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 fact that beautiful rural Colombia lies out there waiting. I am also a bit gutted that I did not get to do the hike to Ciudad Perdida (the lost city). So I bottle my regrets (the kid in the candy store that wants more more more), and look forward to an imminent return to Colombia. Thus, more about Medellin: I stayed in Casa Kiwi, an excellent, if somewhat rowdy hostel (what else do you expect from a New Zealand run establishment?) on the fringe of the Zona Rosa. Zona Rosa is the chic part of an otherwise very attractive city, rising steeply on both sides of the Rio Medellin which runs through the middle of town. Medellin is orange-brown in colour, courtesy of the clay bricks used to build 90% of the city's buildings, combined with red Tuscan-style roof tiles. I enjoyed reconnoitering the city via the subway and the two cable cars connected to the subway, which afforded great views of the city below from different angles. These cable cars are apparently a study on the social impact of providing public transport and access to areas that for decades were inaccessible, and access-controlled by gangs. Medellenos are a friendly bunch, very approachable, obviously crazy about their soccer team (managed to experience this live together with Tejs and Merel) and typically proud of their unexpectedly clean city. I was amazed to view from the cable car, which traversed above some of the poorest quarters of the city, how clean streets were - porches are pristinely swept, an activity constantly on display apparently all hours of the day. As a matter of pure physics though, if everybody is constantly sweeping, and given the layout of the city, it holds that a large amount of rubbish will end up in the lowest point, in this case being the unfortunate Rio Medellin. In fact, it would appear that Colombia is generally struggling with the health of its rivers. This was reinforced when we visited Sante Fe de Antioquia to the north-west (and on the doorstep of guerrilla country) - for two hundred years the capital city of Antioquia, later displaced by Medellin - and ambled across the Puente del Oriente, over the Rio Caucua - one of Colombia's two major rivers, running hundreds of kilometers south to north. Our lively guide was at pains to impress upon us not to try swimming in this river (although I did see some lads fishing just a few hundred meters down from the bridge - hopefully not for their lunch). So I spent a good time in Medellin exploring the city; hanging out at the cool bars and cafes in the Zona Rosa (and eating delicious 'comida tipica' breakfast combined with bagels at one of my favourite cafes); drinking great coffee everwhere; continuing indulging in my favourite snack of green mango, salt and lime juice; exploring the countryside in a rented car together with Tejs and Merel (even if I - as navigator in chief - got us hopelessly lost in Bogota-rush hour at the end of the day ... what is it about women not knowing how to read maps?) and finally improving my pool skills under significant pressure of the excellent standard set by Tejs. Cali was a more subdued experience - at least during the day. Not offering the tourist-type attractions of Bogota or Medellin, it comes into its own over the weekend. So days were spent chilling and catching up on sleep, whilst the evenings were spent exploring the salsa and vallenato haunts of the city. Speaking of which, I spent some bucks (well spent in the end) on attending a Carlos Vives concert in the Plaza del Torro. He is a rock-vallenato cross over artist, and I will try and upload my video, since it was quite an excellent performance. I have to confess here to being rather enamoured with this music style that has as it's leading instrument the accordion ... But perhaps you had to be there... So it all caught up with me a bit in the end, and instead of exploring some of the villages around Bogota as I intended on my last day, I spent most of it in bed with a cold, though not feeling too sorry for myself. It has been just more than three months on the road, and other than an early bout of the runs in Guatemala, I have been blessed with good health despite little sleep and very full days. I am itching to get out of the cities though, and will in two days be hooking up with my good friend Thavashan and we shall set off to conquer Patagonia in the very south of this beautiful continent. Beware the marauding South Africans ...