I left one big city for a bigger one. Bogota, the country's capital is a huge metropolis where the streets share smog belching buses carrying the middle class, Mercedes Benz' moving the rich in style, and to this day, horse drawn carts and the random donkey moving some poor person´s **** to wherever it needs to go. It's not as appealing as I remember it but I came here specifically to visit some old friends from my first time through back in 2005. My reunion...

I found a cheap flight to Medellin Colombia so here I am....becoming the jet setting backpacker. And as luck would have it, my crazy Christmas mates from Australia are here too. Natalie, Tom, and Chloe are performing the saintly task of volunteering in an orphanage on the outskirts of Medellin. I am acting as the devil´s hand that encourages us all to go to the Zona Rosa, stay out too late, and then just sleep in when they have to get up for work in the morn...

After a 12 hour speed boat journey down the Amazon, I arrived in Santa Rosa, Peru where Tabatinga Brazil and Leticia Colombia make up the tri-border region. I received my exit stamp from Peru immigration and headed over to Leticia where the best hotels, restaurants and services are. From here, I found a tour operator to get me into the jungle to have a look around and I also met up with my friend Martha from Colombia who is spending her vacation in this area. T...

Another 10 hour overnight bus ride brings me to Cali, Colombia's third largest city. The weather here is hot thanks to the lower elevation and the people here are famous for their outgoing and friendly manner. My friends from Bogota gave me the phone number for their friend Eliana so I could have yet another tour guide. I just keep getting passed along to friends of friends and it's just more proof that Colombians are by far the friendliest I've met while traveli...

Bogota is HUGE! With 10 million people, modern highways, buildings, and public transportation, I almost feel like I am in New York except horse drawn wagons still compete with BMWs, Mercedes Benz´, and thousands of pollution belching buses. The sprawl of the city spreads far and wide over a giant, flat savanna between mountain ranges at an elevation of 8000 feet. To take a bus from one side of the city to the other would be at least a 3 hour journey. It is c...