That line about sitting on a step for an hour watching people is the whole trip right there. Years ago I did something close in Lisbon, but backwards. Left my bag at a cafe by mistake and walked off without it, then spent the next two hours half panicked looking for the place. Turned out the owner had tucked it behind the counter for me. Funny part is those two hours were the most focused I felt the whole week. Just me and the streets, no stuff to keep track of.

Why does every broken scraper need a full blown crime scene report though? Sounds like the groups got in your head and now you're doing busywork to please strangers on the internet. If it's a busted rock that turned out to be nothing, log it in 30 seconds and move on, nobody's grading you. The context thing makes sense for real finds, but acting like every random chip needs six photos and soil notes is overkill. Half those Facebook group rules are just old guys power tripping anyway, not actual science. Go back to walking and looking and only pull out the phone when something's actually worth it.