Day 154

We caught a bus from Huacachina to Lima, and then onto the airport for our flight. We were in Bogota, Colombia by 11pm. My mate, Steven met us at the airport and we caught a taxi back to his place. I hadn't seen Steven in 3 and a half years, and it was good to catch up. This was the beginning of our Colombia adventure.

Day 155

After waking up in a comfortable bed and having a hot shower at steves, we headed out to Bogota town centre. Steve had organised for us to have a salsa lesson. Slightly nervous, we began the lesson and after 5 mins of uncoordinated stamping, we picked it up. Rest assured these sexy salsa moves came out a couple of times throughout Colombia. We explored the city and that night we went out for dinner at a local restaurant.

Day 156

Steve went to work, and I stayed at his place to watch England triumph over the world champions Spain. A win is a win!!! Whether we had 10% of possession or not!!! That afternoon we caught a plane to Medellin. A 45minute flight later we arrived in Medellin dumped our stuff in the motel/hostel, met steves mates and then went out for dinner. A boozy night lay ahead....and we got home just before 6.

Day 157

Woke up with a slight hangover and went to have a stodgy Colombian breakfast, called a Bandejo. The food in Colombia is not great, and is pretty bland, but it does the job for a hang over. We explored the city, and made use of the metro system. We got a cable car up to a hill overlooking the city. The cable car passed over the slums on the hill side and gave a clear view of the poverty the people live in. That evening we went out again, but it wasn't as late a night as the night before.

Day 158

Steve had to return to Bogota to work, and so Kelly, his 2 mates and I caught a bus to Santa Fe De Antioquia. This was a very picturesque small colonial town. We spent the day there, and got the bus back at 6pm. Steves mates returned to Bogota, and Kelly and I went to bed.

Day 159

Unfortunately, we had to waste the day, as we were catching a night bus to San Gill. Not much happened.

Day 160

We arrived in San Gill the following morning at 10am, in a hostel owned by an aussie fella. That day we explored the town (another small colonial town) and took it easy. I watched England beat Sweden on the TV and Kelly had a sleep. That evening I played 5-aside football with the owner and some other guys staying at the hostel. It was played on a concrete old looking playground, and it was nice to do a bit of exercise.

Day 161

After breakfast we spent the day white water rafting on a level 3 river, pretty crazy and great fun. At one point, the guide suggested we all jump into to experience the rapids fully. We drifted down the river and were enjoying ourselves, until one of the other lads began to have difficulties and began to panic. I swam across to him and lifted him up by his life jacket. at this point he started to push me under and use me as a float. I managed to get free and helped him up into the boat. He apologised (as much as macho "arrogant" south american men can) and we continued. After the rafting we went to have a coffee at the plaza and relaxed. That is until I was attacked by a wasp (im not having the best of luck with wasps this trip). In my panic I swotted it with a metal serviette holder, and it flew across the cafe and into the face of an old man sat nearby. Very embarrassed, I apologised and carried on with my coffee, trying not to laugh.

Day 162

We were up early and after breakfast we caught a bus to ANOTHER small colonial town called Barichara. We walked from there 9km to another town called Guane, and spent the day there.

Day 163

After breakfast I went on another water sport trip, while Kelly stayed at the hostel. The sport was called Hydrospeed and involved lying on a large float/body board. You are then launched onto the river face down and head facing the direction of the oncoming rapids, and you have to hold on. It was mental, and great fun. There were a couple of near misses and almost drowning experiences, but I managed to get through it. Got back and spent the day like a vegetable.

Day 164

Today was another lazy day. We walked around the town and explored the markets. I watched the Liverpool v Chelsea game and we caught a night bus to Cartagena. The bus journey was going to be 16 hours!!

Day 165

We arrived at Cartagena bus terminal at 10am. We had met a couple on the bus and caught a taxi with them to the city. The city was very big, and we were lucky enough to find a hostel in the old town. This was a picturesque beautiful old town, with wonderful colonial architecture. Cartagena is on the Caribbean coast, and is therefore very very hot and humid. We explored the local area and booked some trips for the next few days. We had booked a double room, but after discovering that we had read the price wrongly, we realised that the room was vastly more expensive than we wanted. We asked to be put in a dormitory, and were to be sharing with 6 other blokes….terrific. The smell in the morning, was not something I was looking forward to.

Day 166

After overcoming the smell we rose and had breakfast. We planned our walking tour around the old town. The town was beautiful and it was a lovelly day…..although it was roasting. It was a long day and involved visiting a museum specialising in the torture of the Spanish inquisition. Kelly had been receiving quite a bit of attention from the south American men, who tend to be womanising and pretty disrespectful, but today was my turn. As we walked down a busy street, a woman on a bus, began shouting at me and making naughty gestures. Although she was pretty enormous, and had a baby on her lap and im not sure if she had all her teeth, it was still a nice compliment.

Day 167

That morning we got the local bus to the beach. We got talking to a father and son on the bus and they offered to walk us to a nicer beach than the one we had planned to visit. The boy was just 15 and the old man was working in the CBD. The boy came to the beach while his dad went to work and we spent the day talking to him and practicing our Spanish. We said goodbye to the boy and got a bus back to our hostel, as we had a trip booked. We were picked up and taken to a small volcano an hour out of town….i mean small. It was about 30m tall and 4m wide, and contained a small mud hot spring. It was amazing. The mud meant that you could stand in it and you would float. It was like being weightless in space. We spent an hour in the hot mud and were given massages by locals. After the mud we walked down to a small pond and were washed by local women. The water was pretty dirty and so i didnt mind when one washer woman shouted "pants off!!" The mud was really thick and was like melted chocolate. The hostel was pretty nice, but the kitchen was small, and the cooking the night before had been quite stressful. There must have been 15 people trying to cook on one hob, it was driving me insane. As a result, we got a takeaway pizza and relaxed for the evening.

Day 168

We were up early, and off to the pier. We had a boat trip booked through the hostel to playa blanca island. The island was meant to be lovelly and relaxing. We were told to get to the pier for 830am and not to be late. Of course, south americans are aways late, and Colombians doubly so, and so the boat left an hour late. The boat was a super fast speed boat, although it as pretty old looking. The seats were welded to the boat and were coming loose, and the frame holding the roof was falling apart. After 20mins of an extremely fast, bouncy and rough ride, the weather changed and it started to rain. We were travelling at such a pace, the roof cover was acting like a wing and was pulling the frame of the boat. The captain had an idea and pulled the cover off, exposing us to the light rain. 10mins later we had driven into the middle of a huge storm, and it became pretty scary. The water was up around the edge of the boat and the rain was pouring in from above and from the front. Everyone on the boat was a little panicked, because the rain was hitting us front on and we found it very difficult to breath. It felt like we were drowing, we had to put our heads down beneath the seat in front to catch our breath. This lasted about 10 minutes and we finally drove out of the storm, and everyone calmed down. We then pulled up to a small island aquarium where we were told that we had to wait for 15 mins while the rest of the boat visited the aquarium. As Kelly and I didn't have tickets, we waited as requested. Once again, the Colombian notion of time was revealed…..an hour later we set off to playa blanca. By the time we got to the island, we only had 90mins on the island before we had to drive back to the mainland. That night we went out for dinner at a crepe restaurant. While we were sat down a couple came over and Kelly screamed and jumped up…..it was a couple that Kelly had worked with in Sydney….pretty freaky coincidence that they were travelling too. We arranged to meet up with them at a later date on our travels. That night was a thanksgiving party at the hostel….very very loud. The music was pumping and the speakers were directly outside out room. The music finally stopped at 12am, and we managed to get some sleep….we are a couple of old fogies.

Day 169

The next morning we packed and got a taxi to the bus station. We caught a 15 hour bus to Medellin for a short stopover on our way to Cali. The bus played a movie in Spanish at an unbelievable loud volume, which we were now used to. As per usual we were surrounded by snoring fiends and sleeping was difficult.God I hate these bus journeys.

Dy 170

We got a taxi to our hostel and went out for breakfast. We spent the day at the hostel and prepared the rest of our travels.

Day 171

We got a bus to Armenia, and as per usual a 5 hour trip turned into 6.5 hours and the bus was freezing cold. We then caught minibus to a small town called Salento. This was another picturesque colonial town. We walked to our hostel, which was called the plantation house. The hostel was built on an old coffee plantation and still produced coffee on site. Our room was tiny and we named it the Dungeon. The hostel was more like a farm house and was divided into 2 sites on either side of a road. It was a real "backpacker" hostel and was full of stinking backpackers (most of the hostels we have stayed in have been quieter and full of older couples around our age. This hostel was packed with young, loud and dirty backpackers. They would cook and then not wash up and leave their dirty plates everywhere, it was like being a student again. One of the super loud Americans staying there had a huge beard and looked like a motorway protestor. We named him swampy. He would walk around the hostel craving attention playing a small banjo type instrument, getting on our nerves. That night we made dinner and sat by the fire place with a roaring fire. It had been raining all day, and the fire was very comforting.

Day 172

We walked to a lookout at the top of a hill and looked out over the town. We found some swings and mucked around like kids. We saw a camera crew filming a soap opera and walked closer to be nosy. At that point the actors screamed as they were attacked by a swarm of wasps and scattered in all directions. It was bizarre. We walked down to a local horse stables and booked a horse riding trip for Kelly. The horses looked pretty skinny and Kelly found that quite sad. After we got back to the hostel, we went on a coffee tour on the farm. It was very interesting, and we learnt all about the coffee industry and coffee production. That night, soaked and cold from the rain, I started the fire. The chopped fire wood was wet and it took about 2 hours to get it going. We stayed by the fire and had dinner.

Day 173

Kelly went to horse ride and I went to watch the Liverpool v Manchester city game in a local café. The game was played 2 days earlier, and I had managed to avoid he score and I watched the repeat. After the game we stayed in the common room, while I started the fire again. I realised that Liverpool were playing Chelsea in the league cup and we went out to the same café to watch it. 2 games in one day, was too good to be true...and it was... espn weren't showing it. We went to get money out and food shopping. We decided to cook dinner early to miss the rush, but when we got back there was about 50 people in the kitchen and common room. Once again there wasn't enough room to cook and it was incredibly noisy. After cooking and eating in the mayhem we had an idea, to walk to the other site across the road, as we heard that they had a fire and common area too. When we got there, there was one guy and an even bigger fire. There were more sofas and it was peaceful…heaven…a great find. We started talking to some yanks and chatted until 1am.

Day 174

We got up early, to catch a bus to Armenia. As I opened the fridge, I noticed that one of the stinking, gypo b******s had drunk all my milk….god I hate backpackers. After the bus, we bought tickets to Cali. This was not a bus, but a car/people carrier. The journey took 3 hours, and was a strange experience, being in the car with random people. An hour into the journey we were stopped by police and searched, which was an experience. The guy in front of me had a gun in his bag....not sure why. We arrived in cali and walked to the taxi rank. We approached a taxi driver and he said that we could walk to the hostel, but I wasn't sure. After asking him again, a copper approached us and ordered the driver to take us. Im glad he did, because the drive took 10minutes, and would have been over an hour to walk with our massive bags. When we got to the hostel, I paid the driver and he didn't give me my change. I asked him for the change, and he insisted it was a tip. I argued with him (politely) and he gave me half my change, I had to argue again and he finally gave me most of it, after I conceded a small tip. Cheeky b******. The hostel was great and empty. We made dinner and Kelly watched some showjumping on tv, while I watched match of the day on the computer.

Day 175

We walked to a shopping mall, and looked around. This gave Kelly her fix of shopping….although we didn't buy anything. Instead I agreed to watch the new twighlight film with her at the cinema.Tickets were $2.50 each…bargain. We had dinner and took it easy.

Day 176

This morning we walked into central Cali, into the old town. We had almuerzo lunch (Almuerzo is Spanish for lunch, and essentially means set menu. Its cheap and is a good way to eat. We discovered it in Bolivia and searched for it whenever we could). We went to a local craft market, which was organised inside little hobbit type houses.

Day 177

We got a Taxi from Cali to Popayan, and once again were squashed inside with 2 random locals. We stayed in a lovelly colonial house/hostel, with great views over the square. We had an almuerzo lunch again in a local café. As we were eating the bloke next to us on a nearby table had a bucket of water poured over his head. The guy pouring knew him, and we never found out why it happened. Luckily we weren't splashed too badly. That night we went to a small bar, with old western doors and a 4ft 5inch tall male owner. Strange place.

Day 178

We looked around the town at colonial churches and mansions. It poured with rain…again…it always rains in Colombia. We went out for a dinner at an Italian restaurant and Kelly had the biggest chicken schnitzel ever…it was bigger than the plate.

Day 179

We checked out and walked around the town again. We planned part of our Brazil and Australia trip and spent the afternoon in the hostel. I watched Liverpool against Fulham...not a good result and then we tried to get a taxi to the bus station. It was pouring with rain and we couldn't get a taxi for love nor money, and had to walk in the rain. We got our bus….but we were wet!!

Day 180

Our bus was a Night bus to Bogota, it took 13.5 hours, im really starting to get fed up with these bloody long bus journeys. Our bus took us to a town called Tunja. We had wanted to go to villa de Leiva but there was a festival happening and we were unable to find accommodation, and so we settled for Tunja. I had an Empanada for breakfast (the usual fast food quick snack) and we walked to the town with our bags. The walk was uphill and was tough with the jumbo back packs. We had researched a hostel from the lonely planet and decided we would locate it. Luckily we found it after 10mins of walking and booked a room. It was more like a motel than a hostel and was a bit sleazy looking, but it was super cheap. We dumped our stuff and went out for lunch and found a little almuerzo/menu of the day place. We then spent a couple of hours exploring the town and trying to find a laundry. We finally found one and returned to the hotel. As we walked back to our room we heard noises coming from one of the other rooms….the noises were animalistic and a bit naughty. Kelly and I tried to surpress our laughter and tip toed past the room. We were joking that we were staying in a love motel. Love motels are places that couples go to, to have sex. Colombia and south America are very catholic and religious countries, and premarital relations are frowned upon. People often live with their parents until they are married, and then move out. As a result, couples who are not married, can book into a cheap love motel, and have a bit of privacy. As I said we were joking that we were shacked up in a love motel…. We wouldn't be laughing the next morning. We had dinner and went to bed, shattered from the travelling.

Day 181

Got up and showered etc. Kelly had told me that the shower was appalling, and that a trickle of hot water was all she got. Before the shower, I went to put something in the toilet bin, and moved it for ease…..oh god….2 massive used condoms were underneath it. Oh god….im going to be sick. We had a feeling that the room hadn't been cleaned, and now we knew it hadn't. Now, we were sure that we were staying in a love motel, and all the signs were there, everyone we had seen, were sheepish and looked embarrassed. Of course they were naughty couples and bloody hookers. Lovelly. We decided to get out and get some breakfast. We couldn't find anywhere that did a hot breakfast. We had a couple of pastries and then caught a bus to Villa de leyva for a day trip. It was a lovelly town and the scenery on the way was beautiful. Once again it poured with rain and we found a "menu of the day" café to have lunch. We caught the bus back later that day, althought this time it was a tiny mini van and I was sat next to a monster of a woman who was twice my size. Lets just say that the journey was snug.

Day 182

Once again another pastry for breakfast and then we visited 2 old mansion/colonial houses. They were incredibly preserved and had fantastic ornately painted ceilings. The second house was closed when we arrived at 920am, even though it said it opened at 9am. As we turned to walk away, 2 women appeared and indicated that they were going to open it….typical south America everything is always late or lasts longer than it advertises. One of the ladies showed us around the house and conducted a tour in Spanish, which between Kelly and I, we understood. Everything else in the town was closed as it was a public holiday, and so we decided to head back to Bogota. We checked out of casa del sex and walked to the bus station. We headed to the Bogota bus area and a tout jumped at us and tried to ascertain where we were going. He was typically Colombian, a short stocky, dark good looking chap, smiling throughout his sales pitch. Once we had confirmed that Bogota was our destination, he told us that his bus was good and started to usher us towards his bus. Suddenly another tout jumped out of nowhere, this time a bald, ginger and slightly albino little fella who began competing for our business. Both men were trying to lead us towards their buses, and at one point they both barged aggressively into each other and were pulling Kelly in opposite directions like a rag doll. It was quite funny. In the end we went with the flame haired munchkin, possibly out of pity, im not sure. We arrived 6 hours later, well after lunch time. While walking around the bus station, I decided to have a traditional Colombian fry up, a Bandejo. This consisted of rice, chips, a sausage, a piece of steak, beans, coleslaw and a piece of fried plantain/banana....healthy! We got a taxi to my mate steves, and caught up. We then got a taxi to a shopping mall and had lunch. That evening we relaxed at steves place with a friend of his. Kelly chatted away to her, and steve and I drank copious beers and played playstation....the good old days

Day 183

In the morning, we walked to the city wide bus terminal. The new bus system is called the transmilenio, which makes it sound a lot more futuristic and better than it is….its essentially a bendy bus. The day was quite hot, and the sky was blue, which for Bogota is strange. Our experience and knowledge of Bogota is that it normally rains and the temperature is usually mild. Today was an exception to this norm. We worked out which bus to catch and when it arrived it was packed, I mean busier than the tube, we're talking crazy japanese train packed. We let the first one go, and when the second one arrived, and was just as busy, we took a deep breath and pushed aboard. During the uncomfortably hot and chlostrophobic journey we got chatting to a chap who was from Cali. He was showing a friend of his around the city and offered to show us around too. He seemed nice enough and didn't look like a member of the notorious FARC terror group and so we agreed. It turns out that he couldn't be less like FARC, he was ex Colombian military. During his national service he was stationed in the colonial and touristy area. This is where the government buildings and sights are. He had excellent English and was very knowledgable. We got on very well with them and ended up having lunch with them. After lunch we carried on our tour and visited the Botero art gallery and Gold museum. The centre was very nice and safe, although we were offered some dodgy jewels by an old man. Apparently these guys have an illegal jewel ring, and you need to be careful around them. That night we went out for dinner with steve and his work mates to a fantastic Argentinian steak house. You were served a large salad to start and then a massive chopping board full of meat….and no vegetables. Quite an enjoyable feast, if not slightly uncomfortable by the end.

Day 184

This morning we organised our Christmas presents online and then met steve for lunch. He is an English teacher and his students wanted to take him out for lunch to say thanks and goodbye. His students were very nice and we had Caribbean food. One of his students bought Kelly a gift to welcome her to Colombia which was a nice surprise....although i didnt get one! That night we went out boozing and had a good night.

Day 185

Very hung over. Woke up feeling quite rough, and didn't leave the house till lunch time. We had a big gourmet hamburger lunch and then went to the cinema…..a very easy day.

Day 186-187

This morning we organised our Australia trip and booked our flights and campervan around OZ. We said goodbye to steve and then got a taxi to the airport. Next stop....Brazil!!