Assured that Colombia is now a safe destination we set off by plane to the capital, Bogota, where our home for 3 days would be the historic centre of La Candelaria. Not sure what it is about all these South American cities, but Bogota was no exception being at an altitude of 2600m. There were the usual warnings of no alcohol (ignored of course) and suggestions that chewing coca leaves will help with any altitude sickness (not ignored). Our guidebook once again informed us that there have been reports of armed, night-time muggings in the area and certainly on every street corner was an armed policeman complete with muzzled Rottweiler.

Our days were spent wandering the steep cobbled streets, lined with brightly coloured buildings, visiting the historical sights, stopping off at plazas for food and beer and watching the world go by. We even ventured in to a few museums such as the Gold Museum (arguable the most important gold museum in the world), an art museum showing paintings and sculptures by the Colombian artist Botero and the Police Museum where Pablo Escobar's gold-adorned Harley is shown and the jacket he was wearing when the police killed him in a rooftop shootout in 1993.

As in all of these cities there is always a "Cerro" with a view so we made the trip up in the funicular for great panoramic views of the city below. We got talking to a native Colombian (albeit he had spent the last 20 years in America and was on holiday in Bogota), who succeeded in putting the fear of God in to Heather with his tales of how dangerous Colombia still is and how she may get her earrings ripped out so that her ears would bleed. Her earrings and wedding ring were put in to the safe for the remainder of our time in Bogota.

Our plans then were to take another long bus journey to the coffee region which promised spectacular countryside, volcanoes, hot springs, mountain ranges and major national parks. At the last minute we decided we no longer wanted more overnight bus journeys no matter what was at the other end (or perhaps Heather had been spooked by our Colombian friend) - so we booked a last minute flight to the Caribbean coast and the fairy-tale city of Cartagena de Indias.