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Rain rain and more rain!! Today was truly wet and miserable in Medellin, we were planning to do the cable car but it wouldn't have been worth it. After 10 attempts trying to ring the hostel in Rio Claro (a nature reserve on the way to Bogotá) we finally got through on a pay phone and booked a room for the night. It is really expensive as it is a private nature reserve owned by a family so hopefully it will be worth it, we have read good things about it. We ventured out of the hostel to get a couple of empanadas for breakfast and to make the call but then decided to go straight to Rio Claro instead of finding things to do in Medellin in the rain. The journey was about four hours, I fell asleep for most of it! We had been warned about the Colombian buses being cold and it really was, I had a jumper and hoody on. By the time we got to Rio Claro though it was sunny and very hot and humid, once inside the reserve (the bus literally dropped us off outside it) we had to walk about 20 minutes with our bags to the cabañas, we were sweating buckets when we arrived! As it had been chucking it down unfortunately the river was actually quite brown and dirty looking, so not 'claro' at all! We are hoping that tomorrow it will have cleared up so we can appreciate its real beauty. There are about four different types of cabins within El Refugio, our room has a balcony which is like one big window to the rainforest. We didn't have any electricity but assumed it would come on when it got dark. We had an hour or so before dinner so went for a walk to establish our surroundings, we didn't see much wildlife but saw some of the rock formations which are one of the attractions of the area. We had refreshing cold showers in the dark before heading for dinner at the restaurant which is back by reception, about a 10 minute walk from our cabin. Meals are included with the night's accommodation so we didn't order as such but just chose which meat we wanted. We had soup for starter, we guessed it was carrot but weren't too sure. Nathan went for pork I had beef, both of which came accompanied with potatoes and salad. There were a few other tables of people but it was fairly quiet! We had a yummy chocolate brownie (which we had bought earlier) waiting for us back at the cabin so we went back to have that for dessert. Luckily we had a small torch as the walk back was pitch black! It was a bit spooky as we were alone walking through the rainforest with occasional thunder and flashes of lightening. To our disappointment we still didn't have electricity when we arrived back, for the amount we paid we really should have done. Our second surprise was on taking the brownie out of the bag the packet was opened, chewed and quarter of the brownie gone! We then read on the leaflet that you should keep food in sealed containers to avoid unwelcome guests!! I found this quite funny but Nathan was paranoid there was a rat somewhere in our room so slept with the torch in hand just in case he had to 'fight it off'. It was a bit unsettling knowing that whatever it was had crawled all over our stuff, and had the cheek to eat our delicious dessert! Alarm is set for 4.45am, we want to do some bird watching and this is the best time to catch them!
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Rayna toms He was watching your figures!!!!! Xx