Courtesy of a six hour delay in my flight to Buenos Aires from Bogota (will now arrive at the fine hour of 3h30 am, just in time for?) I am able to reflect on the last few days which saw me scuttle from Bogota to Medellin to Cali and back to Bogota, in order to jump the continent to Argentina. It's been great fun in Colombia and I will certainly be back, not least because this trip was essentially monopolised by the city experience, and I am very aware of the fa...

Bogota surprised me (even though Ed gave me some warning in this regard). I'm not sure what I expected, but the first very tactile surprise was stepping out into what felt like Johannesburg weather in mid-autumn. It was about 17C, and was utterly delicious after the oppressive heat of Cartagena. In fact, Cartagena was at the back-end of 3 months of mostly tropical heat and humidity, and thus I discovered a whole new me who very much enjoyed a sub-20C day - I mu...

Cartagena is hot, and on my arrival it was bursting at the seams with thousands of people taking to the streets for a festival to celebrate Cartagena's independence from the Spanish (just about two hundred years later, Simon Bolivar is still a big hit in these parts). As a usual and necessary corollary to this they also celebrate, every year in Cartagena the crowning of Miss Columbia (to this royalty, the late Senor Bolivar unfortunately has to bend the knee). D...