Stepping off the plane to Leticia I remembered that actually I wasn't quite saying farewell to Columbia yet and that we had just entered the gateway into the Amazon, and 150% humidity. God was it hot and sticky; it was the sort of humidity that meant you were wetter when you got out of the shower than when you were in it. The next couple of days were spent preparing ourselves for the journey ahead, buying supplies (Vodka, Munchies, Oh yeah and what would be our bed for the next 4 nights a hammock!) The pousada (that's a guest house) where [View Full Entry]

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With only one day in Bogotá there wasn't much time for sight seeing but after meeting a few really cool peeps I decided that there wasn't anything else to do other than commiserate my last day in Columbia but celebrate the time that I’d had. However even though I was only there for one day it never made it uneventful. After traipsing around the streets trying to find a decent bar open in down Bogotá (It’s the capital city and I wouldn't have it that nothing was on) we found the pub at the end of our road open and I [View Full Entry]

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What can I say other than Taganga turned out to be a disappointing experience for me. Taganga is only 15minutes away form Santa Marta and is the sort of place where people go for 2 days and end up being there for 2 months. The difference being that we only had 2 days and the main reason for my visit was to check out some of the infamous diving of the Caribbean. Unfortunately I became a victim to South American time (This is that there is no such thing as being on time or a schedule). After committing to diving a [View Full Entry]

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Oh my life, what can I say other thanparadise. Under normal circumstances I would let the pictures do the talking but as per usual this was not an uneventful trip. [View Full Entry]

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Santa Marta is 6 hours around the coast from Cartagena and can not compete with its old city but is the gateway to paradise (Tayrona National Park). We had a brief stop over here but soon moved on to its neighbours. [View Full Entry]

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Well we decide to put the syringes and dirty nappies behind us and head to a little paradise called Playa Blanca a short boat ride away. Now this is what I was expecting from the Caribbean. We spent the whole day drinking beer, having a laugh and admiring the paradise that we had found. The only problem being that as with all Caribbean places there is someone that wants to sell you something. Under normal circumstances this wouldn't be too much of a problem other than the fact that I had my self a stalker. It didn't matter whether I was [View Full Entry]

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Due to the lack of time left in Columbia we (I found 5 bad influences along the way) decided to head to the Northern coast to spend our remaining time more wisely on the Caribbean. First stop Cartagena. Don’t let the pictures fool you as it’s not all perfect. The hostel we were staying in was deep in the ghetto with prostitutes and drug dealers (some of you might think I felt right at home then hahaha) but as with all holes there is beauty around the corner. The Old city holds some of the most enduring architecture of Spain that [View Full Entry]

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Cali was what I would say the first experience I’d had in a long time of feeling that I could be at home. The third biggest city in Columbia not only had white, brown, black people with blue, green and even yellow eyes but seemed to not have a stereotypical type of person. Then to top it off the shopping malls had supermarkets like Asda, Diesel, Dunkin donughts and many other shops you would find in any good English city. Well I only intending spending a week here but I soon became too comfortable (not sure how as it was by [View Full Entry]

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After a pain free border crossing my luck continues. I caught a collectivo to the first town and literally had brought a ticket and was on the bus within 5 minutes, you can see by the photos that this was one of my better journeys. At times it felt like I was on the death road again with the winding bendy steep roads but the scenery was amazing. This was the first time that I realised how much I had missed seeing rich green vegetation after the desert of Peru. I should have been prepared as Columbia is one of the [View Full Entry]

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If I'd have known that this day was going to be the worst day of my whole traveling experience I would not have bothered getting up at 7am and popped a few Immodium helping to keep their manufacturers in the FTSE 100. The reason for such an early start was that after deciding to bypass Ecuador and go to Columbia instead I was going to have to catch 3 different buses totaling 16 hours and get to Quito to collect my bank card from the embassy allowing me to then travel to Columbia. I had been advised under no circumstances cross [View Full Entry]

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