A 3.30am start saw me on a plane from Panama City to Bogota and a massive change in climate, which I was more than glad of. Having had to get a 25$ taxi from downtown Panama City to the airport as it was so early I was damned if I was going to do the same at Bogota so was a good girl and the long cheap regular bus in the midst of the commuter traffic to the downtown area of Canderleria. I was still checked in and back in bed by 10am for some extra kip before going on a snoop round the area at midday. At first glance Bogota is not a beautiful city, but its got quite a bit to offer, and the old town area I was staying in was charming enough, with plenty of edgy students smoking joints through apples on street corners. I’d been told the Gold museum was a MUST, so I headed over late avo. And all though impressive, it’s still a museum…..I’ve learnt I just don’t enjoy them full stop. I’ll keep trying though.

Next day I jumped on the city bike tour, which was great! We went all over the city to some very non touristic areas including the red light district. Colombia has legalised prostitution, but only in classified zones, and in those areas prostitutes can stand barely clad on the streets. We also went to one of the larger markets in the city and got to try some of the different fruits colombia is famed for. I consider myself pretty worldly on food, but I think I tried at-least eight new fruits I’d never seen before, my favourite Magostini. One our stops was to a cemetery were we had a group of kids perform a rap, not my thing normally but they were pretty good; naturally the youngest cutest kid then went round with cap in hand and I think they make a pretty penny tapping up the bike tours that way..good for them. After our tour a bunch of us went to a very typical ie touristy cafe/restaurant for a local speciality of hot chocolate with cheese in, accompanied by cheese bread. It wasn’t terrible, but it didn’t blow my mind, I think it would be better with a mature cheddar.

That night our newly formed group headed to a huge restaurant/club an hour outside Bogota. Two if the guys comped us girls the transport there and the cost of most of our drinks and dinner as it was pretty pricey! It was like nowhere else I’ve ever been, a Disney land for adults; spectacularly decorated, a lot of salsa, food and drinks. The crowd was more after work, and taking clients out than my normal back packer scene, and I probably wouldn’t have chosen to go there but it was great fun for a night with a fun crowd. And very generous of the lads to.

My plan the next day was to do not much and then take a night bus to Coffee country, but the altitude played my hangover a little harder than anticipated so decided to stay another night, and did manage at least to head up a cable car to check out the city at night….it’s amazing how even an average looking city can look stunning in the lights at night!

Following morning I was up early and on my bus to Solento. I was so excited to get back on comfy buses, and the bus itself did not disappoint. Wifi, loads of space, own tv monitor with choice of dubbed films. However the journey itself was a bit of a shocker, the first two hours was stop start stop start with Mister lead foot, the following five hours were twisting up and around the hills and hairpin turns, and while the scenery was beautiful I was so glad I hadn’t night-bus it as I would have had zero sleep!

A short local bus connection I arrived in Solento, a very pretty small town set in the middle of the coffee region and near a national park. It was cool to be there on the weekend as it was full of local townies, and the main square was rammed of revellers on the Saturday night. It’s real cowboy country with men rocking ponchos and machetes on every corner, I felt like I was at home with the flagrant drunkedness everywhere. I tried the local specialty of Patacon, flattened deep fried plantain loaded with chicken, meat, cheese, chutney and sour cream…damn tasty!

Sunday we headed out for my first trek in a long time! To the Cocora valley, which is famous for its sixty foot palm trees. We tried to take a short cut and ended up heading vertically up a small mountain and back round the other side, the hardest route we could have found. The scenery was quite surreal with super high palms towering over meadows. It wasn’t a very hard hike, but as I hadn’t really done any hiking in my three months in Central America the legs felt it! On our return to town we treated ourselves to another Patacon with grilled trout, again D-Lish! That evening we headed to a real locals bar….full of every backpacker in town! We played the local game of Teoh; this involves throwing heavy metal discs from six metres away at a slanted pile of clay aiming for a circle in the middle which has gunpowder attached to it, when it explodes you’ve won. I managed it three times aided with an illegal overhead throw and a few shots of the Colombian spirit Aguardiente. A less sweet sambuca, fairly pleasant.

Following day I took another coffee tour, by the chap who owned the hostel we were staying in. Again really informative, and the tour ended with a cup of freshly roasted, ground and brewed coffee. It’s beautiful countryside surrounding the town, and after a quick last look round the town it was time for another longish bus ride. This time to Medellin. Again I was glad not to have taken the nightbus as up through more hills and windy roads it was impossible to sleep. I had my first police check, when they boarded asking for ID, checking everyone’s bags really thoroughly and finally a very intimate pat down, luckily by female officer in my case…what could I possibly be hiding in the underwire if my bra?

Medellin is famous for several things, the hometown and death place of Pablo Escobar, its all year spring weather, and over the last twenty years has being winning world awards for its invocation for its transport system and the successful rebirth of the now modern city that has clawed is way back from one of the most dangerous places to live in the eighties.

Of course with the spring comes the rain, and I arrived in a huge downpour at night. I started early(ish) the next day, to try and make the most of the sun. The metro is indeed pretty impressive, and all entirely overland. I checked out the botanical garden, which I was slightly cautious of as I’d met an Ozzie girl in Solento who’d been mugged in broad day light there. You couldn’t imagine a more safe environment with primary school kids on class trips, and people running and walking. The gardens themselves were far more impressive than I’d have imagined with a huge wooden ceiling area suspended thirty metre high , where they have free yoga amongst other activities. And a decent amount of fauna and fauna including massive lizards. I’d planned to do some further exploring but an imminent deluge chased me into the one of the huge shopping malls for the afternoon where I replaced a couple of “essentials”..some habits did hard…

That evening I was “forced “by a crew of young Brits in my hostel to get involved with some drinking games, usually I try and avoid such lowly hijinks; but once in a while its just good fun….we left the hostel after causing an inordinate amount of noise for a local Salsa Club, apparently there was a very a good band…all though the rum, red wine, tequila, beer mix left me devoid of that memory and few others. The next morning we’d signed on for a free walking tour, which somehow three of us still managed to attend.

This tour was only started four months ago by a local born and bred chap from the city, its now number one activity on trip advisor for the city and he’s booked out for everyday. I was so glad I worked through the hangover to go, it gave me such a different insight to the city, and understanding a little of the cities’ history over the centuries and in particular the last forty years gave real context to the remarkable rebirth of the city. Perhaps nowhere else in Colombia exemplifies just how far the country has come over the last twenty years. Not to say there is not work to be done, but I felt safe throughout my travels in Colombia. Architecturally the city won’t set you heart on fire, and yes now it is a well oiled modern city regarding its infrastructure and amenities, but its still a city of soul. For many travellers passing through Medellin is seen just a party town between Bogota and the Coast, and good palace to spot a decent amount of plastic surgery. But there’s definitely some substance beneath the glossy new surface.

Our guide told us just how horrendous some of the days were in the eighties, were in the same week of November 1985 as the siege of the Judicial Palace Siege in Bogota there was a volcano eruption in the north of the country which killed 23000 people. He told us how because of that much and frequent bad news the only way for the everyday people to continue with their lives was to forgot to a point. And goes someway to explain the psyche of the Colombia people with the country ranking very high in “happiest country in the world”. It’s not all roses, and like so many other countries I’ve visited in Latin America the gap between the rich and poor is obviously prevalent on any street corner.

My final morning in the city I took the metro, which included a metro cable-car ride as part of the system up for a viewpoint of the city. The cable car is one of two that directly links two previously “no go” areas with the cities transport system, quite a maverick move and one of the reasons Medellin won city of the year 2012. Providing the residents of these areas with easy access to get around their city, to help with commuting times either for work or studies. They’ve also built new state of the art study facilities within these areas. The view of the whole city we’d headed up for was not great the day we went, but seeing that side if the city and efforts to incorporate the society into the wings old of the city was far more interesting anyway.

The one thing I’d wanted to do, but didn’t sign up in time for was to go on a Pablo Escobar tour, which I’d been told was excellent. You can’t do it all.

I headed off that evening to the airport to fly to Cartagena up on the coast, enjoyed an average glass of Sauvignon Blanc in the Avianca VIP lounge..making the most of my airport lounge pass whilst its still valid courtesy of the Ex!