Day 103 - Saturday 12th June

A couple of confusing bus rides later I found myself early doors in Salento, the beautiful heart of coffee country. I stayed in an old plantation house and spent the morning on a tour of the nearby coffee farm. I grabbed a kebab lunch in the old colonial square before watching a calamitous draw between England and the USA. Awful. An Australian couple moved into my dorm and we had an amazing steak menu of the day in town before heading to check out the Colombian national sport of Tejo. It's played in a large shed and has clay pits at each end with the metal ring in their centres. The aim is to throw lead weights across the shed and hit the ring or stick in the clay. But that wouldn't be enough so they add packets of gunpowder around the ring so that any contact sparks HUGE bangs. Combine it with copious alcohol and despite being fairly terrible it was AMAZING!

Day 104 - Sunday 13th June

Headed with the Aussies to the nearby Cocora Valley, an absolutely stunning lush valley. A really, really beautiful hike crossing logs over streams and rope bridges through the jungle Indiana Jones style before arriving at a hummingbird sanctuary...we crammed into a jeep for the return journey but the lack of space meant riding the tailgate and hanging on for dear life. Plus I got stung by a bee. WTF? Ate some great patacon (big green banana called Platana fried and ground into a kind of popadom with tomato sauce, tuna and cheese on top...really good) before watching Australia getting destroyed by Germany 4:0. A couple of buses later (watching the film 2012 for I think the fourth time on the trip...) and I found myself in Medellin and face to face with Steve from Mancora again! Some local girl who knew the owner was having her party in the hostel so ended up partying until 5. Random but good night!!