Today was going to be a day of football, David had decided that before even getting out of bed. It was always planned to watch Colombia's game in the afternoon with the locals but there wasn't much to do for a few hours beforehand apart from the Brazil game.

The hostel had a huge TV games room and when I say huge, I mean huge - remember this was a Cartel house so no expense was spared. David got himself comfortable in front of the screen while Maria found a shady spot by the pool to read her book. Brazil won up against Chile in a tightly fought game.

One great thing about watching football in Colombia is that the commentating is so entertaining. Colombians in general speak very quickly compared to other Latin countries but football commentators are in a different league, so to speak. They sound like an auctioneer or horse racing commentator on speed - until there is a goal scored. They will then stretch out the word 'Gol' (Spanish for Goal) for as long and as loud as their lungs will allow. A well practiced commentator will last about minute, the alternative being repeating the word 'goal' quickly for the remainder of the minute after the initial elongated 'goal' has finished. Either way, very entertaining and always brings a smile to the face.

By the end of extra time there had only been two 'Goooolllllls' so it was down to penalties. After a surprising number of misses and saves by both teams, Brazil came away victors.

Whilst Brazil are tournament hosts and favourites to win, the biggest game of the day was Colombia against Uruguay. A group of us from the hostel went to a nearby bar, Beer's Place, to watch the game with the locals. The place was packed though and we couldn't get a decent view of the screen so we went to a restaurant across the street. We were one of the first groups there so we managed to grab the best outside seats, in front of the screen and in the shade. The remainder of the seats were quickly taken up before the game kicked off.

It was a sea of yellow everywhere (Colombia's main colour) - in the bars and on the streets. A few stragglers were running up and down the main road trying to decide where to watch the game. Fifteen minutes into the game the road became quiet, only a couple of stray donkeys were walking down the road - this is actually true!! Just short of half an hour into the game, James Rodriguez, pronounced locally as "Ham-es", volleyed what is arguably the goal of the tournament. The place just erupted - everyone, everywhere jumped out their seats to cheers, shouts and horns.

Later, in the first half of the game, about a dozen police motorbikes drove up the main road, riding pillion on each one was an officer dressed in riot gear - some with shields and some with rubber bullet guns. Were they expecting a riot if Colombia lost?

During half time, a compare from the bar across the street, managed to get a Mexican Wave going backwards and forwards between the bar and the restaurant - it didn't matter there was a street between.

The game restarted and within 5 minutes James had put the ball in the net again. While James and his teammates danced in celebration on the pitch, the fans around us were doing the same - Colombians love to dance.

The game finished up 2-0 to Colombia and that indicated the party was starting. A few people left Beer's Place so we managed to get a table in there. They didn't serve individual drinks, you had to order a tube of beer that you self-poured at the table (that explained why we couldn't stand around to watch the game earlier). Traditional Columbian music blared out through the sound system, people were dancing and generally enjoying atmosphere.

After a couple of 'tubes', we called it a night and grabbed a pizza from an eatery on the way back to our hostel. The only disappointment of the day. If we had looked around before ordering we would have noticed that no local ordered a pizza. They ate hot dogs and salchipapas, which is chips with sliced sausage and sauce on it. We will have that, the next time...