Monday 29th August - Minca (Sat 27th-Tues 30th) I'm writing this sat on the terrace of my hotel in Minca, overlooking the forest and hills, listening to the river flow down below (though you can't see it from here) with hummingbirds flying all around. Could spend hours watching them dart about and trying to capture them in a good photo, which is hard as they move around so quickly! So, I came to Minca on Saturday. I think I was just finding the heat and humidity...

Friday 26th August I went to Tayrona National Park today and had a great day there. As I think I mentioned previously you can stay there but I didn’t really want to on my own, so I decided I’d go for a day and follow the typical trail between beaches. It’s easy to see why Tayrona is one of Colombia’s most popular national parks but it was nowhere near as busy as I expected- maybe because it wasn’t a weekend day or a holiday time in Colombia…. On the ...

Wednesday 24th August So I did manage to sleep in the dorm, not a really sound sleep, but that’s the way it is in the heat :-( Woke at about 7 with sun shining through the very thin curtains and someone getting ready for going out for the day. Lay in bed and read for a while then got up to go to the beach here in Taganga. It is a small horse-shoe shaped bay, a small village really. Tourism is a big thing here and must benefit the community but at the same time...

Spent yesterday on a trip to Playa Blanca- it was indeed a lovely beach and a great place to spend a few hours. I grabbed some breakfast from a street seller on my way, like a mobile bread stall, after I’d got mine he picked the little table up and carried it off in the direction of the old town. I tried coconut bread and yucca bread- both very nice. It turns out there was no rush to get to the port area- was told to get there for 8.30….my boat didn’t set ...

I'm sitting writing this on the terrace at my hotel, listening to the salsa-type (?) music from the bar on the corner at the end of the road, feeling happy that it feels quite a bit cooler now at 7.30pm- it's still close but nowhere near as hot/humid as during the day. I've enjoyed the past few days here in Cartagena, they were a bit more 'productive' than my first day's wandering though I still took it easy and didn't cram too much in- think it would be quite ha...