Today I had the whole morning to myself to pack, organize and rest up a little before heading to Barranquilla later in the afternoon. At midday Ana came back and cooked a very nice lunch consisting of chicken, mushrooms, beans and olives - we chatted a little bit and then it was time to head into the city and catch a bus to Barranquilla. We said our goodbyes and I caught the first minivan heading to the bus terminal, from there I caught a bus to Barranquilla - 2 hours away. When we arrived in Barranquilla the bus took us way out of town and I had no idea what the hell was going on - I tried to ask if we were going into city and the reply was a nod of the head. We were stuck at this bus terminal for about an hour. A couple of Police officers came on board and asked for my ID - quite oddly one policeman kept opening pages with old stamps and pointing - I had no idea what he was asking or saying I just say no Colombia as in its not a Colombian stamp and hoped for the best I did get a little nervous to be honest. As the bus started to leave a guy came and asked for my ticket and I showed him and much to my disbelief he said no no and pointed off the bus - turns out this was the one and only stop in Barranquilla and I had just spent one hour sitting here doing nothing. I grabbed my stuff, ran down the bus and jumped off before I ended up in Cartagena. I asked some staff at the station how I get to Centro and unfortunately none of them could understand me - but just as I was walking off a middle aged man asked if I needed some help in English- with a big smile I said yes :) This guy was from Venezuela, owning a shoe factory with his wife and having lived in Holland for 4 years. He had just dropped his wife off at station who turned out to be on the same bus I was on. He turned out to be a great help, giving me invaluable advice about Barranquilla, Colombia and Venezuela. He painted a very bad picture of Venezuela and insisted I not visit but if I was to go he could put me in contact with good people or maybe even join me. We jumped on the same bus and he showed me exactly where I needed to go - halfway there he checked I was ok, gave me his contact details and bus me fair well. I made it to my meeting point for my new host and gave her a call. Whilst waiting a little old lady started speaking to me in Spanish and out popped the word gringo - I laughed, agreed and what followed was a wonderful big smile from her and a very gangstah handshake and fist pump - so odd, crazy and heart warming - wonderful welcome to Barranquilla. I met Khris and two other Couchsurfers Jose & Melissa. We grabbed a few things at the supermarket and then headed to the the town square. The town square was really cool- there were people skateboarding, riding bikes, dancing, doing exercise - you name it people were doing it in this big open space. We watched people, talked a bit and then headed back to Khris's place. It was late now so I made some dinner, met Khris's Dad and then said goodnight.