Wade, Hanna and I decided to check into Sam’s VIP hostel right on the main plaza in town. It’s quite a cool hostel with a rooftop area and pool and friendly staff who organized all the adrenalin tours and day trips in the area.

After a brief wander around town for the afternoon, we took the advice of the hostel and went out for a steak at a local restaurant. It was a proper thick, eye fillet steak with vegetables, which is a real rarity in South America and was the best meal any of us have had in months.

Over breakfast the following morning we were discussing what to do and getting some advice from other travellers on what the best options were from the huge variety of activities in the area. San Gill offers everything from downhill biking to Paragliding, Canyoning and Whitewater Rafting. It is known as the adventure capital of Colombia and attracts plenty of travellers all wanting to brag about their daily feats over a few beers and testosterone fuelled stories!

While we were all keen to go whitewater rafting, the guide came and told us that the water level in the river was a bit average so we needed to make other plans for our first day. Arial, the rafting guide suggested that we visit the nearby town of Bariloche that is known for being picturesque and much less touristy than San Gil. From there, you can also do a one-hour hike to the next, even smaller village of Guane. 

The day trip and small towns sounded different to anything we have seen so far in Colombia so we packed our things and also managed to pick up a new American mate, Graham, who decided to join the three of us for the day. Graham looks like our good mate Ryan’s long lost brother, so Wade and I felt a strange familiarity to him and liked him straight away. Although it became a bit awkward when I kept asking him to pull ridiculous faces to imitate Ryan and then wanted to hug him when he did it right. Yeah…. in hindsight it was a little odd.

Bariloche is an exquisite little village on which many of the local paintings sold in major tourist towns are based. The beautiful white washed houses with a stunning backdrop of rich green mountains makes it impossible not to appreciate this quaint village.

The walk was one hour of beautiful scenery and annoying, ankle-twisting rock paths that constantly stole our gaze from where we’d rather be looking.

Upon arriving in Guane, we strolled around three or four streets before realizing that we had just seen the entire town! There was a quaint plaza, a few laneways lined with locals sitting and chatting and one or two restaurants. 

Wade and I had been told that this area is known for goat dishes so we both ordered a typical Colombian lunch of stewed goat with rice and salad. It was super tender and flavoursome and it was while Wade and I were discussing the deliciousness of this cute little creature that we learnt Graham is a vegetarian... ohhhhhh. We all left full and ready for the bus back to Bariloche.

We spent the afternoon sipping coffee and wandering around Bariloche looking at the artisanal stores and churches. We even spent a good hour searching fruitlessly in the rain for a church and graveyard that Hanna had read about in Lonely Planet. It was only when we finally found it that Hanna cared to mention that she couldn’t remember the significance of either! 

Tired and in desperate need of a shower, we all walked through the doors of Sam’s VIP to an excitable Arial, the white water rafting guide awaiting our return. He was pumped to tell us that tomorrow would be perfect conditions if we wanted to go rafting on the River Suarez through some grade 5 rapids.

So there we were, all decked out in our life vests, helmets and paddles as we hit the water of the Rio Suarez. Wade, Hanna and I were all in a boat with a German couple and our instructor Arial. Between us, we could almost understand one another in three different languages so really, it was a perfect combination for a team about to partake in a dangerous sport! At least the water was a refreshing temperature so made the prospect of going overboard vaguely less intimidating. 

The rapids were awesome and Wade copped a solid wall of water in the face on more than one occasion! At one point we all jumped over board and drifted alongside our raft which was great until we began to hear the thunder of the next rapid and a casual Arial suggested we get back in if we wanted to go over the rapids "in the boat"! We all squirmed back into the boat just as the speed of the water began to pick up!

There are plenty more photos from our whitewater rafting trip on our Colombia - Part 3 Photo Album here.

That night we went for pizza and beers and Hanna packed her things to leave the following morning. Wade and I had decided to stay and check out some of the surrounding forests and waterfalls but we had all decided to meet up again in Bogota in two days time.

On our last day in San Gil, Wade and I jumped on a local bus to go and see a waterfall, Juan Curi, just 40km out of town. We hiked up to the rocky, rainforest covered track, to the base of the falls where we had exclusive access to the waterfall as the last tourists were walking back while we were walking up. Sadly the water was absolutely freezing so we just had a quick break at the top and tried not to be swept away in the icy water while taking some photos in the slippery falls before heading back into San Gil.

We decided to take advantage of the awesome kitchen at Sam’s VIP and stopped off at the local market to cook up a veggie stir fry using all the incredible fresh produce. We had a quiet night chilling in the hostel and booked a bus to Bogota for the following morning. We wanted to arrive in Bogota before sunset because it certainly was not going to be the safest city we’ve visited during our travels.

We had read a lot of blogs about petty crime, violence and scams in the city so we wanted to make sure we were in our hostel and at least vaguely familiar with the city before sunset.

Looking back I was excited about visiting Bogota, the capital of Colombia and a city renowned for good parties and nightlife. Oh how my opinion changed over the coming days! I’ll be writing my Bogota post this week but until then, one last photo of Wade being hit in the face by a wall of water….

Cheers for reading! 

When we found a small stand on the side of the road offering "Touristic Travel" I was doubtful that it would get us to our destination, expecting it to either be overpriced or a scam. We asked anyway because at this stage, it was our only lead on how to get to Minca. A burly looking gentleman started yelling random destinations at us in the hope that one would sound familiar in a sea of random Colombian city names. I eventually cut him short as I wasn't sure he was actually still listing places and may now have moved onto trying to sell us some other random gadgets such as the pile of TV antennas and random remotes sitting behind him. As soon as the word "Minca" left my mouth, he put his arm around my shoulder and led the three of us to a vehicle that I had previously considered abandoned and possibly only used to steal parts from. The driver window was missing, and the inside looked as if it had been stripped in a car heist or perhaps they'd just tried to drop some weight from the vehicle knowing that the drive to Minca is all up hill! 

At this stage I still wasn't convinced this thing would actually run but for some reason we all jumped in and said nothing. Oh yeah this was our ride to Minca... Perfect.

We crawled up the hill to Minca in our beaten up old Trooper not-so-swiftly dodging 1m deep potholes as we went. Wade was in the back of the truck behind our seats, sitting precariously over the rattling gas tank while simultaneously attempting to hold the back door closed to avoid losing himself, our gas tank and our luggage! I'm sure the look on his face throughout the trip was one of genuine fear.... And probably for good reason! Haha

The drive up took us through small villages and some lush green scenery but nothing compared to the view from the top. I had found a place online that said they have tree houses, chalets and hammocks all up on a mountain side in Minca with an incredible view over the nearby coastal city of Santa Marta. How could we miss it!

The part that I had only vaguely mentioned to Wade and Hanna was that this place is up a mountain.... With walking access only! As we stepped out of the Trooper, our bodies still shaking from the bumpy drive up, we spotted a sign on a telegraph pole that said "Casa Loma"

"Follow the path behind the church. Stroll up the hill, past the school and then follow the signs to Casa Loma!"

We found the old white church in town and then creeped around the outside of it looking for the path to what would hopefully be our accommodation for the night. We followed a dirt road until we saw a Casa Loma sign where we turned off the road and up a smaller dirt track. Soon, the dirt track became a steep winding staircase that zigzagged its way up this mountain. Stroll up the hill. Really Casa Loma??? This was a freaking MOUNTAIN! The three of us were a sweaty mess after a day of walking around in 30 degree heat and finally this killer staircase was just the icing on the sweaty cake! 

As the three of us battled the epic stair climb to Casa Loma we passed a small guesthouse and a cool looking bar. Our mouths were watering at the thought of a cool beer to break up our journey, but as we excitedly skipped our way up the last few steps to the bar our hearts sank as the closed sign came into view. A sip of water and a sigh of disappointment was all we could muster up so without a word we all put our heads down and continued the climb. 

The signs to Casa Loma beckoned with promises of food, cool drinks and "The Best View in the WORLD"! By the time we reached the top I think the managers first words were "Hola! Please sit, here's a drink" closely followed by, "don't worry, we have cold showers". We must have looked even more rough than we felt! Casa Loma, you had us at hello!
Wade and I booked into a tree house and Hannah had this incredible little outdoor bedroom in the forest area at the top. We loved it and we hadn't even stopped to take in the view for all our efforts.

We only booked in for one night so decided that in order to make the most of our time, it was best to drop our things and head straight out to one of the many natural features in Minca. It started pouring before we even decided where to go so we chose the closest which was a river with natural swimming pools. While we were standing by the bank of the river catching tadpoles and discussing whether or not to go in for a swim, a sudden wave of water began thundering in front us in a flash flood and the river rose around 1m in 2 minutes! It was one of the craziest things I've ever seen and we were all pretty glad we hadn't been swimming at the time.

We decided to chill out in a local pub and wait for sunset as we had been told that the sunset from our "treehouse" was supposed to be absolutely breathtaking. As the rain set in we decided sunset was not going to be anything too spectacular tonight so before it became too dark, we began the steep incline to our home for the night. As we reached the small cafe/bar/restaurant we saw earlier in the day, we realised much to our delight that it was now open. Wade hadn't noticed and almost walked straight by when we were greeted by a beautiful little Labrador-cross puppy. The owner came running out with a huge smile spread across his face and invited us in for a drink. How could we say no! 

This little establishment, as little known as it is, is by far one of the coolest places I have ever lounged around while sipping ice cold cocktails. It was more or less a treehouse with the ground level being a bar/kitchen, then upstairs was a stunning balcony with the same incredible view of Santa Marta as we had from our tree houses. The balcony had a few beanbags, cute candles scattered around us and some awesome chill out tunes playing. If you closed your eyes and ignored the fact that the "clientele" consisted simply of the three of us, the bar owner (who also lived there) and 3 dogs, you could've been fooled into thinking we were in any classy cocktail bar across the world. After our third round of cocktails, the owner brought us up a bowl of hot, buttery popcorn and discovered that we had also not-so-subtly kidnapped his 3 month old puppy! It was such an awesome place, we could've sat there all night but eventually gave back the puppy, slurped our last cocktail and stumbled our way in the dark up to our tree house.

The following morning we ate breakfast while watching the sun glimmering off the city of Santa Marta in the distance. Immediately after breakfast we descended back down our dreaded hill and set off for "Pozo Azul" another set of natural pools only this time we read that they were bigger and more beautiful than the flooded river from the previous day.

As always in Minca, no walk is complete without hills and Pozo Azul didn't let us down. The views were incredible as we climbed up for a solid hour before reaching a sign that pointed straight down a long and winding path. We had gone from an open forest-type environment to suddenly find ourselves in thick, damp rainforest. We couldn't wait to dive right into the welcoming waters of Pozo Azul.

As we neared Pozo Azul we began to get the feeling that perhaps we wouldn't be alone as five, ten, fifteen moto taxis whisked by us. When we finally reached the sign for Pozo Azul and began our descent towards the river our fears were confirmed. We had completely ignored the fact that it was Sunday and from everything we had heard this was one of the locals favourite weekend destinations. There were people everywhere in the beautiful pools and cascades! We also should have taken another hint when we saw come coke bottles and beers being placed up against a rock in the river. I thought this was an odd place to store them and then I dipped my toe into the water. The water was FREEZING!!

I think my heart may have stopped for a minute as the ice cold water sent a shiver all over my body. Wade was game enough to go for a swim but Hanna and I opted for the smarter option and sat on the rocks dangling our feet in the water purely so we could say we did! Before too long, the three of us were reaching hypothermic levels so packed our things and left the crazy locals to swim in their icy pools. 

We stopped a small hillside restaurant on our walk back to town where a local man took us into his rustic outdoor "kitchen" and showed us the variety of meats he was cooking in a large mud brick BBQ. He had homemade chorizo, tender roast chicken, beef and pork. Our mouths were watering immediately and he knew we were sold. 

After stuffing ourselves with a shared plate of all the different meats and washing it down with a cool beer, we decided it was time to go and walk the remaining 2km back into town. 

While we only spent around 24hours in Minca, it was well worth the effort and although we could've easily stayed another night in this quaint hillside village, we decided to pack our things and leave in time for an overnight bus to our next destination.  As luck would have it, once we had paid our bill, packed our bags and said our goodbyes to the friendly treehouse hosts, the rain started and this time it wasn't just a sprinkle. We all tip toed as quickly as possible back down the steep and slippery bush staircase back into town, all fully loaded with our bags. By the time we reached the bottom we were soaked to the bone and happy to jump into the nearest dodgy-looking ride to Santa Marta! We jumped into the first available car and waved goodbye to Minca.

Our next destination, San Gil, had been suggested by Hanna in the previous days and Wade and I loved everything we read about it. It's an adventure sports and natural paradise down the eastern side of Colombia and an overnight bus trip away. We were stoked to be able to continue travelling together for a few more days so celebrated with a combination of Aussie and Swiss card games and some cold beers to kill time while waiting for our bus.

With two nights locked in at San Gil, our biggest decision from here was going to be choosing between the array of adrenaline filled activities on offer once we arrive - canyoning, white water rafting, waterfalls, hiking.... Yes please!!

Now not any old place would have us packing up and departing the wonderful city of Cartagena, but our next stop was well worth it. We booked a bus from our hostel directly to Taganga a small seaside village from where we hoped to enter Tayrona National Park. Many tourists choose to catch the boat from Taganga directly into the park because it means avoiding the long, hot walk into the campsites, however there is also the option of the bus. The bus takes you to the park gate on the eastern edge of the park from where you walk for around 45 minutes to arrive at the first campground. 

We had decided to do the walk because:
a) I had read that it's quite beautiful and you can see wildlife along the way
b) it seemed like the more adventurous and natural route into the park and
c) it was cheaper and we're now tightarse backpackers!

The thing we hadn't counted on was a 30 degree day with 90% humidity - the walk was strenuous to say the least! Most people leave the majority of their luggage in a bigger town and just take the necessities into the park. Not Wade and I! Due to the spontaneous nature of our travel, we took everything with us because we had no idea where we would be going next. This certainly didn't help our cause as we walked up and down rock staircases, across soft sand and hopped over tree roots crossing our path! 

After 45 minutes and almost 5 litres of water, we finally arrived at Arricifes Beach and campground. We were hoping our 5L water bottle would last us at least 2 days due to the price of water in the park but had clearly underestimated the walk in! 

Our friend Hanna had told us were she would be staying and without wifi or phones our only choice was to stay at the same place and hope to see her. Within half an hour of settling into our tent and showering a familiar face strolled by. In a 150sq km park we had managed to find our one friend! 

That night we had a few beers and watched the sunset from the beach before deciding to spend the following day exploring the park by doing the 4-5hour trek to the historic remains of the indigenous village of Pueblito. 

The walk from Arricifes on the east of the park to Cabo San Juan (the furthest west campground) was 8km of stunning beaches, natural pools and groves of palm trees that looked like they had been plucked straight from a coffee table book! 

By the time we arrived at Cabo we were already hot and sweaty but that didn't deter us from our goal to climb up to Pueblito. The trek was only 3 km according to the sign but what it lacked to inform the naive traveller is that it is almost directly up the side of a mountain. We spent the next 2 hours puffing and sweating our way up steep tracks, crawling over huge boulders and spotting a variety of wildlife. 

Eventually we reached Pueblito near the top of the mountain and could immediately vouch for its nickname as the "Little Lost City". The remains of Pueblito are scattered between what is still today a small indigenous village. Moss covered steps and smooth rocks used for grinding foods are scattered around the remains of ancient buildings. It's a beautiful site, almost as beautiful as the man selling ice-cold water under a shady tree! 

The water man mentioned to us that there was an alternate route back down the hill which was welcome news after we had literally hauled each other over some 1m high boulders and weren't so sure about a downhill strategy! 

The track was much easier as it avoided the rocky valley we had climbed up but it was also much steeper and covered in loose rocks. We tip toed our way down the track and finally sighed relief as we heard the ocean crashing in the distance. 

Now we knew that this track met the ocean on a secluded beach west of the other more touristy campgrounds. We also knew there was a nudist beach on our walk back to Cabo but what we didn't know was there was a second nudist beach just for really close male friends to "hang out" on. While Wade quickened his pace and almost ran to the next beach Hanna and I tried to have a normal conversation while walking past some sunbathing men but all I could think about were the logistics of these naked men laying around without so much as a towel between the sand and their.... Yep, try not to think about it for too long! 

Hanna left Tayrona a day before us so Wade and I spent our last day lounging around on the beaches while trying to avoid a group of French tourists who didn’t understand the meaning of personal space. It was such a peaceful and romantic day - Wade and I lying together on the beach while two elderly French women had a conversation over the top of us and their male companion decided to drape his sweaty t-shirt over my belongings. Such tranquility and bliss!

We left Tayrona the same way we entered, with the dreaded walk to the park gate, only this time it seemed much quicker and was made all the more special by some monkeys jumping over head and a capybara scuttling across the track in front of us.

Our next destination was Taganga and upon learning that it is the cheapest place in the world to undertake PADI Scuba Training, Wade jumped at the opportunity. I was unable to do it due to issues with my ears, but who am I kidding, the thought also terrifies me! So while Wade spent his days breathing underwater, chasing huge fish and learning all about the rules and regs for scuba diving, I chilled out with a few beers on our private balcony overlooking the beach. It really was a win win situation!

With a new PADI qualification under his belt, Wade proudly accepted his certification and spent the following days looking up all of our upcoming destinations that offer Scuba Diving. Looks like there will be more beers and balconies on the cards for me! 

As always, there are plenty more photos from our time in Tayrona National Park, they can be found in our "Colombia - Part 2" Photo Album! 

Cartagena is one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen. The architecture and colourful tree lined streets of the Walled City are unlike any place I have ever visited.

The vibrant windows framed by Bougainvillea are just asking to have their photo taken and the atmosphere is lively, almost festive, all the time. The temperature is sweltering, street vendors sell freshly sliced tropical fruits and every street corner offers a new possibility to explore. I loved it from day one couldn't have been happier that this would be our home for the coming weeks.

Arriving in Colombia and finally departing Portuguese-speaking Brazil also marked the start of our next 4 months in Spanish speaking countries. We were excited about this as we would both like to achieve a basic grasp of the language during our time in South America but Brazil had really put the brakes on our progress. Before leaving Brazil we had discussed the various places we could settle for a week or so to attend a Spanish language school and it just happened to make sense that we would get started ASAP. So there we were in the beautiful, historic coastal city of Cartagena, ready to make ourselves comfortable, smash out some Spanish and explore the city….. It couldn’t have been more perfect.

Cartagena is a reasonably large city however for most travellers, their visit centres around the UNESCO listed Old Walled City and the nearby backpacker suburb of Getsemani. The walls of the Old City of Cartagena are an incredible insight into this city's history. They were built between the 16th and 18th centuries to protect the city from pirate attacks. The walls are up to 20 metres thick in sections and several cannons still stand next to observation turrets, defensively watching over the ocean.

We chose a hostel on the well known backpacker street Calle Media Luna. The street has some very well known party hotels (one of which is owned by a friendly Aussie) but with the atmosphere comes a higher price and we actually wanted something quieter seeing we would need to be at school by 9am everyday. Wade and I opted for a smaller, cheaper hostel only metres away from the party hostels but with a quieter, more local feel to it. Hotel La Española had a unique charm about it that only faded slightly when we realized on day three that we were in fact right above a pumping nightclub!

Within our first few hours of arriving in Cartagena, a few things occurred that at first surprised us but over the next 2 weeks would become part of everyday Cartagena life. For starters we met a well dressed, super creepy man who wanted to know all about us. We stopped to chat seeing as he seemed extremely interested in where we had been and what we were doing in Cartagena. It was only after we told him our names and where we were from that he quite openly introduced himself as the local drug king pin. He offered us an array of goods including free samples, all of course because we were his new friends and “he liked the look of us”…. Whatever that meant! It only took us three days to find an alternate route around town that avoided our new friend on our daily walking path! 

Make friends with the locals... Tick!

We were then offered lunch by a motherly Spanish woman as we walked passed a very homely looking doorway. I used my basic Spanish to ask what the food was and how much it would cost. The price was cheap enough and while I didn’t understand every word, I gathered that we had a choice between chicken, beef or fish. We sat at a table surrounded by locals who were all eating plates of delicious looking food but we had absolutely no idea what WE were getting. Ten seconds later "Mamma" (as we decided to name our oh-so-efficient chef/waitress/business owner) came back with an icy cold juice and a bowl of hot soup. At first the thought of hot soup in 30 degree weather with 80% humidity sounded terrible but this soup was incredible! Wade looked vaguely disappointed at the fact that our lunch was soup and juice but I assured him that Mamma said something about chicken or meat and I had asked for one of each. Before we had even finished our soup there were two wonderful plates of deliciousness sitting in front of us. One with grilled chicken, rice, beans, plantain and salad and the other the same but with steak. Our lunch was awesome and when we asked for the bill at the end we really didn't know what to expect seeing as Mamma had somehow also sneakily added soup and a drink to our lunch order. In total, twelve thousand peso. Hmmm the new exchange rate was still messing with me a little but I'm sure that  equals $6 or $7 for the two of us. I gave Mamma a large note just in case I my Spanish translation was wrong but no it was right. I thought she was going to hug us when we left the equivalent of a $2 tip and we left more satisfied by a meal than we had been in weeks. I asked Mamma about the juice and soup and she simply gave me a confused look and said “Menu del Dia”. I looked this up later and as it turns out, lunch meals in Colombia consist of soup, a main plate and a fresh juice all for one small price!

Eat Colombian style "Menu del dia" like a local.... Tick!    

We spent the rest of our first day in Cartagena speaking to the different Spanish schools in town. While they all seemed great we chose to go with Babel and couldn't have made a better decision. Prior to signing up to Babel, my grasp of the Spanish language could be entirely attributed to a combination of:
1) The extensive vocab of Speedy Gonzalez
2) an App called "Mind Snacks" (try it, it's awesome!) and 
3) the song from the 1992 Barcelona Olympics which for some bizarre reason, at the ripe old age of 7, I decided was the coolest song around.... it wasn't.

On our first day at school we had 6 people in our class. By day two, we were down to four and by day three we were down to three. Wade and I found ourselves a new friend in James the pommie, who within minutes of meeting we immediately loved his wicked sense of humour and even better was that he only had a slightly better grasp of Spanish than ourselves! Our teacher Gisella was fantastic although it took her a few days to accept that she had somehow scored two of the most typical "naughty boys" at school in her class of three! The poor woman had no idea what had hit her. By the end of our first week we had a vague understanding of verbs and adjectives but knew without a doubt phrases such as "porn star", and even had an hour lesson on the history of Colombia including guerrillas, drugs and Pablo Escobar (all in Spanish of course!). In all honesty though, as much as we strayed from the normal curriculum, Gisella was a fantastic teacher and somehow the three of us English-speaking morons managed to really improve our Spanish over two weeks of school.

Speak Spanish like a gringo…. Tick!

During our two weeks of study we even had two school excursions! The first was to a small beach called Punta Arena which we accessed via a 20 minute boat ride from Cartagena. We wandered this idyllic island for the day playing word games and learning vocabulary relating to our surroundings. Our second excursion was to the local market, Mercado Bazurto. While Wade cringes at the mere thought of markets, I loved every minute strolling the alleys of this truly local market while learning all about the local foods and trying some of the more unique fruits and foods on offer. 

Seeing as our two weeks of Spanish School were the most routine we have had in the past 3 months we decided that we deserved a break on the weekend for all of our hard work! The beaches in Cartagena are nothing to write home about and by Australian standards are pretty miserable, so we decided that along with a group of girls from school we would head to Playa Blanca for the weekend. Playa Blanca is either a one hour drive or boat trip from Cartagena and once you are there it has all the makings of a remote, idyllic island only technically it is part of the mainland. 

While it is an absolutely stunning beach, we all agreed that the vendors on the beach offering everything from bottled water to oysters to creepy massages kinda ruined it a little. Eventually we headed down the beach to the overnight accommodation where there were far less tourists and therefore far less people trying to sell you warm oysters and unwelcome foot rubs. The one salesman that every tourist welcomes is the Coco Loco man. He spends his day strolling up and down the beach selling ridiculously strong Piña Coladas and other rum based concoctions in fresh coconuts and all made from his wheelbarrow. The guy is a genius!

We all decided to stay the night on Playa Blanca seeing as all the tourists leave at 4pm so we had the beach more or less to ourselves. We chose a small thatched roof hut as our accommodation for the night and Wade and I made a daring move when we decided to give the hammocks another "crack"! Lucky for us, this shelter held up better than our last and we made it through the night unscathed.

Our second day on Playa Blanca was spent swimming, reading and hooning around on a jet ski. It was a great escape from the city for a few days and really made us feel ‘normal’ again by having a weekend!   

During our second week in Cartagena we spent some serious time exploring the city. By the time we left the city, we had walked every street within a 1km radius of our hostel and thoroughly explored the museums, architecture and alleyways of the magnificent fortified Walled City. During the days Cartagena is a stunning combination of bustling plazas, colourful window frames and blossoming bougainvillea while after dark the city shines in all it's beauty from the vantage point of the historic walls surrounding this unique UNESCO listed city. 

I was sad to say goodbye to Cartagena. It had been our home for 15 days - longer than we have spent anywhere on our trip so far! Hotel La Española had really grown on me. Angela, the owner greeted us by name and asked about our day at school every time we passed her and the toilet-seat-less toilet and PVC pipe for a shower head now looked like cute quirky features of our home away from home.

We spent our last night in the city having a few ice cold beers out on the busy party street with our school mate James and the local beer vendors (who we now knew on a first name basis) while sweating in the city's never ending humidity. 

It was a fitting, if not poetic end to our time in Cartagena.