that 4 nights Buc and 4 nights Mompox (maybe even an extra night on top) plus a night or two in Barranquilla before getting a flight on to Panama *might* fit quite nicely just before the carnival kicks in. There are two 6ish hour bus hops but that's borderline OK and as noted above it's looking like there isn't anywhere else "obvious" to visit in that kind of area anyway.
Sun 28th 0008 Been watching a bit of YT. Brain not spinning too much. Bed, and hope to be up 9ish to walk this camino real to Guane and get the bus backet.
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