Wed 13th 1618 At accom, having rum and coke on terrace. Didn't sleep that well, not sure why. Had set alarm for 8 but snoozed and got up somewhere after 9 and prob left accom 945-10ish.
Walked over to tour company for La Cueva del Esplandor and booked for tomorrow at 9am (70k), have to be there 845. It's 40 mins walking iirc, not walking there and back - minor shame but only one company allowed to do these tours so can't be helped. I asked and there is no crawling or climbing or deep water and I can wear my regular "tourist" clothes no problem. All this in Spanish and guide is Spanish speaking too - I have to say Jardin seems fairly good for speaking Spanish, I guess it gets a lot of Colombian tourists.
Jumping ahead, I've been mulling and I think I am not extending here. A quick poke on guide book and a think at cafe by Cristo Rey suggests that I either extend here at different accom in hope of meeting hiking partners to do some of the various longer hikes here (general safety, but for me esp wrt dogs) *or* I move on, prob to Manizales which sounds quite cool and may (it's super unclear) be somewhere I can book a three day hike to Lago Otun (sp) and maybe generally outdoorsy. I have done the stuff I really wanted to do here (assuming cave is OK tomorrow) and given I am coming to end of trip and staying longer may jeopardise poss of things like this three day hike it feels a bad bet to go to some random hostel - it may be virtually empty and even if not I'd then have to meet someone *and* they (sing or plural) would have to be up for hiking. I could see myself coming back here with more time and seeing if I can hook up with someone like this but right now it feels like a bad bet.
I then walked up to Cristo Rey, asking some local guy after I went through a mildly private looking gate if it was OK. I went wrong after the bridge, realised and go back OK, at which point a random dog appeared (lucky it wasn't on the private bit I needed to retrace my steps on really) and while it didn't quite go for me it seemed agitated by my presence and I felt (but wasn't, tho it did disappear and then reappear below me) chased up the steepish hill on the CR side of the bridge and this shitted me up slightly.
There was a couple who had been behind me who got ahead of me due to my wrong route and I intermittently saw them. They pressed on past CR and having seen a mirador on OM I semi-followed them. V hot BTW. The mirador was OK, I then saw the start of cross hike 1km down the road and figured I'd go have a look. Trogged over there, no dogs and the odd tourist, bicyclist or tuktuk. Some web searching on phone turned up loads of hikes but most sites didn't mention this cross hike, but I found https://cataintheworld.com/2021/02/22/el-camino-de-la-cruz-a-great-trek-in-jardin-colombia/ which was very detailed but a) tbh I was scared of dog possibilities, the one potentially lurking at bottom of cr hike was already making me jittery b) she says 3-4h, it was 1130 at this point and the weather was oscillating between sunny and misty and I had no rain jacket or anything and I got a bad feeling and decided not to do it. I then decided I'd maybe stroll a bit up the trail (I knew I was in right place as I was right by the "this is a place of prayer not fun" sign she has a photo of on her blog) and a dog in the garden of the house at base of trail (which prob couldn't get out) started barking and I just turned tail. Kudos to Cata if she did the hike on her own. This feeds in to the hiking partner waffle above, which logically belongs here but I wanted to write that above.
I then walked nearly back to top of "post CR" trail near mirador, then decided maybe I ought to take the windy road down into town shown on OM so walked the 1kmish for the third time, then tried that iffy looking windy road and it appeared to peter out immediately at the house under construction and walked the 1kmish back to top of trail near mirador for fourth time. Trogged down to CR, went into the finca cafe and had three very nice cafe espumado (I asked, and this was milky) for 6k each (20k with tip), had big dump, then hung around for as it turned out 40 mins waiting for someone, anyone, to be heading down the trail so I could ask if I could join them. I did ask a group coming up if they'd seen a dog by bridge and they said no.
In the end a nice young couple on a daytrip from Medellin (we engaged in some moderate chat towards end of hike down, in Spanish) went down and I asked if I could join them and said about the dog (probably spoiling their peace of mind) and they let me go with them and of course - I even had a rock in my hand - the dog was not there. But hey, while I could have done better, I did at least chat with them in Spanish. I was tempted to invite them for a beer or coffee but I didn't, partly as I didn't want to waste their time and partly as there was some linguistic uncertainty on my side as we came back into town about whether they were going to a mirador on the other side of town or whether they were asking if I'd been to some mirador or if they were inviting me to join them and I should probably have clarified but anyway I didn't - tbh they didn't seem desperately keen to stay with me (our chat had been OK but a little awkward-strangery) so probably no lost opportunity.
I then went to El Ganadero and had a beer and a large coffee with milk and then figuring I was milking it a bit popped round corner to the restaurant doing pad thai and tikka masala and asked and they didn't open til 5 (it was 1615ish) so I came back to accom ("hostel", but it isn't a hostel, but I should write that if I want) and had this rum and coke and wrote this.
I am lowish on cash - I need to count up tonight or tomorrow afternoon - and may wd some tomorrow. I don't want to be stuck with loads but prob worst case is I get stuck with a hundred-ish quids worth which isn't as bad as 2020 and isn't too much exposed to inflation and I am quite likely to be back in Colombia within the next few years anyway. [On checking later I found I had more cash stashed away than I thought. I need to keep an eye on this but I don't think I have an imminent need to withdraw.]
I will prob book for two nights in Manizales so I can see what it's like (it may be activity kind of place) and I may extend but in case I can do a three day hike from there (far from clear) I don't want to be stuck with accom I am not using. By not extending here and bearing in mind nowhere on my draft itinerary is a must do I prob have time to engage in multi-day hikes if I want to without feeling too pushed for time. It is prob less critical than in hindsight it was here but it would be good to be in a proper hostel, tho if I can get a decently priced private room at a hostel that's great.
1928 Back at accom. Pissing it down. Got back just before it started. All other three rooms have keys in door so prob just me here. Gonna have shower and do laundry then go have a beer on balcony.
Went out to restaurant didn't get name of and had chicken tikka masala. Actually not bad but "garnished" with cut up bits of tortilla with (I asked) "balsamico" drizzled over them, so had to leave them and that slightly ruined it for me. Also supposed to be 36k (with limonada de jengibre, which I'm glad I tried but which was neither nice nor horrible) but seemed to get v little change from 50k, I didn't count it, I just kept the 10k as I'd planned and left the smaller-than-I-expected change on counter as tip. Not really "bad" but the whole thing just felt slightly crap and I had been toying with going there tomorrow for pad thai but probably won't now.
Wasn't going to go to square tonight but compromised (seems a "shame" to kill time in room/accom more than nec) and went back to El Ganadero for a couple of large white coffees, then came back here. Had quick poke on phone while at EG and it looks like there is a half decent (but poss mostly empty) hostel in Manizales which may also arrange some kind of tours (incl mentions of 3 day hike, no idea where but maybe good and maybe Lago de Owhatsit). Annoyingly dorms there are about ten quid a night and privates are three times that, whereas I could have a perfectly decent private for ten quid a night at loads of other places - but I guess I will go for the dorm (and, tho it would kind of be counterproductive, I may have it to myself anyway) given it would be good to meet people in general if poss after this lonely-ish stretch post boat trip/Capurgana and also wrt poss tours etc. Not booked yet tho.
Really pissing it down, at least judging from sound on roof.
2012 Had shower, did laundry. V slightly creepy here on own but out on balcony over street and loads of people about incl in adjacent houses so feels much better. Having beer.
Can see cross and Christ on hill straight opposite balcony. If not clear earlier the reason it being 1130 when at start of cross hike mattered (on top of the other stuff) is that for a 3-4h hike I would definitely prefer to be starting earlier in the day.
I have actually used my travel clothesline to hang stuff up to dry in bathroom. As usual (not always) I have been too lazy to roll stuff up in my packtowl and squeeze it to get some water out that way - tbh this may in part be why esp socks tend to never get properly dry, I should (but aren't now for this lot) perhaps just make a point of doing this for uw or at least socks. Tops tend to dry pretty well anyway.
Incidentally for weeks now my green soap bar has disintegrated into a soap slurry, probably but not sure a side effect of me pouring water into the bag containing it to dissolve some soap into it then tipping that into sink to wash - I have done that before no prob, but I guess at some point I left too much water in. Something to at least be careful with on future trips, maybe just take the soap out and rub it in the wash water directly and/or perhaps cut the green soap into smaller chunks so I don't "lose" (I am still using it, but it's a bit sucky) the lot if this happens to one chunk.
2102 It stopped raining a while ago BTW. Maybe 2/3 through this 473ml beer, I *could* have another (my last) but I'm not desperate, I can prob have it tomorrow or take it on with me and it would probably be better to maybe watch a bit of YT and try to get to bed earlyish given the (not mega early, but still) tour tomorrow.
Pleasantly warm out on balcony with a very light breeze.
2107 It is a little bit of a shame to only have one day left here (both this accom, esp when I have the balcony to myself even if it is v slightly creepy, and the town) but a) I *do* still have a day b) better than being keen to leave c) I think it's the right decision, I may well return but there are other cool places to visit and possible fun encounters etc and with time being a little tight (tho 2 weeks out of an 11 week trip is not nothing) it does seem smart to leave my options open when there is nothing pressing/reliably achievable (finding hiking partners is heavily luck based) here.
Walked over to tour company for La Cueva del Esplandor and booked for tomorrow at 9am (70k), have to be there 845. It's 40 mins walking iirc, not walking there and back - minor shame but only one company allowed to do these tours so can't be helped. I asked and there is no crawling or climbing or deep water and I can wear my regular "tourist" clothes no problem. All this in Spanish and guide is Spanish speaking too - I have to say Jardin seems fairly good for speaking Spanish, I guess it gets a lot of Colombian tourists.
Jumping ahead, I've been mulling and I think I am not extending here. A quick poke on guide book and a think at cafe by Cristo Rey suggests that I either extend here at different accom in hope of meeting hiking partners to do some of the various longer hikes here (general safety, but for me esp wrt dogs) *or* I move on, prob to Manizales which sounds quite cool and may (it's super unclear) be somewhere I can book a three day hike to Lago Otun (sp) and maybe generally outdoorsy. I have done the stuff I really wanted to do here (assuming cave is OK tomorrow) and given I am coming to end of trip and staying longer may jeopardise poss of things like this three day hike it feels a bad bet to go to some random hostel - it may be virtually empty and even if not I'd then have to meet someone *and* they (sing or plural) would have to be up for hiking. I could see myself coming back here with more time and seeing if I can hook up with someone like this but right now it feels like a bad bet.
I then walked up to Cristo Rey, asking some local guy after I went through a mildly private looking gate if it was OK. I went wrong after the bridge, realised and go back OK, at which point a random dog appeared (lucky it wasn't on the private bit I needed to retrace my steps on really) and while it didn't quite go for me it seemed agitated by my presence and I felt (but wasn't, tho it did disappear and then reappear below me) chased up the steepish hill on the CR side of the bridge and this shitted me up slightly.
There was a couple who had been behind me who got ahead of me due to my wrong route and I intermittently saw them. They pressed on past CR and having seen a mirador on OM I semi-followed them. V hot BTW. The mirador was OK, I then saw the start of cross hike 1km down the road and figured I'd go have a look. Trogged over there, no dogs and the odd tourist, bicyclist or tuktuk. Some web searching on phone turned up loads of hikes but most sites didn't mention this cross hike, but I found https://cataintheworld.com/2021/02/22/el-camino-de-la-cruz-a-great-trek-in-jardin-colombia/ which was very detailed but a) tbh I was scared of dog possibilities, the one potentially lurking at bottom of cr hike was already making me jittery b) she says 3-4h, it was 1130 at this point and the weather was oscillating between sunny and misty and I had no rain jacket or anything and I got a bad feeling and decided not to do it. I then decided I'd maybe stroll a bit up the trail (I knew I was in right place as I was right by the "this is a place of prayer not fun" sign she has a photo of on her blog) and a dog in the garden of the house at base of trail (which prob couldn't get out) started barking and I just turned tail. Kudos to Cata if she did the hike on her own. This feeds in to the hiking partner waffle above, which logically belongs here but I wanted to write that above.
I then walked nearly back to top of "post CR" trail near mirador, then decided maybe I ought to take the windy road down into town shown on OM so walked the 1kmish for the third time, then tried that iffy looking windy road and it appeared to peter out immediately at the house under construction and walked the 1kmish back to top of trail near mirador for fourth time. Trogged down to CR, went into the finca cafe and had three very nice cafe espumado (I asked, and this was milky) for 6k each (20k with tip), had big dump, then hung around for as it turned out 40 mins waiting for someone, anyone, to be heading down the trail so I could ask if I could join them. I did ask a group coming up if they'd seen a dog by bridge and they said no.
In the end a nice young couple on a daytrip from Medellin (we engaged in some moderate chat towards end of hike down, in Spanish) went down and I asked if I could join them and said about the dog (probably spoiling their peace of mind) and they let me go with them and of course - I even had a rock in my hand - the dog was not there. But hey, while I could have done better, I did at least chat with them in Spanish. I was tempted to invite them for a beer or coffee but I didn't, partly as I didn't want to waste their time and partly as there was some linguistic uncertainty on my side as we came back into town about whether they were going to a mirador on the other side of town or whether they were asking if I'd been to some mirador or if they were inviting me to join them and I should probably have clarified but anyway I didn't - tbh they didn't seem desperately keen to stay with me (our chat had been OK but a little awkward-strangery) so probably no lost opportunity.
I then went to El Ganadero and had a beer and a large coffee with milk and then figuring I was milking it a bit popped round corner to the restaurant doing pad thai and tikka masala and asked and they didn't open til 5 (it was 1615ish) so I came back to accom ("hostel", but it isn't a hostel, but I should write that if I want) and had this rum and coke and wrote this.
I am lowish on cash - I need to count up tonight or tomorrow afternoon - and may wd some tomorrow. I don't want to be stuck with loads but prob worst case is I get stuck with a hundred-ish quids worth which isn't as bad as 2020 and isn't too much exposed to inflation and I am quite likely to be back in Colombia within the next few years anyway. [On checking later I found I had more cash stashed away than I thought. I need to keep an eye on this but I don't think I have an imminent need to withdraw.]
I will prob book for two nights in Manizales so I can see what it's like (it may be activity kind of place) and I may extend but in case I can do a three day hike from there (far from clear) I don't want to be stuck with accom I am not using. By not extending here and bearing in mind nowhere on my draft itinerary is a must do I prob have time to engage in multi-day hikes if I want to without feeling too pushed for time. It is prob less critical than in hindsight it was here but it would be good to be in a proper hostel, tho if I can get a decently priced private room at a hostel that's great.
1928 Back at accom. Pissing it down. Got back just before it started. All other three rooms have keys in door so prob just me here. Gonna have shower and do laundry then go have a beer on balcony.
Went out to restaurant didn't get name of and had chicken tikka masala. Actually not bad but "garnished" with cut up bits of tortilla with (I asked) "balsamico" drizzled over them, so had to leave them and that slightly ruined it for me. Also supposed to be 36k (with limonada de jengibre, which I'm glad I tried but which was neither nice nor horrible) but seemed to get v little change from 50k, I didn't count it, I just kept the 10k as I'd planned and left the smaller-than-I-expected change on counter as tip. Not really "bad" but the whole thing just felt slightly crap and I had been toying with going there tomorrow for pad thai but probably won't now.
Wasn't going to go to square tonight but compromised (seems a "shame" to kill time in room/accom more than nec) and went back to El Ganadero for a couple of large white coffees, then came back here. Had quick poke on phone while at EG and it looks like there is a half decent (but poss mostly empty) hostel in Manizales which may also arrange some kind of tours (incl mentions of 3 day hike, no idea where but maybe good and maybe Lago de Owhatsit). Annoyingly dorms there are about ten quid a night and privates are three times that, whereas I could have a perfectly decent private for ten quid a night at loads of other places - but I guess I will go for the dorm (and, tho it would kind of be counterproductive, I may have it to myself anyway) given it would be good to meet people in general if poss after this lonely-ish stretch post boat trip/Capurgana and also wrt poss tours etc. Not booked yet tho.
Really pissing it down, at least judging from sound on roof.
2012 Had shower, did laundry. V slightly creepy here on own but out on balcony over street and loads of people about incl in adjacent houses so feels much better. Having beer.
Can see cross and Christ on hill straight opposite balcony. If not clear earlier the reason it being 1130 when at start of cross hike mattered (on top of the other stuff) is that for a 3-4h hike I would definitely prefer to be starting earlier in the day.
I have actually used my travel clothesline to hang stuff up to dry in bathroom. As usual (not always) I have been too lazy to roll stuff up in my packtowl and squeeze it to get some water out that way - tbh this may in part be why esp socks tend to never get properly dry, I should (but aren't now for this lot) perhaps just make a point of doing this for uw or at least socks. Tops tend to dry pretty well anyway.
Incidentally for weeks now my green soap bar has disintegrated into a soap slurry, probably but not sure a side effect of me pouring water into the bag containing it to dissolve some soap into it then tipping that into sink to wash - I have done that before no prob, but I guess at some point I left too much water in. Something to at least be careful with on future trips, maybe just take the soap out and rub it in the wash water directly and/or perhaps cut the green soap into smaller chunks so I don't "lose" (I am still using it, but it's a bit sucky) the lot if this happens to one chunk.
2102 It stopped raining a while ago BTW. Maybe 2/3 through this 473ml beer, I *could* have another (my last) but I'm not desperate, I can prob have it tomorrow or take it on with me and it would probably be better to maybe watch a bit of YT and try to get to bed earlyish given the (not mega early, but still) tour tomorrow.
Pleasantly warm out on balcony with a very light breeze.
2107 It is a little bit of a shame to only have one day left here (both this accom, esp when I have the balcony to myself even if it is v slightly creepy, and the town) but a) I *do* still have a day b) better than being keen to leave c) I think it's the right decision, I may well return but there are other cool places to visit and possible fun encounters etc and with time being a little tight (tho 2 weeks out of an 11 week trip is not nothing) it does seem smart to leave my options open when there is nothing pressing/reliably achievable (finding hiking partners is heavily luck based) here.
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