San Gil was sold to us as the exreme sports capital of Colombia, so we thought we will have a bit of that before going back to Blighty. But more interesting than the extreme sports were the giant ants that take over the town in April. The locals consider these little formacidae quite the delicacy. They even pickle them so they last all year! Obviously I had to give them a go, in there uncooked, unsalted, straight from the street variety and yuck as expected disgusting! Their juicy little bodies explode in the mouth leaving a nasty acrid taste. Cooked and salted definitely the way forward.

The town of San Gil is pleasant enough with its large square and typical Spanish church and other colonial buildings surrounding it. The first night we stayed at a highly recommended hostel, it very clean, modern, with nice views over the square but lacked character. So the next morning we set off to find a different abode. Caroline stumbled across a rather shabby place but with a big social courtyard, and it was cheap. That night we met a few other Brits, a Canadian and some other Travellers and we played Cranium till the early hours and we won yey!. The next day we set off on a 3 or 4 hour walk we had been recommended to a nearby beautiful little pueblo. The walk took us through lovely countryside and small settlements to arrive at a very typical Colombian village with it's typical white Spanish church and plaza.

On Our last day here we went duckie-ing, I wanted to go white water rafting but this was similar and lot cheaper. Basically it's a rubber canoe for three people, it was great fun and we both fell out a few times. The river was only a grade 3 but in a little duckie the rapids feel a lot bigger. All along the river's edge grew huge trees with what we called grandfathers beards hanging from them, they looked very enchanting and mystical.

We had heard about a town named Villa de Leyva due to having the biggest and most beautiful colonial square in Colombia, indeed it was the home to a popular TV series there. Apparently this had spurned on many boutique shops and classy restaurants in the town. We had to check it out on our way to Bogota.

We were not disappointed, absolutely gorgeous.This was old Colombia with a modern touch of class. This was our last port of call so decided to relax and go to some great bars and restaurants, eat quality steak and drink fine wine. Still for only a third the price in England. The surrounding area was nice too. We took a walk to a vantage point high over the town to check out the views. Nice.

Our last destination, Bogota, the dreaded final day of our 8 month trip had fallen upon us. We were not expecting much here just as well it since it was rainy and cold. Bogota does have a nice district, near to where we were staying. We checked out the Botero museum of art there and had the best coffee in South America here too. Caroline is now a converted coffee (snob) drinker.

A few days before we were supposed to travel back to the UK, a large volcano erupted in Iceland covering most of Europe in its ash, closing the majority of international airports. On the morning we flew, Paris had opened but London was still closed, meaning a few nights in Paris, not the end of the world I thought!. As we landed there literally minutes later London opened. We were so lucky considering thousands of people had been stranded all over the world for up to a week. Indeed the family we sat next to got stuck in Atlanta for a week with no compensation. Bummer!

Next stop England : ( but also : )