Our Journey to Colombia took us from Barinas in Venezuela to the border town of San Antonio where you had to pay to leave Venezuela believe it or not! Then we jumped in a banged up old collectivo with some Colombians to Cucuta, the Colombian side of the border.

We had been warned that Cucuta was dangerous due to the fact that it was a major area for drug trafficking and money laundering. There was certainly evidence of Cucuta being pretty wealthy with huge Americanized shopping malls with expensive shops maybe hinting at the undercurrent of drug trafficking and money laundering the city sees. For us we felt quite safe walking at night to get our dinner. Although we were both pretty full scoffing three scoops of ice cream each at one of the big malls beforehand. After dinner we walked back to the bus station to catch our bus to San Gil at 11:30pm.

San Gil

Our bus to San Gil was pretty smooth and we both got a good sleep evidenced by the driver having to wake us both up as our final destination. It was about 5 am and our next task was to find a hostel, this did not prove too difficult. Walking around San Gil a nice, clean and well-kept small colonial town it was not how we had expected Colombia to be but then I don't know what we expected. We mainly came here as it is the adventure sports capital of Colombia.

We took in some white water rafting in which we manoeuvred class IV and V rapids and jumped off some cliffs into the river, this was pretty fun but the best day in San Gil was yet to come. We did some mountain biking the following day which was awesome. The weather was stunning, scenery beautiful combined with brilliant bikes and trails it was a great day. We biked through national parks and scenic, well-kept little Pueblo's which we would otherwise have not have seen. I think we both felt the biking we did was better than Death Road in Bolivia (which is quite a feat!). At the end of the trip we got some beers and local yucca alcohol in with some old Colombian farmers which was fun. One of them had been at it all day so you had to watch out when he was waving his machete around!

Our time in San Gil had been action packed; we had not really stopped since Venezuela. So we took a day to relax, do nothing and watch Murray win the US open. It is great to be flexible and time as we have had or you end up jumping from place to place without having days where you have nothing planned.

Bogota

Despite arriving at San Gil bus terminal ready to go to National Park El Cocuy for some camping and trekking - Robbie had done tons of research and was pretty excited about it and could not wait to go. Just before we were about to buy the tickets Sarah had a change of mind. Robbie felt he could not go alone with it being low season you would find no one to go into the park with and it would not have been wise to trek alone at altitude. At first Robbie had a hard time accepting this decision but really it was the wrong season and it was bound to be pretty cold with almost probably snow and freezing rain thrown in. Sarah was right in the end and if it was summer I am sure we would have gone. Travelling together sometimes is about different opinions and ideas about what you want to do and where you want to go - and sometimes you have to compromise and understand where each other are coming from.

With the late timetable change (probably for the better considering the conditions we may have encountered) we had a long wait at the bus terminal as we did not want to arrive in Bogota at 1 am.

We arrived in Bogota at 5 am and waited until light to hail a bus. However five buses past over the space of an hour all jammed packed with no opportunity for us to fit on so finally we settled on a taxi. As we were to discover this was a smart move as Bogota local transport is jammed packed and difficult enough to get on without any luggage!! You can even miss your stop as you are unable to make your way to the nearest exit because there is just a mesh of people!

We visited the Gold museum - I don't think you will ever see so much gold in one place. Despite having little interest in art we went to see painting done by Colombian artist Botero who paints in volume in other words paints everything a lot larger than it really is. This was really interesting and we both really liked some of Botero's paintings.

Bogota was an okay city for a few days but nothing to keep you there much longer so onto Salento we went.

Salento

Typically on the Gringo trail for coffee and the Valle de Cocora we headed to this small village. For one of the days we hiked through the Valle. We wanted to start early but our transport up there was stopped in its tracks for half an hour because some Colombian farmers were struggling to get some rowdy cows into their truck which was blocking the entire road!

The hike was nice and its main attraction are some very tall wax palms scattered across the valle, some of these are at 2000m so are among the highest growing wax palms in the world. The next day Robbie took a tour of a small coffee farm (while Sarah nursed a sore tummy in bed - due to the tap water we had both drunk the previous night). The tour was pretty informative although in Spanish and it was nice to see the whole bean to cup process in a really raw format.

After Salento on our way to Medellin we stopped in a natural reserve called Rio Claro. We camped, went swimming and cooked over an open fire for a couple of days, this was nice and without the tent we would not have this option. It was nice to get away from towns, cities and technology for a bit.

Medellin

Once run by Pablo Escobar this city is different these days. We took a few nights out as Medellin is the so called 'best night out in Colombia'. One night we went to an all you can drink club and the other we just hit a few bars. What is completely different from the UK is that everyone is pretty much a good dancer and anyone can dance Salsa. Also they dance it anywhere in the bars, there is not designated area - normally people just dance anywhere next to their table - so nights out are quite different experiences here.

We also took in the art museum with a large Botero exhibit and the square outside had a number of huge Botero sculptures and is pretty civilised. However a couple of blocks down at parquet central you stumble upon glue sniffers, prostitutes and addicts going about their daily business - there are police everywhere but they seem to turn a blind eye. You just don't go to certain places at night in these cities!

Minca and Los Angeles

Minca is a small village surrounded by hills with good hiking opportunities with views possible over the Serria Nevada one the highest coastal mountain range in the world (peaks over 5000m). We camped at a hostel with stunning views over Santa Marta and the coast but the weather stopped us from doing anything unfortunately. We relaxed in hammocks and read books for a few days, not a bad compromise!

Next we stopped at Los Angeles beach where we camped, cooked on open fire and sunbathed on pretty much our own private beach for a few days.

Cartagena

Prior to arrival in Cartagena we had decided not to take the boat to Panama - not just because of the golden price tag ($500-600) but also because we had decided to skip Panama altogether (Sarah's idea) to spend more time in Nicaragua, Guatemala and Mexico. This meant flying. Discovering it was £250 cheaper to fly to Miami then to Managua (Capital of Nicaragua) we thought we had it sorted. On further research we found that Sarah would be unable to go this route as she did not have her American passport and if you are a citizen you cannot enter the U.S.A. without your U.S. passport (a pretty stupid rule). However we know what U.S. customs are like, she would almost definitely have been sent back to Colombia.

The old town of Cartagena is a beautiful colonial city - with nice buildings (beautiful painted), cobbled streets and lots of history. We had a few nights out and took in the main sites during the days. The South American leg of our journey had come to an end - and it was time for Sarah and I to split up to make our way to Nicaragua and hopefully meet in Managua….