Columbia

So from galapagos went to quito for the night and then made our way up to Columbia to Cali where there is a massive 5 day festival with salsa, bullfighting, parades and just general mayhem. thought we would leave on 23rd, spend 1 hour or so at border and be there morning of 24th. eh...not quite the way it worked out. The ecuadorian border was mayhem, 1 queue for both getting your exit stamp and entry stamp and just so busy. arrived at 4pm, the place shut at 10 and we had barely moved so in order top not be in the queue at xmas we decided to sleep out. so many people were crammed on the pavement was quite funny, until it started to rain... luckily only spitting for a while. not the best nights sleep iv ever had though! 17 hours at that border, 3 at columbian side and we were on our way!!

Maaged to get on a bus to Cali pretty much straight away but that then got a flat tyre so we sat sweltering without the air con for 2 hours in the pitch black, dunno how it took them so long to change the tyre!! Finally arrived in Cali at 1am christmas morning and luckily found some beds at a hostel, quick shower and then out to celebrate xmas with a few drinks! Few hours kip then went to get some press passes for the feria, was so funny we just went to this office and said the name of a uk paper and got these passes. Went to the opening parade and with our passes got special seats in a grandstand with a police escort along the whole length of the parade first! Was funny to begin with but then all teh crowd started whistling at us gringoes getting special treatment and people were grabbing us for tv interviews, i was so embarrassed!!! Parade was cool, all these folks dressed up doing salsa and wicked dancing. Xmas dinner consisted of some street food and then we went out to a club which was also really cool, luckily had a mix of salsa and dance as i cannot salsa to save my life!! Spent a few days in Cali going to the events and went to a bullfight which as you can imagine was not my cup of tea but i suppose an experience.

Headed up on another 12 hour bus to Medellin for New Years, stayed in an Irish party hostel and well the night was just crazy. Went to a club in teh middle of the night but i came outside and all of a sudden it was daylight! Didnt actually get to bed till the following night, which we spent on a bus to Cartagena for a 3 day dance festival that was starting on the 2nd. In actual fact due to usual south american inefficiency it was cancelled so hung around for a few days, the city is cool but very busy with all the rich columbians and their trophy girlfriends who have all had butt and boob implants!

Went to Playa Blanca this gorgeous beach which is supposed to be a 30 min boat ride away. We had read in the book that last boat went at 930 so up at 8, got there at 930 only to wait till 12 for boat to fill up with locals and the worlds supply of fruit and supplies. Think we were paying at least double the local fare as well. When we finally left got all of 30m out of the dock and started having problems with the engine, cue lots of faffing around and stopping and starting. then was off to get some petrol and then off at a very slow rate to the beach. At one point I actually thought we might sink a we were so low in the water and the waves were really high, coming in over the side of the boat and soaking all our stuff. Especially when the local asked for a life jacket for the children!! Luckily we made it intact and the beach was worth it. No running water or electricity and slept in hammocks right on the beach, very relaxing. In the mornings woke up and jumped straight in the carribean sea for a swim. Ate my years supply of mangoes, watermelon and fresh fish, was perfect. Stayed 2 nights by which stage the salt everywhere was starting to get a bit minging. Managed to get a 30min boat back without any dramas then hopped on a 5hour bus to Santa Marta, another coastal town.

From Santa Marta went to Parque Tayrona, supposed to be lovely and idyllic. Have to walk or get a mule in for 2 hours and then u reach several beaches. was pretty m¡nice but very busy as it was still the local holidays and just too many people and expensive compared to Playa Blanca. So after here did a 6 day trek to the Ciudad Perdida or lost city of the Tayrona, which was only discovered in 1973, so nowhere near as busy as Macchu Picchu. Trek started with typical South American inefficiency and yçtoutçring round for 2 hours after we left doing not a lot it seemed befor ethe longest jeep ride up the bumpiest off road track for about 2 hours in the heat. Lunch at which a ate far too much and then suffered for it all the way up the mountain, a few nice orange and pineapple stops though. My group consisted of a german girl, and 3 columbians, 1 young lad and his grandmother!! and her sister. Cannot imagine doing that kinds thing in my 50s and 60s but they were mega fit despite me having to give them anti inflammatory injections in the bum on day 2 once they learnt i was a vet! had no clue if i was putting it in right place or not but they said i was very gentle!!!

Such a sweaty and sandfly infected place, as soon as you stopped you got attacked and you just sweated off all the bug spray. By the 2nd day my legs were a mess...again. Beautiful views of the cloud forest and we got to the city on day 3 after 9 river crosssings! Place is very cool, lots of circular terraces and steps and still only 60% uncovered, you see steps diappearing off into the jungle all over thge place. Another cool thing was seeing all the
indiginous people, they wear these manky sack like clothes and have long hair and tend to hide when they see the cameras-either that or ask for money! Spent the night up at the city in the most crowded room inamginable, hammocks everywhere and freezing,not good when id decided to forgoe the warm clothes for a light bag! A group of Ozzie lads joined us for the 2nd and 3rd days, 1 of whom i had tried and failed to dig a piece of glass out of his foot on new years day in medellin! Meet everyone again in Columbia!

Left the city on the 4th day and had a leisurely 3 days to get back. After that went to Taganga another beach town for a few days to chill out and sunbathe by the pool and eat lots of fish, ice cream and fresh juice, mango and passionfruit my fave!

From Santa Marta down to Bogota on overnight bus, where 16 hrs turned into 20! Bogota more shopping and washed literally my whole bag! Went to the gold museum which is really good, never seen somuch gol dinmy life!These early columbians sure knew how to work gold well, the pieces are so intricate! City is so cold though, stepped off bus inshorts and flip flops and immediately froze! Am now in all my fleeces for hopefully last time before coming home!

After a bit of drama and a lot of phone calls and complaining finally booked my flight to leticia for tomorrow on the peru brazil columbia border from where i will catch boat to manaus in brazil (4 days or so) and then from there another one to Belem on the coast. Dont be thinking it will be nice cruising down the amazon cos think they are smelly, overcrowded and hot, but is cheap and another experience for the logbook!

Adios from Columbia!!!

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