So I left Bogota a few days ago... and a good thing too as I hear there have been bombs going off! Nothing too serious I don´t think, just inevitable drama in the run up to the elections. Anyway I really enjoyed Bogota. Spent the days sight seeing and the evenings dancing. We took the cable car up Cerro de Monserrate which is a peak overlooking the city and the views were amazing. I really wanted to take the funicular railway as I´ve loved them ever since I was a kid but unfortunately it wasn´t running that day. So I had to make do with the cable car which was still a great ride. At the summit there is a church and every Sunday hundreds of Bogota residents slog their way up the footpath to the top for their weekly worship. I wasn´t up there for religious reasons of course but the sky looked so amazing with the sun breaking through the clouds and illuminating the city, it was clear to see why it´s such a spiritual place for some people.

I mentioned before that we met a friendly group of Colombians in a cafe and they invited us to a party in a town named Villa de Leyva about 3 hours drive from the city. It turned out to be the weekend of a kite festival in the town and in true Colombian style there were to be a smattering of kites and swarms of party goers! So Yaron, Piper and I hopped on a bus to meet our new friends. We were lucky because we knew of other people who had tried to go but couldn´t as all the hotels were booked up way in advance. Our friends had a place to stay for us and gave us a true Colombian welcoming in the shape of a bottle of Aguardiente (Colombian drink a bit like Ouzo!) Villa de Leyva is a beautiful old colonial town with a huge cobblestone square where there was a stage set up and various live acts playing latin music till the wee hours. I´m starting to get the hang of this salsa dancing lark and spent the evening being twirled around whilst trying my best not to trip on the cobble stones!

After the party we made our way back to Bogota and said our sad goodbyes to Piper who now had to head back home to reality in San Francisco. You meet lots of people traveling most of which you get along with enough to chat and share stories, sometimes you swap emails and maybe say in touch for a while... but Piper was someone I could actually see myself being proper friends with outside of this situation. So I was particularly sad to say goodbye. I could easily have carried on all the way to Argentina with her. Never mind, I now have a friend in San Francisco at the very least!

So then I made my way to where I am now in the Zona Cafeteria, an area in the mid-west of Colombia where all the coffee is grown. I´m in a beautifully tranquil little town called Salento where I have been relaxing and enjoying the breathtaking views for the last 3 days. I have visited 2 nearby coffee fincas. They are both organic coffee farms, owned and managed by Colombian families. This was really nice to see as many of the fincas I saw in Guatemala are foreign owned and many of the Guatemalans working on them are very poorly paid. Here apparently many are owned by Colombians partly due to the dangerous reputation that the country has, foreigners have been reluctant to buy up the land... anyway, I took a tour around the fincas and was shown the whole coffee making process from start to finish. It was really interesting and the setting just blows you away. I went with a group of girls who spoke no spanish so I was appointed translator for the afternoon. This gave my confidence a great boost as I was able to understand 90% of what I was being told... although they all spoke nice and clearly for me!

Tomorrow I plan to go on a horse back ride to a nearby national park where there is a hummingbird sanctuary. This place is truly magical. It´s so lush and green, rolling hills, dramatic scenery, abundant wildlife, warm friendly people... I can see myself finding it hard to leave!

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