Fri 16th 1930 In that common area, tho sitting on a sort of cushion/beanbag thing. A few other people around.
Not a bad day. Bit odd. Got up 9ish and decided (think I had kind of decided yday) to go to Celestine/Celestina (everything v contradictory) waterfall. (Oh, I got up about 4am for a piss. Not ideal going out of dorm down to shower block but fine, pulled trousers and fleece on, went barefoot and use phone torch to illuminate steps.)
Hiked down fine, also after bit of a wait (roughly half hourly) a bus came past and I flagged it down. I had to sit on an upside down bucket thing which added an element of adventure as the conductor chap was stood next to me with the door open, so I was bracing myself with arm against another seat so when we went round one of the many sharp corners I didn't go flying *and* knock him out of the door. It was fine, I sort of got the hang of it after a while and only had one mildly iffy half-tumble. Asked price and he insisted on waving fingers vaguely near my waist instead of saying anything, so I said "USD4?" and I think that's what I gave him. Should have started at 3 and let him correct me if I was wrong as I suspect this was too high but not a big deal.
Even with photos of hostel instructions finding the falls was a tiny bit tricky but not too bad. I walked down the trail and it soon petered out and I realised that when the hostel instructions said "follow the stream" they meant to walk in it. I had brought trunks and towel just in case so I took socks off, put trunks on over uw (as I was treating them more like shors) and kept shoes on. I then waded down the stream, which varied from actually zero depth (little gravelly island patches) to a bit over knee deep. I got to within about 10-20m of the fall and there was a sort of forking white water bit around a rock ahead and it felt like the risk of the water getting deeper and/or the stronger current knocking me over and causing me to get wet or actually hurt myself on a rock were non-0 and the view would not be improved.
It was very cool though. Canyon bit wider (double?) further up, but at river level I could just about touch the rocks on both sides by stretching my arms out. The sound of the water pounding and echoing (I guess) round the canyon was kind of dominating and it was cool to see this fairly tall waterfall (with a bit of sky above it, though vegetation and sheerish walls blocked most of it) while standing there (a bit over knee deep).
Didn't take any photos right by falls, I was going to but had phone and paper banknotes in a ziplock type bag in pocket and as I started to get stuff out with wet hands while standing in this deepish water it just felt like a recipe for disaster. I snapped some on the way out (I slightly milked it - it was very cool, but it wasn't so gripping I could have stood there for hours - had I been on land it might have been more tempting to sit and "meditate" but not standing in the water - and was maybe there 15-20 mins at the "far" end) from a safer spot just for the hell of it, and I assume there are dozens of photos or videos on the web taken by better prepared or braver people than me.
Shoes still wet (did leave them out to dry earlier but as F showed me, clothes from last night not really dry so an hour or two even with sun not gonna help much) but not end of world.
Unfortunately the first two buses back (and I was 95% sure but not 100% I was trying to get buses in the right direction - they all just say "David-Changianula(sp)" on, even the one which had an electronic sign, so you can't tell which way they are going from the buses and need to know (which I 95% did from map/phone compass).) just drove past when I tried to flag them down. There was a thinnish rain and I could have maybe gone under a sheltering cabin thing but it was an oddly "not really wetting" rain and I didn't shelter. After second failure i moved a bit further down the road and I did get the next bus, though I was second standing passenger (being short helps here, as I could just stand up straight, though still bit cramped and akward bracing yourself on roof bar etc - though TBH I was super happy just to be on a bus), I suspect the first two wouldn't have stopped wherever I'd waited but who knows.
I got the bus back to Valle de las Minas (had to use a bit of Spanish to discuss this with conductor near drop off point), went into supermarket and got some snacks (not ideal, but i figured I'd treat myself) and a tin of sweetcorn so I could cook "in full" today and tomorrow and also got a small onion and a red chilli pepper as bonus items. Shopkeeper (same guy as first day) asked if I was French (I think he'd seen and misinterpreted half of the Karrimor logo on my fleece) and I said I was English and we had a brief chat in Spanish - he has an old (in years) English writer friend called Marcus Henderson who has written three books on Bocas/Panama and who presumably lives round there but I think might have been away.
It was getting pretty sunny by now so I walked back feeling slightly hot in fleece. A 4WD pulled up ahead waving to offer a lift as I was nearly back, after initial shock I (I think successfully) waved and called "todo bien gracias" to indicate I was grateful but didn't need it. I thought this was a random stranger but turned out when I got back it was C/F coming back from their horseriding thing!
I cooked and mostly ate successfully and (happily) alone, brief chat with C and F separately during this time but not much. I then went and got headphones and lay (almost too sunny) in a hammock and watched some YT for first time in ages and ate too many snacks. Still have some left tho.
I then went back to dorm, looked at accom in Bocas and have booked somewhere with free cancellation til midnight tonight for 4 nights in a dorm (semi-sigh) in Bocas Town for about USD57. Then had shower.
I am toying with getting a shuttle, given I will be going on Sun and on top of that my experience today suggests I could be waiting ages to get a bus with space and what space I get may be awful and/or my pack (had brief chat with Severin in dorm) might end up on roof. Dunno. May ask reception for advice in a minute. Main thing is accom I guess.
I may go to bed earlyish. Unless I am naturally invited to go with anyone, gut feeling is I'm not going to the bar tonight and may go tomorrow night regardless.
Plan for tomorrow is I think to mainly putter round the hostel. There is a maze on the way in which I had forgotten and which I may have a look at. I just may hike in the morning (something casual), then in the afternoon I think I'll try to do a full wash (tho need to be careful re drying, but if it's sunny and I'm clever and/or put laundry somewhere and watch it is may be OK) so I can go to Bocas with a full set of clean clothes. Wash will inc currently worn trousers, the ones which got muddy on first full day's hike.
Vague longer term plan is prob 4 nights Bocas Town, 4 nights somewhere on Bastimentos (sp) and then I'll have a few days in hand to either spend around BdT or use to bumble back towards PC and/or add on to my time in PC pre-boat.
2007 In hammock on that mid-hostel terrace was on iirc first night. It's cool with rain noises but v light and not the pseudo-gale of first night. Asked nice receptionist who checked me in about buses but she wasn't too sure and suggested I wait for someone else.
There was a cacomistle (sp) - a sort of small lemur/coati type thing - on the "dining terrace" earlier while chatting with C/F pre bar. Think took some photos of this. And one afternoon, poss one after hike with C/F, there was a violet hummingbird hanging round the feeders all over the railings on dining terrace.
2018 Topped up Starling account after wd few days ago.
I can book shuttle tomorrow, not mega rushed. Public buses may suck but should be doable if i can't or decide not to get shuttle.
If I didn't already say while the roads are windy, they are (presumably - I haven't walked them except between here and VdlM) pretty steep in places and the bus (and other vehicle, but v noticeable when you're on bus) engines really grind loudly in presumably low gear at times.
I am calling this place Hornito in post titles just as it seems wrong to use the hostel name instead of the place, but not sure it's write. Fairly sure I already posted name of hostel (poor opsec but not a big deal :-) ) and if I remember will do so again once I've left - as with Bolita, the specific hostel is very much part of the experience here. (Of course I always have old e-mails etc for personal ref if I really want to chase something up. Tho the odd booking goes to a different and less long term persistent email address, including the one for here.)
2035 Still in hammock. Very slight chill but nothing major. Crickets.
Even if I just putter around tomorrow I don't think four nights here was a bad choice. I think given half upwards of the site map is blocked off, longer wouldn't add that much, but if I'd only stayed three nights I'd be off tomorrow and while I feel just a touch BNM I am kind of starting to feel comfortable-ish and hanging round tonight wouldn't feel the same if I were rushing off tomorrow.
I do wish I'd been slightly "better" chatting to supermarket guy earlier but I was holding a bag with onion and chilli in and vaguely wanting to get home and I don't know if he "wanted" a long conversation but anyway at least it was a chat and I did mostly understand him.
2046 Yawning a bit. Sort of seems a shame to not stay here in hammock but it is a smidge cool.
I could obviously trog off on some expedition tomorrow - eg there's another waterfall/swimming hole place - but I'd probably rather not. Also if I'm on my own and a bus ride away I am unlikely to really want to swim. In the unlikely event I get invited out tomorrow morning (Severin is off to a hostel on Bastimentos, I suspect but not sure F is off too and while Colin seems friendly enough I suspect he's unlikely to suggest anything) I will probably accept (against my inner laziness) but otherwise I think it's a lazyish tiny bit of hiking+laundry (and just maybe try to look at zip on pocket) and other minor chores+hanging around hopefully relaxing in pleasant but not boiling sun.
And I cleaned my teeth post shower about 6-7ish and I've done nothing but drink water since so I don't have to clean them again before bed. I just may watch a bit of YT in bed tho gut feeling is it would be better (and prob easyish given I have yawned a bit) to just go to sleep and watch YT in hammock tomorrow.
2054 To give myself some credit, I was not particularly whiny or stressed out about those buses not picking me up. It wasn't great but I was fairly (if not utterly) confident I'd get picked up long before dark and that was the main thing. Not saying I was utterly tranquil about it but on the whole I was pretty chilled. And I wasn't muttering to myself etc etc.
2101 FWIW couple of local looking guys slogging up the trail to hostel with bags of stuff as I went down to get bus this morning.
The trail is maybe not the 20 mins they say, I have a vague suspicion I do it in 10-15 but not sure. I think Bolita is more isolated in that sense. Tho how isolation compares once you reach the end of the trail is debatable - there is that snall village for Bolita but it is a rare-ish colectivo from the main town, whereas here there is the main road but not much actual civilisation.
It is nice lying here but I am yawning a bit and it seems silly to milk it. So let's move towards bed.
2117 In bed.
Not a bad day. Bit odd. Got up 9ish and decided (think I had kind of decided yday) to go to Celestine/Celestina (everything v contradictory) waterfall. (Oh, I got up about 4am for a piss. Not ideal going out of dorm down to shower block but fine, pulled trousers and fleece on, went barefoot and use phone torch to illuminate steps.)
Hiked down fine, also after bit of a wait (roughly half hourly) a bus came past and I flagged it down. I had to sit on an upside down bucket thing which added an element of adventure as the conductor chap was stood next to me with the door open, so I was bracing myself with arm against another seat so when we went round one of the many sharp corners I didn't go flying *and* knock him out of the door. It was fine, I sort of got the hang of it after a while and only had one mildly iffy half-tumble. Asked price and he insisted on waving fingers vaguely near my waist instead of saying anything, so I said "USD4?" and I think that's what I gave him. Should have started at 3 and let him correct me if I was wrong as I suspect this was too high but not a big deal.
Even with photos of hostel instructions finding the falls was a tiny bit tricky but not too bad. I walked down the trail and it soon petered out and I realised that when the hostel instructions said "follow the stream" they meant to walk in it. I had brought trunks and towel just in case so I took socks off, put trunks on over uw (as I was treating them more like shors) and kept shoes on. I then waded down the stream, which varied from actually zero depth (little gravelly island patches) to a bit over knee deep. I got to within about 10-20m of the fall and there was a sort of forking white water bit around a rock ahead and it felt like the risk of the water getting deeper and/or the stronger current knocking me over and causing me to get wet or actually hurt myself on a rock were non-0 and the view would not be improved.
It was very cool though. Canyon bit wider (double?) further up, but at river level I could just about touch the rocks on both sides by stretching my arms out. The sound of the water pounding and echoing (I guess) round the canyon was kind of dominating and it was cool to see this fairly tall waterfall (with a bit of sky above it, though vegetation and sheerish walls blocked most of it) while standing there (a bit over knee deep).
Didn't take any photos right by falls, I was going to but had phone and paper banknotes in a ziplock type bag in pocket and as I started to get stuff out with wet hands while standing in this deepish water it just felt like a recipe for disaster. I snapped some on the way out (I slightly milked it - it was very cool, but it wasn't so gripping I could have stood there for hours - had I been on land it might have been more tempting to sit and "meditate" but not standing in the water - and was maybe there 15-20 mins at the "far" end) from a safer spot just for the hell of it, and I assume there are dozens of photos or videos on the web taken by better prepared or braver people than me.
Shoes still wet (did leave them out to dry earlier but as F showed me, clothes from last night not really dry so an hour or two even with sun not gonna help much) but not end of world.
Unfortunately the first two buses back (and I was 95% sure but not 100% I was trying to get buses in the right direction - they all just say "David-Changianula(sp)" on, even the one which had an electronic sign, so you can't tell which way they are going from the buses and need to know (which I 95% did from map/phone compass).) just drove past when I tried to flag them down. There was a thinnish rain and I could have maybe gone under a sheltering cabin thing but it was an oddly "not really wetting" rain and I didn't shelter. After second failure i moved a bit further down the road and I did get the next bus, though I was second standing passenger (being short helps here, as I could just stand up straight, though still bit cramped and akward bracing yourself on roof bar etc - though TBH I was super happy just to be on a bus), I suspect the first two wouldn't have stopped wherever I'd waited but who knows.
I got the bus back to Valle de las Minas (had to use a bit of Spanish to discuss this with conductor near drop off point), went into supermarket and got some snacks (not ideal, but i figured I'd treat myself) and a tin of sweetcorn so I could cook "in full" today and tomorrow and also got a small onion and a red chilli pepper as bonus items. Shopkeeper (same guy as first day) asked if I was French (I think he'd seen and misinterpreted half of the Karrimor logo on my fleece) and I said I was English and we had a brief chat in Spanish - he has an old (in years) English writer friend called Marcus Henderson who has written three books on Bocas/Panama and who presumably lives round there but I think might have been away.
It was getting pretty sunny by now so I walked back feeling slightly hot in fleece. A 4WD pulled up ahead waving to offer a lift as I was nearly back, after initial shock I (I think successfully) waved and called "todo bien gracias" to indicate I was grateful but didn't need it. I thought this was a random stranger but turned out when I got back it was C/F coming back from their horseriding thing!
I cooked and mostly ate successfully and (happily) alone, brief chat with C and F separately during this time but not much. I then went and got headphones and lay (almost too sunny) in a hammock and watched some YT for first time in ages and ate too many snacks. Still have some left tho.
I then went back to dorm, looked at accom in Bocas and have booked somewhere with free cancellation til midnight tonight for 4 nights in a dorm (semi-sigh) in Bocas Town for about USD57. Then had shower.
I am toying with getting a shuttle, given I will be going on Sun and on top of that my experience today suggests I could be waiting ages to get a bus with space and what space I get may be awful and/or my pack (had brief chat with Severin in dorm) might end up on roof. Dunno. May ask reception for advice in a minute. Main thing is accom I guess.
I may go to bed earlyish. Unless I am naturally invited to go with anyone, gut feeling is I'm not going to the bar tonight and may go tomorrow night regardless.
Plan for tomorrow is I think to mainly putter round the hostel. There is a maze on the way in which I had forgotten and which I may have a look at. I just may hike in the morning (something casual), then in the afternoon I think I'll try to do a full wash (tho need to be careful re drying, but if it's sunny and I'm clever and/or put laundry somewhere and watch it is may be OK) so I can go to Bocas with a full set of clean clothes. Wash will inc currently worn trousers, the ones which got muddy on first full day's hike.
Vague longer term plan is prob 4 nights Bocas Town, 4 nights somewhere on Bastimentos (sp) and then I'll have a few days in hand to either spend around BdT or use to bumble back towards PC and/or add on to my time in PC pre-boat.
2007 In hammock on that mid-hostel terrace was on iirc first night. It's cool with rain noises but v light and not the pseudo-gale of first night. Asked nice receptionist who checked me in about buses but she wasn't too sure and suggested I wait for someone else.
There was a cacomistle (sp) - a sort of small lemur/coati type thing - on the "dining terrace" earlier while chatting with C/F pre bar. Think took some photos of this. And one afternoon, poss one after hike with C/F, there was a violet hummingbird hanging round the feeders all over the railings on dining terrace.
2018 Topped up Starling account after wd few days ago.
I can book shuttle tomorrow, not mega rushed. Public buses may suck but should be doable if i can't or decide not to get shuttle.
If I didn't already say while the roads are windy, they are (presumably - I haven't walked them except between here and VdlM) pretty steep in places and the bus (and other vehicle, but v noticeable when you're on bus) engines really grind loudly in presumably low gear at times.
I am calling this place Hornito in post titles just as it seems wrong to use the hostel name instead of the place, but not sure it's write. Fairly sure I already posted name of hostel (poor opsec but not a big deal :-) ) and if I remember will do so again once I've left - as with Bolita, the specific hostel is very much part of the experience here. (Of course I always have old e-mails etc for personal ref if I really want to chase something up. Tho the odd booking goes to a different and less long term persistent email address, including the one for here.)
2035 Still in hammock. Very slight chill but nothing major. Crickets.
Even if I just putter around tomorrow I don't think four nights here was a bad choice. I think given half upwards of the site map is blocked off, longer wouldn't add that much, but if I'd only stayed three nights I'd be off tomorrow and while I feel just a touch BNM I am kind of starting to feel comfortable-ish and hanging round tonight wouldn't feel the same if I were rushing off tomorrow.
I do wish I'd been slightly "better" chatting to supermarket guy earlier but I was holding a bag with onion and chilli in and vaguely wanting to get home and I don't know if he "wanted" a long conversation but anyway at least it was a chat and I did mostly understand him.
2046 Yawning a bit. Sort of seems a shame to not stay here in hammock but it is a smidge cool.
I could obviously trog off on some expedition tomorrow - eg there's another waterfall/swimming hole place - but I'd probably rather not. Also if I'm on my own and a bus ride away I am unlikely to really want to swim. In the unlikely event I get invited out tomorrow morning (Severin is off to a hostel on Bastimentos, I suspect but not sure F is off too and while Colin seems friendly enough I suspect he's unlikely to suggest anything) I will probably accept (against my inner laziness) but otherwise I think it's a lazyish tiny bit of hiking+laundry (and just maybe try to look at zip on pocket) and other minor chores+hanging around hopefully relaxing in pleasant but not boiling sun.
And I cleaned my teeth post shower about 6-7ish and I've done nothing but drink water since so I don't have to clean them again before bed. I just may watch a bit of YT in bed tho gut feeling is it would be better (and prob easyish given I have yawned a bit) to just go to sleep and watch YT in hammock tomorrow.
2054 To give myself some credit, I was not particularly whiny or stressed out about those buses not picking me up. It wasn't great but I was fairly (if not utterly) confident I'd get picked up long before dark and that was the main thing. Not saying I was utterly tranquil about it but on the whole I was pretty chilled. And I wasn't muttering to myself etc etc.
2101 FWIW couple of local looking guys slogging up the trail to hostel with bags of stuff as I went down to get bus this morning.
The trail is maybe not the 20 mins they say, I have a vague suspicion I do it in 10-15 but not sure. I think Bolita is more isolated in that sense. Tho how isolation compares once you reach the end of the trail is debatable - there is that snall village for Bolita but it is a rare-ish colectivo from the main town, whereas here there is the main road but not much actual civilisation.
It is nice lying here but I am yawning a bit and it seems silly to milk it. So let's move towards bed.
2117 In bed.
No comments:
Post a Comment