I need to get out of this habit of getting behind on my blog- it's a week since I wrote anything and apart from keeping those at home who are interested updated on my travels I'm also not keeping my 'journal' very well. Note to self- make sure I update more regularly!

So last time I wrote I was heading for Medellin so I'll start there- I spent 4 days in and around Medellin. My night bus was fine, took 9.5 hours and I slept on and off for most of the way. On arrival at my hostel (Sunday 16th) I thought I'd head out and make the most of the day but once I'd showered rather than feeling refreshed tiredness came over me, sleeping on a bus is not the best sleep I guess and I ended up having a lie down as soon as my dorm bed became available. In the afternoon I went for a wander with 3 Brits from my hostel, who had recently arrived from Panama on a sailing trip, which sounded great. When I was planning my trip I had considered adding Panana to my itinerary as a starting point but decided against it, one day maybe …..We walked around the area near the hostel which is called 'El Poblado'. First stop shopping mall as the 2 guys had lost their flip flops- buy a pair get a pair half price, Havianas no less, so they were a real bargain! (Don't worry I didn't buy any, one pair is enough for this trip but I can't promise to not buy any in Brazil before I head home, it's where they originated from after all!) Then Liz and I went looking for a pedestrian walk way recommended in my guidebook, we never found it but did go for a drink in the main square of the 'zona rosa' the 'going out' area. Can imagine it gets really busy at night but was slightly shocked at the 6,500 pesos price of a juice! Luckily it turned out to be happy hour so was cheaper. We had just enough time to get to the supermarket before it got dark so I was able to cook some veggie pasta for dinner- the meal of choice for backpackers- cheap and easy :-)

Monday 17th- Monday was a day to explore the city of Medellin, Colombia's second most populated city. Up until the 1990s it was a dangerous place to be, the centre of the drug trade but after Pablo Escobar was killed in '93 it became a safer place. (You can go on a Pablo Escobar tour to find out about his life though I didn't do this) It is called the "City of Eternal Spring" for its spring-like temperatures. The weather was generally hot or warm while I was there but also had some rain- it is 'winter' now and more rain is to be expected. I went with a group from the hostel on the metro to the metrocable that takes you up into the hill above Medellin. The cable car goes up over some of the poorer areas of Medellin and provides transport for local people but also great views of the city, which is in a valley and is surrounded by mountains. Going over the rooftops of the houses here I saw signs of support painted on the roofs for Luis Perez, a candidate for Mayor I think. On my travels I have seen plenty of signs/posters/banners for the upcoming elections (end of October). As we got to the top of this cable car ride (which is included in the price of the metro ticket-bargain) we transferred to another cable car which takes you up to a park/nature reserve- 3,500 pesos and a 20 minute ride over forest gets you to the entrance and from there it is possible to do various walks. With today being a public holiday there were lots of Colombians visiting, escaping the city for a few hours. We did a short walk but decided not to stay up there too long- I wanted to see some other things in Medellin and wasn't sure how long I'd be staying. I got off the metro at the 'Plaza de las Esculturas' which has a collection of Botero's sculptures. You may remember the name from my Bogotá blog- Fernando Botero not only painted plump people but also made sculptures. There are various sculptures and the plaza was a nice place to wander and take photos. After some lunch I went into the Museo de Antioquia where there are various collection of art. As today was a holiday here the museum was free, an added bonus! I was most interested by Botero's work so spent most time wandering in that section. The paintings here were different ones to the ones in Bogotá and there was a good range of his work (people, still life). Afterwards I headed back to the hostel, but not before noticing lights being put up in the plaza- I asked a police man who confirmed what I thought- the lights were being put up ready for the light festival they have in Medellin in December and over Christmas. I'd heard about this and given how early they are beginning preparations I bet it's a great display. In the evening I had food at the weekly hostel BBQ- a filling dinner with a variety of meat, veg and salads for 13,000, a good price I thought. We watched 'The Time Traveller's Wife in the evening' which was good, especially since I had not got round to reading the book which I have at home.

Although there are more things you can do in Medellin I spent the next few days visiting places a couple of hours away. Tuesday (18th) I went to the rock 'el Pe­ñol' and the town of Guatapé. This was a lovely day out and the day was made even better by meeting a group of Colombians who I spent the day with. It takes just under 2 hours to get to 'el Peñol' and as you get close you see the (artificial) lake and the size of the rock (a granite monolith) which is 200m/656 ft tall! You can climb to a viewing platform at the top but that requires a climb of 650 steps which I knew I wouldn't be able to do so I opted not to go up. The views however from the bottom of the rock of the surrounding area were fantastic so I didn't feel I'd missed out and given my level of fitness I knew I'd made the right choice. Some of the Colombians went up, others didn't so I chatted with them while we waited. As is usual here they were interested to know what I thought of Colombia, where I'd been, where I am going, etc. Travelling down to the town of Guatapé turned out to be a hilarious little trip! We all crammed into 2 vehicles- in mine, an open top car there were 8 of us! Luckily we made it safely to the town with no one falling out and it was time for lunch. I went to get a takeaway almuerzo (lunch) with a couple of them who also had no lunch and then we joined the rest of the group where they also had kindly made me a sandwich. We ate and chatted on the top deck of a boat that we would be taking a trip on the lake on. They also had salsa music playing so a couple from the group were salsa dancing, very well I may add! Then the guy got me up dancing and very quickly the standard of dancing deteriorated! But it was fun and I had a go! The boat trip out onto the lake was good. There were great views of the rock and across the lake. The Colombians organised some games to pass the time so as well as some salsa dancing we played 'musical chairs' lol It also got rather cold so they started doing some aerobics type dancing about to keep warm- all in all a very enjoyable afternoon and great once again to meet Colombian people. Afterwards I went for a wander in the town of Guatapé with Natalia, a Russian traveller who had been on the boat and was adopted into the group too. We walked around the town, looking at all the brightly coloured colonial houses, which have decorated boards at the bottom of the wall so the lower part of a house or building has colourful pictures or designs on it, called zócalos, a little like wallpaper friezes. All the houses were different and included designs of animals, flowers and birds amongst other things. We had a drink and cake in the square before I headed back to Medellin. Slept most of the way, nothing else to do since it gets dark around 6 and once it's dark there are no lights on inside the bus! Got back to find I really should have put my suncream on earlier than I did- red nose again!

Wednesday (19th) I went to the town of Santa Fé de Antioquia. I had deliberated whether to go as I have seen several beautiful colonial towns on my travel sso far but in the end I decided to go. The bus took just over 90 minutes to get there and I slept most of the way. On arrival I got a mototaxi which is like a tuk tuk in Thailand to the 'Puente de Occidente' described as a "true gem of 19C engineering" which was one of the world's first suspension bridges. My friendly driver Jorge (or George as he introduced himself!) gave me a little tour and told me info about the bridge, which was pretty impressive, considering it was built such a long time ago, 1887-1895. We then continued on to the little village of Sucre recommended to me by the hostel owner. It's a colourful, pretty little place but tiny so it didn't take long to see. Whilst here I taught Jorge a few words as he is keen to try and learn some English for showing tourists the area. As we were leaving the village we passed a lady I think Jorge knew- he asked if I minded if we gave her a lift. Of course I said no problem and we chatted on the drive to her house.Here I was to experience yet another example of Colombian kindness. First she invited us in for a drink so we sat on her patio and had a lovely refreshing lemonade and chatted some more. She then invited me to stay at her house but I had to politely decline as all my stuff was still in Medellin. Next I was given some coconuts to take away as she had coconut trees in her garden so Jorge got a ladder and got some off the tree! We then headed back to the town of Santa Fé and he dropped me in the main square. First stop was the bakery for lunch (bread and a potato thing which despite being told it was just 'papas' turned out to have meat in too) before taking a wander around the town. It was indeed very pretty and I enjoyed wandering around but it is also similar to the other towns I have seen. I got a mini bus back to Medellin which was a bit quicker than the bus and got back before dark which was good- didn't stop me sleeping though-- I seem to be following the Colombian example of snoozing on any bus trip I go on! On the way back to the hostel I went to the supermarket to replenish my toiletries before leaving the city, shower gel is not always easy to find here you know! I also needed shampoo and conditioner- who would've thought it would be hard to find products for 'normal hair'- the assistant in the toiletry section who asked if she could help seemed quite perplexed by this request and left me to it but I found something suitable in the end!