I feel like we're cheating at the moment. We are sat outside with a hot cocoa while a thunderstorm brews around us, up in the hills in a boutique hostel on the outskirts of Medellin. Doesn't really feel like backpacking!

After the constant Caribbean heat for the last few countries we welcomed simple things on arrival in Medellin, like being a little cold! Putting jumpers on! Rain! You can really tell we're British!

So.. what have we been up to recently? Well.. we've just come from the beautiful walled city of Cartegena, where I explored the colonial streets and pretty plazas while Steve was hauled up in bed with a cold and season 4 of House on the laptop. With the exception of the odd sniffle, he's all better now!

Thinking about it, the trek into a national park and overnight in tents might have contributed? A few days ago we were staying in Taganga, a fairly touristy beach town from where you can get to the Tayrona National Park, a tip some fellow travellers had given us as being one of their highlights of Colombia. It wasn't easy to get to, the first camp site within the area was at least an hour into the jungle and from there sites were dotted every half hour or so. We had ditched our bags in Tayrona and were armed with noodles and mac and cheese as we headed into the park. For those less able, horses were available to rent to get you to your destination. Being the stubborn beings we are, and not really liking the idea of those horses being trailed back and forth all day, we strode on defiantly and had to put up smug tourists trotting along past us along the trail.

We stayed in 'Don Pedros', which was about 10 minutes away from the beach and surrounded by jungle. Given the option of a hammock for 10,000pesos (about £4) or a tent for 12,000 pesos (about £5) we opted for the comfier option. If you've ever tried to sleep in a hammock for the night, you'll know it's not really designed for much more than an afternoon nap!

After spending the day exploring the park we returned to our camp site to make dinner. Upon checking the 'facilities', we found that it was a fire pit with some pans next to it. The light was quickly vanishing so we had to act fast. We channelled our inner Bear Grills and created a fire strong enough to not only boil water with, but to make a disgusting hybrid noodles/mac & cheese combo! We covered it in hot sauce and chowed down, joined by friends we'd made by impressing them with our wilderness survival skills. In return, they demonstrated their 'being able to speak Spanish and swindle some free rum' skills. What a perfect team we made! A very late night later and we awoke the next morning with sore heads and knowing we had 2 options. Stay another night and scavenge some food from somewhere… or a big hike back to the entrance of the park and head back to Taganga, where a locally famous sandwich shop was calling our names. It's amazing the motivation the promise of a hangover brunch will give you! In less time than it took us to trek on the way in, we were back at the entrance to the park and on our way.

We settled the 'do we dive or save our money?' debate with news of fairly bad visibility due to strong winds and made a plan to get the bus to Cartagena the following afternoon… right after we got Reading Festival tickets which were on sale at 2pm. We're not sure whether we'll go, but it's nice to have the option!

P.s. the sandwiches were AWESOME.