Mon 18th 0900 In dorm after breakfast and bit of tinkering on booking.com.
Didn't sleep super well, tho differently than other nights. Got up for breakfast at 730 as was half awake in bed anyway. Some chat with Belgian guy called Pieter (who was v friendly but whose English wasn't the best), an English chap I don't know the name of and Carlos and Antonio from last night.
I am writing this as a way of talking to myself.
I am really not in the mood for the thermal baths. I already wasn't but guide book says you have to get a bus from Av Kev whatsit and it sounds like a massive faff.
In some sense the sooner I get to Salento the better. I *could* go today. But if there are any multi-day trekking options there I do still have enough time to do them if I get there tomorrow and start asking straight away. It's not ideal but I could fit in even a 3 night/4 day trek starting as late as Thursday morning if I had to, and I suspect a 3 day trek is more likely if I can get anything at all, and if I am asking tomorrow and it's busy there is a chance of starting Wednesday. And if there's nothing doing there's nothing doing, this was a "would be nice to make a bit of an effort and do something 'big' at end of trip" idea, not a bucket list item.
I could go to Salento today. But even tho I'm likely to just wander round town here and not do that much and I'm not farting with the thermal baths (there are also some possibilities of these from Pereira, for a start, if I don't do a trek), I really quite like the idea of a relaxing-ish day wandering round here and not dashing off to Salento out of a sense of manic end of trip urgency.
So I am thinking I will extend here for one more night (ie tonight) and have a quiet-ish day, maybe pop in and out of hostel, perhaps knock up a little walking mileage round town, eat ice cream, etc. I've booked one night in a place with a private room in Salento - I suspect I might be the only one, but who knows - with free cancellation until 6pm tomorrow, they offer luggage storage so if I can get a trek for Wed morning I can prob store any luggage with them and book to stay there when I get back.
I just *might* try to sort out a trek to start Wed remotely from here, but frankly it's probably nicer to go into a tour agency in Salento and sort it out in person. I want to - and feel I am - making reasonable efforts to book some sort of trek, but I don't feel I need to go all out "fuck every other concern, work for this madly" on it.
So I think I'm going to go extend for tonight now. If I can't I may end up reconsidering.
English guy at breakfast did say Caja Social is free withdrawals BTW.
Trousers dried very well, were dry yday. I suspect they are fairly quick drying (it's mainly the socks that aren't, despite my best efforts) and rolling them in the packtowl really helped. The socks I washed yday and did towel dry are dampish but also pretty good considering was only last night, so I really should use this towel trick more often.
Ultimately I am not gonna have deathbed level regrets if I book here an extra night and then don't want it, right? I am also not going to book then instantly think of a really good reason why I should have gone to Salento today.
0921 OK, extended. Gonna head out and walk over to monumento a los *colonizadores* (not fundadores; seen that, it's nothing massively special and hence my confusion). No massive regrets yet. :-) Prob will drift in and out of hostel a bit today.
1232 Back at hostel finishing of H2Oh from first night. Walked up to malc, not bad actually - got there a bit before it opened at 10 so I wandered up to "mirador" just past it.
Walked back down to Juan Valdez in hope of a granizado but they were prepping and said 30 mins so trogged over to Fundadores, got a cherry ice cream thing at Heladeria La Niña and then mildly over ate (torta de chocolo, pandebono and an arepa con carne and a tinto) at Panchely (where went other day). Then went and had a look inside church on nearby square and also at Corredor de la (?) Polaca hoping to go up the tower but they are closed today and tomorrow so I just shoved my head in to have a look inside church (a service was on) and came back here for a little rest.
Feeling reasonably good about not having rushed over to Salento today. I may have a free coffee when I finish this toronchelo and then go over and have a granizado.
1837 On roof terrace (alone) with beer for post-sunset. Quite cool watching traffic run along dead straight Kr22 into the sunset.
Went out, tried going to museo del oro which it turns out is something (from memory, wrong) like banrepcol cultural centre and (I asked) does not have a gold exhibition despite signs still mentioning museo de oro inside - all I could find was a smallish art exhibition about gender and equality which I wasn't interested in. Still, it was free so no harm done. It was raining at this point too so nice to be off street.
I had another ice cream thing at HLN (was going to have limon but they didn't have it so got quesobocadillo) and wandered down side of cable car station to watch it operate a bit. I think I had an almost too hot buñuelo from a street stall at some point. Then down to JV where I had a granizado, called parents and milked it slightly and then sat by the fountains proper and "meditated" a bit and milked it a bit more but it was sort of cool (also vaguely sad to be leaving and end of trip etc etc) and then - guts feeling a little rough, perhaps not helped by all this junk - went and had arroz ranchero personal and an ok jugo de mora en leche at El Palador Paisa and came back to hostel and soap washed three tops and had a shower and shave and cleaned teeth myself and then watched a little YT on bed before coming up here just after sunset.
Not the most exciting day but the monument this morning was cool and while vaguely dull the general wandering round and snacking on localish treats was nice and while slightly milked it was cool to sit by the fountain etc.
Oh, I tried Starling card in Caja Social ATMs (twice, maybe an hour apart) and both times it just refused with an "invalid account/transaction" message. I also took my Barclaycard Rewards out and tried that with exactly same result. So maybe CS is having a bad day, or maybe they just don't like either of my cards.
I have done a partial count up of cash on hand and will finish it later and make a decision if I need to wd anything now and I just may try CS again tomorrow on way to bus terminal or something.
1912 Listening to music up here.
In that cultural centre there was a little exhibit of current banknotes (incl 100k which I haven't been given - prob luckily - but which I saw a bus driver pay a toll with on one trip) and a "what do you imagine the 200k note looking like?" question display. Inflation-tastic. ;-)
1925 Having black coffee with aa. Reminds me I ordered (rather confusing the waitress, obviously an odd combo, but she had actually understood me as we eventually clarified) a carajillo and french fries in Deleite just after leaving cultural centre. Both OK but neither terribly nice TBH; maybe I just wasn't in the right mood.
Just seen woman in street below in black T-shirt saying 1976 - snapped a photo, no idea if will come out. This isn't really remarkable but I don't think I've seen a shirt like that before somehow and it has tickled me.
Nothing from either of the tour agencies. I didn't chase them, just didn't feel worth it.
Marco from last night had been looking at a San Blas *Fronteras* tour of SB islands FWIW. antonio had done the same tour I had with SBA from Panama to Colombia tho his hosts were different.
2023 Been genuinely enjoying being up here listening to music and looking out at street but I'm starting to milk it a bit. I think I might move towards bed, maybe do a little admin (copy photos, count cash) unless Marco is asleep in dorm, maybe watch a little YT first. Plan is to try to have breakfast 730 (earliest time poss) tomorrow, I am not in a mad rush but the sooner I can get to Salento the sooner I can talk to some agencies and find where I stand re treks and then I can start to make some moderately solid plans for the rest of my trip.
Finished the bottle of AA in that coffee BTW.
2036 I have v approx 850k COP on me. I have about 9 days left. I am probably going to need to wd some more cash and within reason I don't mind going home with (say) a hundred quid's worth of COP. I think the key thing is that unless I do a small test wd at CS tomorrow just to see if it works, I have enough to just wing it and see how it goes before doing a big wd. Salento is not a cash machine desert. I'd perhaps rather avoid having to wd in Bogota but even that's prob OK during the day, and by the time I'm ready to go to Bogota I can probably reasonably estimate how much I will need for rest of trip and wd before I go there.
2140 Been watching bit of YT, cleaned teeth earlier, quick toilet visit then bed. Marco not around.
Not particularly tired but slightly bored, a tiny bit tired and as I say hope to be up earlyish.
Didn't sleep super well, tho differently than other nights. Got up for breakfast at 730 as was half awake in bed anyway. Some chat with Belgian guy called Pieter (who was v friendly but whose English wasn't the best), an English chap I don't know the name of and Carlos and Antonio from last night.
I am writing this as a way of talking to myself.
I am really not in the mood for the thermal baths. I already wasn't but guide book says you have to get a bus from Av Kev whatsit and it sounds like a massive faff.
In some sense the sooner I get to Salento the better. I *could* go today. But if there are any multi-day trekking options there I do still have enough time to do them if I get there tomorrow and start asking straight away. It's not ideal but I could fit in even a 3 night/4 day trek starting as late as Thursday morning if I had to, and I suspect a 3 day trek is more likely if I can get anything at all, and if I am asking tomorrow and it's busy there is a chance of starting Wednesday. And if there's nothing doing there's nothing doing, this was a "would be nice to make a bit of an effort and do something 'big' at end of trip" idea, not a bucket list item.
I could go to Salento today. But even tho I'm likely to just wander round town here and not do that much and I'm not farting with the thermal baths (there are also some possibilities of these from Pereira, for a start, if I don't do a trek), I really quite like the idea of a relaxing-ish day wandering round here and not dashing off to Salento out of a sense of manic end of trip urgency.
So I am thinking I will extend here for one more night (ie tonight) and have a quiet-ish day, maybe pop in and out of hostel, perhaps knock up a little walking mileage round town, eat ice cream, etc. I've booked one night in a place with a private room in Salento - I suspect I might be the only one, but who knows - with free cancellation until 6pm tomorrow, they offer luggage storage so if I can get a trek for Wed morning I can prob store any luggage with them and book to stay there when I get back.
I just *might* try to sort out a trek to start Wed remotely from here, but frankly it's probably nicer to go into a tour agency in Salento and sort it out in person. I want to - and feel I am - making reasonable efforts to book some sort of trek, but I don't feel I need to go all out "fuck every other concern, work for this madly" on it.
So I think I'm going to go extend for tonight now. If I can't I may end up reconsidering.
English guy at breakfast did say Caja Social is free withdrawals BTW.
Trousers dried very well, were dry yday. I suspect they are fairly quick drying (it's mainly the socks that aren't, despite my best efforts) and rolling them in the packtowl really helped. The socks I washed yday and did towel dry are dampish but also pretty good considering was only last night, so I really should use this towel trick more often.
Ultimately I am not gonna have deathbed level regrets if I book here an extra night and then don't want it, right? I am also not going to book then instantly think of a really good reason why I should have gone to Salento today.
0921 OK, extended. Gonna head out and walk over to monumento a los *colonizadores* (not fundadores; seen that, it's nothing massively special and hence my confusion). No massive regrets yet. :-) Prob will drift in and out of hostel a bit today.
1232 Back at hostel finishing of H2Oh from first night. Walked up to malc, not bad actually - got there a bit before it opened at 10 so I wandered up to "mirador" just past it.
Walked back down to Juan Valdez in hope of a granizado but they were prepping and said 30 mins so trogged over to Fundadores, got a cherry ice cream thing at Heladeria La Niña and then mildly over ate (torta de chocolo, pandebono and an arepa con carne and a tinto) at Panchely (where went other day). Then went and had a look inside church on nearby square and also at Corredor de la (?) Polaca hoping to go up the tower but they are closed today and tomorrow so I just shoved my head in to have a look inside church (a service was on) and came back here for a little rest.
Feeling reasonably good about not having rushed over to Salento today. I may have a free coffee when I finish this toronchelo and then go over and have a granizado.
1837 On roof terrace (alone) with beer for post-sunset. Quite cool watching traffic run along dead straight Kr22 into the sunset.
Went out, tried going to museo del oro which it turns out is something (from memory, wrong) like banrepcol cultural centre and (I asked) does not have a gold exhibition despite signs still mentioning museo de oro inside - all I could find was a smallish art exhibition about gender and equality which I wasn't interested in. Still, it was free so no harm done. It was raining at this point too so nice to be off street.
I had another ice cream thing at HLN (was going to have limon but they didn't have it so got quesobocadillo) and wandered down side of cable car station to watch it operate a bit. I think I had an almost too hot buñuelo from a street stall at some point. Then down to JV where I had a granizado, called parents and milked it slightly and then sat by the fountains proper and "meditated" a bit and milked it a bit more but it was sort of cool (also vaguely sad to be leaving and end of trip etc etc) and then - guts feeling a little rough, perhaps not helped by all this junk - went and had arroz ranchero personal and an ok jugo de mora en leche at El Palador Paisa and came back to hostel and soap washed three tops and had a shower and shave and cleaned teeth myself and then watched a little YT on bed before coming up here just after sunset.
Not the most exciting day but the monument this morning was cool and while vaguely dull the general wandering round and snacking on localish treats was nice and while slightly milked it was cool to sit by the fountain etc.
Oh, I tried Starling card in Caja Social ATMs (twice, maybe an hour apart) and both times it just refused with an "invalid account/transaction" message. I also took my Barclaycard Rewards out and tried that with exactly same result. So maybe CS is having a bad day, or maybe they just don't like either of my cards.
I have done a partial count up of cash on hand and will finish it later and make a decision if I need to wd anything now and I just may try CS again tomorrow on way to bus terminal or something.
1912 Listening to music up here.
In that cultural centre there was a little exhibit of current banknotes (incl 100k which I haven't been given - prob luckily - but which I saw a bus driver pay a toll with on one trip) and a "what do you imagine the 200k note looking like?" question display. Inflation-tastic. ;-)
1925 Having black coffee with aa. Reminds me I ordered (rather confusing the waitress, obviously an odd combo, but she had actually understood me as we eventually clarified) a carajillo and french fries in Deleite just after leaving cultural centre. Both OK but neither terribly nice TBH; maybe I just wasn't in the right mood.
Just seen woman in street below in black T-shirt saying 1976 - snapped a photo, no idea if will come out. This isn't really remarkable but I don't think I've seen a shirt like that before somehow and it has tickled me.
Nothing from either of the tour agencies. I didn't chase them, just didn't feel worth it.
Marco from last night had been looking at a San Blas *Fronteras* tour of SB islands FWIW. antonio had done the same tour I had with SBA from Panama to Colombia tho his hosts were different.
2023 Been genuinely enjoying being up here listening to music and looking out at street but I'm starting to milk it a bit. I think I might move towards bed, maybe do a little admin (copy photos, count cash) unless Marco is asleep in dorm, maybe watch a little YT first. Plan is to try to have breakfast 730 (earliest time poss) tomorrow, I am not in a mad rush but the sooner I can get to Salento the sooner I can talk to some agencies and find where I stand re treks and then I can start to make some moderately solid plans for the rest of my trip.
Finished the bottle of AA in that coffee BTW.
2036 I have v approx 850k COP on me. I have about 9 days left. I am probably going to need to wd some more cash and within reason I don't mind going home with (say) a hundred quid's worth of COP. I think the key thing is that unless I do a small test wd at CS tomorrow just to see if it works, I have enough to just wing it and see how it goes before doing a big wd. Salento is not a cash machine desert. I'd perhaps rather avoid having to wd in Bogota but even that's prob OK during the day, and by the time I'm ready to go to Bogota I can probably reasonably estimate how much I will need for rest of trip and wd before I go there.
2140 Been watching bit of YT, cleaned teeth earlier, quick toilet visit then bed. Marco not around.
Not particularly tired but slightly bored, a tiny bit tired and as I say hope to be up earlyish.
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