Fri 19th 0812 In deserted-ish garden with coffee.
Didn't sleep super well but not terribly. Woke for piss just before midnight. Think have (had, since I'm leaving) new roommate, youngish woman but (bearing in mind I try to avoid staring etc etc) not the one who was there before, this one may be German (but it's not the elderly one). Gut was churning abit in bed and got up early as a result, but went to bog and output not bad and actually feel reasonably OK.
Don't plan to leave here super early, I can't check intil 1 and although I suspect the trog from bus terminal to accom will take a while there really is no point leaving super early, leaving here 10 would prob still be far too early, 11 is maybe more like it. I just may pop out for a wander at some point.
Oh, I wasn't woken up IIRC but was drowsing in bed 6-7ish when my K1 buzzed and there was an Android Earthquake Alert. Mildly annoyed at this in a way, but the O6 didn't have it so that's good from an "information shoved down my throat" POV. Anyway, also kind of interesting, I don't think it's anything to worry about - it was 180 miles away and "expect light shaking" . Based on what Monserrate guide said in Bogota, earthquakes are not terribly common in Colombia.
Guts still churning a bit, nothing major if not ideal. Feel a bit chilly but I think that's genuine weather, there is a bit of a breeze and I popped back to room to get my cap a few mins ago. Wearing fleece over RS top I washed yesterday.
0831 Poking at refundable flight tickets wrt Panama entry. I am just a tiny bit dubious a stroppy airline like Wingo apparently are might jibe at a bus reservation. It looks like you can book a ticket for about £170 to fly from PC to Bogota on expedia with avianca, having selected "no cancel fee" filter, and cancel this flight up to 24h before departure, not just within 24h of purchase. This feels too good to be true. (Also, why the hell don't the airlines lobby the Panamanian government to change these silly rules? Since they can be complied with in a nominal fashion by spending about a hundred quid, what is the benefit in not accepting return flights home from a nearby country with a value of well over a hundred quid as proof? Maybe the airlines make more money on selling tickets people don't use, even though you'd think things like this free cancellation just make fuss and expense for them.)
Incidentally, while I am doubtless being tracked via booking.com who probably have my passport number, so far neither of the places I've stayed have asked me for ID or to fill any kind of registration form in. And if I forgot to say, when I bought the Movistar pre-paid SIM (at what seemed to be an official-ish Movistar outlet) they didn't ask for my name or ID IIRC - it is borderline possible I gave them my passport copy and forgot, but I don't think they did.
0925 Feeling vaguely edgy about imminent departure etc etc. Not really a big deal. Having another coffee then may go for a bit of a wander. Feel vaguely "guilty" at pushing it and not just checking out now but obviously I am not doing anything remotely wrong or unusual.
FWIW the owner (? woman who checked me in) has been going round wearing a mask the last day or two, even though I'm fairly sure she didn't when I arrived. Not entirely sure it's just her either. Dunno what to make of this.
1345 In room in Tunja. Vaguely disconcerted - host was very rushy, think she had to get off to work - and for better or worse she speaks English, but room is nice enough. Bit of a trog out of town. Did manage to get off bus in centre. Felt slightly sick on bus even though was fine on same roads heading out to VdL. Not actually carsick I think, just this vague gut ache type thing.
Feeling a bit discombobulated. I suspect I'm going to end up trogging over the bus terminal tomorrow or day after to see about buying a ticket out, and if (I really can't remember) the next hop is multi-hour I could see an annoyingly early start to trog over to the terminal on Monday to get an all-day bus to wherever. But we'll see. I'm not going to worry about it now, I plan to camp out in my room tonight and maybe go to bed early. I'll bring plenty of water back with me (though I don't think I am actually dehydrated, I'm sure a day or two of rest-ish and water etc will help). Did at least see some cheap-ish restaurant type places on walk over.
Just topping up O6 before I head out. It would probably be fine but it has had a bit of a hammering this morning and battery was down to about 50%.
Not sure there is much here to see. A few museums in town. Seems pleasant enough but fairly urban and just slightly gritty (not in a threatening way, at least during day, but not terribly attractive).
I don't exactly regret coming here or this choice of accom, tho as I say I'm vaguely discombobulated. I don't actually think there were any typical hostels here - it was this or various hotels, some probably cheap enough but still hotels.
I'd actually really quite like to buy a loaf of bread and a pack of ham-type stuff and gorge on some primitive sandwiches, but I really don't fancy doing it in the kitchen here.
Notwithstanding a slightly awkward feeling, I also can't help thinking that maybe it was silly to break my "rule" about 4 nights min stay. I dunno. There probably isn't much here and I half regret coming at all (though TBH given mild gut churning on short bus ride maybe it's for best I didn't have to get straight on another bus) but at the same time being here for just the three nights and having to arrange onward travel feels a bit cramped.
1413 Fuck it, O6 is at 70%. Let's just head out and see what happens in terms of food and wandering round and so forth. Plan is to be back here by 6ish and just camp out.
1722 Just got back. I feel a lot better. I had noticed on walk up to accom, but especially on walk back towards town I liked all the cheap down at heel restaurants. Also a little hole in wall (which I didn't visit, but may tomorrow) doing churros at 1.8k.
Had pretty decent carne a la plancha (very thin steak) with rice (spoiled slightly by a tiny dot of red sauce on top of the dome of rice), french fries, an undressed salad (usual constantly surprising linguistic difficulties here, but waitress seemed to say it is always undressed??) and a couple of bits of I think fried plantain and yucca. 22kish plus 3k tip. They also do half chicken fried or broaster (which comes with chips and maybe platano) at 16k and was tempted by that but maybe tomorrow. Oh, and I had a limonada which was 3kish of the bill, quite nice but not as big or tasty as the ones at El Original.
Then walked on into town, headed down avenida oriental and had planned to cut across at calle 24 to see some monastery. V nice views down avenida oriental and although I went one block past monastery and didn't see it I found myself on a very steep (30 degree?) hill and there was a little newsagenty-ish shop advertising aromatica so I went in and had one (1k - I looked it up but I think this is basically a tiny tinto-sized cup of fruit tea) and a slice of some ricotta-ish cake for about 2.8k. Then wandered on and into city centre and was pleasantly surprised. The main plaza is elegant but not overly touristy, the streets in general have this "real but nice" city feel, various old churches dotted around (popped my head into Santo Domingo de Guzman but didn't photograph). I could really feel Tunja growing on me.
Was wearing fleece and at times was glad I had it on as cool but refreshing breeze, at other times felt a bit hot.
Saw some huge vaguely meat-loaf shaped things in some meat type shops, presumably people are buying slices (the meat inside must be bigger than a human head).
Walked back and got some bananas (not nec that cheap at 3.7k for about 8, but not terrible) at a fruit market nearish accom and also some fairly rip off water (5l for 7k) and H2Oh (1.5l for 4k, not chilled) at a little shop near accom but I figured WTF, wasn't gonna get a better deal short of going back into town and lugging 5l the 20-30+mins in from Ara (which I did wander round in town but decided against buying more snacks, esp as they didn't have Takis Fuego). I've put H2Oh in fridge and hope to indulge in it in an hour or two. Dog and glimpse of host's (or host's son's?) son - 8ish yo? - when got back, dog very nice, but otherwise not seen anyone. Think it will be OK for me to hole up in room in general, say hi if see anyone etc.
Will force myself to wash some uw later (private bathroom but across hall from room; I could be overheard but doubt anyone will say anything).
Slightly toying with seeing if I can extend a night but prob OTT and will see how things go tomorrow.
Plan is to hole up and watch YT and eat bananas (semi-healthy - I just couldn't resist the "full" meal this afternoon, guts by no means feeling bad but the odd twinge) and have that chilled H2Oh this evening. Not intending to make onward plans, except maybe vaguely looking at towns if I feel like it. Tomorrow I will probably be up 8-9ish as semi-usual and will go into town and wander round and eat churros and other junk and visit museums and/or churches semi-randomly and then tomorrow night I will try to firm up onward travel plans and maybe book accom and unless there is somewhere a short hop from here that doesn't require going to main terminal as my next destination, I will trog over to the terminal on Sunday to buy tickets.
Teeth feel a bit sticky and also once I "stop" I may find it hard to get going again so I think I might go clean teeth and wash uw now.
1759 Oh, I did get one guy slightly aggressively beg from me on walk back down industrialish main road, but apart from getting slightly in my face he wasn't really a big deal.
Done uw. Do need to wash some trousers while here too, but not rushing. Just may do some before going to bed tonight, if not perhaps tomorrow.
As I was passing one church/cathedral during wanders in centre a funeral came out. Not sure it was necessary but felt appropriate to take cap off and watch a bit as coffin carried out. There was actually a big "faux dated" (a touch of the stereotypical "wanted" poster font) poster for the service right to one side - I had in fact been noticing these around town a bit (even in VdL??) and I can only infer that some local funeral service prints them. I didn't like to photograph the one right there by the funeral but I snapped another one (with different names on) right by town. It was about 4pm when I saw this funeral come out, and the printed bills by the church said 19th at 3pm. It was a woman called Maria IIRC.
2040 Been watching YT and eating the odd banana and drinking cold H2Oh, although TBH this isn't the luxury it could be as it's feeling pretty nippy in here and I have my fleece on and still feel a smidge chilly. Occasional gut twinge but I think the cold is real rather than illness-generated. I think I'm going to go clean my teeth and have a (hopefully hot) shower and go to bed.
Feel slightly BNM but it's fine, it is nice to be just "relaxing" in a private space. Saw owner to say hi to earlier but no more.
2108 OK, had (slightly wussy) very nice hot shower - not a suicide shower, at least not the usual visible type. Didn't shave, maybe a bit lazy but TBH since I'm not on the hostel/socialising/out in evening schedule where I change late afternoon, it is more logical to shave tomorrow morning.
Lights all out when I went across to bathroom, I do seem to keep hearing people in flat but maybe they're keeping themselves to themselves or it's just coincidence or they are out and I'm hearing noises in another flat.
Not quite finished H2Oh but nearly and will finish it tomorrow. Not exactly tired but a tiny bit and will go to bed now and continue watching YT in bed a bit maybe. Oddly feel less chilly sitting here after shower than I did before having it, and I am on rather than in bed. Meh.
Broadly speaking I think things are OK. Still not paid, I did offer earlier but do need to remember to get this done in morning. Plan for tomorrow is still pretty much as I sketched out earlier. Didn't wash trousers tonight but that's fine.
Going to send this now and can always continue in entry for tomorrow if anything worthwhile comes up.
I seem to have left razor head plastic cover behind or (perhaps more likely) it just fell off in my backpack - my "bathroom" bag is just a plastic bag and it doesn't seal shut, and I haven't torn bag apart to look. I do incidentally hope to repack bag a little while here to better suit dorm (but also general travel) requirements - when I packed I was a) lacking recent experience b) oriented towards the flight etc, but now I need to redistribute stuff for convenience.
The "cap" part of the back has outside and inside zip compartments and then there's the main bag compartment. The outside zip compartment is the only one I can actually lock - it's hardly secure (I understand any zip can be forced open pretty easily, though never experimented myself) but it is something. It has my too-big rain jacket in on some spurious "get at in a rush" reasons, but in reality I am practically never carrying the main bag and if I did want the rain jacket I'd be better off keeping it inside but near top. I should put "valuable" items in there instead (a subset of cards, for example) with just enough other junk to avoid them being obviously felt/seen from outside, the rain jacket takes up too much space.
And I've been migrating "mildly valuable but want all the time" stuff like power bank, charger, USB cables, OTG cable+USB thumb drive which is my "primary" photo backup/copy mechanism into the compartment underneath the cap, but it's still full of other less frequently needed stuff which makes it harder to find what I want in there.
But maybe I'll do that tomorrow, and wash trousers and/or something else, and plan a bit, and ideally do some exercises I couldn't do while in dorm etc.
But to bed.
Didn't sleep super well but not terribly. Woke for piss just before midnight. Think have (had, since I'm leaving) new roommate, youngish woman but (bearing in mind I try to avoid staring etc etc) not the one who was there before, this one may be German (but it's not the elderly one). Gut was churning abit in bed and got up early as a result, but went to bog and output not bad and actually feel reasonably OK.
Don't plan to leave here super early, I can't check intil 1 and although I suspect the trog from bus terminal to accom will take a while there really is no point leaving super early, leaving here 10 would prob still be far too early, 11 is maybe more like it. I just may pop out for a wander at some point.
Oh, I wasn't woken up IIRC but was drowsing in bed 6-7ish when my K1 buzzed and there was an Android Earthquake Alert. Mildly annoyed at this in a way, but the O6 didn't have it so that's good from an "information shoved down my throat" POV. Anyway, also kind of interesting, I don't think it's anything to worry about - it was 180 miles away and "expect light shaking" . Based on what Monserrate guide said in Bogota, earthquakes are not terribly common in Colombia.
Guts still churning a bit, nothing major if not ideal. Feel a bit chilly but I think that's genuine weather, there is a bit of a breeze and I popped back to room to get my cap a few mins ago. Wearing fleece over RS top I washed yesterday.
0831 Poking at refundable flight tickets wrt Panama entry. I am just a tiny bit dubious a stroppy airline like Wingo apparently are might jibe at a bus reservation. It looks like you can book a ticket for about £170 to fly from PC to Bogota on expedia with avianca, having selected "no cancel fee" filter, and cancel this flight up to 24h before departure, not just within 24h of purchase. This feels too good to be true. (Also, why the hell don't the airlines lobby the Panamanian government to change these silly rules? Since they can be complied with in a nominal fashion by spending about a hundred quid, what is the benefit in not accepting return flights home from a nearby country with a value of well over a hundred quid as proof? Maybe the airlines make more money on selling tickets people don't use, even though you'd think things like this free cancellation just make fuss and expense for them.)
Incidentally, while I am doubtless being tracked via booking.com who probably have my passport number, so far neither of the places I've stayed have asked me for ID or to fill any kind of registration form in. And if I forgot to say, when I bought the Movistar pre-paid SIM (at what seemed to be an official-ish Movistar outlet) they didn't ask for my name or ID IIRC - it is borderline possible I gave them my passport copy and forgot, but I don't think they did.
0925 Feeling vaguely edgy about imminent departure etc etc. Not really a big deal. Having another coffee then may go for a bit of a wander. Feel vaguely "guilty" at pushing it and not just checking out now but obviously I am not doing anything remotely wrong or unusual.
FWIW the owner (? woman who checked me in) has been going round wearing a mask the last day or two, even though I'm fairly sure she didn't when I arrived. Not entirely sure it's just her either. Dunno what to make of this.
1345 In room in Tunja. Vaguely disconcerted - host was very rushy, think she had to get off to work - and for better or worse she speaks English, but room is nice enough. Bit of a trog out of town. Did manage to get off bus in centre. Felt slightly sick on bus even though was fine on same roads heading out to VdL. Not actually carsick I think, just this vague gut ache type thing.
Feeling a bit discombobulated. I suspect I'm going to end up trogging over the bus terminal tomorrow or day after to see about buying a ticket out, and if (I really can't remember) the next hop is multi-hour I could see an annoyingly early start to trog over to the terminal on Monday to get an all-day bus to wherever. But we'll see. I'm not going to worry about it now, I plan to camp out in my room tonight and maybe go to bed early. I'll bring plenty of water back with me (though I don't think I am actually dehydrated, I'm sure a day or two of rest-ish and water etc will help). Did at least see some cheap-ish restaurant type places on walk over.
Just topping up O6 before I head out. It would probably be fine but it has had a bit of a hammering this morning and battery was down to about 50%.
Not sure there is much here to see. A few museums in town. Seems pleasant enough but fairly urban and just slightly gritty (not in a threatening way, at least during day, but not terribly attractive).
I don't exactly regret coming here or this choice of accom, tho as I say I'm vaguely discombobulated. I don't actually think there were any typical hostels here - it was this or various hotels, some probably cheap enough but still hotels.
I'd actually really quite like to buy a loaf of bread and a pack of ham-type stuff and gorge on some primitive sandwiches, but I really don't fancy doing it in the kitchen here.
Notwithstanding a slightly awkward feeling, I also can't help thinking that maybe it was silly to break my "rule" about 4 nights min stay. I dunno. There probably isn't much here and I half regret coming at all (though TBH given mild gut churning on short bus ride maybe it's for best I didn't have to get straight on another bus) but at the same time being here for just the three nights and having to arrange onward travel feels a bit cramped.
1413 Fuck it, O6 is at 70%. Let's just head out and see what happens in terms of food and wandering round and so forth. Plan is to be back here by 6ish and just camp out.
1722 Just got back. I feel a lot better. I had noticed on walk up to accom, but especially on walk back towards town I liked all the cheap down at heel restaurants. Also a little hole in wall (which I didn't visit, but may tomorrow) doing churros at 1.8k.
Had pretty decent carne a la plancha (very thin steak) with rice (spoiled slightly by a tiny dot of red sauce on top of the dome of rice), french fries, an undressed salad (usual constantly surprising linguistic difficulties here, but waitress seemed to say it is always undressed??) and a couple of bits of I think fried plantain and yucca. 22kish plus 3k tip. They also do half chicken fried or broaster (which comes with chips and maybe platano) at 16k and was tempted by that but maybe tomorrow. Oh, and I had a limonada which was 3kish of the bill, quite nice but not as big or tasty as the ones at El Original.
Then walked on into town, headed down avenida oriental and had planned to cut across at calle 24 to see some monastery. V nice views down avenida oriental and although I went one block past monastery and didn't see it I found myself on a very steep (30 degree?) hill and there was a little newsagenty-ish shop advertising aromatica so I went in and had one (1k - I looked it up but I think this is basically a tiny tinto-sized cup of fruit tea) and a slice of some ricotta-ish cake for about 2.8k. Then wandered on and into city centre and was pleasantly surprised. The main plaza is elegant but not overly touristy, the streets in general have this "real but nice" city feel, various old churches dotted around (popped my head into Santo Domingo de Guzman but didn't photograph). I could really feel Tunja growing on me.
Was wearing fleece and at times was glad I had it on as cool but refreshing breeze, at other times felt a bit hot.
Saw some huge vaguely meat-loaf shaped things in some meat type shops, presumably people are buying slices (the meat inside must be bigger than a human head).
Walked back and got some bananas (not nec that cheap at 3.7k for about 8, but not terrible) at a fruit market nearish accom and also some fairly rip off water (5l for 7k) and H2Oh (1.5l for 4k, not chilled) at a little shop near accom but I figured WTF, wasn't gonna get a better deal short of going back into town and lugging 5l the 20-30+mins in from Ara (which I did wander round in town but decided against buying more snacks, esp as they didn't have Takis Fuego). I've put H2Oh in fridge and hope to indulge in it in an hour or two. Dog and glimpse of host's (or host's son's?) son - 8ish yo? - when got back, dog very nice, but otherwise not seen anyone. Think it will be OK for me to hole up in room in general, say hi if see anyone etc.
Will force myself to wash some uw later (private bathroom but across hall from room; I could be overheard but doubt anyone will say anything).
Slightly toying with seeing if I can extend a night but prob OTT and will see how things go tomorrow.
Plan is to hole up and watch YT and eat bananas (semi-healthy - I just couldn't resist the "full" meal this afternoon, guts by no means feeling bad but the odd twinge) and have that chilled H2Oh this evening. Not intending to make onward plans, except maybe vaguely looking at towns if I feel like it. Tomorrow I will probably be up 8-9ish as semi-usual and will go into town and wander round and eat churros and other junk and visit museums and/or churches semi-randomly and then tomorrow night I will try to firm up onward travel plans and maybe book accom and unless there is somewhere a short hop from here that doesn't require going to main terminal as my next destination, I will trog over to the terminal on Sunday to buy tickets.
Teeth feel a bit sticky and also once I "stop" I may find it hard to get going again so I think I might go clean teeth and wash uw now.
1759 Oh, I did get one guy slightly aggressively beg from me on walk back down industrialish main road, but apart from getting slightly in my face he wasn't really a big deal.
Done uw. Do need to wash some trousers while here too, but not rushing. Just may do some before going to bed tonight, if not perhaps tomorrow.
As I was passing one church/cathedral during wanders in centre a funeral came out. Not sure it was necessary but felt appropriate to take cap off and watch a bit as coffin carried out. There was actually a big "faux dated" (a touch of the stereotypical "wanted" poster font) poster for the service right to one side - I had in fact been noticing these around town a bit (even in VdL??) and I can only infer that some local funeral service prints them. I didn't like to photograph the one right there by the funeral but I snapped another one (with different names on) right by town. It was about 4pm when I saw this funeral come out, and the printed bills by the church said 19th at 3pm. It was a woman called Maria IIRC.
2040 Been watching YT and eating the odd banana and drinking cold H2Oh, although TBH this isn't the luxury it could be as it's feeling pretty nippy in here and I have my fleece on and still feel a smidge chilly. Occasional gut twinge but I think the cold is real rather than illness-generated. I think I'm going to go clean my teeth and have a (hopefully hot) shower and go to bed.
Feel slightly BNM but it's fine, it is nice to be just "relaxing" in a private space. Saw owner to say hi to earlier but no more.
2108 OK, had (slightly wussy) very nice hot shower - not a suicide shower, at least not the usual visible type. Didn't shave, maybe a bit lazy but TBH since I'm not on the hostel/socialising/out in evening schedule where I change late afternoon, it is more logical to shave tomorrow morning.
Lights all out when I went across to bathroom, I do seem to keep hearing people in flat but maybe they're keeping themselves to themselves or it's just coincidence or they are out and I'm hearing noises in another flat.
Not quite finished H2Oh but nearly and will finish it tomorrow. Not exactly tired but a tiny bit and will go to bed now and continue watching YT in bed a bit maybe. Oddly feel less chilly sitting here after shower than I did before having it, and I am on rather than in bed. Meh.
Broadly speaking I think things are OK. Still not paid, I did offer earlier but do need to remember to get this done in morning. Plan for tomorrow is still pretty much as I sketched out earlier. Didn't wash trousers tonight but that's fine.
Going to send this now and can always continue in entry for tomorrow if anything worthwhile comes up.
I seem to have left razor head plastic cover behind or (perhaps more likely) it just fell off in my backpack - my "bathroom" bag is just a plastic bag and it doesn't seal shut, and I haven't torn bag apart to look. I do incidentally hope to repack bag a little while here to better suit dorm (but also general travel) requirements - when I packed I was a) lacking recent experience b) oriented towards the flight etc, but now I need to redistribute stuff for convenience.
The "cap" part of the back has outside and inside zip compartments and then there's the main bag compartment. The outside zip compartment is the only one I can actually lock - it's hardly secure (I understand any zip can be forced open pretty easily, though never experimented myself) but it is something. It has my too-big rain jacket in on some spurious "get at in a rush" reasons, but in reality I am practically never carrying the main bag and if I did want the rain jacket I'd be better off keeping it inside but near top. I should put "valuable" items in there instead (a subset of cards, for example) with just enough other junk to avoid them being obviously felt/seen from outside, the rain jacket takes up too much space.
And I've been migrating "mildly valuable but want all the time" stuff like power bank, charger, USB cables, OTG cable+USB thumb drive which is my "primary" photo backup/copy mechanism into the compartment underneath the cap, but it's still full of other less frequently needed stuff which makes it harder to find what I want in there.
But maybe I'll do that tomorrow, and wash trousers and/or something else, and plan a bit, and ideally do some exercises I couldn't do while in dorm etc.
But to bed.
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