Wholesome Living and Extreme Sports

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After hitting up Medellin we headed in to the countryside for some fresh air, relaxation and sporting activities. San Gil was first on the list to provide us with our requirements, and proved very successful although less relaxation than we had expected given that we arrived for the town 320th birthday fiesta weekend. The normally sleepy town of San Gil was especially busy the weekend we arrived with an influx of Colombians ever ready for a fiesta no matter whether they are from the town celebrating it or not.

The fiesta itself was well organised and a good laugh apart from the selection of drinks which as can be the case in Colombia was mainly ´Aguadiente´, a Sambuca type of drink, which the locals enjoy drinking directly from the bottle (definately an acquired taste). This being a special occasion however, the bar had been raised and the ´Cristal´ version of the drink was drafted in and rolled out to the masses, which they gladly accepted. The firework display as the town welcomed their 320th year was pitiful and as per usual with these type of events here, quite frankly dangerous, however the booze meant that no-one much cared when the catherine wheel appeared to go awry and set a small fire extremely close to the food stands. The festivities over and the fighting began, a small pocket of 'youfs', with hoods and caps of course, took it upon themselves to start a fracas just as the salsa band were getting into their groove. The six policeman seemed ill equipped to deal with the fights so settled on removing injured people from the crowd, as the fighting began to cease the rain began and so we made our exit having experienced enough of the fiesta.

With regards to extreme sports Ben managed to do some rafting and hydrospeeding (riding a bodyboard down a fast river), whereas I got as extreme as considering paragliding and opting for a 9 km walk predominantly uphill, less extreme and more tiring but gorgeous nonetheless.

From San Gil we headed to Villa de Leyva, a small pretty town with cobbled streets, which afforded us with some nice views, the biggest plaza I have ever seen with nothing in it and my first horse riding experience. The horse riding was a great albeit painful experience, my horse being intent on being in the lead occasionally broke out in to a gallop just to ensure that it kept ahead, which was fun but a bit scary and slightly painful. The first hour of riding took us to a natural pool and enabled us to see the surrounding mountains, but also ensured that we saw the storm coming in and come in it did. The last hour and a half of horse riding was spent getting drenched and seeing the lightning all around us, but still a worthwhile experience.

After some fresh air and walks we decided it was time to get back to a big city and so off to Bogota we went for some big nights out and a Colombian football match.

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