The bus ride to Taganga where we were planning on spending a few days chilling out by the beach was supposed to only take 4 hours, cost 25,000 pesos and be dead straightforward and relaxed, but in what is probably the first time we have felt properly ripped off we had to pay 35,000, change busses half way through a 5 hour trip sat next to a shifty looking character in a seat that was broken, and then get dropped off in the searing heat in the wrong place which left us having to get a taxi to the right place with the help of a friendly bus driver from another company!

Our preferred hostel didn't have any room and so after sorting ourselves out with another we finally made it down to the beach hours later than what we had hoped, only for it to pretty promptly start raining!!

We persevered though and I was feeling a little nostalgic as we sat on the beach as this was the final place from the last trip a little over 4 years ago. My nostalgia was rudely interrupted however as a loud mouthed local woman strolled passed the four of us lay on the beach and at the top of her voice declared to her friends "muy blanco!". As if we didn't feel embarrassed enough at having everyone on the beach in our area look at our slightly pale bodies, she only went and did it again on her way back 10 minutes later!

After a frustrating day we decided that the best thing for it was to get on the local rum and so after watching a Colombian wedding ceremony by the beach we headed back and got ready for what was a really good night out. There was something a little bit surreal about dancing with glowsticks high in the air on the outside balcony of a Colombian coastal club lined with palm trees to tunes from back home, whilst yet another lightning storm lit up the night sky above!

On Sunday we managed to get a full day in at the beach and got a water taxi to a place that the guy assured us was 'very beautiful', however as we drifted up to this small patch of sand and pebbles had I known the Spanish for "are you taking the p**s" I would have said it! We politely asked to be taken back to the other one, and he was naturally not fussed either way as he had secured the higher fare for the longer journey from us!

In the evening we treated ourselves to a quality steak up at Felipe's, which was a brilliant setting, and then we had an early night so that we were ready for the trip to Tayrona National Park, which I was really excited about as it had been one of my highlights of the last trip.