Wed 31st 1937 Sitting on deserted roof terrace with a can of Poker. I feel a bit BNM but I think it's the adjacent cafe's bustlingness triggering this - the actual hostel itself is not super quiet but it doesn't appear to be chocked with other people all making friends.
Cafe looked v busy when I finally got back about 1730ish and I also felt knackered and wanted to go into room to do online checkin for flight, so I haven't tried it yet. Not a big deal. The online checkin was stress free, I got an aisle seat on flight to Bogota by chance and am in a window seat (with I hope bit of space between seat and window on my right side) for Panama flight, but this is fine. They seem to be suggesting I need to print my own boarding pass and I have a vague feeling I saw somewhere nearby my first night so I will prob try to do this tomorrow, but I suspect I could show QR code on phone if I had to. It is a bit of a relief to be checked in and have given my passport details and for this to be accepted. I still have vague misgivings but I am more confident this flight is going to happen now.
Incidentally altho I still have expenses tomorrow and Fri, I have at least £250 of COP and probably more like £300 so (touch wood) this (barring theft/loss) will comfortably see me through the cash machine desert for the first few days after the boat trip.
Bought this Poker (3 cans for 3.3k each - was torn and half wish I had now by 4 cans Bogota Beer Company honey gold beer for 12kish for 4, but nevber mind - I could also in hindsight have had non-chilled cans for 1.5k-2k each at D1, but again never mind) at Oxxo when I got back before going to hostel, along with 2 litres chilled water.
I am writing this backwards but I haven't eaten "properly" today. I ate quite a bit of semi-junk during day and by the time I'd done online check in and had a shower (washing trousers water only as they are maybe feeling a bit uncomfortably dirty, perhaps just my imagination due to heat of day) I decided I would pop out (after dark, but felt fine, and FWIW as I wasn't going far left both phones in hostel) and see if any cheap restaurants on Kr33 but the one I ate in yday was shut (if I remember where it is) and nothing else looked cheap or non-junk and I really wasn't and aren't feeling hungry so I bought a packet of tortilla chips at D1 (massive queue as always) as an unhealthy snack for later and came back to hostel.
Gonna drink beer a bit more before writing more.
1949 Finished beer. Will prob get another in a bit.
So I got up 8-815ish, no lurking e-mails re flight etc. Probably left hostel 9ish. I went to Kr33 and loads of buses went past and after a bit (and asking a woman, who appeared to understand me but not know) I got on a bus saying "Florida" , asked the driver "Floridablanca?" and he said yes and I paid 2.4k and off we went.
PQP BTW is not on OM and on GM it is in the middle of a confusing cloverleaf type junction.
Watching OM on phone - I had marked PQP myself - we did seem to be heading in right direction. Long story short, we diverted off into Floridablanca, back round and across PQPish and then into (I think) Giron where we eventually pulled up at a stop some distance from PQP. I asked driver but couldn't understand him, perhaps as getting stressed - he did say we'd passed PQP. I just wasn't sure when/where to get down, I didn't just want to get off somewhere within 500m and struggle to find where to get bus.
Anyway, tho I didn't understand and was whining (a bit; could have been worse) to myself, I waited 5-10 mins for the other bus he had indicated I should take and he very kindly (I infer and half earwigged) got the other driver to let me on free. And I made a point of asking the driver where to get down and he showed me and I trogged round the corner and there was a fairly obvious unofficial-ish bus interchange and a bus driver collared me almost immediately and got me on a minibus to the park. Quite a delay moving off (and at some stops later) and some other guy came and asked for ID and gave me an official-ish ticket for a mildly eye watering 20k (FFS, it was 25k from San Gil-Buc) but what can you do? I am not sure I got ripped off as such, maybe different buses have dif prices and tho might ticket said Arauco (sp - this from memory) which is a bit SG side of park, it isn't insanely blatantly rip off the tourist stuff. Jumping ahead, while I didn't pay til I got off at PQP and I never got a ticket and it felt a tiny bit under the counter the driver took 20k for the return too. Meh, it's OK, whatever.
I bought a pack of choc wafers (actually one huge wafer) for 3k from a guy who got on with a hard luck story, and also declined to give anything to another nice enough pseudo-beggar who sang a few song fragments and singled me out (sitting in the single seat neart he door) for a bit too much attention.
I was the only one on the minibus (not that it was rammed) to get off at the park FWIW. Bit of an epic drive to get there really, though the scenery is good - TBH and jumping ahead, arguably the views from the road are as good as or even better than anything you see in the park. Would have been easier from SG but coulda woulda shoulda etc.
1959 Sod it, let's go get another beer. "Careless Whisper" just started playing from cafe.
2006 FWIW maybe if I'd bought non-chilled cheap beers at D1 they wouldn't have been cold to drink now. And I was tired and a bit fed up (not quite right phrase) and as D1 don't sell water I'd have had to trog over there *as well* as going to Oxxo for water (I am hardly eating healthy today, but the idea of hydrating with 1.7l of diet lemonade stuff didn't feel great). It's all fine. Do vaguely regret no having BBC beer but not having tried that honey one I was worried it would be cloying and I wanted something "refreshing" .
And if I had been feeling hungry earlier I would have bought ham/bologna and bread at D1 or Oxxo and made a shit ton of sandwiches here in kitchen. I just didn't feel that hungry.
Oh, "Our House" (Madness) was IIRC playing from cafe this morning as i was getting ready to leave. "Beat It" on now.
I wouldn't want to be squeezed out, but I can't quite believe other people are sitting solo or in small groups lower in hostel when there is this roof terrace. I do like roof terraces maybe more than most people, but there's a nice breeze and although the view is not astounding it's still nicer than being confined inside hostel even if the murals are nice.
There is a cat hanging round, it was looking at me through the railings earlier and is now sitting about 5-10m off on a nearby roof.
Entry to park was an eye watering 78k for park+teleferico. 90k with aquapark too. Other combos available. Place is shut Mon-Tue which would explain empty appearance of aquapark from bus but TBH it looked virtually empty today. The "main" park is not empty but it is hardly rammed and a lot of the attractions were empty or just not working (eg there was one of those slides for kids you used to go down on a sort of hessian mat/bag when I was a kid - *no* kids on it, and no staff and I wasn't clear if it was actually "open" or not). I half wonder if they're in a death spiral of raising prices to try to cover costs and hardly anyone going.
I didn't see everything - it's not all free, but ostrich bit is cheap (3k) and I didn't have time to go even if I'd wanted, ditto (poss free?) goat park, I made a lighting visit to Guane museum before leaving. But I saw enough.
The big problem is the cable car doesn't run continuously. I got there about 1140 and was told (tho I wasn't clear and went back to ask later) cable car was at 1230. And then you go over to other side and get there maybe 1300ish (it's a decent and fun but sadly not that stunning - it is cool, but compared to views from rest of park and from the road and also thinking about viewpoints near salto de mico in Barichara, it is not "OMFG" what you see from the cable card) and you're told that the return trip is at 1430 or 1500, so you're stuck (and you can leave the park if you want) in a nice enough plaza with a little church and loads of food places and a viewpoint or two for an hour and a half minimum. I took advantage to indulge in some Colombian style snacks I'd been meaning to (an oblea, a canelazo - which I hadn't realised was alcoholic - and a very expensive but TBF filling arepa de chocolo (that is I think how they spel it, despite my dict not recognising it) at 10k+3k for a small chorizo, oblea was 6k BTW and canelazo 7.5k - menu said 7k but I got change as if it was 7.5k, so I didn't give the tip I intended to). And this was OK and while it felt a bit of an expensive day with the buses and the entrance and the snacks (tho there was an element of experience to this and I'd have bought them, tho maybe cheaper, elsewhere), the day did at times - once I got to PQP and go on a bus - have a pleasantly lazy touristy feel, altho as I say rather pricey for what it all was - anyway, resuming this awful sentence, it was OKish but this need to work round the cable car meant eg I couldn't see much of the initial bit of park on arrival as I didnt want to risk missing cable car, and then while left to my own devices I might have spent 45-60 mins over the far side before returning to see more of the stuff in the initial bit, I was forced to spend 90 mins there, which eg meant I had to do lightning visit to Guane museum and miss goats and my trog up to the (quite cool TBH) Santander monument and the 360 viewpoint (bit crap TBH as there's so much stuff "below" you from the building you're in you don't always get a great view) was all abit harried, as I wanted to get back to PQP and make the slightly iffy onward connection with plenty of daylight. (Visiting from SG would have slightly eased this, and I'd also have got there earlier for same start time due to easier buses.)
I did take trunks+towel+sunblock just in case I had a change of heart but on seeing prices and already feeling I didn't want to (plus as it turns out being short of time) I didn't use them.
2024 Finger break.
2028 "I just died in your arms tonight" playing. I can't help wondering if this cafe is oriented towards locals who want a slice of 80s foreign nostalgia rather than the (presumably) relatively young hostel clients. I will probably have to make an effort to visit it for a beer or a coke or a pastry or something tomorrow.
There is - much as I'm pleased I did quietly touristically enjoy myself today - a definite "in transit" feeling, a bit like that feeling at the end of a long trip when you have to fly home in a day or two and it's hard to enjoy yourself properly and you just half wish you were home already. I am broadly speaking enjoying being in Colombia, I don't want to leave as such and I look forward to returning and it's just a shame it will be a 3 week slightly under the cosh trip at that point. *But* all that said, with this flight looming, I half just wish I was in Panama already.
I got lucky and flagged down a bus to Barichara - I said PQP to driver and he said (as they do here, it seems) "siga" to mean "yeah, go ahead, sit down" - almost immediately. On the bus I was feeling tired and a bit sweaty and a bit thirsty I think (I'd taken litre of water and drunk most of it and was saving it by this point) and a tiny bit exercised about getting back to hostel from PQP and thinking about doing the online checkin as had seen e-mail about it while at park and I wasn't at my most cheerful. Again all the impending flight stuff spoiling the time just before it a bit.
If not clear did enjoy oblea, canelazo and arepa de chocolo - would have them all again, though preferably at better prices. Menu said canelazo/carajillo, I dunno if these are same or just similar, I asked for canelazo.
At PQP I was asked if I wanted a ride by a couple of taxi drivers but declined and no fuss. It may not have been optimal or easiest if you know what you're doing but thanks to the morning fuckup I knew the bus I'd got from Kr33 did its return journey (as I'd taken part of return journey because of fuckup) and passed a point near PQP (other side of footbridge from where I got dropped off of course, unlike in morning) so I went down there to wait for a Kr33 bus. And indeed one turned up after 5ish mins and incidentally (1700ish so still daylight) I felt v safe and unthreatened. Driver had tiny hole into cab to talk through and didn't understand me saying "carrera 33" but it's a flat fare (2.4k) and I had seen it on front so I just gave him the money anyway. And the bus did get pretty chocka and the traffic was pretty heavy (bus is more of an experience and outside comfort zone than taxi, and it's not just about the money, but even if it's "cheap" I just hate sitting in a taxi in traffic watching meter tick up without moving) but it did indeed continue up into town and I got off no fuss opposite the Oxxo near hostel, which is in part why I went there then went back to hostel. (Crossing kr33 is a minor mare but with patience not too bad.)
I think that's everything. "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" playing.
During the fuckup getting to PQP this morning I was perhaps a bit more on edge than I'd otherwise be as I knew (given I had to assume tomorrow was needed for trying to sort out flight fuckups, and even with the online checking going smoothly I still semi-need to find somewhere to print boarding pass and will experimentally go check out the colectivos to airport) this was my one shot at the canyon and I was therefore worked up about that on top of the whole getting "lost" on the bus business.
Finished second beer a bit ago.
It's lucky I thought to check park opening days this morning and that it was open today. Not implausible timings could have been different and I wouldn't have been able to go. As I say in hindsight it was quietly fun but expensive (esp with buses from Buc) and if someone told me they were on a tight budget I'd tell them not to bother and just enjoy the views from the road, but of course if I hadn't been I wouldn't have known.
Cable car occupancy is 8 but on both trips I was a solo guy with three others - first one one Colombian guy plus a Colombian couple, third one two Colombian parents with little girl (who was mildly sweet). I felt a tiny bit awkward but it was OK. Earwigged on intermittent conv both ways but didn't force my way in. Mother did say hello/goodbye to me at least. OTOH mother called some relative on video call - little girl excitedly showing off the toy-but-prob-working binocs they'd bought here - during trip, and also at one point went off on a long spontaneous and apparently irrelevant story about people (unclear if men or women or both) who went abroad to work for n months, came back and lived like kings/queens and who were (I think; I was struggling to understand) were exploited by the partners they resumed relationships with (expensive presents etc).
Water only (in shower) wash of trousers not ideal, but it's not a huge effort and with the room ceiling fan (which I left on when came up here) the drying conditions are good, and I don't know what it will be like in PC hostel and as I'm there only two nights even if there is a good opp to wash with soap (which I doubt, given first night I expect to be zonked from flights) getting them dry enough to pack non-mankily might be dubious in the time available.
Oh, when I finally got served at D1 tonight, woman asked me for my ID. I was buying a bag of tortilla chips. She had asked the guy in front of me too, who was buying two pouches of olives. Not nastily but out of curiosity (this had IIRC happened at D1 in Barichara too) I said something like (in Spanish) "you need ID to buy food?" and she just entered a load of zeroes and didn't make a fuss. (OK, "food" is maybe a stretch, but still.) I think guy buying olives showed his ID but not sure. Given I have bought food and indeed beer in various other shops (eg Oxxo tonight) with no ID requested, I *suspect* this is a D1 thing and (guessing) may be down to some loyalty programme or something, but don't know.
(In the D1 in Barichara this happened when I was buying that sugar free soft drink. That time I said something like "are these alcoholic drinks?" with faux naivety and after some weird stuff - ISTR she spoke to another MoS and they swapped over - I was allowed to buy without ID.)
Oh, and the nanny state is alive and well here. All sorts of food has black octagons on the package with white writing inside like "Exceso de sodio - Minsalud" on.
2112 Music stopped from cafe. I wouldn't *mind* the third beer but I also don't crave it. I can have it tomorrow or worst case leave it as a freebie for some lucky bod. It's nice enough sitting up here but a tiny bit boring and I might (given earlyish start and not IIRC sleeping amazingly) go back to room and gorge on tortilla chips and watch a bit of YT and have an earlyish night.
I have a vague feeling I "ought" to milk sitting up here on the roof terrace rather than skulking in my room but I think that's silly.
Yeah, sod it, let's head down.
2120 Back in room. No one in kitchen or little common area outside it, went down for piss, 3-4 people in ground floor "ping pong" area but not sure they're not staff, one guy cleaning his teeth in toilet block. Maybe other guests are out partying or something but I'm not getting an uber social vibe here. Maybe just trying to reassure myself. :-)
2331 Just been down to clean teeth, one guy said "buenas" to me as he came out of shower (I responded, through the foam :-) ).
Going to bed. Aim is to be up 9ish and as I say do some printing and pre-flight checking and see about colectivo and also just casually explore/wander round the city in the course of this. May snack on local-style goodies but will try to have a proper meal too.
Cafe looked v busy when I finally got back about 1730ish and I also felt knackered and wanted to go into room to do online checkin for flight, so I haven't tried it yet. Not a big deal. The online checkin was stress free, I got an aisle seat on flight to Bogota by chance and am in a window seat (with I hope bit of space between seat and window on my right side) for Panama flight, but this is fine. They seem to be suggesting I need to print my own boarding pass and I have a vague feeling I saw somewhere nearby my first night so I will prob try to do this tomorrow, but I suspect I could show QR code on phone if I had to. It is a bit of a relief to be checked in and have given my passport details and for this to be accepted. I still have vague misgivings but I am more confident this flight is going to happen now.
Incidentally altho I still have expenses tomorrow and Fri, I have at least £250 of COP and probably more like £300 so (touch wood) this (barring theft/loss) will comfortably see me through the cash machine desert for the first few days after the boat trip.
Bought this Poker (3 cans for 3.3k each - was torn and half wish I had now by 4 cans Bogota Beer Company honey gold beer for 12kish for 4, but nevber mind - I could also in hindsight have had non-chilled cans for 1.5k-2k each at D1, but again never mind) at Oxxo when I got back before going to hostel, along with 2 litres chilled water.
I am writing this backwards but I haven't eaten "properly" today. I ate quite a bit of semi-junk during day and by the time I'd done online check in and had a shower (washing trousers water only as they are maybe feeling a bit uncomfortably dirty, perhaps just my imagination due to heat of day) I decided I would pop out (after dark, but felt fine, and FWIW as I wasn't going far left both phones in hostel) and see if any cheap restaurants on Kr33 but the one I ate in yday was shut (if I remember where it is) and nothing else looked cheap or non-junk and I really wasn't and aren't feeling hungry so I bought a packet of tortilla chips at D1 (massive queue as always) as an unhealthy snack for later and came back to hostel.
Gonna drink beer a bit more before writing more.
1949 Finished beer. Will prob get another in a bit.
So I got up 8-815ish, no lurking e-mails re flight etc. Probably left hostel 9ish. I went to Kr33 and loads of buses went past and after a bit (and asking a woman, who appeared to understand me but not know) I got on a bus saying "Florida" , asked the driver "Floridablanca?" and he said yes and I paid 2.4k and off we went.
PQP BTW is not on OM and on GM it is in the middle of a confusing cloverleaf type junction.
Watching OM on phone - I had marked PQP myself - we did seem to be heading in right direction. Long story short, we diverted off into Floridablanca, back round and across PQPish and then into (I think) Giron where we eventually pulled up at a stop some distance from PQP. I asked driver but couldn't understand him, perhaps as getting stressed - he did say we'd passed PQP. I just wasn't sure when/where to get down, I didn't just want to get off somewhere within 500m and struggle to find where to get bus.
Anyway, tho I didn't understand and was whining (a bit; could have been worse) to myself, I waited 5-10 mins for the other bus he had indicated I should take and he very kindly (I infer and half earwigged) got the other driver to let me on free. And I made a point of asking the driver where to get down and he showed me and I trogged round the corner and there was a fairly obvious unofficial-ish bus interchange and a bus driver collared me almost immediately and got me on a minibus to the park. Quite a delay moving off (and at some stops later) and some other guy came and asked for ID and gave me an official-ish ticket for a mildly eye watering 20k (FFS, it was 25k from San Gil-Buc) but what can you do? I am not sure I got ripped off as such, maybe different buses have dif prices and tho might ticket said Arauco (sp - this from memory) which is a bit SG side of park, it isn't insanely blatantly rip off the tourist stuff. Jumping ahead, while I didn't pay til I got off at PQP and I never got a ticket and it felt a tiny bit under the counter the driver took 20k for the return too. Meh, it's OK, whatever.
I bought a pack of choc wafers (actually one huge wafer) for 3k from a guy who got on with a hard luck story, and also declined to give anything to another nice enough pseudo-beggar who sang a few song fragments and singled me out (sitting in the single seat neart he door) for a bit too much attention.
I was the only one on the minibus (not that it was rammed) to get off at the park FWIW. Bit of an epic drive to get there really, though the scenery is good - TBH and jumping ahead, arguably the views from the road are as good as or even better than anything you see in the park. Would have been easier from SG but coulda woulda shoulda etc.
1959 Sod it, let's go get another beer. "Careless Whisper" just started playing from cafe.
2006 FWIW maybe if I'd bought non-chilled cheap beers at D1 they wouldn't have been cold to drink now. And I was tired and a bit fed up (not quite right phrase) and as D1 don't sell water I'd have had to trog over there *as well* as going to Oxxo for water (I am hardly eating healthy today, but the idea of hydrating with 1.7l of diet lemonade stuff didn't feel great). It's all fine. Do vaguely regret no having BBC beer but not having tried that honey one I was worried it would be cloying and I wanted something "refreshing" .
And if I had been feeling hungry earlier I would have bought ham/bologna and bread at D1 or Oxxo and made a shit ton of sandwiches here in kitchen. I just didn't feel that hungry.
Oh, "Our House" (Madness) was IIRC playing from cafe this morning as i was getting ready to leave. "Beat It" on now.
I wouldn't want to be squeezed out, but I can't quite believe other people are sitting solo or in small groups lower in hostel when there is this roof terrace. I do like roof terraces maybe more than most people, but there's a nice breeze and although the view is not astounding it's still nicer than being confined inside hostel even if the murals are nice.
There is a cat hanging round, it was looking at me through the railings earlier and is now sitting about 5-10m off on a nearby roof.
Entry to park was an eye watering 78k for park+teleferico. 90k with aquapark too. Other combos available. Place is shut Mon-Tue which would explain empty appearance of aquapark from bus but TBH it looked virtually empty today. The "main" park is not empty but it is hardly rammed and a lot of the attractions were empty or just not working (eg there was one of those slides for kids you used to go down on a sort of hessian mat/bag when I was a kid - *no* kids on it, and no staff and I wasn't clear if it was actually "open" or not). I half wonder if they're in a death spiral of raising prices to try to cover costs and hardly anyone going.
I didn't see everything - it's not all free, but ostrich bit is cheap (3k) and I didn't have time to go even if I'd wanted, ditto (poss free?) goat park, I made a lighting visit to Guane museum before leaving. But I saw enough.
The big problem is the cable car doesn't run continuously. I got there about 1140 and was told (tho I wasn't clear and went back to ask later) cable car was at 1230. And then you go over to other side and get there maybe 1300ish (it's a decent and fun but sadly not that stunning - it is cool, but compared to views from rest of park and from the road and also thinking about viewpoints near salto de mico in Barichara, it is not "OMFG" what you see from the cable card) and you're told that the return trip is at 1430 or 1500, so you're stuck (and you can leave the park if you want) in a nice enough plaza with a little church and loads of food places and a viewpoint or two for an hour and a half minimum. I took advantage to indulge in some Colombian style snacks I'd been meaning to (an oblea, a canelazo - which I hadn't realised was alcoholic - and a very expensive but TBF filling arepa de chocolo (that is I think how they spel it, despite my dict not recognising it) at 10k+3k for a small chorizo, oblea was 6k BTW and canelazo 7.5k - menu said 7k but I got change as if it was 7.5k, so I didn't give the tip I intended to). And this was OK and while it felt a bit of an expensive day with the buses and the entrance and the snacks (tho there was an element of experience to this and I'd have bought them, tho maybe cheaper, elsewhere), the day did at times - once I got to PQP and go on a bus - have a pleasantly lazy touristy feel, altho as I say rather pricey for what it all was - anyway, resuming this awful sentence, it was OKish but this need to work round the cable car meant eg I couldn't see much of the initial bit of park on arrival as I didnt want to risk missing cable car, and then while left to my own devices I might have spent 45-60 mins over the far side before returning to see more of the stuff in the initial bit, I was forced to spend 90 mins there, which eg meant I had to do lightning visit to Guane museum and miss goats and my trog up to the (quite cool TBH) Santander monument and the 360 viewpoint (bit crap TBH as there's so much stuff "below" you from the building you're in you don't always get a great view) was all abit harried, as I wanted to get back to PQP and make the slightly iffy onward connection with plenty of daylight. (Visiting from SG would have slightly eased this, and I'd also have got there earlier for same start time due to easier buses.)
I did take trunks+towel+sunblock just in case I had a change of heart but on seeing prices and already feeling I didn't want to (plus as it turns out being short of time) I didn't use them.
2024 Finger break.
2028 "I just died in your arms tonight" playing. I can't help wondering if this cafe is oriented towards locals who want a slice of 80s foreign nostalgia rather than the (presumably) relatively young hostel clients. I will probably have to make an effort to visit it for a beer or a coke or a pastry or something tomorrow.
There is - much as I'm pleased I did quietly touristically enjoy myself today - a definite "in transit" feeling, a bit like that feeling at the end of a long trip when you have to fly home in a day or two and it's hard to enjoy yourself properly and you just half wish you were home already. I am broadly speaking enjoying being in Colombia, I don't want to leave as such and I look forward to returning and it's just a shame it will be a 3 week slightly under the cosh trip at that point. *But* all that said, with this flight looming, I half just wish I was in Panama already.
I got lucky and flagged down a bus to Barichara - I said PQP to driver and he said (as they do here, it seems) "siga" to mean "yeah, go ahead, sit down" - almost immediately. On the bus I was feeling tired and a bit sweaty and a bit thirsty I think (I'd taken litre of water and drunk most of it and was saving it by this point) and a tiny bit exercised about getting back to hostel from PQP and thinking about doing the online checkin as had seen e-mail about it while at park and I wasn't at my most cheerful. Again all the impending flight stuff spoiling the time just before it a bit.
If not clear did enjoy oblea, canelazo and arepa de chocolo - would have them all again, though preferably at better prices. Menu said canelazo/carajillo, I dunno if these are same or just similar, I asked for canelazo.
At PQP I was asked if I wanted a ride by a couple of taxi drivers but declined and no fuss. It may not have been optimal or easiest if you know what you're doing but thanks to the morning fuckup I knew the bus I'd got from Kr33 did its return journey (as I'd taken part of return journey because of fuckup) and passed a point near PQP (other side of footbridge from where I got dropped off of course, unlike in morning) so I went down there to wait for a Kr33 bus. And indeed one turned up after 5ish mins and incidentally (1700ish so still daylight) I felt v safe and unthreatened. Driver had tiny hole into cab to talk through and didn't understand me saying "carrera 33" but it's a flat fare (2.4k) and I had seen it on front so I just gave him the money anyway. And the bus did get pretty chocka and the traffic was pretty heavy (bus is more of an experience and outside comfort zone than taxi, and it's not just about the money, but even if it's "cheap" I just hate sitting in a taxi in traffic watching meter tick up without moving) but it did indeed continue up into town and I got off no fuss opposite the Oxxo near hostel, which is in part why I went there then went back to hostel. (Crossing kr33 is a minor mare but with patience not too bad.)
I think that's everything. "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" playing.
During the fuckup getting to PQP this morning I was perhaps a bit more on edge than I'd otherwise be as I knew (given I had to assume tomorrow was needed for trying to sort out flight fuckups, and even with the online checking going smoothly I still semi-need to find somewhere to print boarding pass and will experimentally go check out the colectivos to airport) this was my one shot at the canyon and I was therefore worked up about that on top of the whole getting "lost" on the bus business.
Finished second beer a bit ago.
It's lucky I thought to check park opening days this morning and that it was open today. Not implausible timings could have been different and I wouldn't have been able to go. As I say in hindsight it was quietly fun but expensive (esp with buses from Buc) and if someone told me they were on a tight budget I'd tell them not to bother and just enjoy the views from the road, but of course if I hadn't been I wouldn't have known.
Cable car occupancy is 8 but on both trips I was a solo guy with three others - first one one Colombian guy plus a Colombian couple, third one two Colombian parents with little girl (who was mildly sweet). I felt a tiny bit awkward but it was OK. Earwigged on intermittent conv both ways but didn't force my way in. Mother did say hello/goodbye to me at least. OTOH mother called some relative on video call - little girl excitedly showing off the toy-but-prob-working binocs they'd bought here - during trip, and also at one point went off on a long spontaneous and apparently irrelevant story about people (unclear if men or women or both) who went abroad to work for n months, came back and lived like kings/queens and who were (I think; I was struggling to understand) were exploited by the partners they resumed relationships with (expensive presents etc).
Water only (in shower) wash of trousers not ideal, but it's not a huge effort and with the room ceiling fan (which I left on when came up here) the drying conditions are good, and I don't know what it will be like in PC hostel and as I'm there only two nights even if there is a good opp to wash with soap (which I doubt, given first night I expect to be zonked from flights) getting them dry enough to pack non-mankily might be dubious in the time available.
Oh, when I finally got served at D1 tonight, woman asked me for my ID. I was buying a bag of tortilla chips. She had asked the guy in front of me too, who was buying two pouches of olives. Not nastily but out of curiosity (this had IIRC happened at D1 in Barichara too) I said something like (in Spanish) "you need ID to buy food?" and she just entered a load of zeroes and didn't make a fuss. (OK, "food" is maybe a stretch, but still.) I think guy buying olives showed his ID but not sure. Given I have bought food and indeed beer in various other shops (eg Oxxo tonight) with no ID requested, I *suspect* this is a D1 thing and (guessing) may be down to some loyalty programme or something, but don't know.
(In the D1 in Barichara this happened when I was buying that sugar free soft drink. That time I said something like "are these alcoholic drinks?" with faux naivety and after some weird stuff - ISTR she spoke to another MoS and they swapped over - I was allowed to buy without ID.)
Oh, and the nanny state is alive and well here. All sorts of food has black octagons on the package with white writing inside like "Exceso de sodio - Minsalud" on.
2112 Music stopped from cafe. I wouldn't *mind* the third beer but I also don't crave it. I can have it tomorrow or worst case leave it as a freebie for some lucky bod. It's nice enough sitting up here but a tiny bit boring and I might (given earlyish start and not IIRC sleeping amazingly) go back to room and gorge on tortilla chips and watch a bit of YT and have an earlyish night.
I have a vague feeling I "ought" to milk sitting up here on the roof terrace rather than skulking in my room but I think that's silly.
Yeah, sod it, let's head down.
2120 Back in room. No one in kitchen or little common area outside it, went down for piss, 3-4 people in ground floor "ping pong" area but not sure they're not staff, one guy cleaning his teeth in toilet block. Maybe other guests are out partying or something but I'm not getting an uber social vibe here. Maybe just trying to reassure myself. :-)
2331 Just been down to clean teeth, one guy said "buenas" to me as he came out of shower (I responded, through the foam :-) ).
Going to bed. Aim is to be up 9ish and as I say do some printing and pre-flight checking and see about colectivo and also just casually explore/wander round the city in the course of this. May snack on local-style goodies but will try to have a proper meal too.
No comments:
Post a Comment