As our bus arrived at 5am we were unable to check in so early, so we slept on their comfy couches a bit. Went for breakfast there, which they were kind enough to include for us even though we had just arrived. We walked down town to the Exito centre where we found a travel agent who could book Lisa's flight to Cuba that matched my flight dates and times...we were going to Cuba baby!!

We explored Medellin and found a Harley Davidson gathering which turned out to be their annual get together in South America. Was pretty impressive to see so many motorcycles together an a live Spanish band singing Cranberries', Zombie, pretty well too. We put our hand to a game or two of pool and put the boutique balcony bar of the hostel to the test. A couple of friends that Lisa knew from Cali and Mario that we also met in Cali came over. Turned out I knew them too so we all went out together and danced Cali style Salsa in Medellin with local live music.

Laura (who decided in the mean time to come - yay!!) and Katha Rina had arrived and met us for breakfast. So the reunion in Medellin began - was so good to see them again!

We went up the cable car and further up to a national reserve where they had a flea market and explained the park to us. Was really pretty. It's at this part of town that they created a community library mainly aimed at youth that formed part of the transformation in Columbia.

Gautape was the next day outing we did via public bus and then a walk up the hill to get to the spot they call, the start of the climb to the "best view in the world". We had a great lunch with a view after when it started to bucket down with rain. We waited a bit and fortunately it cleared up enough which allowed us to go up the 740 steps and have the great view without getting soaked.

Back down we took the tuk-tuk to the Gautape town centre which was bursting with colour at parts. The promenade had many market stalls and a great view of the ocean with many different types of boats. I bought a new pair of sunnies.

We were fortunate to get one of the last busses back which took 4 hours (instead of 2) meaning we missed our free bbq at the Happy Budha. We were however rather resourceful and like a well oiled machine we mustered up a healthy wholesome meal in no time...go team!

Kathi had to make it back to Bogotá, which was okay as we were going to see her in Cuba in 3 days time.

Laura, Lisa and I decided it was high time for some retail therapy...but to do something cultural we added a tour of the fruit market. Santa Fe shopping centre was waiting and the ideal venue for our therape. I was surprised at how posh this shopping centres is. It was a successful day of shopping for all, really exhausted of such hard work it was time to unwind with some delicious cocktails on the square...fabulous!

We said our "see you later´s" to Laura who took the night bus back to Cali at 11pm.

One of the hardest things of travelling for me is the continuous packing and unpacking of my bags. And once again it was time for packing....which we did and then I had to make one of the hardest decisions...

This decision implied the most significant act of my trip. It took a couple of hours but with the help of Lisa´s sound boarding and tablet (as mine seemed not to be working)...I booked my return ticket for the 28th June 2014 to England and then the 3rd July. The main reason that I had to book now was we were going to be off to Cuba for 10 days and the tickets would be really expensive and possibly would have been harder for me to leave. For us to make our flight to be back for my birthday on the 7th and more importantly our family holiday from the 10th July. Once I received the Swedish confirmation (as it was done via Lisa's Svenska site) I felt physically ill with the knowledge that the life I had become so accustomed to will soon be coming to an end.

However loads of adventure was still awaiting...