Mon 15th Jan 1812 Sitting BNM at table in hostel courtyard. Got some (warm) beer - 6 pack of 330ml Aguila for about 17k - at Ara supermarket and a 5l bottle of water (about 5k) before coming back, beer is in fridge and I hope to drink some cool in an hour or two.
Everything gone pretty smoothly TBH. Think there is one other guy (who arrived minutes after I did) in my 4 bed dorm, barely seen him. Feel reasonably comfortable with situation although nagging security and hassle doubts - there are some lockers, but they are stuffed full of vaguely teenage girl type stuff.
Spent last hour or so wandering round town. Attractive, pretty touristic and thus a bit boutique but apart from probably being prettier as well, it doesn't appear to have fallen over the same cliff as Santa Elena or La Fortuna - I was able to find a (chain?) called IIRC (and not sure I do) El Corral Original Arroz Paisa and got a very nice big breaded (?) pork chop with chips, arroz paisa (rice with all sorts of meats in) and a big jugo de lulo for 26k (and I gave a 3k tip). Lots of "if you have to ask you can't afford it" fancyish restaurants. Feels pretty safe on street and though I aimed to be back before dark I don't think it would be vital by any means. Place is not rammed but there are obviously a good few tourists about. Snapped a few photos in street without feeling at risk.
I went into three or four bank cash machines (incidentally the way some are lined up along one side of the main square irrestibly reminded me of Antigua, although I'm sure this is nothing that unusual). Long story short, I didn't withdraw any money but the one nearest the BBC pub, I think it is Banco Popular, will do me 1.4 million COP for a 22kish fee, which I declined at the time but will probably take up tomorrow. Another (Bancolombia?? but not sure) wouldn't give me more than 600k and wanted to charge 26kish fee. I think two Davivienda machines both failed and printed me a 0 withdrawl slip and said something went wrong.
I still have probably 250k+ but will need more and don't want to run supplies down.
I had a reply from SBA, in what I assume is their typical tone. I have to pay in USD, because the San Blas islands are in Panama and Panama uses USD. Basically, "fuck you, getting dollars in Colombia is your problem, we don't give a shit, deal with it" . Oddly when I bought, for example, my flight from a Colombian airline they didn't insist I pay in COP because it is a Colombian company - they *accommodated* me, as a customer, and took advantage of standard business facilities for accepting payments in different currencies. It's not as I'm insisting on paying in pounds - they are fucking selling a service *from Colombia*, but no no no, USD only here.
They also told me where the briefing is, which is something.
The sucky thing is I am probably going to have to pay the bastards anyway. But note they didn't even say "you can easily get USD from cash machines in Cartagena" or similar. So frankly I may not be able to *risk* booking yet. I am going to sit on it for a day or two.
I kept waking up in night and got up on alarm about 0830. Popped to Movistar next to hostel and paid 30k for a 30GB 30 days SIM no fuss, seems to work fine and I installed Mi Movistar app in the shop so I could confirm amount of data and duration as there were no text messages floating around.
Then back to hostel, few free coffees and packed (can't quite remember sequencing), cat appeared to say goodbye (or so I'll pretend), walked down to Museo de Oro TM no problem, got a B74 straight to portal norte (incidentally a guy asked me something about the TM while waiting at MdO, which I always feel is vaguely promising and suggests I don't look excessively touristy) and an 8 on from there to TM. There was in fact a (presumably late) bus to VdL direct on screens but the company it was from didn't have any ticket booth (and you can't get through to departures without a ticket). Anyway, I paid 35k for a (large minibus) ticket to Tunja no fuss, bus pretty quiet, took about 2k. Paid annoying 1.2k for a piss at terminal del norte but didn't want to risk getting caught short.
Tunja bus terminal was the one to east IIRC of centre, not the south side one I'd seen on OM, and it was super modern and slick. Wandered over to ticket office and got another minibus ticket to VdLno fuss, 11k. Seemed to take a long time but not a big deal. After orienting myself from OM just before getting off bus I managed to navigate to hostel without checking phone - sure it would have been safe to do so, but I wanted to try.
Checked in OK, atmosphere is just a teensy bit regimented (eg signs about being fined if you block the toilet) but it's clean and nice and there is kitchen and fridge.
I am earwigging on a conversation in Spanish between some other guests (Germans/Austrians, I think) and maybe some other guests or maybe owners, not sure.
There is a bit of a La Fortuna vibe, various tours and "adrenaline" activities advertised, but frankly I feel inclined to take it fairly easy. I can extend here if I want (and/or spend time in nearby Tunja, or even weekend in Tunja then come back here next week), but gut feeling is tomorrow I may visit a museum or two and perhaps book a tour. I am not massively interested in the "probably cool, but not desperate and not as 'big' a deal as in Santa Elena" things like hammocks and bikes on ziplines. There are some kind of pools nearby and if those would allow me to get a bit of a swim in that might be an option. I would also like to do a bit of a hike, IIRC guide book mentioned some hotel has a trail you can hike even as a non-guest. I am not rushing into this, as I say will see how it goes tomorrow.
I went into the big church (temple?) on the main square during my wander (maybe an hour, but really hard to be sure) and snapped a quick photo or two, I didn't go into the body of it, just the bit near the street.
I think that's about it, I can always add more later but think I've got the bulk of today down.
1846 Both phone batts a bit low (40%), will be OK. Just popped off to clean teeth as were feeling a bit sticky. Resisting temptation to have beer yet, I am sure it won't be cold.
Incidentally as I rather suspected the whole business of getting these facturas electronicas to maybe claim VAT back is falling by the wayside. I can't be arsed, I don't know if i can get these when paying cash, my limited experience so far suggest it's going to involve scanning dozens of QR codes and probably dealing with some crappy government website. Not absolutely ruling it out but it just feels like in practice the chances of me ever claiming anything back are microscopic.
(And to be fair, it isn't *obvious* that I am being charged VAT on accommodation so far - maybe it's hidden but I had half feared I'd get it shoved on top, so I am sort of assuming it isn't.)
A random website I'm looking at re poss of getting USD mentions you have to take the items you purchased to the DIAN office when leaving country. That can't be right, I obviously don't *have* eg those coffees I bought.
Web searches so far are not remotely promising re getting hold of USD, without paying a small fortune changing at a bank or bureau de change or something.
Ahahaha, a Google search took me to SBA's own FAQ page - which as you might predict addresses things *exclusively* from a Panamanian departure point and talks about how to get COP in Panama but not the reverse, even though need for COP before hitting a cash machine is minimal. Because fuck you if you're leaving from Colombia.
https://courtneytheexplorer.com/san-blas-adventures-an-honest-unpaid-review/ is rather old but says (and I believe it) the group is *much* smaller and the trip less popular starting from Colombia. What a surprise!
Jeez, she says you have to take two gallons of water. What the actual fucking fuck? She doesn't make any mention of difficulty of getting US dollars, but maybe she's American and had them ready when she came out.
Mentions of stuff like playing beach volleyball leaves me cold. Sounds like there is a lot of drinking which *is* up my street but not when I have to keep getting on boats.
FFS, I dunno. This dollar business makes me flip-flop a bit, edging towards saying "fuck it" or moving towards the blue sailing option - although maybe even there I have to pay USD. OK, bluesailing website is vague on this, it says you need USD for IMO reasonable things like buying stuff on the islands and the transfer at the far end (and says you can change money with them or at banks, not to use people on the street - which rather implies that you *can't* just get USD out of an ATM), but it doesn't outright say you can pay in pesos in cash.
Jeez, I hate everyone involved in this. I half incline towards seeing if I can pay the fucking 7% premium to pay SBA with Paypal and then I would need *less* dollars - I do already have some and I would be exposed to less predatory rates at banks or whatever in Cartagena scraping together enough USD for the trip.
On the other hand, all this shit does maybe making doing it from Panama seem a lot less stressful, but as noted the other day that really feels a lot less satisfactory otherwise.
The outdated blog posted above also makes the Panamanian customs inspection on departure from Colombia sound like a mare, but in and of itself not necessarily a huge problem.
1916 Fuck it, let's have a beer.
Feels like I've spent a fortune today but I haven't really. Part of it is just "longer term" spending like the 30 days of local SIM and 4 nights accommodation.
The bloody boat thing is preying on my mind. got excited at check prep blog entry where I said I was bringing 302, but apparently I only brought 142. To be fair, even 302 would be borderline, except if I paid for the SBA trip with Paypal and only needed USD cash for things like drink and transfers during the trip. 142 is (without checking blogs and recommendations, and noting the blog listed above says influencers get/got free trips, so need to be aware of that) just possibly borderline enough for incidentals, but I suspect it would be tight if not outright too little.
I could ask bluesailing if I have to pay in USD cash. It just might tip the balance (no pun intended).
OK, bluesailing calendar shows almost entirely full unless you go second-ish week of Feb. And assuming the boats *are* all different, this doesn't bode well for having a choice. So gut feeling is bluesailing are out.
I *don't* like it - I don't like patronising businesses that make no effort to accommodate completely reasonable things, rather than demanding you pay in cash in a currency which is not readily available at the point of departure - but current thinking is booking SBA if I can pay the fucking Paypal premium to pay the bulk of it electronically, and then stomaching a shitty exchange rate at a burea de change or similar in Cartagena to get an extra hundred dollars or so to top up the 142 I brought out with me to pay for "incidentals".
Beer is not very cold and not super enjoying it, but it is something. May have one or two more (still not finished first, just to be clear), hopefully a bit colder. I may also depending how the day goes treat myself to eg a BBC (Bogota Beer Company) beer or two mid-afternoon or some other bar.
The article above made out the trip was party-ish despite only be 14 out of max 28 people or something, which feels slightly odd. But I do kind of like the idea of the group being a little bit smaller.
But like I think I said, fuck the idea of playing beach volleyball.
FTR I don't consider the timescales to go with bluesailing after first week of Feb (and they do have the odd single spot etc and I might squeeze in) absolutely intolerable, but clearly this is not ideal.
I suppose the silver lining here may be that going from Colombia with SBA, it may be much less likely they are going to sell out.
2046 Third (and last - they are small, but still) beer (will save rest of six pack for another night). Wrote Rab a teddy-bearing e-mail repeating all the boat shit on offchance he can point out some gaping flaw in my thought processes.
There is a little dog here, it seems unobjectionable enough. But when I checked in I asked the woman if I could/should stroke and it and she sort of pulled a face, so I guess I'll try to keep my hands to myself.
2131 In bed. There was a youngish woman in here (not bloke I saw check in just after me) when I came back from terrace (she said "hola" , I said "hi" as per my plan, *if* - can't remember - she was first I should have adapted but meh) but I am 95% sure it's just me in here now. (There is a weird raised platform with stairs at top of room but as the 4 beds are in lower bit I guess no one sleeps up there.)
Had shower, I may re-wear clothes tomorrow but at least this gives me options plus the cleaner I keep my body the less dirty my clothes will get. It's COP30k for laundry here, presumably "per wash" not by weight, which feels pretty shit. I may wash say 2 uw or 2 tops a day, easier to ask forgiveness than permission etc etc - I can say I thought and maybe it's even true that the laundry service is an option but nothing says it is forbidden to self-wash, haven't see any signs etc.
Plan is to try to get up 8-9ish - not sure if there's free coffee here but hope springs eternal - and maybe read guide book and sort out crap in all my pockets and refresh my cash supply (both in pockets for day-to-day spending and maybe go wd a wodge at that machine) and then do some local wandering (will try to read guide book in morning over maybe-coffee etc) and visit some museums or other sites and maybe book a tour if there's something particularly attractive (eg swimming) or see if I can solo-tour by bus to something of interest. If not for thinking about boat stuff would maybe have done that tonight but it's fine.
I feel mild "ought to do X and Y activity" urges and "got to be efficient and visit stuff sharpish and move on" feelings, but fairly successfully suppressing them so far. As long as I don't stay in bed all day, I do what I do and the main thing is to relax etc etc. And I have plenty of time and can and will stay longer if I want.
Everything gone pretty smoothly TBH. Think there is one other guy (who arrived minutes after I did) in my 4 bed dorm, barely seen him. Feel reasonably comfortable with situation although nagging security and hassle doubts - there are some lockers, but they are stuffed full of vaguely teenage girl type stuff.
Spent last hour or so wandering round town. Attractive, pretty touristic and thus a bit boutique but apart from probably being prettier as well, it doesn't appear to have fallen over the same cliff as Santa Elena or La Fortuna - I was able to find a (chain?) called IIRC (and not sure I do) El Corral Original Arroz Paisa and got a very nice big breaded (?) pork chop with chips, arroz paisa (rice with all sorts of meats in) and a big jugo de lulo for 26k (and I gave a 3k tip). Lots of "if you have to ask you can't afford it" fancyish restaurants. Feels pretty safe on street and though I aimed to be back before dark I don't think it would be vital by any means. Place is not rammed but there are obviously a good few tourists about. Snapped a few photos in street without feeling at risk.
I went into three or four bank cash machines (incidentally the way some are lined up along one side of the main square irrestibly reminded me of Antigua, although I'm sure this is nothing that unusual). Long story short, I didn't withdraw any money but the one nearest the BBC pub, I think it is Banco Popular, will do me 1.4 million COP for a 22kish fee, which I declined at the time but will probably take up tomorrow. Another (Bancolombia?? but not sure) wouldn't give me more than 600k and wanted to charge 26kish fee. I think two Davivienda machines both failed and printed me a 0 withdrawl slip and said something went wrong.
I still have probably 250k+ but will need more and don't want to run supplies down.
I had a reply from SBA, in what I assume is their typical tone. I have to pay in USD, because the San Blas islands are in Panama and Panama uses USD. Basically, "fuck you, getting dollars in Colombia is your problem, we don't give a shit, deal with it" . Oddly when I bought, for example, my flight from a Colombian airline they didn't insist I pay in COP because it is a Colombian company - they *accommodated* me, as a customer, and took advantage of standard business facilities for accepting payments in different currencies. It's not as I'm insisting on paying in pounds - they are fucking selling a service *from Colombia*, but no no no, USD only here.
They also told me where the briefing is, which is something.
The sucky thing is I am probably going to have to pay the bastards anyway. But note they didn't even say "you can easily get USD from cash machines in Cartagena" or similar. So frankly I may not be able to *risk* booking yet. I am going to sit on it for a day or two.
I kept waking up in night and got up on alarm about 0830. Popped to Movistar next to hostel and paid 30k for a 30GB 30 days SIM no fuss, seems to work fine and I installed Mi Movistar app in the shop so I could confirm amount of data and duration as there were no text messages floating around.
Then back to hostel, few free coffees and packed (can't quite remember sequencing), cat appeared to say goodbye (or so I'll pretend), walked down to Museo de Oro TM no problem, got a B74 straight to portal norte (incidentally a guy asked me something about the TM while waiting at MdO, which I always feel is vaguely promising and suggests I don't look excessively touristy) and an 8 on from there to TM. There was in fact a (presumably late) bus to VdL direct on screens but the company it was from didn't have any ticket booth (and you can't get through to departures without a ticket). Anyway, I paid 35k for a (large minibus) ticket to Tunja no fuss, bus pretty quiet, took about 2k. Paid annoying 1.2k for a piss at terminal del norte but didn't want to risk getting caught short.
Tunja bus terminal was the one to east IIRC of centre, not the south side one I'd seen on OM, and it was super modern and slick. Wandered over to ticket office and got another minibus ticket to VdLno fuss, 11k. Seemed to take a long time but not a big deal. After orienting myself from OM just before getting off bus I managed to navigate to hostel without checking phone - sure it would have been safe to do so, but I wanted to try.
Checked in OK, atmosphere is just a teensy bit regimented (eg signs about being fined if you block the toilet) but it's clean and nice and there is kitchen and fridge.
I am earwigging on a conversation in Spanish between some other guests (Germans/Austrians, I think) and maybe some other guests or maybe owners, not sure.
There is a bit of a La Fortuna vibe, various tours and "adrenaline" activities advertised, but frankly I feel inclined to take it fairly easy. I can extend here if I want (and/or spend time in nearby Tunja, or even weekend in Tunja then come back here next week), but gut feeling is tomorrow I may visit a museum or two and perhaps book a tour. I am not massively interested in the "probably cool, but not desperate and not as 'big' a deal as in Santa Elena" things like hammocks and bikes on ziplines. There are some kind of pools nearby and if those would allow me to get a bit of a swim in that might be an option. I would also like to do a bit of a hike, IIRC guide book mentioned some hotel has a trail you can hike even as a non-guest. I am not rushing into this, as I say will see how it goes tomorrow.
I went into the big church (temple?) on the main square during my wander (maybe an hour, but really hard to be sure) and snapped a quick photo or two, I didn't go into the body of it, just the bit near the street.
I think that's about it, I can always add more later but think I've got the bulk of today down.
1846 Both phone batts a bit low (40%), will be OK. Just popped off to clean teeth as were feeling a bit sticky. Resisting temptation to have beer yet, I am sure it won't be cold.
Incidentally as I rather suspected the whole business of getting these facturas electronicas to maybe claim VAT back is falling by the wayside. I can't be arsed, I don't know if i can get these when paying cash, my limited experience so far suggest it's going to involve scanning dozens of QR codes and probably dealing with some crappy government website. Not absolutely ruling it out but it just feels like in practice the chances of me ever claiming anything back are microscopic.
(And to be fair, it isn't *obvious* that I am being charged VAT on accommodation so far - maybe it's hidden but I had half feared I'd get it shoved on top, so I am sort of assuming it isn't.)
A random website I'm looking at re poss of getting USD mentions you have to take the items you purchased to the DIAN office when leaving country. That can't be right, I obviously don't *have* eg those coffees I bought.
Web searches so far are not remotely promising re getting hold of USD, without paying a small fortune changing at a bank or bureau de change or something.
Ahahaha, a Google search took me to SBA's own FAQ page - which as you might predict addresses things *exclusively* from a Panamanian departure point and talks about how to get COP in Panama but not the reverse, even though need for COP before hitting a cash machine is minimal. Because fuck you if you're leaving from Colombia.
https://courtneytheexplorer.com/san-blas-adventures-an-honest-unpaid-review/ is rather old but says (and I believe it) the group is *much* smaller and the trip less popular starting from Colombia. What a surprise!
Jeez, she says you have to take two gallons of water. What the actual fucking fuck? She doesn't make any mention of difficulty of getting US dollars, but maybe she's American and had them ready when she came out.
Mentions of stuff like playing beach volleyball leaves me cold. Sounds like there is a lot of drinking which *is* up my street but not when I have to keep getting on boats.
FFS, I dunno. This dollar business makes me flip-flop a bit, edging towards saying "fuck it" or moving towards the blue sailing option - although maybe even there I have to pay USD. OK, bluesailing website is vague on this, it says you need USD for IMO reasonable things like buying stuff on the islands and the transfer at the far end (and says you can change money with them or at banks, not to use people on the street - which rather implies that you *can't* just get USD out of an ATM), but it doesn't outright say you can pay in pesos in cash.
Jeez, I hate everyone involved in this. I half incline towards seeing if I can pay the fucking 7% premium to pay SBA with Paypal and then I would need *less* dollars - I do already have some and I would be exposed to less predatory rates at banks or whatever in Cartagena scraping together enough USD for the trip.
On the other hand, all this shit does maybe making doing it from Panama seem a lot less stressful, but as noted the other day that really feels a lot less satisfactory otherwise.
The outdated blog posted above also makes the Panamanian customs inspection on departure from Colombia sound like a mare, but in and of itself not necessarily a huge problem.
1916 Fuck it, let's have a beer.
Feels like I've spent a fortune today but I haven't really. Part of it is just "longer term" spending like the 30 days of local SIM and 4 nights accommodation.
The bloody boat thing is preying on my mind. got excited at check prep blog entry where I said I was bringing 302, but apparently I only brought 142. To be fair, even 302 would be borderline, except if I paid for the SBA trip with Paypal and only needed USD cash for things like drink and transfers during the trip. 142 is (without checking blogs and recommendations, and noting the blog listed above says influencers get/got free trips, so need to be aware of that) just possibly borderline enough for incidentals, but I suspect it would be tight if not outright too little.
I could ask bluesailing if I have to pay in USD cash. It just might tip the balance (no pun intended).
OK, bluesailing calendar shows almost entirely full unless you go second-ish week of Feb. And assuming the boats *are* all different, this doesn't bode well for having a choice. So gut feeling is bluesailing are out.
I *don't* like it - I don't like patronising businesses that make no effort to accommodate completely reasonable things, rather than demanding you pay in cash in a currency which is not readily available at the point of departure - but current thinking is booking SBA if I can pay the fucking Paypal premium to pay the bulk of it electronically, and then stomaching a shitty exchange rate at a burea de change or similar in Cartagena to get an extra hundred dollars or so to top up the 142 I brought out with me to pay for "incidentals".
Beer is not very cold and not super enjoying it, but it is something. May have one or two more (still not finished first, just to be clear), hopefully a bit colder. I may also depending how the day goes treat myself to eg a BBC (Bogota Beer Company) beer or two mid-afternoon or some other bar.
The article above made out the trip was party-ish despite only be 14 out of max 28 people or something, which feels slightly odd. But I do kind of like the idea of the group being a little bit smaller.
But like I think I said, fuck the idea of playing beach volleyball.
FTR I don't consider the timescales to go with bluesailing after first week of Feb (and they do have the odd single spot etc and I might squeeze in) absolutely intolerable, but clearly this is not ideal.
I suppose the silver lining here may be that going from Colombia with SBA, it may be much less likely they are going to sell out.
2046 Third (and last - they are small, but still) beer (will save rest of six pack for another night). Wrote Rab a teddy-bearing e-mail repeating all the boat shit on offchance he can point out some gaping flaw in my thought processes.
There is a little dog here, it seems unobjectionable enough. But when I checked in I asked the woman if I could/should stroke and it and she sort of pulled a face, so I guess I'll try to keep my hands to myself.
2131 In bed. There was a youngish woman in here (not bloke I saw check in just after me) when I came back from terrace (she said "hola" , I said "hi" as per my plan, *if* - can't remember - she was first I should have adapted but meh) but I am 95% sure it's just me in here now. (There is a weird raised platform with stairs at top of room but as the 4 beds are in lower bit I guess no one sleeps up there.)
Had shower, I may re-wear clothes tomorrow but at least this gives me options plus the cleaner I keep my body the less dirty my clothes will get. It's COP30k for laundry here, presumably "per wash" not by weight, which feels pretty shit. I may wash say 2 uw or 2 tops a day, easier to ask forgiveness than permission etc etc - I can say I thought and maybe it's even true that the laundry service is an option but nothing says it is forbidden to self-wash, haven't see any signs etc.
Plan is to try to get up 8-9ish - not sure if there's free coffee here but hope springs eternal - and maybe read guide book and sort out crap in all my pockets and refresh my cash supply (both in pockets for day-to-day spending and maybe go wd a wodge at that machine) and then do some local wandering (will try to read guide book in morning over maybe-coffee etc) and visit some museums or other sites and maybe book a tour if there's something particularly attractive (eg swimming) or see if I can solo-tour by bus to something of interest. If not for thinking about boat stuff would maybe have done that tonight but it's fine.
I feel mild "ought to do X and Y activity" urges and "got to be efficient and visit stuff sharpish and move on" feelings, but fairly successfully suppressing them so far. As long as I don't stay in bed all day, I do what I do and the main thing is to relax etc etc. And I have plenty of time and can and will stay longer if I want.
No comments:
Post a Comment