First off is after talking to the Brits the other day I decided that I really didn't want to copy their exploits of doing 5 countries in 3 days and seeing nothing but buses, pit stop cafes and border check points, so I had to call the airline and move forward my flight from Cartagena to Panama forward by one day, and also shift the other locations around a bit so that I have at least a full day in each city either side of a bit of travelling in order to see some things.
I am still a little miffed at myself for not researching more of Central America, as if I had I am sure that I would have scheduled in a few days in Belize where I could have a chance to speak a bit of English and enjoy some of the best beaches for miles.
That managed to take me up to about lunchtime and then as I was hungry and the rain had let up, and I felt that I had not really seen much of the city, I took a little walk to the autobus stops and went for a mini tour of the north of the city. On the way to the bus stop I passed a huge rally, and I was reminded by what my friends here had told me that there seemed to be one demonstration or another every couple of weeks.
No sooner did I get up town when the rain started up again, and with a vengeance, so before many minutes I felt that without an umbrella I was just going to get wet fast so I came back, however this proved to be a bit more problematic that I expected.
I had not really stopeed to pay attention to what bus I was getting on or study the route maps in advance, and just guessed that as Bogota is a long and thin city and all the buses seemed to run along the same secluded road that any bus would be as good as each other, as long as they were going in the right direction. Right idea, piss poor execition as I managed to somehow fine one of the few buses that not only didnt have a LED display saying where it was going but also seemed to be a non stopping service and I had to stare in frustration and dispair as it reached my stop, passed it and then kept on going so far that it even started going round a corner at the end of the city.
Luckily the exit and entrance to the buses meant that I could just hop out when it did finally stop, cross over and then take one back and my logic was that I would not wait for it to recah my exact stop but hop off when it got anywhere close to my neck of the city.
Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, as I did exactly what I had done to get there, hopped on another non stopping bus and ended up right back to where I started. Twice bitten, three times shy, I learned my lesson, asked for a map and as they didnt have one to give me I just spend a good five minutes studying the routes on the bus stop walls before getting on the correct one that would stop exactly where I needed it, except it was packed tighter than a tin or sardines.
I got back at about 3pm, and it was the same old curse of the afternoon siesta as I was unable to find a sensible restaurant open, even the one in the hotel was closed, so I walked back to the main street, took a right and just continued on til I found one that served food I recognised and liked or til I ran out of city. As it turned out I found another chicken broaster type place, which did a meal combo for 7,500 mil pesos,
On the way back from the burger I spotted a fight break out between two guys, and was both surprised and alarmed that all the locals not only stood and watched, but cheered and whistled to attract others and soon a huge mob was around the two guys until eventually a couple of policeman arrived and then all of a sudden one wanted to flee while the other wanted the cops, and all the while the crowd continued to whistle.
Back in my hotel I only had a short time til C' arrived as we were due to go out clubbing, however with the rain starting up again and the fact that the chicken burger was only a light snack I convinced her that we should just stay in the relative safety and dryness of the hotel, order in an Indian meal as she had never tasted one before. Yet again this proved nigh impossible, as there were only a couple of places in the yellow pages that were Indian Restuarants and they all required you to place an order a day or two in advance, thus we were stumped for time and instead we plumped for a Chinese.
My flight for Santa Marta was due to leave at 07:25 so I needed an early night and had most of my things packed or as close to being packed as possible and after setting all the alarms I could I crashed asleep and hoped that I would be able to wake the next day.
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