Tue 16th 2200 Forgot to say I had another play with locker doors earlier post cash withdrawal and saw some were empty so have relocated tube cube with majority of stashed cash in there. Prob safer than in locked tube cube but in unlocked bag where anyone could walk in off street during day when hostel door open and just take it and cut lock off tube cube at home at leisure. As the backpack is chained to shelf thing by dorm bed and the most accessible key to the padlock on chain is in tube cube I shouldn't easily be able to leave and forget the tube cube in the locker.
Roommate not back yet and I am about to start reading and waiting to go to sleep anyway.
2206 Noting thickish (and not unwelcome but not necessary) blankets on bed, v warm during day (had fleece with me but just wearing RS top on hill), during dinner at El Original there was a chill-ish breeze (and didn't have fleece with me), tonight wore fleece over short-sleeved shirt and no cap and that felt v comfortable.
2216 Wrt bottles and my comment earlier, either 50cl or 33cl but prob esp the latter are perfect for taking to bathroom for cleaning teeth. They are just not by themselves ideal for water-by-bed or on hike. Gut feeling is I may ditch the 50cl at some point, although empty it is hardly heavy and it gives options and I just may keep it, but I do need to aquire a litre bottle soonish.
Wed 17th 0913 Solitary coffee in garden. Roommate asleep, no one else around. No response - was half dreading it - from SBA yet.
Didn't sleep super well. Woke up vaguely 3am ish, not quite homesickness thoughts and none of that overpowering "depression" , but thinking abut having a serious medical emergency while on SBA tour and whether it would be life-ruining. Tossed and turned struggling to get back to sleep. Unplugged USB charger which is festooned with lights (I put electrical tape over some before leaving home but you can't do all). Did go for piss in middle of night, not busting but felt it might help.
Have put one of the RS tops I washed yesterday on, it feels essentially perfectly dry.
Plan for today is to get a litre bottle of water and head over to Renacer campsite where guidebook says there is a hiking trail available to non-guests. It's out by paleontological museum so modest walk just to start. If they knock me back or this just isn't a thing that's fine. Essentially this will be a lazy-ish day except for maybe hiking (and that probably only an hour or so). I will need to make onward plans soon-ish and depending on whether it looks like I am or aren't doing this 2nd Feb boat trip I may not stay 4 nights in Tunja - OTOH I might as the draft schedule the other day still had a bit of slack in.
I have not done and am not doing most of the tourist stuff advertised by the various agencies here. i just don't need to or desperately want to. I'm sure some of it is cool enough but you can't do everything and a bit of quiet touristing under my own steam suits right now. Also wrt stuff like the wire bicycles I can feel a bit "been there done that" after Santa Elena - I'd do it if it massively appealed here, but it doesn't seem anything enormously special.
Do have bad-ish (not medical grade or agonising) sunburns on back of hands and back of neck. Not ideal but can't be helped. Back of hands is lesson learned and I should make a note to remember of a new trip once out of habit. Back of neck is maybe just insufficient application. Ears for eg are not burned so I think my sunblock works.
0929 Just done Duolingo and realised that if I do the SBA trip I'm likely to lose my streak. I was aware of this possibility in general before I left home and said to myself I would let that happen - I am not organising my life around the streak. It is a bit silly anyway as I have so many gems etc that if I wanted I could never study another second and just keep buying streak freezes and extend my streak by months and months, so it "proves" nothing - but that would require interacting with the app regularly to buy those freezes.
I do maybe have some bonus freezes from my last 100 day multiple which if I don't accidentally burn through them first *might* allow me to keep the streak active during this longish no-net period, but I can't guarantee it and as I say got to get the priorities right.
0940 Another coffee. It's actually really nice sitting out here quietly but not feeling BNM without massive pressure to "do anything" (tho yes, do need to head off on hike) and bantering a bit with Rab over WA.
1704 Back at hostel. Wasn't going to have any beer tonight but I noticed BBC open so I may see if I can have literally one or two (prob rather expensive) beers there.
Still no sign of Davivienda having refunded me on Starling.
Perpetually struggling to get phones charged.
Walked over to Renacer but the street leading up to it was full of dogs. I made a valiant effort but some did seem to be barking at me a bit much and as I wasn't even sure they would say "yes, we have a trail, use it" I doubled back. I wandered up a nearby street showing a trail on Organic Maps but was feeling edgy and there was a (very quiet) dog so I gave up on that too. I did wander about ten mins down the road for exercise/variety before turning back - that was OK and the scenery was quite nice but the road felt quite closed in and I got worried I'd encounter an iffy dog and turned back.
I did get a litre bottle of water before heading out to Renacer.
On way back into town I had look at museo del carmen but although main door was open with a smallish vestibule with exhibits no one was around and no other doors seemed open.
Looking at OM I decided to pop back to hostel to top up water and then walk out to the Virgen (which turned out to just be a roadside shrine, not a thing with a viewpoint) and nearby Pozos Azul. Maybe 30ish mins walk over there, no fuss at all, road pleasantly busy so didn't feel too isolated. Paid 15k to get into PA, trogged round and sat by side of various ponds and mulled (esp over boat trip). Apparently it's all artificial and it's nothing utterly stunning but pleasant enough. Trails not all that well signed and I would probably have got lost without OM, although getting lost did at least mean I got to walk to a local peak in a trail and get a bit of a view.
Had response from SBA which I saw on phone and replied to (no response yet) when I was heading down initial trail at PA. Just repeating the need for cash for the Kuna. I replied nicely enough quoting the bit in their faq about a select few people being allowed to use PP and asking if there were any other dates where there were still slots free to use PP. I suspect this is entirely fiction but we'll see.
TBH I half hope they don't come back with anything useful. As I walked round and sat and mulled, I decided doing this trip Panama-Colombia is the way to go.
- I will have USD ad lib and no need to worry about running out because I under-changed money. I can also accumulate small bills so I don't get caught out if conveniently no one can make change.
- I will have COP already for arrival in Swhatsit/Cwhatsit and can thus pre-book accom and chill in relatively comfortable surroundings post-trip.
- This means I am lugging around any boat trip pre-purchases like maybe some cheap flip-flops as little time as possible. Similarly I will have less medication to arouse suspicion at customs.
- Although (not that I trust SBA FAQ to be up to date) apparently Wingo make a fuss, most airlines will accept an SBA booking as proof of onward travel out of Panama when entering country.
- A quick look from beside one of pool suggests there are flights (including some non-Wingo if it matters) from Cartagena to Balboa or Panama City for around the hundred quid mark. It may also be possible to fly from say Bucaramanga - I would return to Cartagena post trip (I think it's where civilisation meets the off-the-beaten track route to get to Cwhatsit/Swhatsit) so no need to visit there on the outbound leg. Can and will investigate this later.
- Yes the conditions may be bumpier and the boat may be more likely to be full, but can't be helped. I did a quick check and they still have availability around when I'd want it, and I'd potentially be booking it within a few days so touch wood unlikely to sell out.
- Given USD price is the same, it's effectively cheaper leaving from Panama than Colombia as you pay no 7% PP surcharge nor do you get ripped off chaging COP to USD in a bdc.
- Although not necessarily a huge deal, wrt taking my own water I can buy it in PC and carry it onto the 4x4 taxi leaving PC with all the other SBA tourists, no fuss. Leaving from Colombia there is some niggliness about exactly where the boat departs from and these are small somewhat off grid places and can I buy water or do I end up having to lug it with me on connecting once-a-day boat services etc.
Walked back into town and went for food at El Original..., usual but jugo de maracuya (passion fruit I think) today. 26k+4k tip. Then got that colombiana soft drink (sugary, but it's local and not an everyday thing) and left it in hostel fridge and had shower/shave/surreptitious wash of 2 sets uw.
Gonna go out now, may see if I can get a canela coffee somewhere before beer, but plan is not to be out mega late. Will try to leave K1 charging in bag off power bank.
Oh, German guy said bye to me this morning as we were both heading out, tiny bit awkward but nice of him.
1932 Back from "night out" . I had a pint in the deserted BBC - apparently an imperial pint, the glass looked so anyway, though huge head - got a taste first, 15kish plus 2kish tip for pint of Septimazo Rojo 6%, very bitter (had a tiny free taste first), probably IPA, rather nice though.
Felt bit pissed after it so went for a walk. Had an empanada ranchera from a hole in wall place (2.6k - v nice), got slightly lost (or actually hadn't but thought I had), also got a ham and cheese croissant thing at a bakery for 2.5k, despite only having had one pint I wonder if I looked drunk (cos I felt slightly so) but whatever. Wandered round some more, esp around plaza mayor - feeling slightly irrationally lonely, but also kind of cool. O6 seems prone to consistent diagonal lines on night shots, hope lens isn't badly scratched or anything, but it seems OK for day shots anyway.
Got by sheer chance a response from SBA while on square, super patronising response which utterly ignores the fact my request was based on *their own FAQ* which *they referred me to* in their previous e-mail. I wish I hadn't been using my real name for this second e-mail exchange really.
In a way I got what I wanted. After today's mulling I want to do their trip in the no fuss Panama-Colombia direction. *But* I really despise them now. What a bunch of smug, self-righteous fuckers. If they'd just said, "sorry, our FAQ is out of date" or "we will fix the FAQ, sorry to mislead you" that would be one thing, but to imply I'm being an arse when I'm going on information they provided is just fuckwittery.
The thing is, beyond pissing me off, how can I trust them? The FAQ talks about only Wingo making fuss over one of their bookings counting as proof of onward travel, other airlines are fine. But since they pay no attention to keeping the FAQ up to date, I can't trust that, can I? And all this kind of "meh, fuck you" attitude doesn't inspire confidence.
The sad reality is I probably am going to have to pay the bastards for their fucking trip. I suppose at least they won't be getting their 7% extra. Honestly, both based on anecdotal blog evidence and their own booking calendars, it's clear they have massive under-utilisation in the C-P direction, but rather than offer a discount or try to make it more appealing or helping out with currency conversions (as a US-based business I am sure they have access to far better currency conversion mechanisms than I as a tourist do), they just act all smugly entitled.
In theory I'm foolish writing this on my blog before I go but no one is ever going to notice, and I am only saying what I feel and what I also feel is objectively reasonable. In what other situation is this acceptable:
Them: Sometimes you can do X.
Me: Can I do X?
Them: No. X is impossible. Please understand X is impossible.
Meh.
As I say, I probably am going to end up booking with the c*s (I feel the word is justified, but I've had shit with blog posts being censored years after the fact for daring use this word, so I'll self censor) anyway. But I don't have to decide now.
Putting those cs aside, during mulling earlier I was thinking "well, I am rather liking Colombia, should I even go to Panama?" But I have heard decent things about Panama and I'd like to see what it's like, so I can know whether (for example) it would be worth another trip where it is a focus for my time. Plus I did/do want to do a boat trip between Colombia and Panama for its own sake as an experience, so that fitted well with visiting both countries.
I wonder how much I can hide my name when/if I do book with SBA for reals? The bulk of the payment is in cash, but the deposit is paid by credit card so that would give them my name. I could at least use different e-mail address and phone number. They *probably* wouldn't pay any attention and despite feeling some temptation (because that kind of self-centred automatically right twat will never accept legit criticism anyway) I haven't sent a snotty e-mail back, so I haven't *technically* had a row with them so to speak. But still.
Obviously they would see my name when we're doing final customs and immigrationy shit but the chances are a lot of that is local people on the ground stuff rather than being tied in with any corporate customer records - they appear such a disorganised shower of shit that I doubt they have such things anyway.
Having this Colombiana con cora (?) - it's not as chilled as I'd expected, nor as fizzy, but it is quite nice. Shame it's not diet (not that that's healthy as such either, I guess) but at least I'm trying the local stuff, and presumably it *is* hydrating.
Plan for tomorrow is still to bumble around a few local museums, stay in town, don't rush off after breakfast to hike, maybe try chasing up that damn failed withdrawal with Starling, book onward accom (maybe Tunja? if not I will need to think about buses too), maybe look into flights to Panama etc etc. Maybe indulge in some more semi-street food and perhaps have a lunchtime beer at BBC or something like that. (It is nice to have a "proper" pint, albeit expensive. BBC and doubtless other draught places will exist throughout Colombia, but here it is safe-ish to walk the streets and the BBC place is about five mins walk from hostel.)
Quick poke suggests I can fly (albeit annoyingly via Bogota) from Bucaramanga to Panama City PTY for about a hundred quid.
Of course it doesn't help that Wingo is now iffy given the onward travel business. You might expect the Panamanian authorities to determine what counts as a ticket for onward travel rather than individual airlines, but there you go.
Valledupar seems a bust.
Barranquilla has direct flights with Copa to Panama City for sub £110 on some dates.
Cucuta is expensive as fk, even the one date showing green on skyscanner.net coming in at £131.
Cartagena has a £90 direct - but it's Wingo - on 4 Feb to BLB
I am struggling to get really clear info but it seems BLB airport is perhaps even closer to Panama City than PTY. In short for these purposes I should probably regard it as completely equivalent.
If didn't already say it looks like Bucaramanga has one direct flight (cheap too) to PC on Wednesdays at arse o'clock in the morning (0652, so need to arrive airport 0400 latest and thus be checking out of accom and getting taxis at scary and expensive times).
A lot of the convenience/stress/cost comes down not just to times and flight prices but ease of accessing airport. Poking on web, there are buses to Barranquilla airport but B is big enough that the bus terminal is 10km south of the city so you could end up with multiple changes or taxis to bus terminal etc etc.
Cartagena seems to have fixed prices for taxis from airport. It isn't clear how it works to airport. Random website seems to suggest the buses require a special local card which isn't likely to work well for me. There may be colectivos, which just *might* be workable for me from Cartagena town to airport.
But I'm not desperate to go to Cartagena anyway, I will prob be there on return from Panama and getting there is probably a longer bus ride than otherwise necessary from here/wherever I go next/my planned itinerary.
Looking at sketched out itinerary:
- 3 nights Bogota
- 4 nights VdL and/or 4 nights Tunja
- 4 nights San Gil and/or 4 nights Barichara
- 4 nights Mompos
(Incidentally will do more research tomorrow but gut feeling is VdL is nice but I'm not so enamoured of it and haven't fallen on my feet - as I eg did in Quepos - with a relatively social hostel, and that while I'm not desperate to leave, I'm also not over-anxious to stay. I could come back if I wanted another time, but I feel there's nothing "must do" here, I've done a bit, there will be other stuff to do if I decide to come back but as I say I don't think I want to extend my stay this time. I do feel staying for 4 nights rather than 3 has worked well, I am glad I have tomorrow to potter around and also to deal with ongoing plans and aren't feeling too pressured. If I had an infinitely long trip I might well stay here a few more nights, but as it is I think it's time to move, even if maybe only to Tunja.)
Also incidentally garden is quite busy but don't feel BNM, dorm mate is eating solo, some people are talking in Spanish over far side, maybe a couple sitting quietly in hammocks. It's vaguely pleasantly sociably busy but it doesn't feel awkward I am not talking to anyone.
San Gil is south of Bucaramanga so flying out of there wouldn't cut that off. Ditto Barichara.
Mompos was chosen to be a stop towards Cartagena and is also nearish Barranquilla, but flying out of Bucaramanga would cut this off. and even putting pique at SBA to one side, the original plan was to tour overland up to Cartagena and get the boat from there, and it feels roughly reasonable not to cut Mompos out just because I'm now flying the Cartagena-ish to Panama City leg instead of going by boat.
I don't know when the Barranquilla carnival is but gut feeling is I'm not desperate to visit it this year and it may make things expensive if it falls in the wrong spot. I'm not in love with Cartagena but it might be interesting to revisit (albeit that I expect to pass through after getting into Colombia by boat anyway) and it is probably a fairly good spot for cheap flights to Panama and the airport is probably a little more tractable whether by taxi or colectivo or bus than Barranquilla.
I half wonder if I could get into Cartagena and get straight onto a plane without overnighting (given I'll be back there for eg a visit to El Totumo after I get off the boat), but GM says Mompos-Cartagena is nearly 6h by car and in practice getting a bus and scheduling things without getting stressed out as hell would likely be more trouble than it's worth.
(Oh, if I didn't say, on both of my two separate visits to BBC tonight they played Hombres G's "Venezia" about a minute after I got my beer. It made me smile from familiarity the first time, then from "WTF? deja vu!" the second time.)
Barranquilla is about 6h by car from Mompos too.
I suppose visiting Cartagena "properly" maybe makes more sense pre-flight. When I return from probably boat trip, I imagine spending a day or two recuperating in Swhatsit or Capurgana, then I could potentially get the boat/bus/whatever across to Cartagena and be hopping straight on a bus out of Cartagena - I could buy ticket on the day probably, in general buying last minute tickets or having to write off pre-purchased tickets because of a missed connection is much more tractable with bus tickets.
Given I'd have to book the flight in advance we'd probably be looking at just a couple of days' buffer in Cartagena. Maybe experiment with a sociable hostel, do a daytrip to ET, then fly out to PC. If the buffer disappears, I don't *have* to do ET and I still have the option to try it when I return via boat.
OTOH, it looks like all the cheap flights Cartagena-Panama are Wingo, which may mean extra expense for a never-to-be-used bus ticket out of Panama or something, and may come with wanky surcharges for cabin baggage.
This almost makes Barranquilla feel like a better bet, but I may be taking too cursory a look at Cartagena.
Garden mostly empty now.
Barranquilla does have £83 direct Wingo flight, but also a £132 direct Copa - both bit early (Copa 0903) but not utterly insane, given sunrise is 6ish.
While I actually blame Wingo (though why should I trust the SBA FAQ in first place?) for being stroppy about onward travel, this does also feed into a general "FFS, anything related to SBA is just a fuckfest" - there are these perfectly decent looking flights which I maybe can't actually take.
Let me see if I can find the cheapest possible online bookable international bus out of Panama.
OK, thepanamatoursite.com says for USD34(+7% sales tax) you can book a shutter Panama Bocas del Toro to Puerto Viejo Costa Rica, and the deposit is USD10 per adult and balance must be paid 24h prior to the day of the transfer. So *maybe* by paying and writing off this USD10 deposit, you have something to show the airline when departing Colombia on a flight to Panama.
Poking on web is vague and unhelpful but some frankly deceptive seeming suggestions (like those sites you pay for a semi-fake reservation - what if they check?) Refundable flights might be an option if unlike the site I saw you actually keep them open until after you land in Panama.
I'm gonna sleep on it, I don't need to decide this today or even in the next few days. Current gut feeling is that Cartagena is the best option - though I'd want to check for hidden pricing/traps with cabin baggage on Wingo anyway - and that the savings on the flights and the probably easier trip to Cartagena airport from town than to Barranquilla airport (tho I now remember I was avoiding buses on 2020 trip and did fly out of Barranquilla, so could check my old blog) make Cartagena the best choice, even if I end up burning say USD10 on something like a deposit for that Panama-CR bus.
Dorm mate has gone in, I have nearly finished this 1.5l bottle of sugar water - just hope it doesn't keep me awake - so am hopefully hydrated and I don't feel in the least bit drunk (it was only two pints, albeit strong-ish) and maybe with the immediate decision type stress of the boat trip out of the way and a fairly slack day tomorrow I can get a solid night's sleep and get up early-ish.
2116 OK, heading in to clean teeth then go to bed. Will send this now so I'm not clacking away in bed if she is in bed too.
Roommate not back yet and I am about to start reading and waiting to go to sleep anyway.
2206 Noting thickish (and not unwelcome but not necessary) blankets on bed, v warm during day (had fleece with me but just wearing RS top on hill), during dinner at El Original there was a chill-ish breeze (and didn't have fleece with me), tonight wore fleece over short-sleeved shirt and no cap and that felt v comfortable.
2216 Wrt bottles and my comment earlier, either 50cl or 33cl but prob esp the latter are perfect for taking to bathroom for cleaning teeth. They are just not by themselves ideal for water-by-bed or on hike. Gut feeling is I may ditch the 50cl at some point, although empty it is hardly heavy and it gives options and I just may keep it, but I do need to aquire a litre bottle soonish.
Wed 17th 0913 Solitary coffee in garden. Roommate asleep, no one else around. No response - was half dreading it - from SBA yet.
Didn't sleep super well. Woke up vaguely 3am ish, not quite homesickness thoughts and none of that overpowering "depression" , but thinking abut having a serious medical emergency while on SBA tour and whether it would be life-ruining. Tossed and turned struggling to get back to sleep. Unplugged USB charger which is festooned with lights (I put electrical tape over some before leaving home but you can't do all). Did go for piss in middle of night, not busting but felt it might help.
Have put one of the RS tops I washed yesterday on, it feels essentially perfectly dry.
Plan for today is to get a litre bottle of water and head over to Renacer campsite where guidebook says there is a hiking trail available to non-guests. It's out by paleontological museum so modest walk just to start. If they knock me back or this just isn't a thing that's fine. Essentially this will be a lazy-ish day except for maybe hiking (and that probably only an hour or so). I will need to make onward plans soon-ish and depending on whether it looks like I am or aren't doing this 2nd Feb boat trip I may not stay 4 nights in Tunja - OTOH I might as the draft schedule the other day still had a bit of slack in.
I have not done and am not doing most of the tourist stuff advertised by the various agencies here. i just don't need to or desperately want to. I'm sure some of it is cool enough but you can't do everything and a bit of quiet touristing under my own steam suits right now. Also wrt stuff like the wire bicycles I can feel a bit "been there done that" after Santa Elena - I'd do it if it massively appealed here, but it doesn't seem anything enormously special.
Do have bad-ish (not medical grade or agonising) sunburns on back of hands and back of neck. Not ideal but can't be helped. Back of hands is lesson learned and I should make a note to remember of a new trip once out of habit. Back of neck is maybe just insufficient application. Ears for eg are not burned so I think my sunblock works.
0929 Just done Duolingo and realised that if I do the SBA trip I'm likely to lose my streak. I was aware of this possibility in general before I left home and said to myself I would let that happen - I am not organising my life around the streak. It is a bit silly anyway as I have so many gems etc that if I wanted I could never study another second and just keep buying streak freezes and extend my streak by months and months, so it "proves" nothing - but that would require interacting with the app regularly to buy those freezes.
I do maybe have some bonus freezes from my last 100 day multiple which if I don't accidentally burn through them first *might* allow me to keep the streak active during this longish no-net period, but I can't guarantee it and as I say got to get the priorities right.
0940 Another coffee. It's actually really nice sitting out here quietly but not feeling BNM without massive pressure to "do anything" (tho yes, do need to head off on hike) and bantering a bit with Rab over WA.
1704 Back at hostel. Wasn't going to have any beer tonight but I noticed BBC open so I may see if I can have literally one or two (prob rather expensive) beers there.
Still no sign of Davivienda having refunded me on Starling.
Perpetually struggling to get phones charged.
Walked over to Renacer but the street leading up to it was full of dogs. I made a valiant effort but some did seem to be barking at me a bit much and as I wasn't even sure they would say "yes, we have a trail, use it" I doubled back. I wandered up a nearby street showing a trail on Organic Maps but was feeling edgy and there was a (very quiet) dog so I gave up on that too. I did wander about ten mins down the road for exercise/variety before turning back - that was OK and the scenery was quite nice but the road felt quite closed in and I got worried I'd encounter an iffy dog and turned back.
I did get a litre bottle of water before heading out to Renacer.
On way back into town I had look at museo del carmen but although main door was open with a smallish vestibule with exhibits no one was around and no other doors seemed open.
Looking at OM I decided to pop back to hostel to top up water and then walk out to the Virgen (which turned out to just be a roadside shrine, not a thing with a viewpoint) and nearby Pozos Azul. Maybe 30ish mins walk over there, no fuss at all, road pleasantly busy so didn't feel too isolated. Paid 15k to get into PA, trogged round and sat by side of various ponds and mulled (esp over boat trip). Apparently it's all artificial and it's nothing utterly stunning but pleasant enough. Trails not all that well signed and I would probably have got lost without OM, although getting lost did at least mean I got to walk to a local peak in a trail and get a bit of a view.
Had response from SBA which I saw on phone and replied to (no response yet) when I was heading down initial trail at PA. Just repeating the need for cash for the Kuna. I replied nicely enough quoting the bit in their faq about a select few people being allowed to use PP and asking if there were any other dates where there were still slots free to use PP. I suspect this is entirely fiction but we'll see.
TBH I half hope they don't come back with anything useful. As I walked round and sat and mulled, I decided doing this trip Panama-Colombia is the way to go.
- I will have USD ad lib and no need to worry about running out because I under-changed money. I can also accumulate small bills so I don't get caught out if conveniently no one can make change.
- I will have COP already for arrival in Swhatsit/Cwhatsit and can thus pre-book accom and chill in relatively comfortable surroundings post-trip.
- This means I am lugging around any boat trip pre-purchases like maybe some cheap flip-flops as little time as possible. Similarly I will have less medication to arouse suspicion at customs.
- Although (not that I trust SBA FAQ to be up to date) apparently Wingo make a fuss, most airlines will accept an SBA booking as proof of onward travel out of Panama when entering country.
- A quick look from beside one of pool suggests there are flights (including some non-Wingo if it matters) from Cartagena to Balboa or Panama City for around the hundred quid mark. It may also be possible to fly from say Bucaramanga - I would return to Cartagena post trip (I think it's where civilisation meets the off-the-beaten track route to get to Cwhatsit/Swhatsit) so no need to visit there on the outbound leg. Can and will investigate this later.
- Yes the conditions may be bumpier and the boat may be more likely to be full, but can't be helped. I did a quick check and they still have availability around when I'd want it, and I'd potentially be booking it within a few days so touch wood unlikely to sell out.
- Given USD price is the same, it's effectively cheaper leaving from Panama than Colombia as you pay no 7% PP surcharge nor do you get ripped off chaging COP to USD in a bdc.
- Although not necessarily a huge deal, wrt taking my own water I can buy it in PC and carry it onto the 4x4 taxi leaving PC with all the other SBA tourists, no fuss. Leaving from Colombia there is some niggliness about exactly where the boat departs from and these are small somewhat off grid places and can I buy water or do I end up having to lug it with me on connecting once-a-day boat services etc.
Walked back into town and went for food at El Original..., usual but jugo de maracuya (passion fruit I think) today. 26k+4k tip. Then got that colombiana soft drink (sugary, but it's local and not an everyday thing) and left it in hostel fridge and had shower/shave/surreptitious wash of 2 sets uw.
Gonna go out now, may see if I can get a canela coffee somewhere before beer, but plan is not to be out mega late. Will try to leave K1 charging in bag off power bank.
Oh, German guy said bye to me this morning as we were both heading out, tiny bit awkward but nice of him.
1932 Back from "night out" . I had a pint in the deserted BBC - apparently an imperial pint, the glass looked so anyway, though huge head - got a taste first, 15kish plus 2kish tip for pint of Septimazo Rojo 6%, very bitter (had a tiny free taste first), probably IPA, rather nice though.
Felt bit pissed after it so went for a walk. Had an empanada ranchera from a hole in wall place (2.6k - v nice), got slightly lost (or actually hadn't but thought I had), also got a ham and cheese croissant thing at a bakery for 2.5k, despite only having had one pint I wonder if I looked drunk (cos I felt slightly so) but whatever. Wandered round some more, esp around plaza mayor - feeling slightly irrationally lonely, but also kind of cool. O6 seems prone to consistent diagonal lines on night shots, hope lens isn't badly scratched or anything, but it seems OK for day shots anyway.
Got by sheer chance a response from SBA while on square, super patronising response which utterly ignores the fact my request was based on *their own FAQ* which *they referred me to* in their previous e-mail. I wish I hadn't been using my real name for this second e-mail exchange really.
In a way I got what I wanted. After today's mulling I want to do their trip in the no fuss Panama-Colombia direction. *But* I really despise them now. What a bunch of smug, self-righteous fuckers. If they'd just said, "sorry, our FAQ is out of date" or "we will fix the FAQ, sorry to mislead you" that would be one thing, but to imply I'm being an arse when I'm going on information they provided is just fuckwittery.
The thing is, beyond pissing me off, how can I trust them? The FAQ talks about only Wingo making fuss over one of their bookings counting as proof of onward travel, other airlines are fine. But since they pay no attention to keeping the FAQ up to date, I can't trust that, can I? And all this kind of "meh, fuck you" attitude doesn't inspire confidence.
The sad reality is I probably am going to have to pay the bastards for their fucking trip. I suppose at least they won't be getting their 7% extra. Honestly, both based on anecdotal blog evidence and their own booking calendars, it's clear they have massive under-utilisation in the C-P direction, but rather than offer a discount or try to make it more appealing or helping out with currency conversions (as a US-based business I am sure they have access to far better currency conversion mechanisms than I as a tourist do), they just act all smugly entitled.
In theory I'm foolish writing this on my blog before I go but no one is ever going to notice, and I am only saying what I feel and what I also feel is objectively reasonable. In what other situation is this acceptable:
Them: Sometimes you can do X.
Me: Can I do X?
Them: No. X is impossible. Please understand X is impossible.
Meh.
As I say, I probably am going to end up booking with the c*s (I feel the word is justified, but I've had shit with blog posts being censored years after the fact for daring use this word, so I'll self censor) anyway. But I don't have to decide now.
Putting those cs aside, during mulling earlier I was thinking "well, I am rather liking Colombia, should I even go to Panama?" But I have heard decent things about Panama and I'd like to see what it's like, so I can know whether (for example) it would be worth another trip where it is a focus for my time. Plus I did/do want to do a boat trip between Colombia and Panama for its own sake as an experience, so that fitted well with visiting both countries.
I wonder how much I can hide my name when/if I do book with SBA for reals? The bulk of the payment is in cash, but the deposit is paid by credit card so that would give them my name. I could at least use different e-mail address and phone number. They *probably* wouldn't pay any attention and despite feeling some temptation (because that kind of self-centred automatically right twat will never accept legit criticism anyway) I haven't sent a snotty e-mail back, so I haven't *technically* had a row with them so to speak. But still.
Obviously they would see my name when we're doing final customs and immigrationy shit but the chances are a lot of that is local people on the ground stuff rather than being tied in with any corporate customer records - they appear such a disorganised shower of shit that I doubt they have such things anyway.
Having this Colombiana con cora (?) - it's not as chilled as I'd expected, nor as fizzy, but it is quite nice. Shame it's not diet (not that that's healthy as such either, I guess) but at least I'm trying the local stuff, and presumably it *is* hydrating.
Plan for tomorrow is still to bumble around a few local museums, stay in town, don't rush off after breakfast to hike, maybe try chasing up that damn failed withdrawal with Starling, book onward accom (maybe Tunja? if not I will need to think about buses too), maybe look into flights to Panama etc etc. Maybe indulge in some more semi-street food and perhaps have a lunchtime beer at BBC or something like that. (It is nice to have a "proper" pint, albeit expensive. BBC and doubtless other draught places will exist throughout Colombia, but here it is safe-ish to walk the streets and the BBC place is about five mins walk from hostel.)
Quick poke suggests I can fly (albeit annoyingly via Bogota) from Bucaramanga to Panama City PTY for about a hundred quid.
Of course it doesn't help that Wingo is now iffy given the onward travel business. You might expect the Panamanian authorities to determine what counts as a ticket for onward travel rather than individual airlines, but there you go.
Valledupar seems a bust.
Barranquilla has direct flights with Copa to Panama City for sub £110 on some dates.
Cucuta is expensive as fk, even the one date showing green on skyscanner.net coming in at £131.
Cartagena has a £90 direct - but it's Wingo - on 4 Feb to BLB
I am struggling to get really clear info but it seems BLB airport is perhaps even closer to Panama City than PTY. In short for these purposes I should probably regard it as completely equivalent.
If didn't already say it looks like Bucaramanga has one direct flight (cheap too) to PC on Wednesdays at arse o'clock in the morning (0652, so need to arrive airport 0400 latest and thus be checking out of accom and getting taxis at scary and expensive times).
A lot of the convenience/stress/cost comes down not just to times and flight prices but ease of accessing airport. Poking on web, there are buses to Barranquilla airport but B is big enough that the bus terminal is 10km south of the city so you could end up with multiple changes or taxis to bus terminal etc etc.
Cartagena seems to have fixed prices for taxis from airport. It isn't clear how it works to airport. Random website seems to suggest the buses require a special local card which isn't likely to work well for me. There may be colectivos, which just *might* be workable for me from Cartagena town to airport.
But I'm not desperate to go to Cartagena anyway, I will prob be there on return from Panama and getting there is probably a longer bus ride than otherwise necessary from here/wherever I go next/my planned itinerary.
Looking at sketched out itinerary:
- 3 nights Bogota
- 4 nights VdL and/or 4 nights Tunja
- 4 nights San Gil and/or 4 nights Barichara
- 4 nights Mompos
(Incidentally will do more research tomorrow but gut feeling is VdL is nice but I'm not so enamoured of it and haven't fallen on my feet - as I eg did in Quepos - with a relatively social hostel, and that while I'm not desperate to leave, I'm also not over-anxious to stay. I could come back if I wanted another time, but I feel there's nothing "must do" here, I've done a bit, there will be other stuff to do if I decide to come back but as I say I don't think I want to extend my stay this time. I do feel staying for 4 nights rather than 3 has worked well, I am glad I have tomorrow to potter around and also to deal with ongoing plans and aren't feeling too pressured. If I had an infinitely long trip I might well stay here a few more nights, but as it is I think it's time to move, even if maybe only to Tunja.)
Also incidentally garden is quite busy but don't feel BNM, dorm mate is eating solo, some people are talking in Spanish over far side, maybe a couple sitting quietly in hammocks. It's vaguely pleasantly sociably busy but it doesn't feel awkward I am not talking to anyone.
San Gil is south of Bucaramanga so flying out of there wouldn't cut that off. Ditto Barichara.
Mompos was chosen to be a stop towards Cartagena and is also nearish Barranquilla, but flying out of Bucaramanga would cut this off. and even putting pique at SBA to one side, the original plan was to tour overland up to Cartagena and get the boat from there, and it feels roughly reasonable not to cut Mompos out just because I'm now flying the Cartagena-ish to Panama City leg instead of going by boat.
I don't know when the Barranquilla carnival is but gut feeling is I'm not desperate to visit it this year and it may make things expensive if it falls in the wrong spot. I'm not in love with Cartagena but it might be interesting to revisit (albeit that I expect to pass through after getting into Colombia by boat anyway) and it is probably a fairly good spot for cheap flights to Panama and the airport is probably a little more tractable whether by taxi or colectivo or bus than Barranquilla.
I half wonder if I could get into Cartagena and get straight onto a plane without overnighting (given I'll be back there for eg a visit to El Totumo after I get off the boat), but GM says Mompos-Cartagena is nearly 6h by car and in practice getting a bus and scheduling things without getting stressed out as hell would likely be more trouble than it's worth.
(Oh, if I didn't say, on both of my two separate visits to BBC tonight they played Hombres G's "Venezia" about a minute after I got my beer. It made me smile from familiarity the first time, then from "WTF? deja vu!" the second time.)
Barranquilla is about 6h by car from Mompos too.
I suppose visiting Cartagena "properly" maybe makes more sense pre-flight. When I return from probably boat trip, I imagine spending a day or two recuperating in Swhatsit or Capurgana, then I could potentially get the boat/bus/whatever across to Cartagena and be hopping straight on a bus out of Cartagena - I could buy ticket on the day probably, in general buying last minute tickets or having to write off pre-purchased tickets because of a missed connection is much more tractable with bus tickets.
Given I'd have to book the flight in advance we'd probably be looking at just a couple of days' buffer in Cartagena. Maybe experiment with a sociable hostel, do a daytrip to ET, then fly out to PC. If the buffer disappears, I don't *have* to do ET and I still have the option to try it when I return via boat.
OTOH, it looks like all the cheap flights Cartagena-Panama are Wingo, which may mean extra expense for a never-to-be-used bus ticket out of Panama or something, and may come with wanky surcharges for cabin baggage.
This almost makes Barranquilla feel like a better bet, but I may be taking too cursory a look at Cartagena.
Garden mostly empty now.
Barranquilla does have £83 direct Wingo flight, but also a £132 direct Copa - both bit early (Copa 0903) but not utterly insane, given sunrise is 6ish.
While I actually blame Wingo (though why should I trust the SBA FAQ in first place?) for being stroppy about onward travel, this does also feed into a general "FFS, anything related to SBA is just a fuckfest" - there are these perfectly decent looking flights which I maybe can't actually take.
Let me see if I can find the cheapest possible online bookable international bus out of Panama.
OK, thepanamatoursite.com says for USD34(+7% sales tax) you can book a shutter Panama Bocas del Toro to Puerto Viejo Costa Rica, and the deposit is USD10 per adult and balance must be paid 24h prior to the day of the transfer. So *maybe* by paying and writing off this USD10 deposit, you have something to show the airline when departing Colombia on a flight to Panama.
Poking on web is vague and unhelpful but some frankly deceptive seeming suggestions (like those sites you pay for a semi-fake reservation - what if they check?) Refundable flights might be an option if unlike the site I saw you actually keep them open until after you land in Panama.
I'm gonna sleep on it, I don't need to decide this today or even in the next few days. Current gut feeling is that Cartagena is the best option - though I'd want to check for hidden pricing/traps with cabin baggage on Wingo anyway - and that the savings on the flights and the probably easier trip to Cartagena airport from town than to Barranquilla airport (tho I now remember I was avoiding buses on 2020 trip and did fly out of Barranquilla, so could check my old blog) make Cartagena the best choice, even if I end up burning say USD10 on something like a deposit for that Panama-CR bus.
Dorm mate has gone in, I have nearly finished this 1.5l bottle of sugar water - just hope it doesn't keep me awake - so am hopefully hydrated and I don't feel in the least bit drunk (it was only two pints, albeit strong-ish) and maybe with the immediate decision type stress of the boat trip out of the way and a fairly slack day tomorrow I can get a solid night's sleep and get up early-ish.
2116 OK, heading in to clean teeth then go to bed. Will send this now so I'm not clacking away in bed if she is in bed too.
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