Had a pretty amusing flight from Medellin to Cartagena, full of a rowdy adult group from Bogtota getting ready for a big weekend on the coast, the staff were completely unable to control them and most of them were standing up or kneeling back over the seats during both take off and landing, too funny! Landing at Cartagena on the Caribbean coast was another huge temperature change, I was glad to arrive in the relatively cooler evening, and also glad I’d been forewarned to get a room with aircon!

In my hostel I bumped into a couple I’d met back on the coast of Mexico and headed out with them the next day to a mud volcano. This was such a tourist trap, but totally worth it and hilarious. The “volcano” is a small mound which you climb up some scarily slippery stairs holding onto the mud covered banister, before climbing down into the volcano into a bath of pretty stinky mud. There were two chaps massaging everyone, it was not obligatory but actually you had no way out of it. The sensation of almost floating in the mud was nothing but weird and all you could do was laugh and and muck about…like pigs in s**t! After we walked down to a pretty stinking lake to wash off, where again we were accosted by ladies helping wash the mud of us, something else that was not obligatory that basically was, but for a few extra dollars I wasn’t bothered!

The following day I braced the mid day heat and walked round the old town inside the fort walls. I’ve seen a lot of very pretty colonial towns and cities on my travels, but Cartagena is certainly battling up near the top. With the narrow streets and balconies, it felt very European, but with the Caribbean twist if colour. After a few hours and nearly sliding out if my flip flops from the amount if sweat I was producing I dived into “Crepes y Waffles”. This is a fairly new chain of Colombian restaurants that a Colombian girl I’d met in Mexico made me promise I’d try. Aside for the welcome aircon, the food was amazing. I had a crepe with Mexican chicken in chipotle sauce, sooooo good! I snuck back two days later for another hit….

Sunday I headed off to Playa Blanca with a day pack, a one hour hour and quite pricey boat ride up the mainland. I’d timed this slightly badly as the weekend crowd rocking up on this “deserted” beach made it look a bit like Blackpool! I think this was another case were I’ve been hugely spoilt with some of my recent beach action. But blue plastic covered sunshades lining the bench, noisy jet skis buzzing up and down the shallows touting for business, and the weekend crowd discarding their beer cans and rubbish in the sand just didn’t do it for me. Luckily I was staying the night in an overpriced cabana, and by four pm 95% of the crowd had left so I could look at this beautiful white beach. Mmmmmm….. yep I’ve been spoilt. The following morning was really peaceful and quiet till the boat shuttles started arriving around 11am, but not nearly the volumes of people the day before. To be fair the water was pretty amazing, and it was a great paddling beach, (aside from noisy, smelly, dangerously handled jetskis…what a grumpy git I’ve become!). But as the beach is a little remote everything is extortionate, and whilst I got some good sunbathing and chilling out down its not one I’d rush back to.

I left Cartagena the following morning for Taganga, five hours further east on the coast. My original plan was to maybe to do some snorkelling, and then head to the national park for some beach action. I’d met an English girl back in Guatemala, who’d told me about the lost city trek, “ciudad perdida”. I’d decided back then I was going to do it, but since being in Colombia I’d talked myself back out of it, having been caught in some fairy heavy rain and not wanting to walk for five days in hot, humid mosquito jungle. However….on checking into my hostel and meeting three people who’d just completed the trek they convinced me I HAD to do it. I just caught the office still open at 6pm and books myself on for the next morning leaving at 8am…snap decision made and followed through.

I was picked up in the heaviest deluge yet, and I was thinking what the hell was I thinking!!?? But a three hour drive inland and off road to our starting point and there was no rain just sun. We were a group of six girls, and one of the girls I’d coincidentally met in Bogota. We headed off at 2pm, and had our first swimming hole opportunity after only forty minutes. This was one of the deal breakers for me that we got to swim in rivers at least once a day. After that we started the toughest climb of the five days, it was nearly straight up on a switch back for an hour and half and having done so little trekking the prior months I was feeling it! We plateaued out for an hour, before a sharp decline. The light had started to fade and we had to get a lick on, we’d just made the shelter before full darkness and the rain launched down! It was insane, so heavy that I took a full shower under a gutter with soap and cleaned all my clothes. That night we were staying in Hammocks suspended under a shelter. Another couple from a different company joined us, so we were now eight hikers, two guides and one chef. In our camp that night was also another group, mainly Brits, and one super loud Gringo. Our group and all the staff went off to try and sleep and these guys stayed up drinking, giggling and shrieking for another few hours causing some verbal abuse back and forth between the groups. They were them noisily up two hours before us as they were doing the trek in four days not five, great as when they left camp we wouldn’t be seeing them again, but not so great that we’d been awake since 5am and walking on four hours sleep was not so fun.

But day two was fairly easy, and we were in the second camp by 1pm, had some great swimming and come across our first indigenous communities of the Kogi tribe. It was like going back in time in the jungle passing the odd couple on a donkey, or kids carrying baskets laden of plantain. Both our guides were really informative and one of the girls was fluent in Spanish and did a great job translating, I chipped in a little to. It was fascinating learning about their culture. At night a couple of the kids came into camp to get some extra dinner, funny little guys. That night we were back in beds, and I slept much better. Day three was pretty easy again, and aside from wading through some rivers and the last petty steep bit along the river side was ok. We were in camp by 2pm before another immense downpour. Most of the group headed off for a bit of sleep, myself and and one girl hangout playing cards and dominoes. Some more local tribe kids were in camp, and I lent them my dominoes. I wrongly assumed they couldn’t speak any Spanish, but ended up in conversation with a twelve year old for half an hour. It was really intriguing, asking each other about our lives. My Spanish is ok, but trying to explain to a fourteen year old kid from such a different world why I had split up from my husband and didn’t have any children at thirtysix was pretty tricky. He was one of 16! Girls are up for marriage and kids as soon as they have their period, with producing as many offspring as possible is the main goal of their people to make their tribe bigger and stronger. It was enlightening, and I’ve never felt like I’ve been in a society so far removed from my own. That night I slept in a hammock, everyone else was inside and I was all alone outside, with my guide forewarning me to take care of the jaguars….

Day four am early start in drizzle, but the sun came out and within forty minutes we were at the base of the lost city with the 1263 stone stairs climbing up to the top. The city itself is now just foundations, and much is still undercover entirely. It’s no Machu Picchu, but how remote it is, and we were the only ones there the day we went was pretty cool. And the history of the city is fascinating also, only being rediscovered in 1972. We spent a few hours around the site and the guides gave us plenty more info, including the unfortunate pillaging of the gold and treasure after its discovery, which was all melted down and sold off and also about the 2003 kidnapping of 8 tourists for 3 months. We returned to camp for lunch and then walked back to camp two for the night.

Day five was an early start, and it was a glorious sunny morning. Luckily this spured us on as we had to walk back what we covered in day one and two. We’d been so lucky as we’d never even walked in rain once, and this held out for us on our final day also. The last few hours were pretty tough, and the tough incline we’d done on day one was not much funner going down, but knowing we got to swim at the bottom got us through it! My photos don’t really do the scenery any justice, but being in the jungle was beautiful. I also lucked out massively…only 5 mosquito bites! A few others were less lucky. And if I hadn’t been a plonker and gone swimming on day three with my shoes on, I would have got through the trek with dry feet. Our guides were brilliant, the food plentiful and good, and we had a great group. I’m so glad I manned up and did this trek, and its been good to get something under my belt before Machu Picchu next month. The only downside was an old back pain seemed to have resurge…..

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!