Time to leave Bogota for the Zona Cafetera (coffee growing region) so we head to the main bus station for the 9am bus which we carefully researched. Unfortunately the bus companies didn't research as thoroughly and so this bus didn't exist. An hour and a half later..... I'll be writing a sternly worded letter.

Very disappointed to find no-one was travelling with cages of chickens, or any livestock at all for that matter. Romancing The Stone has it wrong. In fact the bus was extremely comfortable indeed, lucky as a 7 hour journey lay ahead.

Colombia is a beautiful country. Scenery ranged from green hills, steep river gorges, arid plains and the most stunning mountain terrain I have seen to date anywhere (note this will probably be superseded later in this trip). Breathtaking. Especially at 60mph around hairpin mountain bends on the wrong side of the road whilst overtaking articulated lorries. But seriously, absolutely beautiful.

We arrived in Salento after dark, grabbed a curry and hit the town. A curry? Yup, the English owner of the hostel recommended a restaurant around the corner. Delicious!

Hitting the town involved going to the local "tejo" bar. Tejo is the national sport which involves drinking beer and throwing big lumps of metal at gun powder filled folds of paper. Can't believe we Brits still play darts, this is much more fun. The explosion when you score a direct hit is great!! The pic attached to this entry is Fabrice playing.

So welcome to rural Colombia....