Sometimes, I suppose you just have one of those days. Unfortunately, Monday really was one of those days. Firstly, the bus journey to Cartagena took a good couple of hours longer than was supposed to and then the hostel we wanted was full. Neither great dramas in themselves and nothing that had not happened before, but it was to set the tone for the rest of the day, a day during which we would see both extremes of the Colombian way. After getting sorted in a place to stay, we packed a few things into our daybag and set off into the old town - famous for its history and walls built all around it to protect it from attacks and invasions from Francis Drake and the such like. Whether we picked a dodgy route in or whether we were just unlucky I dont know, but it seemed like every other bloke was intent on hassling us for money changing or whatever, and one guy in particular kept cutting Karl up. Sensing that we may well be being followed, we headed to a drugstore to get out of the way (and actually to buy some more malaria tablets), and when we came to pay realised that one of the outside pockets was unzipped. Sure enough, Karls binoculars and my camera cradle and USB lead had been taken. b******s, whoever they were. The cradle is literally of absolutely no use whatsoever to anyone in this country - they will have to wait about 30 years for my camera to become common in Colombia before anyone would want to buy it. Plus it now means I can't charge my camera or upload any more pics - some of you may be pleased at that! I just felt sick and like our privacy had been invaded, and wasn't exactly a nice introduction to a place that is supposed to be beautiful. Walking down the street, I now felt like everyone we passed was after us, and we just wanted to get in somewhere out of the way and so went for some lunch. Here we found the side to the Colombian people that everyone we had met had told us about, as I had I really good laugh with the cooks from the restaurant, despite most of the time us not being able to understand each other! Then, to cut a long story short, one of their friends who spoke good English, spent around 2 hours of the afternoon queing with me in banks, trying to get some money out and doing all the talking for me and walking all over with me, ultimately for no good whatsoever as I just had to use the ATM. What a lovely lady though! After a bit a solitude back at the hotel, we ventured back out through the city walls to find somewhere to eat. Just as we were passing through the arches some guy (probably homeless and blatently high of a pot of glue or something else he had in his hand) took an unwelcome likening to me in particular, and he was having none of the usual "No gracias amigo". We quickened up the pace after he had started pushing into me, and by this time a couple of women had noticed what was going on and were shouting at him. But he continued to follow us and so once again we tried to get away by going into another drugstore. As he waited outside I tried to explain to the people over the counter what was going on, and they soon got the picture by the time he actually came inside and started hassling me, at one point following me in and out of the whole building. The workers were shouting at him to go away, but after I refused to shake his hand he grabbed the cap I had on and legged it out. I suppose I should have seen that one coming, but I was pretty shook up to say the least, and also feeling pretty angry at how we seemed to be being treated that day. By this time quite a crowd had assembled outside and just kept saying "Policia" to me, and sure enough one of the women who had shouted at him just through the arches strolled past talking to a fully armed policeman. After about 5 minutes of loads of people saying things to me, most of which I didn't understand, the policeman casually strolled back - cap in hand! I didn't expect to be seeing that again! Everyone continued to be warm towards me, and one guy who spoke some English even offered to take us to a restaurant. In fact, the level of concern showed by everyone else there, right down to one of the street sellers, had quite an impact. For the second time in one eventful day, we had experienced both sidea of Colombian culture. But maybe I should be careful not to generalise. Feeling pretty shaky, we went and ate at a brilliant restaurant, and ate well - even if I was freezing and felt completely underdressed in my shorts and vest, while older American toursists were around all dressed up! What an eventful day. If Monday was eventful, Tuesday was unique. We went to the tallest mud volcano in South America, not that I could name any others in the world! There we floated in top of the volcano (I never thought I would say that!) as we got a mud massage, though I wasn't completely comfortable with a blokes hand going so near to my crotch! After we got back we wandered round the old town, and it definately does have a charm to it, but I was just too still on edge at every little thing that for the previous 100-odd days I had just ignored without thinking about. The night did finish nicely though, as some serious flirting with the waitress restored both my own confidence and that in the Colombian people! Amazing what a simple smile can do! On Wednesday we did a day trip out to Islas del Rosario and along the way visited Playa Blanca, rated as one of Colombias best beaches. It was pretty cool catching some rays on the top of the boat and swimming in clear blue waters, even if that seemed a million miles away at the start of the day when we woke up in the middle of a big storm that lasted well into the trip. At least things turned out well in the end, but enough was enough for Cartagena. A shame somewhere with such a good reputation was never really allowed to live up to expectations, but nevermind. Some serious beach time awaits! Jonny