We spent 3 days wandering around the beautiful colonial old city of Cartagena. It was pretty hot so we tried to start early each day but failed miserably favouring lie-ins and long breakfasts at the Gato Negro (black cat) cafe every morning (where Katy met her new favourite dog, Pepita- at least that was the name on his collar). Although it was hot it wasn't as bad as we had been led to believe and in the evenings the old city walls were cool places to walk, watc...

Our first full day in Capaurganá was spent mostly doing nothing, well mostly me doing nothing - Simon managed to fit in a dive. After sleepless hammock nights and not so much sleep the previous night with a party going on in the hostel garden, I needed some recovery time! The small town was a great starting point to Colombia: relaxed, beautiful, no cars and friendly people. Also a lot of loud music, blaring all throughout the day. Simon was keen to do some mo...

So with just over 3 months of travelling we are nearing the end of Central America and the start of (the significantly larger) South America. The last leg of Central was the San Blas Islands which we hopped along to reach Colombia on our 'San Blas Adventures' tour. Our travel from Guatemala City to Panama City has covered 7 countries, 6,000Km (1,900Km would have been the shortest route down the Interamericana highway), 72 buses and given Katy 12 sloth sightings. ...

How would you imagine a paradise island? White sand, palm trees, a clear blue sea, drinking from coconuts? You´ve just imagined our trip to the San Blas islands- minus the blue skies- taking us across the Darien gap. The Darien gap (deep jungle inhabited by drug runners between Panama and Colombia) can only be crossed by flying or sailing as there are no roads. We chose to sail because it gave us the chance to see the San Blas islands and the indigenous Kuna peo...

Not the most pleasant of journeys to get to Panama City, sat on an eight hour bus with both of us having slightly dodgy tummies! But we made it in one piece and successfully negotiated the new and air-conditioned metro line to our hostel. It must be heavily subsidised as it only costs 35 cents (US) per journey so we've taken advantage of this and used it every day. I've noticed that they were kind enough to pre-empt my visit and name a station after my birthday; ...