After Bogota we took a bus to Salento after much deliberation because we couldn't be bothered to do anymore long day buses. It was 7 hours and sods law ended up taking 17!! Something about a mountain falling down and we had to drive the long way around. Supposed to get there at 5.30pm and arrived at 3.30am (in the middle of the night!). So we had to wait at the bus station until the first but (5.45am) to Salento. I bought some friend chicken and it was so greasy the actually gave me gloves to eat it with. I had no excuse, I wasn't even drunk. When we got to Salento the English run hostel was still sleeping so we dumped our stuff and went to the look out point to see the views of the valley. It was beautiful blue skies and peaceful because no1 is about at the time in the morning. We made some friends with some local stray dogs, who excorted us around town for the next three days. Adopted. We decided not to stay in the regular hostel and instead stayed on a real finca (coffee farm), in a room they had termed 'The Penthouse', not really sure why as it didn't have a door or curtains but it did have great views. It was very peaceful except for at 6am when about 60 cockrels went mental and woke us up everyday. Salento looks exactly like British countryside except that all the hills are dotted with 60f palm trees. The tallest palm in the world and Colombia's national tree dontcha know.

After Salento we got the bus to Medillin, the rumours are true, it really is plastic fantastic. We saw four pairs of fake boobs in the first 20 minutes. We stayed at this Greek chaps hostel, and personally for me he was the highlight. He just walked around all day with his bumbag on being amusingly similar to Borat. In Medillin we got to ride the metro, which we always enjoy, and part of their metro line is a CABLE CAR. Never seen that before. We also got another cable car over miles and miles of forest to a national park where we went for a little country stroll and saw a lake etc. Pleasant.

After Medillin we went to Cartegina, a beautiful colonial city that is still surrounded by a fort and guarded by loads of military at night. Very safe. It was very delightful, except for the intense Carribean heat, its exhausting being in a city with no escape from the heat. We spent a lot of time in the local supermarket in the freezer section. haha. Our hostel was right in the old town and our dorm room had a balcony onto a plaza where there were daily street performers, salsa music and people dancing for change from the people in the restaurants below. I even saw an obese man dance to three Shakira songs PERFECTLY. Not a foot out of place. If he wasn´t obese, wearing a wig and a man it could have been Shakira. Willsy got chatting to another bloke called George, who took us for drinks at the locals pub and fried chicken. Locals just get up when they feel like it at any time and start having a little salsa dance, regardless of whether anyone else is dancing. I got offered by an old man in a cowboy hat. That wouldn't have been humiliating. Ha. After a while George just casually dropped in that he was an international drug smuggler. Literally where does Matthew find these people. Don't worry mum, we didn't stay long after that.! We walked around the old city for a while taking in the sights, then spent the third day on 'miami beach of Colombia' ... OR a bit of grey sand by some tower blocks. We did get a rap and beatbox performance from two little black kids. They were actually pretty good and Willsy generously awarded them with about 30p to share.

After that we took a bus to a little village called Taganga. Most people come here to dive, we on the otherhand cant afford that so will be pretty much getting sunburnt, eating fish dinners and splashing around in the sea. We'll probably stay here for a little while and then my next blog will probably be my last. xx