Mon 5th 1913 In hostel garden, just booked two nights in a dorm in Santa Catalina and drinking a slightly not chilled enough diet A&W root beer can I got at supermarket earlier (along with a can of diet ginger ale and a biggish bottle of no sugar coke). Piss v yellow when went for shower BTW, quite intensely so.
Longish chat with friendly Canadian woman called something two letter ish starting with E, possibly Em but not sure, and also met her friend Alexis briefly. They and another woman I haven't seen yet are in my dorm and are going to Santa Catalina tomorrow - I hope there is no awkwardness about this but it is what it is.
They were in Bocas del Toro and said some of it is pretty busy and the cheap accom can be a bit crap, but Em recommended Bastimentos island - apparently it's like USD5 for a boat out there or back, you have to take your own food but the hostel has a kitchen. This sounds OK, a bit like Bolita but without the massive hike to get to.
I toyed with a hostel on the beach in SC and I may try it later in my stay, but it is a bit out of town and you may have to wade across a river to get there and I figured I'll just get there first.
I could see myself hating or loving SC, but if I want to spend a week there or whatever that's fine, I have the time to be used.
Not sure if I've had root beer before, and bear in mind this is diet. It's actually quite nice but I expected something much more like dandelion & burdock and instead it has a vaguely medicinal taste which (bearing in mind I hardly drink it routinely) is reminiscent of fernet. (Speaking of which, I need to buy a bottle of coke and have some fernet cola one night when I am back home.)
I think it may have been for the best I couldn't book four nights here. Everyone else seems to stay one night, I got bus over to San Francisco today which was I think a nice enough daytrip, so don't regret two nights, but there isn't that much here and while I'm not exactly short of time I am also not so flush with time it's smart to waste it needlessly. This will also reduce number of straight days in dorms maybe, tho not nec a huge problem.
Uw from yday wash still not really dry but should be OK to pack. I did wash the trousers (the ones which were getting a bit dirty and had white sweat marks - I assume - on and which may have been splashed with piss on the bus) because [a little kid is chasing a big white chicken round in the garden] trousers are most awkward thing to wash surreptitiously and I was mildly desperate and the privacy here is not too bad in bathroom. If I have to pack them dampish it is not end of world.
I am writing this all backwards...
I did wd 250 when I got back from SF - I was actually on the verge of wding from the bank here, but as I was walking last block to the bank a Santiago bus came along and since they're half hourly I felt I'd better flag it down, after a brief internal tussle - at the bus terminal, Global machine I think which charged 6.50 and wouldn't let me have more than 250. I dunno exactly how low on cash I am but I gather SC has no ATMs (tho I might hope if I do want to do an expensive-ish tour I can pay by ccard) so it seemed smart-ish.
1924 Finger break.
Left lower arm is hurting in a muscley kind of way. I dunno if this is delayed from the bit of exercise did on seafront in PC or if I just slept on it bad. It's annoying but not terrible or anything.
1927 After initially trying to get on SF bus in wrong place - which a driver corrected me on (tho I won't claim flawless linguistic performance here) - and this will be of help in getting bus to Sona tomorrow of course - no trouble getting bus. Both directions buses fairly nice, aircon on way back. USD0.90 either way, outbound bus had a tariff up, return bus didn't but I handed over a dollar and although the guy (paying when I got off, on both buses, as seems custom) hesitated he did give me two 5 cent coins change. Incidentally these 5 cent coins feel like they're gonna be a bit of a drag, they seem to be very commonly given out in change and are nearly worthless and fiddly to use up. I paid for a small borderline OK coffee with milk in a place in town during post-SF peregrinations - USD0.65, no tip as no table service - mostly with some earlier, but if I am not careful these are gonna accumulate like crazy.
The guide book didn't say the old church in SF is closed Mondays. But meh, I'd prob have gone anyway. Saw outside of both and inside of new church anyway. Walked up to what OM has as balneario las delicias and which I confused with balneario mentioned in guide books - it just appears to be a largish pool by a bridge and tho maybe you can get further it looked like any access except straight down from bridge into water was barb-wired off.
Anyway, OM had Chorro El Espiritu Santo up the road so I wandered up there, nerving myself to go down the little unsigned track, and it's actually a really nice little waterfall. There is a shallow bathing area at bottom of upper fall - while I was there presumably local couple and daughter came with beer cooler etc and went in - but it's not swimmable. I deliberately had not brought any swimming stuff as I wasn't desperate, had usual midday sun concerns and mainly of course was concerned about stuff getting nicked while in water given I'm a 30 min bus ride and 2x10+ min walks from accom.
Sat round CESS quite a bit - milked it slightly, but only slightly - and saw a little black lizard which moved amazingly fast.
After that went to OM's El Salto de SF before going back via bus. I think ESSF is the Balneario El Salto from guide book - it has huge signs up saying IIRC (I have photos but not looked just now) Balneario El Salto. This is quite a cool swimming hole with two little waterfalls. Loads of locals - a mother and two kids and lots of young-ish men - swimming round and jumping in from the rocks by the waterfall. (It's waist deep halfway across, but must deepen significantly by falls.) There's also an area you can't see from the shore where I was by one of the falls where there must be a deep hidden pool as people were jumping there too, but it looks from shore as if they're jumping onto rocks.
It would have been kind of cool to go in but I'd also have been quite intimidated with so many locals there, tho to be scrupulously fair no one seemed to pay much attention to my presence on the shore. (And one or two people in their gardens did seem to say "buenos dias" or similar to me as I walked through town.)
Finger break.
If didn't say earlier, it's quite poss I will stop back in Santiago on way back towards PC for boat. Looking at guidebook Santa Fe might also be a decent (v full, if do 5h round trip hike) day trip from here.
FWIW, bus yday from PC did fill up and I did have someone sitting next to me some of the way.
I have asked for lower bunk at place in SC but given they only apparently had two beds free and some of the reviews (not all) say the staff are unhelpful I'm not holding my breath.
Didn't sleep super well BTW, no obvious reason. Bike guy was in my dorm, we had a bit of brief chat before going to sleep and we said goodbye this morning - he left just before I was up.
Going to SF this morning was a semi-snap decision - I had been chewing things over and felt I probably didn't want to stay here four nights (at least not straight) even if they do have availability tomorrow night, and San Francisco was the main daytrip I had in mind so thought I'd give that a go. (I do fractionally think it might have been nice to try to extend and do Santa Fe, but Santa Fe sounds a bit of a hard long day as a daytrip and I'm not entirely in the mood. Also of course I don't know if there is availability tomorrow night anyway.)
*If* guide book is to be believed, I should prob aim for the 840 bus out of Santiago tomorrow morning. So I probably ought to aim to be up 7-730.
Not 100% sure I remembered to put sunblock on ears this morning, but fingers crossed I did or their base tan protected them - and it's not as if I spent absolutely hours out in sun, was eg in shade at Chorro most of time.
After I got back from SF I wandered down towards Av Central just to see a bit of town. Had that coffee and was heading to La Nonna when I saw a barber's and was reminded I am kind of due for a haircut and it feels like something that might be cheaper here than in SC. That barber's was shut but I went across road to another I could see and after some linguistic contortions (not helped by speaking simultaneously to barber and possibly his mother or grandmother, who seemed to be taking charge) I got a clipper cut for USD5 and (poss unnec) an extra USD1 tip. Some chat with barber towards end of cut, not perfect by any means but it's all practice.
His being so careful and seemingly a bit surprised to clarify my cut requirements made me start doubting myself. But it came out just fine and I don't think this is the time to start considering changing my style, not that nature has left me much in the way of options. And as I told myself, it's covered by my cap most of the time so I don't need hair to protect from sun and no one can see it most of the time and even if it was for some odd reason a mistake it would grown back in a couple of weeks.
Does feel kind of good to have this little "chore" done and it probably does make me look slightly more presentable and slightly less nerdy. I may even end up coming back to same barber - I have a photo of the sign - for a cut pre boat trip, since I will be due for probably second and last cut of trip around then.
1955 Still not as cold as I'd like and slightly flavourless can of Polar diet Ginger Ale. But it's not bad all the same. The three (presumably; they met third woman en route and I am just assuming) Canadians are at a table across terrace, I don't think this is weird or anything.
For once my hostel in SC is in the guide book. But for whatever reason it seems to go into surprising details about accom in SC so there are a lot of places listed.
Earlier on I wouldn't have minded a beer tonight. Avoiding this is one reason I got these cans and bottle of coke. Right now I don't particularly crave one. It's not like drinking or snacking or diet generally are massively out of control but a mildly restrained (yes, I did have pizza - with a nice but nothing special blackberry juice instead of a coke this time - but that's all I've eaten) day won't hurt. I did see some baked-ish snacks in a bakery (nothing mega sweet looking) but resisted.
I think SC hostel has a bar which is a minor shame as it prob stops me taking my own in (may be OK) but if (tho sun won't set over it) I want to go down to nearby-ish beach for sunset I can prob (local regs permitting, but prob be OK) take my own beer down there. Will probably have a beer or two tomorrow night.
I had a look in supermarket bought cans/bot coke in for insect repellent, but absolute best they had was a weedy 25% DEET. I am not even applying the picaridin spray I have here, this is for the boat trip and the malarial regions of Colombia afterwards. I am just trying to get supplies in. I will maybe ask in a pharmacy at some point. I want 50% DEET but if I really have no choice I will have to accept a pressurised aerosol. (Bulky, compared to simple bottle of liquid with atomiser.)
Had quick poke on web this morning re "learning" to surf and swimming. I tried to filter out the smugarse quotient and to bear in mind that all I'm really looking for at any point is to "have a go" - a bit like how I did that abseiling but I don't have any plans to start learning how to do it "myself" . If I were going to live infinitely long I could certainly see some appeal in going through the multi-month+ process of actually learning how to surf, but that is not what's on the cards here. The experience I'd be after would be "standing on the board and being carried along by a tame wave, and ideally it not being an utter one off fluke" .
That said, even after filtering all the smugness and "learning" vs "trying it" stuff out of what I found online, my current inclination - subject to change - is that I am *probably* not a confident enough swimmer to get the most out of this. I may - if it's safe etc etc - have a go at swimming in the sea at some point, in SC or elsewhere, which would be a step along the proficiency road towards (if I want) trying surfing at some point and would also be swimming practice. But my feeling here is that unless I'm deeply tempted by the prospect of surf lessons in SC, I want to continue working on swimming when I get back home then maybe next year (depending where I go) maybe have a go somewhere good+cheap and if I like it possibly dedicate 2-4 weeks to trying to get the basics mastered.
While you never know when infirmity may strike etc etc, what I read suggests there is no hard upper limit on age for this - and obviously I have no aspirations to be some kind of expert - so I'm not obviously racing some kind of biological clock here.
As I say, I hope it's not gonna be awkward (for me or them or for me thinking it's awkward for them etc etc) if I end up going to SC with those three Canadian women or end up in same hostel as them. But sod it, I've picked my hostel and now my bus (tho I suppose the 1120 bus might be OK, it feels better to set off earlier and there is nothing between 840 snd 1120) independently of them, so it is what it is.
I experimentally left power bank charging overnight with the O6 charging off the power bank with the short cable. It didn't work well, the O6 *probably* did charge a bit but it was only at 70odd% a good 8+ hours later. I gave it a bit of a top up direct from the charger before getting up and I knew today wasn't going to be overly demanding on phone power so it was OK, but this is annoying.
Not saying I couldn't have charged (eg) power bank off dual port charger using short cable overnight while charging O6 as normal on long cable, but I find myself half wondering if I should carry two long cables instead of one long or one short. Or if at least the short cable should be say 50-100cm (just not the full 2m I think the long cable is) rather than probably 15cm-ish as it is - the original idea of the short cable was partly to save weight and partly for charging in trouser pocket, but at least with current v stiff short cable this doesn't work, and regardless of specifics of cable doing any kind of charging in pocket or bag feels like it's just asking for the phone USB socket to get damaged, either cumulative strain or just some catastrophic wrench.
2036 I finally switched most of my hidden cash from COP to USD while in bathroom tonight. The USD bills feel less robust but I guess it's no use having COP in an emergency here. Also with USD actually being the currency here I am not getting the feeling there's quite the same level of persnickety perfection demanded of USD bills as there was in CR.
I have pretty much finished the 2x15ml tubes of toothpaste I brought out with me. Bear in mind I have sometimes been cleaning teeth three times a day. I need to remember to take the big new tube I bought in PC into the bathroom with me tonight.
I am concerned it won't be truly chilled but I might go get the diet coke (I think it's only a litre; toyed with 2.25l bottle but given it is last night here so no scope for finishing tomorrow I resisted) have that and perhaps move towards an earlyish bed. Not mega tired but perhaps a tiny bit and I am slightly bored and it is an earlyish start tomorrow.
2102 Finished coke (nearly), went down very nicely. I may move towards bed soon, I want/need to pack as much as I can and get eg new toothpaste out of bag before anyone else is in bed if I can help it, esp given early start.
2104 Minor pisser having to move tomorrow, but I do feel relatively relaxed and "on holiday" , after the disruptions of the last few days re moving to Panama and sorting out flights etc. As I say, while I've only booked two nights in the next hostel it is likely I will stay at least four nights in SC - I'm just keeping my options open in case I don't like the hostel or do like it but decide once I'm on the spot that somewhere else (eg the beachfront one where you have to wade across the river) would be worth visiting for a day or two - the hostel I've booked is possibly "barefoot in trunks with ss T-shirt on" walking distance from beach, but it may be that (assuming it's safe, I have no idea) the beachfront hostel - on a different beach - would make the possibility of a dawn/dusk swim more likely.
Honestly I'm not particularly tired but there is a hint of it and I am going to move towards bed. It won't hurt and it mildly works around some potential social awkwardnesses.
I will send this now and if I want to write more later can always add it to start of tomorrow's entry.
Longish chat with friendly Canadian woman called something two letter ish starting with E, possibly Em but not sure, and also met her friend Alexis briefly. They and another woman I haven't seen yet are in my dorm and are going to Santa Catalina tomorrow - I hope there is no awkwardness about this but it is what it is.
They were in Bocas del Toro and said some of it is pretty busy and the cheap accom can be a bit crap, but Em recommended Bastimentos island - apparently it's like USD5 for a boat out there or back, you have to take your own food but the hostel has a kitchen. This sounds OK, a bit like Bolita but without the massive hike to get to.
I toyed with a hostel on the beach in SC and I may try it later in my stay, but it is a bit out of town and you may have to wade across a river to get there and I figured I'll just get there first.
I could see myself hating or loving SC, but if I want to spend a week there or whatever that's fine, I have the time to be used.
Not sure if I've had root beer before, and bear in mind this is diet. It's actually quite nice but I expected something much more like dandelion & burdock and instead it has a vaguely medicinal taste which (bearing in mind I hardly drink it routinely) is reminiscent of fernet. (Speaking of which, I need to buy a bottle of coke and have some fernet cola one night when I am back home.)
I think it may have been for the best I couldn't book four nights here. Everyone else seems to stay one night, I got bus over to San Francisco today which was I think a nice enough daytrip, so don't regret two nights, but there isn't that much here and while I'm not exactly short of time I am also not so flush with time it's smart to waste it needlessly. This will also reduce number of straight days in dorms maybe, tho not nec a huge problem.
Uw from yday wash still not really dry but should be OK to pack. I did wash the trousers (the ones which were getting a bit dirty and had white sweat marks - I assume - on and which may have been splashed with piss on the bus) because [a little kid is chasing a big white chicken round in the garden] trousers are most awkward thing to wash surreptitiously and I was mildly desperate and the privacy here is not too bad in bathroom. If I have to pack them dampish it is not end of world.
I am writing this all backwards...
I did wd 250 when I got back from SF - I was actually on the verge of wding from the bank here, but as I was walking last block to the bank a Santiago bus came along and since they're half hourly I felt I'd better flag it down, after a brief internal tussle - at the bus terminal, Global machine I think which charged 6.50 and wouldn't let me have more than 250. I dunno exactly how low on cash I am but I gather SC has no ATMs (tho I might hope if I do want to do an expensive-ish tour I can pay by ccard) so it seemed smart-ish.
1924 Finger break.
Left lower arm is hurting in a muscley kind of way. I dunno if this is delayed from the bit of exercise did on seafront in PC or if I just slept on it bad. It's annoying but not terrible or anything.
1927 After initially trying to get on SF bus in wrong place - which a driver corrected me on (tho I won't claim flawless linguistic performance here) - and this will be of help in getting bus to Sona tomorrow of course - no trouble getting bus. Both directions buses fairly nice, aircon on way back. USD0.90 either way, outbound bus had a tariff up, return bus didn't but I handed over a dollar and although the guy (paying when I got off, on both buses, as seems custom) hesitated he did give me two 5 cent coins change. Incidentally these 5 cent coins feel like they're gonna be a bit of a drag, they seem to be very commonly given out in change and are nearly worthless and fiddly to use up. I paid for a small borderline OK coffee with milk in a place in town during post-SF peregrinations - USD0.65, no tip as no table service - mostly with some earlier, but if I am not careful these are gonna accumulate like crazy.
The guide book didn't say the old church in SF is closed Mondays. But meh, I'd prob have gone anyway. Saw outside of both and inside of new church anyway. Walked up to what OM has as balneario las delicias and which I confused with balneario mentioned in guide books - it just appears to be a largish pool by a bridge and tho maybe you can get further it looked like any access except straight down from bridge into water was barb-wired off.
Anyway, OM had Chorro El Espiritu Santo up the road so I wandered up there, nerving myself to go down the little unsigned track, and it's actually a really nice little waterfall. There is a shallow bathing area at bottom of upper fall - while I was there presumably local couple and daughter came with beer cooler etc and went in - but it's not swimmable. I deliberately had not brought any swimming stuff as I wasn't desperate, had usual midday sun concerns and mainly of course was concerned about stuff getting nicked while in water given I'm a 30 min bus ride and 2x10+ min walks from accom.
Sat round CESS quite a bit - milked it slightly, but only slightly - and saw a little black lizard which moved amazingly fast.
After that went to OM's El Salto de SF before going back via bus. I think ESSF is the Balneario El Salto from guide book - it has huge signs up saying IIRC (I have photos but not looked just now) Balneario El Salto. This is quite a cool swimming hole with two little waterfalls. Loads of locals - a mother and two kids and lots of young-ish men - swimming round and jumping in from the rocks by the waterfall. (It's waist deep halfway across, but must deepen significantly by falls.) There's also an area you can't see from the shore where I was by one of the falls where there must be a deep hidden pool as people were jumping there too, but it looks from shore as if they're jumping onto rocks.
It would have been kind of cool to go in but I'd also have been quite intimidated with so many locals there, tho to be scrupulously fair no one seemed to pay much attention to my presence on the shore. (And one or two people in their gardens did seem to say "buenos dias" or similar to me as I walked through town.)
Finger break.
If didn't say earlier, it's quite poss I will stop back in Santiago on way back towards PC for boat. Looking at guidebook Santa Fe might also be a decent (v full, if do 5h round trip hike) day trip from here.
FWIW, bus yday from PC did fill up and I did have someone sitting next to me some of the way.
I have asked for lower bunk at place in SC but given they only apparently had two beds free and some of the reviews (not all) say the staff are unhelpful I'm not holding my breath.
Didn't sleep super well BTW, no obvious reason. Bike guy was in my dorm, we had a bit of brief chat before going to sleep and we said goodbye this morning - he left just before I was up.
Going to SF this morning was a semi-snap decision - I had been chewing things over and felt I probably didn't want to stay here four nights (at least not straight) even if they do have availability tomorrow night, and San Francisco was the main daytrip I had in mind so thought I'd give that a go. (I do fractionally think it might have been nice to try to extend and do Santa Fe, but Santa Fe sounds a bit of a hard long day as a daytrip and I'm not entirely in the mood. Also of course I don't know if there is availability tomorrow night anyway.)
*If* guide book is to be believed, I should prob aim for the 840 bus out of Santiago tomorrow morning. So I probably ought to aim to be up 7-730.
Not 100% sure I remembered to put sunblock on ears this morning, but fingers crossed I did or their base tan protected them - and it's not as if I spent absolutely hours out in sun, was eg in shade at Chorro most of time.
After I got back from SF I wandered down towards Av Central just to see a bit of town. Had that coffee and was heading to La Nonna when I saw a barber's and was reminded I am kind of due for a haircut and it feels like something that might be cheaper here than in SC. That barber's was shut but I went across road to another I could see and after some linguistic contortions (not helped by speaking simultaneously to barber and possibly his mother or grandmother, who seemed to be taking charge) I got a clipper cut for USD5 and (poss unnec) an extra USD1 tip. Some chat with barber towards end of cut, not perfect by any means but it's all practice.
His being so careful and seemingly a bit surprised to clarify my cut requirements made me start doubting myself. But it came out just fine and I don't think this is the time to start considering changing my style, not that nature has left me much in the way of options. And as I told myself, it's covered by my cap most of the time so I don't need hair to protect from sun and no one can see it most of the time and even if it was for some odd reason a mistake it would grown back in a couple of weeks.
Does feel kind of good to have this little "chore" done and it probably does make me look slightly more presentable and slightly less nerdy. I may even end up coming back to same barber - I have a photo of the sign - for a cut pre boat trip, since I will be due for probably second and last cut of trip around then.
1955 Still not as cold as I'd like and slightly flavourless can of Polar diet Ginger Ale. But it's not bad all the same. The three (presumably; they met third woman en route and I am just assuming) Canadians are at a table across terrace, I don't think this is weird or anything.
For once my hostel in SC is in the guide book. But for whatever reason it seems to go into surprising details about accom in SC so there are a lot of places listed.
Earlier on I wouldn't have minded a beer tonight. Avoiding this is one reason I got these cans and bottle of coke. Right now I don't particularly crave one. It's not like drinking or snacking or diet generally are massively out of control but a mildly restrained (yes, I did have pizza - with a nice but nothing special blackberry juice instead of a coke this time - but that's all I've eaten) day won't hurt. I did see some baked-ish snacks in a bakery (nothing mega sweet looking) but resisted.
I think SC hostel has a bar which is a minor shame as it prob stops me taking my own in (may be OK) but if (tho sun won't set over it) I want to go down to nearby-ish beach for sunset I can prob (local regs permitting, but prob be OK) take my own beer down there. Will probably have a beer or two tomorrow night.
I had a look in supermarket bought cans/bot coke in for insect repellent, but absolute best they had was a weedy 25% DEET. I am not even applying the picaridin spray I have here, this is for the boat trip and the malarial regions of Colombia afterwards. I am just trying to get supplies in. I will maybe ask in a pharmacy at some point. I want 50% DEET but if I really have no choice I will have to accept a pressurised aerosol. (Bulky, compared to simple bottle of liquid with atomiser.)
Had quick poke on web this morning re "learning" to surf and swimming. I tried to filter out the smugarse quotient and to bear in mind that all I'm really looking for at any point is to "have a go" - a bit like how I did that abseiling but I don't have any plans to start learning how to do it "myself" . If I were going to live infinitely long I could certainly see some appeal in going through the multi-month+ process of actually learning how to surf, but that is not what's on the cards here. The experience I'd be after would be "standing on the board and being carried along by a tame wave, and ideally it not being an utter one off fluke" .
That said, even after filtering all the smugness and "learning" vs "trying it" stuff out of what I found online, my current inclination - subject to change - is that I am *probably* not a confident enough swimmer to get the most out of this. I may - if it's safe etc etc - have a go at swimming in the sea at some point, in SC or elsewhere, which would be a step along the proficiency road towards (if I want) trying surfing at some point and would also be swimming practice. But my feeling here is that unless I'm deeply tempted by the prospect of surf lessons in SC, I want to continue working on swimming when I get back home then maybe next year (depending where I go) maybe have a go somewhere good+cheap and if I like it possibly dedicate 2-4 weeks to trying to get the basics mastered.
While you never know when infirmity may strike etc etc, what I read suggests there is no hard upper limit on age for this - and obviously I have no aspirations to be some kind of expert - so I'm not obviously racing some kind of biological clock here.
As I say, I hope it's not gonna be awkward (for me or them or for me thinking it's awkward for them etc etc) if I end up going to SC with those three Canadian women or end up in same hostel as them. But sod it, I've picked my hostel and now my bus (tho I suppose the 1120 bus might be OK, it feels better to set off earlier and there is nothing between 840 snd 1120) independently of them, so it is what it is.
I experimentally left power bank charging overnight with the O6 charging off the power bank with the short cable. It didn't work well, the O6 *probably* did charge a bit but it was only at 70odd% a good 8+ hours later. I gave it a bit of a top up direct from the charger before getting up and I knew today wasn't going to be overly demanding on phone power so it was OK, but this is annoying.
Not saying I couldn't have charged (eg) power bank off dual port charger using short cable overnight while charging O6 as normal on long cable, but I find myself half wondering if I should carry two long cables instead of one long or one short. Or if at least the short cable should be say 50-100cm (just not the full 2m I think the long cable is) rather than probably 15cm-ish as it is - the original idea of the short cable was partly to save weight and partly for charging in trouser pocket, but at least with current v stiff short cable this doesn't work, and regardless of specifics of cable doing any kind of charging in pocket or bag feels like it's just asking for the phone USB socket to get damaged, either cumulative strain or just some catastrophic wrench.
2036 I finally switched most of my hidden cash from COP to USD while in bathroom tonight. The USD bills feel less robust but I guess it's no use having COP in an emergency here. Also with USD actually being the currency here I am not getting the feeling there's quite the same level of persnickety perfection demanded of USD bills as there was in CR.
I have pretty much finished the 2x15ml tubes of toothpaste I brought out with me. Bear in mind I have sometimes been cleaning teeth three times a day. I need to remember to take the big new tube I bought in PC into the bathroom with me tonight.
I am concerned it won't be truly chilled but I might go get the diet coke (I think it's only a litre; toyed with 2.25l bottle but given it is last night here so no scope for finishing tomorrow I resisted) have that and perhaps move towards an earlyish bed. Not mega tired but perhaps a tiny bit and I am slightly bored and it is an earlyish start tomorrow.
2102 Finished coke (nearly), went down very nicely. I may move towards bed soon, I want/need to pack as much as I can and get eg new toothpaste out of bag before anyone else is in bed if I can help it, esp given early start.
2104 Minor pisser having to move tomorrow, but I do feel relatively relaxed and "on holiday" , after the disruptions of the last few days re moving to Panama and sorting out flights etc. As I say, while I've only booked two nights in the next hostel it is likely I will stay at least four nights in SC - I'm just keeping my options open in case I don't like the hostel or do like it but decide once I'm on the spot that somewhere else (eg the beachfront one where you have to wade across the river) would be worth visiting for a day or two - the hostel I've booked is possibly "barefoot in trunks with ss T-shirt on" walking distance from beach, but it may be that (assuming it's safe, I have no idea) the beachfront hostel - on a different beach - would make the possibility of a dawn/dusk swim more likely.
Honestly I'm not particularly tired but there is a hint of it and I am going to move towards bed. It won't hurt and it mildly works around some potential social awkwardnesses.
I will send this now and if I want to write more later can always add it to start of tomorrow's entry.
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