Leaving Popayan, we embarked on a two-day journey to Ecuador with a one-night stopover in a small town at the border. We'd been warned that night travel is not the best idea over here and thought we'd take it on board to avoid being robbed... The bus trips were not all that bad, but we've now learnt that however many hours they tell you the trip will be... add another 3-4 hours and you'll get a little more accuracy. After crossing the border on our second day wi...

Sleeping in a little as our next bus trip was only two and half hours we relaxed around the hostel for the morning and then made our way to the bus station after lunch. With a bit of confusion our taxi driver dropped us off on the side of the road and told us to wait. Not sure what the hell was going on, we trusted our friendly cabbie and sure enough a few minutes later along came a little chicken bus with a woman hanging out the door yelling, "Popayan! A Pop...

After 2 flights we arrived to the city of Cali feeling pretty chuffed that we just turned a 28 hour bus trip into 4 hours. After a little confusion from our cabbie on the directions to the Iguana Hostel, we made it there at about 5pm. After getting settled in our room (which was huge!!) we headed to the common area where we chatted a little with 2 friendly girls from Amsterdam. Apparently the hostel offered salsa classes, and being the city of salsa in Columbi...

Saying our goodbyes to Cartegena we jumped aboard a minibus destined for our next destination, Santa Marta, with our travel buddies Frenchy and the four Canadians. Another Carribean coastal town and what would be our last beach destination for some time as we were about to head inland and south! Five fun-filled hours later we drove into Santa Marta. It was a chaotic place with sprawling markets, congested traffic and vendors screaming to sell whatever it was the...

We sailed into Cartegena around 9pm Friday night. Being Brendan's birthday there wasn't much to do but to check out the famous nighlife of Cartegena. We said our goodbyes to the Sacanegem and its crew and checked into a hostel complete with a rooftop terrace and pool. Showered and fresh we headed out to grab some dinner that wasn't cooked in a small boat-kitchen and had a couple of beers. Still a little seasick from the boat I wasn't exactly enjoying the smooth ...