Tue 27th 0956 On 1000 bus to Panama (City). Annoyingly as everything has been a mad scramble (and my "daypack" bag has no small side pocket to permanently keep such things in) my headphones are in the upper pocket of my main bag which is in the boot. But while annoying this isn't the end of the world.
Slept semi-OK, kept waking up but did not need to really go to toilet. Guts churning a bit and modest anount of farting and burping. I did have a near miss (prob accumulated stuff overnight) when I actually got up - two actually - and so I took a couple of diarrhea tablets about half an hour ago just as a safety precaution. I can't tell if there's a toilet on this bus as people are standing in aisle, and of course I can't tell if it works without going. You're prob only supposed to urinate in it anyway but my faeces are pretty liquid at the moment. Fingers crossed I am not going to need to go anyway.
I had a sachet of salt replacement stuff this morning too, finished off the grapes. I've left half the ham, the unopened milk and my three cans of beer with owner (who mildly pissed me off by nagging at me about not using the shower - which I wasn't - in the dorm bedroom, but still). I've brought the half loaf of bread, the three apples (which I dropped this morning, so I imagine they're bruised now) and some 1.50 lemon biscuits with me. I have a litre of water (which I topped up from kitchen tap at hostel; I otherwise didn't need to drink local water as I got 1.5l chilled at supermarket, but it should be fine and I did ask owner and I believe water is generally potable and I drank prob mains water at L+F) too.
I did at least remember to put my Panama "travelcard" in pocket and with luck it will be an easy hop to the hostel. I do still need to do *some* prep for trip (eg buy fresh sunblock and prob wd more cash) but I don't have anything too critical to do and if necessary I can probably hole up there a bit and try to recuperate.
I was going to bring bag on but it *might* not have gone in overhead rack and the guy at boot, while pleasant, seemed quite insistent and I didn't want to argue. Definitely a shame about headphones but can't be helped, and at least I am on this 10am bus which will hopefully leave soon and that means I will be at the hostel in Panama City sooner.
I do have books I can read on phone but never been super happy about reading on buses.
1004 We're moving.
I have a big carrier bag shoved in one leg pocket in case I'm sick; I haven't been yet and I hope having this will make it less likely I need it.
1257 At a rest stop. Destroyer tactics so squeezed a bit out.
I suspect data on Panama SIM has run out, despite being unlimited. It isn't working and I got a message about having 50MB left the other day. It may just be a glitch (and given phone has a 2GB limit set and I was supposed to have 3GB "to share" this seems odd). Can't be helped. At least if I did get ripped off it has in practice very nearly lasted as long as it was supposed to do without me holding back.
We had some sort of ID checkpoint - bus stopped, guys got on to check - maybe an hour ago. I had passport in flip belt so showed it, guy did look through it (presumably to find entrance stamp) but not trouble.
Doh, was waiting outside wrong bus! Mine is 29. But it's still here.
1305 It's hot. Wanna get back on bus!
We are in Santiago, I just checked GPS.
1308 Just wd 250 at a Coopeve machine here while waiting. Tried 300 no dice, 6.50 fee bit sucky but not all that terrible. This does at least mean i may not need to wd in Panama City, or if I do wd less. Within reason (don't want to be lugging huge amounts of cash in case I lose it) I can't have "too much" USD as it's good to have a stash back home for future trips, and I'd like to at least take enough back to replace what I brought out with me.
1327 Back on bus. 99% confident this is the right one!
Had a single slice of the "pan integral" while waiting. Went down fine and being solid I guess it's unlikely to make things worse but restrained myself as don't want to stir stomach up or anything.
Think rest stop started about 1240.
1331 Yeah. Apart from bus number on outside, the woman to my left looks familiar and the guy in front is wearing a red Under Armour cap which I remember, and there's a "torn" patch in the window tinting. 99.9% confident.
1333 Moving.
1833 At new hostel, room 12 (think next door to old room). Feeling surprisingly chipper, not 100%. Woman on desk remembered me. Paid all three nights, did it in Spanish. Been out to local shop and got some water and some ham and some salted peanuts and some raisin bread things. Gonna go put a bottle of water in fridge and see about ham sandwiches with bread I brought.
1842 Ham sandwiches. Was tempted to buy a beer while at shop but probably prudent to wait til tomorrow and see how things go. Had small voluntary destroyer tactics watery shit at bus terminal before getting metro (bit of a whiny shit to myself about poor signage for where metro was).
1854 Back in room. Had four sandwiches, feel a bit full (perhaps inhaled them a bit) but not the gut churning of the second two last night. Have put a bottle of water in fridge and will go get it and maybe have another couple of sandwiches in an hour or so. Gonna lie on bed and drink some of the lukewarm water I brought with me from David - it's tap but there is no reason that's a problem.
2057 Did watch YT, also had a shower and washed some uw in there using a plastic bag. Feel *slightly* sick - I had a not v nice apple too, tho not blaming that - sick not really the word, vaguely stuffed. But I will prob have more sandwiches in a bit.
Beyond ideally getting haircut and doing bit of boat trip shopping, main thing I'd semi like to do here is have a quick wander round Casco Viejo. Guidebook says nothing about safety, web is full of old sites and so forth. Gut feeling is that I am not going to be massively regretful if I don't make it - I saw it in 2010 but be interesting to see it again - and that if I feel OK tomorrow and get trip prep done in morning, I may take a taxi there (perhaps from Cinco de Mayo station or something) and back and maybe leave virtually everything in hotel jic.
(Annoyingly room 12, just like room 11, seems to have nowhere at all I can chain my bag to, so leave everything everything here feels a bit "all eggs in one basket" . But still.)
I also had a really bad shave - it's not exactly brightly lit round by the sink at night - but it's better than nothing.
2146 Watched a bit more YT. Feel very slightly "sick" , but more "full" than sick. Vastly better than last two nights. Had some chilled water and will allow myself to drink as much as I want tonight.
Will clean teeth in a minute then go to bed. On second thoughts if I feel OK I'll wander round semi-locally tomorrow doing shopping and looking for a cheap hairdresser, and then I may go to CV *after* the boat briefing the day after - if nothing else I will have handed over a wodge of cash by then.
Haven't had shit of any kind since bus terminal on arriving in PC. I have to assume this morning's tablets have long since worn off and this is prob a good sign. Piss at PC terminal quite yellow but then again I'd not drunk any liquid all day to avoid causing extra problems.
Feel slightly BNM with people chatting in commonish area but a) I do feel this hostel's layout is a bit awkward b) I am obviously not even trying tonight, I did ask some functional questions of one guy and exchanged a few words with a woman who was at table when I went to eat.
2202 Done teeth.
Half wish I had an extra night here as things feel a bit rushed. But I don't need to get worked up about CV and otherwise I am fine, except (touch wood) wrt time to recover and that's not really related to when I planned to get here. Plus a 12hish shuttle or public bus or whatever from BdT to PC in one day would probably have been even more of a mare with being ill.
Fingers crossed I am indeed on the mend. If I am I have only really "lost" peace of mind (so to speak) for 2-3 days, and I missed out on a few beers on terrace of Bast hostel (Hostal Cay, BTW). I had never really planned to try to squeeze in sightseeing in David anyway during that one late afternoon/evening even if I'd felt fine.
Honestly it is fine if I don't go to CV. The only thing slightly nagging at me is that while on the whole I have enjoyed Panama, it is a "terminus" country for land travel (given Darien gap), there is no direct flight to it from UK and while I am sure there's lots more to see it feels hard to visit the less touristed parts due to lack of accom and it just feels like it could be a while before I come back - it's not trivial to just pop over the border from Colombia. It's not inconceivable I'll be in CR at some point (tho it is expensive and I went last year, so prob not that soon) and may mix in some Panama then, but even so PC is a fair hike from the CR border.
But you can't see everything and CV a) I did see in 2010 and b) is not really any more of a must see than doubtless dozens of other places I could have gone but didn't because you have to choose etc.
And barring feeling ill or having last minute forgotten prep to rush round for, a taxi to and from CV after briefing on Thu is hardly a massive stretch.
Slept semi-OK, kept waking up but did not need to really go to toilet. Guts churning a bit and modest anount of farting and burping. I did have a near miss (prob accumulated stuff overnight) when I actually got up - two actually - and so I took a couple of diarrhea tablets about half an hour ago just as a safety precaution. I can't tell if there's a toilet on this bus as people are standing in aisle, and of course I can't tell if it works without going. You're prob only supposed to urinate in it anyway but my faeces are pretty liquid at the moment. Fingers crossed I am not going to need to go anyway.
I had a sachet of salt replacement stuff this morning too, finished off the grapes. I've left half the ham, the unopened milk and my three cans of beer with owner (who mildly pissed me off by nagging at me about not using the shower - which I wasn't - in the dorm bedroom, but still). I've brought the half loaf of bread, the three apples (which I dropped this morning, so I imagine they're bruised now) and some 1.50 lemon biscuits with me. I have a litre of water (which I topped up from kitchen tap at hostel; I otherwise didn't need to drink local water as I got 1.5l chilled at supermarket, but it should be fine and I did ask owner and I believe water is generally potable and I drank prob mains water at L+F) too.
I did at least remember to put my Panama "travelcard" in pocket and with luck it will be an easy hop to the hostel. I do still need to do *some* prep for trip (eg buy fresh sunblock and prob wd more cash) but I don't have anything too critical to do and if necessary I can probably hole up there a bit and try to recuperate.
I was going to bring bag on but it *might* not have gone in overhead rack and the guy at boot, while pleasant, seemed quite insistent and I didn't want to argue. Definitely a shame about headphones but can't be helped, and at least I am on this 10am bus which will hopefully leave soon and that means I will be at the hostel in Panama City sooner.
I do have books I can read on phone but never been super happy about reading on buses.
1004 We're moving.
I have a big carrier bag shoved in one leg pocket in case I'm sick; I haven't been yet and I hope having this will make it less likely I need it.
1257 At a rest stop. Destroyer tactics so squeezed a bit out.
I suspect data on Panama SIM has run out, despite being unlimited. It isn't working and I got a message about having 50MB left the other day. It may just be a glitch (and given phone has a 2GB limit set and I was supposed to have 3GB "to share" this seems odd). Can't be helped. At least if I did get ripped off it has in practice very nearly lasted as long as it was supposed to do without me holding back.
We had some sort of ID checkpoint - bus stopped, guys got on to check - maybe an hour ago. I had passport in flip belt so showed it, guy did look through it (presumably to find entrance stamp) but not trouble.
Doh, was waiting outside wrong bus! Mine is 29. But it's still here.
1305 It's hot. Wanna get back on bus!
We are in Santiago, I just checked GPS.
1308 Just wd 250 at a Coopeve machine here while waiting. Tried 300 no dice, 6.50 fee bit sucky but not all that terrible. This does at least mean i may not need to wd in Panama City, or if I do wd less. Within reason (don't want to be lugging huge amounts of cash in case I lose it) I can't have "too much" USD as it's good to have a stash back home for future trips, and I'd like to at least take enough back to replace what I brought out with me.
1327 Back on bus. 99% confident this is the right one!
Had a single slice of the "pan integral" while waiting. Went down fine and being solid I guess it's unlikely to make things worse but restrained myself as don't want to stir stomach up or anything.
Think rest stop started about 1240.
1331 Yeah. Apart from bus number on outside, the woman to my left looks familiar and the guy in front is wearing a red Under Armour cap which I remember, and there's a "torn" patch in the window tinting. 99.9% confident.
1333 Moving.
1833 At new hostel, room 12 (think next door to old room). Feeling surprisingly chipper, not 100%. Woman on desk remembered me. Paid all three nights, did it in Spanish. Been out to local shop and got some water and some ham and some salted peanuts and some raisin bread things. Gonna go put a bottle of water in fridge and see about ham sandwiches with bread I brought.
1842 Ham sandwiches. Was tempted to buy a beer while at shop but probably prudent to wait til tomorrow and see how things go. Had small voluntary destroyer tactics watery shit at bus terminal before getting metro (bit of a whiny shit to myself about poor signage for where metro was).
1854 Back in room. Had four sandwiches, feel a bit full (perhaps inhaled them a bit) but not the gut churning of the second two last night. Have put a bottle of water in fridge and will go get it and maybe have another couple of sandwiches in an hour or so. Gonna lie on bed and drink some of the lukewarm water I brought with me from David - it's tap but there is no reason that's a problem.
2057 Did watch YT, also had a shower and washed some uw in there using a plastic bag. Feel *slightly* sick - I had a not v nice apple too, tho not blaming that - sick not really the word, vaguely stuffed. But I will prob have more sandwiches in a bit.
Beyond ideally getting haircut and doing bit of boat trip shopping, main thing I'd semi like to do here is have a quick wander round Casco Viejo. Guidebook says nothing about safety, web is full of old sites and so forth. Gut feeling is that I am not going to be massively regretful if I don't make it - I saw it in 2010 but be interesting to see it again - and that if I feel OK tomorrow and get trip prep done in morning, I may take a taxi there (perhaps from Cinco de Mayo station or something) and back and maybe leave virtually everything in hotel jic.
(Annoyingly room 12, just like room 11, seems to have nowhere at all I can chain my bag to, so leave everything everything here feels a bit "all eggs in one basket" . But still.)
I also had a really bad shave - it's not exactly brightly lit round by the sink at night - but it's better than nothing.
2146 Watched a bit more YT. Feel very slightly "sick" , but more "full" than sick. Vastly better than last two nights. Had some chilled water and will allow myself to drink as much as I want tonight.
Will clean teeth in a minute then go to bed. On second thoughts if I feel OK I'll wander round semi-locally tomorrow doing shopping and looking for a cheap hairdresser, and then I may go to CV *after* the boat briefing the day after - if nothing else I will have handed over a wodge of cash by then.
Haven't had shit of any kind since bus terminal on arriving in PC. I have to assume this morning's tablets have long since worn off and this is prob a good sign. Piss at PC terminal quite yellow but then again I'd not drunk any liquid all day to avoid causing extra problems.
Feel slightly BNM with people chatting in commonish area but a) I do feel this hostel's layout is a bit awkward b) I am obviously not even trying tonight, I did ask some functional questions of one guy and exchanged a few words with a woman who was at table when I went to eat.
2202 Done teeth.
Half wish I had an extra night here as things feel a bit rushed. But I don't need to get worked up about CV and otherwise I am fine, except (touch wood) wrt time to recover and that's not really related to when I planned to get here. Plus a 12hish shuttle or public bus or whatever from BdT to PC in one day would probably have been even more of a mare with being ill.
Fingers crossed I am indeed on the mend. If I am I have only really "lost" peace of mind (so to speak) for 2-3 days, and I missed out on a few beers on terrace of Bast hostel (Hostal Cay, BTW). I had never really planned to try to squeeze in sightseeing in David anyway during that one late afternoon/evening even if I'd felt fine.
Honestly it is fine if I don't go to CV. The only thing slightly nagging at me is that while on the whole I have enjoyed Panama, it is a "terminus" country for land travel (given Darien gap), there is no direct flight to it from UK and while I am sure there's lots more to see it feels hard to visit the less touristed parts due to lack of accom and it just feels like it could be a while before I come back - it's not trivial to just pop over the border from Colombia. It's not inconceivable I'll be in CR at some point (tho it is expensive and I went last year, so prob not that soon) and may mix in some Panama then, but even so PC is a fair hike from the CR border.
But you can't see everything and CV a) I did see in 2010 and b) is not really any more of a must see than doubtless dozens of other places I could have gone but didn't because you have to choose etc.
And barring feeling ill or having last minute forgotten prep to rush round for, a taxi to and from CV after briefing on Thu is hardly a massive stretch.
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