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A whistle stop stay in Bogota before we headed to the notorious city of Medellin. Famous for drug lord Pablo Escobar and his Medellin cartel, this city has reportedly changed over the past few years since Escobar's death and the execution and arrest of most of the key cartel members. Once a city with countless murders a day, it's now brimming with nightlife and culture.
We'd heard good things about the city prior to our visit from fellow travellers along the way, so we made plans to stay for a few days, learning Spanish and relaxing in the leafy suburbs. We passed a few days exploring the city's delights; museums, exhibitions by the famous Colombian artist, Fernando Botero, visiting the city's slums via the cable car and relaxing in the local parks. In addition to a few sporadic Spanish lessons, I also managed to twist James' arm into taking some Salsa lessons. We had to laugh during our first lesson when we plodded around the dance floor, James donning huge trainers in which he couldn't feel his feet, totally out of rhythm and sync! However, after 6 hours and buckets of sweat later we were dancing, in time and together! Practice makes perfect and now we have the basics we'll be stomping round dance floors wherever we go!
From Medellin we headed north to Cartagena, along previously one of the most dangerous roads in Colombia. There are many like this, in the past frequently managed by the FARC but now patrolled by countless numbers of military and police. These days roads are safer which means the locals can travel around without worrying if they'll be robbed at gunpoint and tourists can roam freely, making Colombia a more accessible country to visit.
The heat in Cartagena was intense, but worst of all there was no escape. The only accommodation we could afford didn't have air-con, just antique fans that circulated the hot, stale air! So, we sweated profusely for 4 days, taking in the beautiful old town, wallowing around in a mud bath like a pair of happy piggies and enjoying a taste of the Caribbean on the beautiful Playa Blanca. We enjoyed copious amounts of cocktails and beer whilst paddling in the crystal blue sea and I relaxed with a coconut oil massage which burnt me to a crisp as a result! It was a Caribbean paradise until we went behind the beach huts and realised where all the rubbish and toilet waste is disposed, so disgusting.
In comparison to the other countries we've been to in Latin America, Colombia is quite new to tourism, and many of the places we've visited aren't fully geared to the tourist.For this we love it as it is much more of a challenge to explore. It'll be interesting to see how it changes over the next few years, once the word is out that Colombia is relatively safe and undiscovered.
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