Fri 15th 0722 Sitting in entrance of El Fin del Afan. Two other people waiting.
Didn't sleep that well. Getting up early anxieties probably didn't hurt. A few bits of blood on white sheets from cuts, fingers crossed no one kicks up a stink - it will probably be fine and *if* they do I will say I cut myself slipping on the tiles (I have photos of the cuts just out of interest) and thus semi-blame them and hopefully that will get them off my case. (I am not interested in trying to blame them for this - on the one hand a mat might have saved this, OTOH I could have been more cautious - but I also don't think a few bits of blood from the cuts on the sheets should be my problem.)
Vaguely tempted to eat something here. Had a banana back at flat this morning. Not actively hungry and not eating would be no bad thing really. (I am still on the same tightest notch of my belt as when I came out, but that doesn't mean my gut can't have grown slightly or that muscles can't have degraded etc.)
I may get a coffee and see if I can use their toilet.
Yeah, getting a tinto and they have a toilet. Did squeeze a bit out back at flat so a coffee may provoke something pre-bus. 2k, bit small too (but tinto *is*), but fine. Paid now and didn't tip as don't feel it's massively expected.
0749 OK, on bus - a chiva, "La Negra" (snapped photo). Bag is in row behind me, I am probably not going to try wearing headphones. I may get my - yes, I just got it and have it under my seat, was going to take daypack out and put main bag back in informal luggage area in row behind me but felt better to just shove it under seat, then I can get water or headphones if I want and in a pinch (it is buried quite deep) I can get my fleece out if it is a smidge chilly.
The tinto had the desired effect anyway.
This is kind of cool really, and a bit more of an experience.
Looking at guide book it is *v* brief and not that helpful on tipping but tbh I am starting (rather late, of course) to suspect that most places a tip is not expected (fancier restaurants will add it to the bill), esp if there is no tip jar. But I don't want to be mega stingy but I also don't want to overpay or be paying unnecessarily and they think I'm weird/a sap. Meh.
I forgot name of place (Riosucio) when asking if this was my bus and just ended up saying "para..." and the guy looked at my ticket. But I am hearing lots of other people say Riosucio too so it is right.
1118 Some sort of obstruction in road (?) and we may be held up an hour (? not sure anyone knows). Handful of Colombians on bus (mostly tourists) relaying info from driver. Feel OK. Surprisingly enjoyable journey in its way. "Toughed out" the minor chill earlier, then we stopped after about 2h at Paraje (?) Peñas Blancas and went for welcome but not desperate piss and got an empanada and a coffee (3.5k) and got someone to take my photo by bus (copying them - incidentally it was 99% sure the bloke of the couple who happen to be by the wooden highish building I snapped who took the photo of me by the bus) and it feels vaguely exciting and adventurous.
Felt warmer after food and coffee and possibly the weather has also warmed up and/or we've gone lower - we have passed through 2900m-ish altitudes earlier. Scenery very nice, weather cloudy and lots of mist on distant green mountains etc (tho naturally the active appreciation fades over time and I have been seeing this kind of scenery for a while now).
1139 Got out to take a look. Big plastic pipe across road and a tractor thing with a bucket on the front not doing much. Few other vehicles waiting. Road in general is not "bad" but v windy etc. I suspect this is not the same road we came into Jardin on from Medellin.
Overheard one bloke is going to Salento and there's one bus a day and if we are delayed more than an hour or so he will miss it. Also overheard another French couple who are going to Manizales. Not actively worried - actually being very chilled about all this - as I think there are quite a lot of buses Riosucio-Manizales.
I was and still am thinking I'm going to get bread and ham and gorge on sandwiches at the hostel this evening, unless the environment/kitchen is somehow uncongenial. And I will probably have a quiet night in, sit in common area (again unless somehow uncongenial) and if I chat to someone great and if not I will write stuff up here etc. Will casually eye up any tours offered by hostel and go out tomorrow and generally see the city while trying to visit some tour agencies. Not going to pressure myself to see or do anything outside hostel tonight.
No Movistar reception here so for better or worse am spared temptation of browsing web to kill time.
1153 K1 batt at 42% (didn't start full as had it in bed) but let's bash out some more of boat trip.
FWIW memory maybe fading but if I didn't already say I think we were woken up by someone wandering round with a bluetooth speaker playing:
day 2 - Nora Jones sunrise song
day 3 - Mana, En El Muelle De San Blas
day 4 - Caledonia (not the Dolores Keane version I knew, some bloke who may actually be more known for singing it or perhaps even the original singer)
I am standing on road in front of bus, little fear of it running off without me here or anyone stealing my bag.
Day 4 after breakfast - oh, pipe has moved and tractor JCBish thing coming out so gonna get back on bus. It is 1154.
Took some extra photos of chiva from various angles including experimenting with low angle and also took photos of wood truck stuck behind us btw.
1156 Sitting on bus. It's cooler on here, not tremendously cold, but it was really pleasantly just slightly warm off the bus. It is cloudy.
Anyway, day 4 after breakfast iirc we gave two of our passport copies in to staff and we got on boat to go to puerto obaldia (this is actually mentioned in colombia guide book and once we got there we were effectively doing the "get into panama from colombia" stuff in reverse), went to a bakery where we could get snacks and there was wifi so I was able to check on family etc (and nothing had happened, and I had generally been pretty relaxed about it) and we went over in small groups to immigration office and I got my passport stamped out and was photographed and had to give my fingerprints (all of them) again.
We then got back on the boat (oh, there was a resumption of Green Glass Door game which Lane had introduced during a wait on our boat on day 1 - I think there was general incomprehension with this, including on my part, and I *suspect* - I haven't actually checked the "secret" online - from my side it's because I was one of the people for whom it was more or less obvious but because you sort of can't just say "the rule is X" and other people weren't getting it I found myself wondering if it was deeper than it was - oh, and on day 4 I did experimentally ask some questions expecting to get a "no" answer to see if I got a "yes" answer which would refute my guess at the rule - which I think is "anything with a double letter pair" ) and went - we got the dual flags at the sea border pointed out - over to Sapzurro in Colombia where we docked and walked a short distance to beach where we had ceviche (v good and just how I'd "expect" with no weird sauce, I haven't had chance to eat any ceviche since but I am now v open to it in Colombia) and tamales (huge) and could buy beers on a tab and we also had a coconut milk based local ice cream (the style I also had at top of La Piedra and must try some more before trip finishes).
Gave a tip (USD20 as recommended) and paid the tab and luckily they accepted my Balboa coins and then handed the remaining 70 cents in (with an apology/explanation) as an extra tip - after all, otherwise I'd just be lugging them round Colombia and they'd sit in a drawer in my flat for ever. We said goodbye to Kuna crew at this point and got a frankly rather iffy looking local boat (I didn't get a life jacket either) from Sapzurro round to Capurgana, was sitting next to Shane and Emi (sp) for this as think I already noted. I decided in the event of capsizing I'd grab my mostly empty 5l water bottle and use that as a float.
In Cap we went to the SBA office, there was apparently a queue at customs (oh, while on iirc atidub on prev day Lane had said customs had said they had power - remember there is intermittent mains in Cap - and she WAed/e-mailed photos of passports through to them which may have speeded them up) so we were kind of pointed out where we could buy sims etc and this is when I wandered round to my accom and had (I need to check another day if I already wrote this up) the discussion about the price and had to faff and free cancellation and so on. I then came back and rejoined rather straggly group and we walked round corner to immigration and went in 2-3 at a time and it was super fast, literally a minute and maybe faster.
Never had one of these situations where I'd been stamped out of old country and then stamped into new country several hours apart, and we were (incidentally we are still sitting here, so I was premature getting back on bus, but it is not a big deal and I'm sitting on bus as I write this) in Sapzurro without formally having entered Colombia. I guess this is just accepted but it still felt slightly odd.
We were given a bottled cocktail outside immigration (also a first for me, never had a cocktail at immigration before) and then we drifted off to reconvene for dinner that night (not paid as part of trip, and as prob already noted I didn't eat as the pre-booked food was lasagne) and I went to hostel and paid and emptied my bag out onto the spare bed and despaired/marvelled at the chaos and had all that really fit in my bag and just how many fucking bin bags and smaller plastic bags there were. I ate a packet of mani garapinado and showered and changed and deeted up before going out to dinner.
Very long table and it was slightly awkward but luckily G/J opposite so spoke to them a bit. Afterwards we went on to a bar down by the beach a few mins walk out of town and then we moved over to another adjacent bar and I think this was the night there was that weird business about it closing and some people went on to dance and drink on the dock and I walked back with Lloyds who was leaving next morning and I prob already wrote this up.
I want to write some general notes on the trip but I will stop here. I need to check if there are any gaps in my chronological write up but it will be easier to do that once I have wifi and more battery.
1221 Just sneaked off behind the second of the two wood trucks to get some privacy and have a sneaky piss at side of road. Not desperate but was welcome.
I was on the winning team for the final night pub quiz btw, though I don't think I was particularly responsible and the whole thing was probably a lot of luck etc. I did enjoy the quiz more than I expected given the subject matter tho.
1230 Just checked and we are actually only 5km straight line from terminal in Riosucio.
1235 General waffle re boat trip...
I think I got on OK with most people, there were some subgroups I hardly spoke to (perhaps age/sex/language reasons, but not sure) but in general this was all fine.
I didn't feel enormously "in" with anyone. This is probably just me, and although I don't say I would have or would maybe have wanted to fit in with the more "rowdy" group (eg they were quite big into the beach volleyball as well as drinking), the fact I was feeling a little rough even the first day (and thus being careful) and then the second day just naturally kept me apart and even without any "do I need to be careful wrt drinking when I'm going to be on a boat etc" issues restrained me from drinking that much and being that social (two related but distinct aspects). I did as I think I already noted feel slightly BNM on the first island stop but this was perhaps in my head and or perhaps illness related etc, plus obviously it takes time to feel like you know people etc. I didn't do too badly overall.
I really over-prepared for water damage to bag, especially given I had my bag with me between my knees not wrapped up at front all the time. Putting the K1 and any other valuable (eg USB stick with photo backups) electronics inside plastic bags inside a dry bag would have been fine but I went overboard.
It was a nuisance not having a single bin bag big enough for my (rather bulging - remember it had my shoes in) bag. It *might* (tho my daypack is fairly small and generally this is good) have been better to try to fit everything I actually needed in daypack and give my main bag in for "no access during trip" transport.
It would also have been good to try to pack all the stuff I really needed (eg one change of clothes, toiletries, towel, powerbank) somewhere super accessible (eg the two lid compartments of my main bag) - as it was I found myself scrabbling round and packing/unpacking a bit more than I'd like with increased hassle and risk of losing stuff. This is the stuff I'd have wanted to squeeze into daypack if I had decided to let other stuff go in "checked baggage" for the trip. It *might* have fitted - basically what I listed above plus maybe some extra medicines and some extra uw and maybe a spare top just in case. Oh, and tho I don't think I used or needed it, fleece might have been smart in daypack if I didn't have main bag (where it would have been ok to have it buried but accessible at a push).
As it was I often found myself scrabbling desperately in poorly lit rooms to eg get my toothbrush and toothpaste or to find my towel or whatever and stuff was all over floor etc.
In terms of clothing I wore the flip flops (if didn't already mention it toe strap on one broke in Sapzurro but they did last the main trip and are still just usable and I am taking them home and they may be gluable, tho in hindsight the cheaper USD4 pair might have been more repairable) all the time or slipped them off for comfort eg on boat. I wore swimming trunks and red ss top during the day, in evenings I put my trousers on and wore a blue RS top, I'm fairly sure I wore the same trousers+blue RS top+uw every evening, but it is just possible I changed the uw at least once (given I was only wearing them for say 6ish hours a day the idea of wearing same uw every evening was not out of question and I may have done this) - also bear in mind the uw was not including socks as wore flip flops on bare feet all the time.
I wore the bandanna and prescrip sunglasses on boat, in evenings I switched to cap and regular glasses. A solid glasses case to protect the non-worn pair would have been good but perhaps a bulky luxury in general. Wearing prescip sunglasses and not being able to trivially switch to regular glasses was a bit annoying at times eg when going into dark accom or when talking to people and having to remember they couldn't see my eyes and it may have looked rude (tho probably didn't given the beachy type env).
1255 It looks like motorbikes may now be able to get through.
Vaguely tempted to open my packet of mani garapinado but I am not really hungry, we may be on the move soon, it would be good to have a nice appetite for sandwiches once I get to hostel and depending on timings (I don't want to miss a bus onward) there may be a chance of some kind of snack at bus terminal in Riosucio.
(Eating en route is not necessary but in moderation - eg the empanada and coffee this morning, esp after letting myself feel a bit cold - it can be quite an enjoyable part of the experience.)
Left arm still hurts a bit, not too bad but if I put mild pressure on it (eg having it on my lap and it bounces against leg) it does hurt a bit more - I suspect it may be a bit bruised (internally?). Fairly sure it will be OK in a day or two and it's not terrible even now.
There are actually two JCBish things.
I didn't put any sunblock on today as I expected to be under cover all day. I am sure it's fine - I have not been out that much and I do have some base tan and wearing long sleeves - but do need to be a little mindful of this.
1304 Back on bus. FWIW it's very high and climbing up while not hard is not trivial and would be hard without using the handles.
My ticket actually has an assigned seat number (5, oh fwiw I was in room 3 at accom in Jardin) but I don't think anyone cares. I am noting that the banks of seats are numbered, I am in row 7 so maybe I technically should be two rows forwards but as I say I don't really think it matters, unlike some buses where sitting in the exact seat seems to be a big deal.
1306 Bus engine just restarted.
1348 On minibus waiting to leave Riosucio for Manizales. 26k tho not paid yet. Bit of a free for all of drivers calling out "Manizales" but fairly sure not being massively ripped off.
In hindsight I could and maybe should have spoken to people on the bus, or at least during the 2hish delay, but I also did feel kind of nice being sort of alone but "with" the group as a whole.
1944 On lower terrace of hostel.
Bit tired and sleep and hot at times on drive to Manizales. Manizales itself has quite impressed me - albeit we got here lateish, it is cool temp ish, the cable car from bus terminal to Fundadores was cheap and fast and fun, the long but not crazy walk from F to hostel was along a pleasantly bustling street. The hostel itself also seems pretty cool, and I want to stay longer than 2 nights (but I am gonna go see about some treks tomorrow - there are two companies in guide book, one of them might do a medium difficulty 2 day hike to lake otun, see what happens tomorrow). It is pretty empty and I do currently have 4 bed dorm to myself. (Given this, despite lack of private sink in shared bathroom, I may water only wash a top and maybe some uw and leave them to dry on end of bunk overnight.)
I went out and got mortadela and pan integral and stuffed myself silly on sandwiches. Two young German speaking women in kitchen and eating at table with me - I said "hi" in kitchen and they responded but otherwise we politely ignored each other. An older G speaking woman spoke to them briefly as they were eating. There was a bloke on upstairs roof terrace (quite nice) when being shown round but not seen him since. free coffee but it has run out so having free aromatica type "tea" and tbh prob going to move towards bed soonish.
no surcharge for ccard so paid hostel with that and apparently not charged vat so 108k COP which isn't too bad. Also paid in supermarket for mortadela, bread and 50ml toothpaste (18kish all in), as the current tube (which I think I bought here after my two sample sized tubes from home ran out) is nearly empty and prob won't last the trip. Toothpaste prob 3kish.
One of the two tour companies only seems to offer a single day hike, the other have several but all are either single day or "high" difficulty which puts me off but we'll see how it goes tomorrow.
Breakfast 730-10 so try to be up earlyish esp if go to bed early. Depending how tours go there is some tower nearish hostel you can go up and walk round on the external ledge wearing a safety harness which sounds kind of cool but borderline within comfort zone and actually not dangerous. Also various parks and stuff and lots of local junk-ish food options on eg that street I walked over to hostel along and I could see spending two+ days in Manizales touristing it up being fun - but depending on what's possible I may go off and do a multi-day (if only two day) trek first.
It is Fri night so maybe the other people are out partying but it really feels like it's me and the hostel owner type guy here and that is it, unless ppl are in bed. Mildly annoyed at having to fill in a Google form with my details on checkin but not a huge deal (I should have deliberately mistyped some stuff, eg passport number, but I did do it from mem and it may be wrong anyway, tho not sure - not a huge deal as I say). Otherwise v impressed with hostel, just a shame it is not that busy.
There is a big table covered in tourist material by reception desk but having looked at it all (covers, not opened everything) it mostly looks like fluff or single day activities etc.
1957 Beers available on honour system here but I am resisting v mild temptation - this will at least be one day off alcohol. I really do feel a bit tired and nothing is doing and maybe I'll finally sleep well and I do want to try to get round a bit tomorrow (not pushing myself) so I'll finish this tea and go have shower and do sneaky laundry etc and go to bed.
May buy a bottle of aguardiente tomorrow to take round with me and have the odd nip of/share out, wrote about this (sort of thinking Old Parr) before and didn't do it so if I do it now I won't be massively over-consuming during remaining time.
2048 OK, in dorm alone, did shower and water only wash one top and one set uw (there was a bucket in shower, I could prob have used it with soap, but didn't - won't wash tomorrow unless I am extending another night due to drying times). Shower nice and hot (bit wussy but fuck it) after I let it run for a bit while rinsing clothes. Faffed around copying today's photos to thumb drive/K1 (GP nearly full but it may last the trip) in case of accidents. Have set alarm for 830 and going to bed now.
When I was being shown round I asked and guy said tap water was fine to drink (we spoke Spanish BTW, he may speak English but I don't know) so I am drinking it. Got a chilled bottle of tap water I put in fridge with me, not as cold as I'd like and toilet is a long walk away but still, nice to have some cold water.
Going to bed. Bed seems pretty wide, almost 1.5-person width maybe.
Didn't sleep that well. Getting up early anxieties probably didn't hurt. A few bits of blood on white sheets from cuts, fingers crossed no one kicks up a stink - it will probably be fine and *if* they do I will say I cut myself slipping on the tiles (I have photos of the cuts just out of interest) and thus semi-blame them and hopefully that will get them off my case. (I am not interested in trying to blame them for this - on the one hand a mat might have saved this, OTOH I could have been more cautious - but I also don't think a few bits of blood from the cuts on the sheets should be my problem.)
Vaguely tempted to eat something here. Had a banana back at flat this morning. Not actively hungry and not eating would be no bad thing really. (I am still on the same tightest notch of my belt as when I came out, but that doesn't mean my gut can't have grown slightly or that muscles can't have degraded etc.)
I may get a coffee and see if I can use their toilet.
Yeah, getting a tinto and they have a toilet. Did squeeze a bit out back at flat so a coffee may provoke something pre-bus. 2k, bit small too (but tinto *is*), but fine. Paid now and didn't tip as don't feel it's massively expected.
0749 OK, on bus - a chiva, "La Negra" (snapped photo). Bag is in row behind me, I am probably not going to try wearing headphones. I may get my - yes, I just got it and have it under my seat, was going to take daypack out and put main bag back in informal luggage area in row behind me but felt better to just shove it under seat, then I can get water or headphones if I want and in a pinch (it is buried quite deep) I can get my fleece out if it is a smidge chilly.
The tinto had the desired effect anyway.
This is kind of cool really, and a bit more of an experience.
Looking at guide book it is *v* brief and not that helpful on tipping but tbh I am starting (rather late, of course) to suspect that most places a tip is not expected (fancier restaurants will add it to the bill), esp if there is no tip jar. But I don't want to be mega stingy but I also don't want to overpay or be paying unnecessarily and they think I'm weird/a sap. Meh.
I forgot name of place (Riosucio) when asking if this was my bus and just ended up saying "para..." and the guy looked at my ticket. But I am hearing lots of other people say Riosucio too so it is right.
1118 Some sort of obstruction in road (?) and we may be held up an hour (? not sure anyone knows). Handful of Colombians on bus (mostly tourists) relaying info from driver. Feel OK. Surprisingly enjoyable journey in its way. "Toughed out" the minor chill earlier, then we stopped after about 2h at Paraje (?) Peñas Blancas and went for welcome but not desperate piss and got an empanada and a coffee (3.5k) and got someone to take my photo by bus (copying them - incidentally it was 99% sure the bloke of the couple who happen to be by the wooden highish building I snapped who took the photo of me by the bus) and it feels vaguely exciting and adventurous.
Felt warmer after food and coffee and possibly the weather has also warmed up and/or we've gone lower - we have passed through 2900m-ish altitudes earlier. Scenery very nice, weather cloudy and lots of mist on distant green mountains etc (tho naturally the active appreciation fades over time and I have been seeing this kind of scenery for a while now).
1139 Got out to take a look. Big plastic pipe across road and a tractor thing with a bucket on the front not doing much. Few other vehicles waiting. Road in general is not "bad" but v windy etc. I suspect this is not the same road we came into Jardin on from Medellin.
Overheard one bloke is going to Salento and there's one bus a day and if we are delayed more than an hour or so he will miss it. Also overheard another French couple who are going to Manizales. Not actively worried - actually being very chilled about all this - as I think there are quite a lot of buses Riosucio-Manizales.
I was and still am thinking I'm going to get bread and ham and gorge on sandwiches at the hostel this evening, unless the environment/kitchen is somehow uncongenial. And I will probably have a quiet night in, sit in common area (again unless somehow uncongenial) and if I chat to someone great and if not I will write stuff up here etc. Will casually eye up any tours offered by hostel and go out tomorrow and generally see the city while trying to visit some tour agencies. Not going to pressure myself to see or do anything outside hostel tonight.
No Movistar reception here so for better or worse am spared temptation of browsing web to kill time.
1153 K1 batt at 42% (didn't start full as had it in bed) but let's bash out some more of boat trip.
FWIW memory maybe fading but if I didn't already say I think we were woken up by someone wandering round with a bluetooth speaker playing:
day 2 - Nora Jones sunrise song
day 3 - Mana, En El Muelle De San Blas
day 4 - Caledonia (not the Dolores Keane version I knew, some bloke who may actually be more known for singing it or perhaps even the original singer)
I am standing on road in front of bus, little fear of it running off without me here or anyone stealing my bag.
Day 4 after breakfast - oh, pipe has moved and tractor JCBish thing coming out so gonna get back on bus. It is 1154.
Took some extra photos of chiva from various angles including experimenting with low angle and also took photos of wood truck stuck behind us btw.
1156 Sitting on bus. It's cooler on here, not tremendously cold, but it was really pleasantly just slightly warm off the bus. It is cloudy.
Anyway, day 4 after breakfast iirc we gave two of our passport copies in to staff and we got on boat to go to puerto obaldia (this is actually mentioned in colombia guide book and once we got there we were effectively doing the "get into panama from colombia" stuff in reverse), went to a bakery where we could get snacks and there was wifi so I was able to check on family etc (and nothing had happened, and I had generally been pretty relaxed about it) and we went over in small groups to immigration office and I got my passport stamped out and was photographed and had to give my fingerprints (all of them) again.
We then got back on the boat (oh, there was a resumption of Green Glass Door game which Lane had introduced during a wait on our boat on day 1 - I think there was general incomprehension with this, including on my part, and I *suspect* - I haven't actually checked the "secret" online - from my side it's because I was one of the people for whom it was more or less obvious but because you sort of can't just say "the rule is X" and other people weren't getting it I found myself wondering if it was deeper than it was - oh, and on day 4 I did experimentally ask some questions expecting to get a "no" answer to see if I got a "yes" answer which would refute my guess at the rule - which I think is "anything with a double letter pair" ) and went - we got the dual flags at the sea border pointed out - over to Sapzurro in Colombia where we docked and walked a short distance to beach where we had ceviche (v good and just how I'd "expect" with no weird sauce, I haven't had chance to eat any ceviche since but I am now v open to it in Colombia) and tamales (huge) and could buy beers on a tab and we also had a coconut milk based local ice cream (the style I also had at top of La Piedra and must try some more before trip finishes).
Gave a tip (USD20 as recommended) and paid the tab and luckily they accepted my Balboa coins and then handed the remaining 70 cents in (with an apology/explanation) as an extra tip - after all, otherwise I'd just be lugging them round Colombia and they'd sit in a drawer in my flat for ever. We said goodbye to Kuna crew at this point and got a frankly rather iffy looking local boat (I didn't get a life jacket either) from Sapzurro round to Capurgana, was sitting next to Shane and Emi (sp) for this as think I already noted. I decided in the event of capsizing I'd grab my mostly empty 5l water bottle and use that as a float.
In Cap we went to the SBA office, there was apparently a queue at customs (oh, while on iirc atidub on prev day Lane had said customs had said they had power - remember there is intermittent mains in Cap - and she WAed/e-mailed photos of passports through to them which may have speeded them up) so we were kind of pointed out where we could buy sims etc and this is when I wandered round to my accom and had (I need to check another day if I already wrote this up) the discussion about the price and had to faff and free cancellation and so on. I then came back and rejoined rather straggly group and we walked round corner to immigration and went in 2-3 at a time and it was super fast, literally a minute and maybe faster.
Never had one of these situations where I'd been stamped out of old country and then stamped into new country several hours apart, and we were (incidentally we are still sitting here, so I was premature getting back on bus, but it is not a big deal and I'm sitting on bus as I write this) in Sapzurro without formally having entered Colombia. I guess this is just accepted but it still felt slightly odd.
We were given a bottled cocktail outside immigration (also a first for me, never had a cocktail at immigration before) and then we drifted off to reconvene for dinner that night (not paid as part of trip, and as prob already noted I didn't eat as the pre-booked food was lasagne) and I went to hostel and paid and emptied my bag out onto the spare bed and despaired/marvelled at the chaos and had all that really fit in my bag and just how many fucking bin bags and smaller plastic bags there were. I ate a packet of mani garapinado and showered and changed and deeted up before going out to dinner.
Very long table and it was slightly awkward but luckily G/J opposite so spoke to them a bit. Afterwards we went on to a bar down by the beach a few mins walk out of town and then we moved over to another adjacent bar and I think this was the night there was that weird business about it closing and some people went on to dance and drink on the dock and I walked back with Lloyds who was leaving next morning and I prob already wrote this up.
I want to write some general notes on the trip but I will stop here. I need to check if there are any gaps in my chronological write up but it will be easier to do that once I have wifi and more battery.
1221 Just sneaked off behind the second of the two wood trucks to get some privacy and have a sneaky piss at side of road. Not desperate but was welcome.
I was on the winning team for the final night pub quiz btw, though I don't think I was particularly responsible and the whole thing was probably a lot of luck etc. I did enjoy the quiz more than I expected given the subject matter tho.
1230 Just checked and we are actually only 5km straight line from terminal in Riosucio.
1235 General waffle re boat trip...
I think I got on OK with most people, there were some subgroups I hardly spoke to (perhaps age/sex/language reasons, but not sure) but in general this was all fine.
I didn't feel enormously "in" with anyone. This is probably just me, and although I don't say I would have or would maybe have wanted to fit in with the more "rowdy" group (eg they were quite big into the beach volleyball as well as drinking), the fact I was feeling a little rough even the first day (and thus being careful) and then the second day just naturally kept me apart and even without any "do I need to be careful wrt drinking when I'm going to be on a boat etc" issues restrained me from drinking that much and being that social (two related but distinct aspects). I did as I think I already noted feel slightly BNM on the first island stop but this was perhaps in my head and or perhaps illness related etc, plus obviously it takes time to feel like you know people etc. I didn't do too badly overall.
I really over-prepared for water damage to bag, especially given I had my bag with me between my knees not wrapped up at front all the time. Putting the K1 and any other valuable (eg USB stick with photo backups) electronics inside plastic bags inside a dry bag would have been fine but I went overboard.
It was a nuisance not having a single bin bag big enough for my (rather bulging - remember it had my shoes in) bag. It *might* (tho my daypack is fairly small and generally this is good) have been better to try to fit everything I actually needed in daypack and give my main bag in for "no access during trip" transport.
It would also have been good to try to pack all the stuff I really needed (eg one change of clothes, toiletries, towel, powerbank) somewhere super accessible (eg the two lid compartments of my main bag) - as it was I found myself scrabbling round and packing/unpacking a bit more than I'd like with increased hassle and risk of losing stuff. This is the stuff I'd have wanted to squeeze into daypack if I had decided to let other stuff go in "checked baggage" for the trip. It *might* have fitted - basically what I listed above plus maybe some extra medicines and some extra uw and maybe a spare top just in case. Oh, and tho I don't think I used or needed it, fleece might have been smart in daypack if I didn't have main bag (where it would have been ok to have it buried but accessible at a push).
As it was I often found myself scrabbling desperately in poorly lit rooms to eg get my toothbrush and toothpaste or to find my towel or whatever and stuff was all over floor etc.
In terms of clothing I wore the flip flops (if didn't already mention it toe strap on one broke in Sapzurro but they did last the main trip and are still just usable and I am taking them home and they may be gluable, tho in hindsight the cheaper USD4 pair might have been more repairable) all the time or slipped them off for comfort eg on boat. I wore swimming trunks and red ss top during the day, in evenings I put my trousers on and wore a blue RS top, I'm fairly sure I wore the same trousers+blue RS top+uw every evening, but it is just possible I changed the uw at least once (given I was only wearing them for say 6ish hours a day the idea of wearing same uw every evening was not out of question and I may have done this) - also bear in mind the uw was not including socks as wore flip flops on bare feet all the time.
I wore the bandanna and prescrip sunglasses on boat, in evenings I switched to cap and regular glasses. A solid glasses case to protect the non-worn pair would have been good but perhaps a bulky luxury in general. Wearing prescip sunglasses and not being able to trivially switch to regular glasses was a bit annoying at times eg when going into dark accom or when talking to people and having to remember they couldn't see my eyes and it may have looked rude (tho probably didn't given the beachy type env).
1255 It looks like motorbikes may now be able to get through.
Vaguely tempted to open my packet of mani garapinado but I am not really hungry, we may be on the move soon, it would be good to have a nice appetite for sandwiches once I get to hostel and depending on timings (I don't want to miss a bus onward) there may be a chance of some kind of snack at bus terminal in Riosucio.
(Eating en route is not necessary but in moderation - eg the empanada and coffee this morning, esp after letting myself feel a bit cold - it can be quite an enjoyable part of the experience.)
Left arm still hurts a bit, not too bad but if I put mild pressure on it (eg having it on my lap and it bounces against leg) it does hurt a bit more - I suspect it may be a bit bruised (internally?). Fairly sure it will be OK in a day or two and it's not terrible even now.
There are actually two JCBish things.
I didn't put any sunblock on today as I expected to be under cover all day. I am sure it's fine - I have not been out that much and I do have some base tan and wearing long sleeves - but do need to be a little mindful of this.
1304 Back on bus. FWIW it's very high and climbing up while not hard is not trivial and would be hard without using the handles.
My ticket actually has an assigned seat number (5, oh fwiw I was in room 3 at accom in Jardin) but I don't think anyone cares. I am noting that the banks of seats are numbered, I am in row 7 so maybe I technically should be two rows forwards but as I say I don't really think it matters, unlike some buses where sitting in the exact seat seems to be a big deal.
1306 Bus engine just restarted.
1348 On minibus waiting to leave Riosucio for Manizales. 26k tho not paid yet. Bit of a free for all of drivers calling out "Manizales" but fairly sure not being massively ripped off.
In hindsight I could and maybe should have spoken to people on the bus, or at least during the 2hish delay, but I also did feel kind of nice being sort of alone but "with" the group as a whole.
1944 On lower terrace of hostel.
Bit tired and sleep and hot at times on drive to Manizales. Manizales itself has quite impressed me - albeit we got here lateish, it is cool temp ish, the cable car from bus terminal to Fundadores was cheap and fast and fun, the long but not crazy walk from F to hostel was along a pleasantly bustling street. The hostel itself also seems pretty cool, and I want to stay longer than 2 nights (but I am gonna go see about some treks tomorrow - there are two companies in guide book, one of them might do a medium difficulty 2 day hike to lake otun, see what happens tomorrow). It is pretty empty and I do currently have 4 bed dorm to myself. (Given this, despite lack of private sink in shared bathroom, I may water only wash a top and maybe some uw and leave them to dry on end of bunk overnight.)
I went out and got mortadela and pan integral and stuffed myself silly on sandwiches. Two young German speaking women in kitchen and eating at table with me - I said "hi" in kitchen and they responded but otherwise we politely ignored each other. An older G speaking woman spoke to them briefly as they were eating. There was a bloke on upstairs roof terrace (quite nice) when being shown round but not seen him since. free coffee but it has run out so having free aromatica type "tea" and tbh prob going to move towards bed soonish.
no surcharge for ccard so paid hostel with that and apparently not charged vat so 108k COP which isn't too bad. Also paid in supermarket for mortadela, bread and 50ml toothpaste (18kish all in), as the current tube (which I think I bought here after my two sample sized tubes from home ran out) is nearly empty and prob won't last the trip. Toothpaste prob 3kish.
One of the two tour companies only seems to offer a single day hike, the other have several but all are either single day or "high" difficulty which puts me off but we'll see how it goes tomorrow.
Breakfast 730-10 so try to be up earlyish esp if go to bed early. Depending how tours go there is some tower nearish hostel you can go up and walk round on the external ledge wearing a safety harness which sounds kind of cool but borderline within comfort zone and actually not dangerous. Also various parks and stuff and lots of local junk-ish food options on eg that street I walked over to hostel along and I could see spending two+ days in Manizales touristing it up being fun - but depending on what's possible I may go off and do a multi-day (if only two day) trek first.
It is Fri night so maybe the other people are out partying but it really feels like it's me and the hostel owner type guy here and that is it, unless ppl are in bed. Mildly annoyed at having to fill in a Google form with my details on checkin but not a huge deal (I should have deliberately mistyped some stuff, eg passport number, but I did do it from mem and it may be wrong anyway, tho not sure - not a huge deal as I say). Otherwise v impressed with hostel, just a shame it is not that busy.
There is a big table covered in tourist material by reception desk but having looked at it all (covers, not opened everything) it mostly looks like fluff or single day activities etc.
1957 Beers available on honour system here but I am resisting v mild temptation - this will at least be one day off alcohol. I really do feel a bit tired and nothing is doing and maybe I'll finally sleep well and I do want to try to get round a bit tomorrow (not pushing myself) so I'll finish this tea and go have shower and do sneaky laundry etc and go to bed.
May buy a bottle of aguardiente tomorrow to take round with me and have the odd nip of/share out, wrote about this (sort of thinking Old Parr) before and didn't do it so if I do it now I won't be massively over-consuming during remaining time.
2048 OK, in dorm alone, did shower and water only wash one top and one set uw (there was a bucket in shower, I could prob have used it with soap, but didn't - won't wash tomorrow unless I am extending another night due to drying times). Shower nice and hot (bit wussy but fuck it) after I let it run for a bit while rinsing clothes. Faffed around copying today's photos to thumb drive/K1 (GP nearly full but it may last the trip) in case of accidents. Have set alarm for 830 and going to bed now.
When I was being shown round I asked and guy said tap water was fine to drink (we spoke Spanish BTW, he may speak English but I don't know) so I am drinking it. Got a chilled bottle of tap water I put in fridge with me, not as cold as I'd like and toilet is a long walk away but still, nice to have some cold water.
Going to bed. Bed seems pretty wide, almost 1.5-person width maybe.
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