Cartagena on the Caribbean coast was the most important port town for colonial Spain in Colombia. All of the gold amassed from the decimated indigenous populations passed through, with pirates frequently attacking as well as the British (Francis Drake) and French. This led to the building of the old town walls as protection and has created a now Unesco world heritage site, with a charming walled city containing narrow streets and brightly coloured colonial buildings.

Our time here can be easily split into two parts. The first, spent in the old town seeing the cultural parts of Cartagena. The second, the arrival of Randal, Craig (friends from London) and the Northern Irish wedding party (Randals brother is getting married just outside Bogota to his Colombian fiancé), which was definitely a more boozy affair.

We arrived on our last Viva Colombia flight (no more stupid o'clock flights or ridiculous lack of leg room) to hot and humid weather at 7am. Not a good sign. Arriving in the charming old town at el viajero hostel we met up with Aston, Neal and Nick; guys we had met along the gringo trail and set off for the San Felipe de Barajas castle. The castle was built to protect the old town and has a series of tunnels that lead to other parts of the castle in near darkness. Although half asleep and not yet acclimatised to the sweltering heat we were pretty unimpressed. The day was rounded off by a roof-top party at media luna hostel, partying into the small hours with great music, a fire dancer and views over the city. Definitely a travel moment.

One of the highlights in Cartagena is watching sunset at cafe del mar. Now there are two options here. You can go into the cafe and pay £5 for a beer, or buy it at a vendor next to it for 50p and sit on the city walls to watch the sunset. As backpackers you can guess which option we took. That evening Craig arrived, so we had Argentinian steak and a few Cuba Libres in the square to start his holiday off.

Another city and another free walking tour. This one however was a lot sweatier than the others but took in the charms of the old town, learning about the architecture and the history of the port city.

Around this time was the start of part two of our Cartagena adventure. We booked a sunset boat trip out into the bay which was a truly memorable experience. In my head I had images of a club 18-30 booze cruise but luckily that didn't materialise, setting off on a catamaran into the bay. We docked out at sea allowing us all to jump off to varying degrees of success. I attempted a back flip which was more back flop than anything, to the oohs and ahhhs of the people in the water. With the anchor up it was time to sail into the sunset, with a dj aboard playing music and the view of the city as well it was definitely a highlight.

So straight from the party boat to the party bus. The wedding party had booked a Chiva bus which truly has to be seen to believed. Imagine an old school bus with rows of seats, open sides, a garish paint job and covered in neon lights. Add to that a local band on board and a tour guide shouting out and joining in the singing all in Spanish. Definitely not a normal bus journey. The bus set off from our hotel and drove around the city to the sound of the band. At one point it stopped and each row was given a bottle of rum and a bottle of Colombian style lilt. With only 6 people per row it was definitely one way of getting the party started. In addition someone thought it was a good idea to bring aguardiente along (Randal) so needless to say our memory of the clubs we went to afterwards were a little hazy.

Our penultimate day was spent lounging in Bocagrande at of places the holiday inns rooftop pool (it was out of our budget but the wedding party were staying there). Now my knowledge of holiday inns are motorway service stations not skyline hogging, upmarket hotels. But Colombia does it differently luckily for us and it was the perfect remedy for the night before.

Following a relaxed night it was time to head to Santa Marta, for more Caribbean coast delights.