Travel Diary - Day Fifty One

Day Fifty One – To Sleep or not to Sleep
Monday 19 Oct 09

Came through customs without a blink. I’m not sure what it is but customs haven’t taken any interest in me at all at any stage along my journey. Not that I’m complaining mind, it’s just that given all the horror stories I have been geared up to be put through the wringer every time I walk through a gate or a door. Maybe it’s my winning smile . Anyway, found my way through the taxi drivers to the Tienda Leon – basically a shuttle service that costs less than half the cost of a taxi, busses you to the centre of town and then a taxi takes you to your final destination. Works for me! Not quite as direct but perfectly sufficient for a pleb such as myself.

I confess to being a little aghast at the sight of the hotel when I arrived. Not because it was run down and tired looking – just the opposite. Far flasher than I was expecting. Lots of brass and polished woodwork, porters and all the rest. Didn’t know quite what to do with myself. Checking in was a breeze and as I went to pick up my bags I found that a porter already had them and was ready to lead me to my room – not my style at all! Been brought up to carry my own bags thank you very much. Ah well, when in Rome…or BA for that matter. I was escorted up to my room and suddenly realised that I was probably expected to give a tip. I scrambled for my wallet and asked what was appropriate – I know, just waiting to be had, and the porter shook his head, held up his hand and told me it wasn’t necessary. Works for me.

I got into the room, stripped off to have a shower and didn’t quite make it. Lay down on the bed and promptly fell asleep. Slept for a couple of hours and woke to find it was only 9:30am. Promptly fell asleep again. Woke a couple of hours later, same again. Finally came to about 12:30, got up, had a shower and went out for a walk. I caught the subway to one end of Florida St with the idea of picking up some small gifts along the way – all the street vendors set up along Florida St and it is quite a cool place to walk. Unfortunately I had picked up a case of travel diarrhoea somewhere along the line and I had only been out for about 30 minutes when I really, really needed to find a toilet. In the end I ducked into a restaurant, ordered lunch and went to the toilet. Relief!! Lunch was quite nice – a couple of pieces of pizza, and cheap too – about $4.50. And then I was off again. True to my form in Buenos Aires I promptly became disoriented, I don’t know what it is about this place, I normally don’t have any problem with finding my way around but here, not so much . Didn’t matter too much. I figured that if I kept turning right I would eventually end up where I started and it worked out that way. As I went I wandered into all the little malls along the way and eventually found some rather nice little knick knacks that were just what I was looking for.

I finally found my way to Florida St and meandered my way along until I came to a guy doing those caricatures that you sometimes see. It’s something I have always wanted to do, so I found out how much – 30 pesos, about $12, and sat down to have my picture taken. It was a curious feeling sitting there, not able to see what he was producing, and having curious onlookers stop to watch for a while, smile, nod, grin, laugh, wave and then move on. Eventually, actually it only took about 10min, he finished and held it up to show me. It wasn’t at all what I expected, but then I had no idea what to expect, but I liked it, and happily paid for it. From there I continued on, halfway planning to catch the subway back to the hotel. In the end I just kept on walking until I got back on foot. Somewhere along the line I stopped to call home at a Locutorio – lots of little phone booths lined up together, you make your call and then pay at the counter. Quite a cheap way of calling home. Eventually I found the hotel – I hadn’t lost it, it was just a fairly long walk to get there. I ducked around the corner to the laundry where I had dropped off some clothes to be cleaned. Back at the hotel I went into my room, did a little writing, and went to sleep until dinner.

I have to admit that having been able to text people to stay in contact for the last 6 weeks in Guyana was a luxury that I hadn’t realised. I felt as though my hand had been chopped off when I handed the phone back, and I felt a profound sense of isolation for a little while, sitting in that hotel room. It passed quickly enough, but it was a bit of a surprise. I dressed up a little, not too much, that would be unlike me, and went downstairs to the hotel restaurant for dinner. Between my ailment and not eating that much over the last few weeks I wasn’t feeling all that hungry, but I had only had a little bit for lunch, one piece of pizza and a bite of a second, and breakfast had been about 3am, so I figured I should be trying to eat something. The steak looked like a good bet and it was incredible. Not a large piece, but beautifully cooked, tender, tasty, I would come back to BA just for the steak! Oh, and it was decorated with a handful of wedges and some greenery – and who eats decorations anyway?

After dinner I went for a bit of a wander before going back upstairs, attempting to write and watch a bit of TV and doing neither particularly well. I didn’t want to go to sleep too early because there is absolutely no point in being up at the crack of dawn here – nothing opens until about 10am! And besides, I had to check out at 10 so I figured I might as well just take my time. In the end I actually managed to sleep until about 6:30am. Not bad all things considered.