I'm still in the Emerald City.. its going to be hard to leave.

Gorgeous Cartagena is a lot of fun. There is music playing everywhere, and I've been out dancing to salsa, samba, calypso and reggaeton. Every day I find something else to love about the city... great food, friendly people (I'm now friends with the street vendors in the Old City, and everyone here calls out to me as the girl with the yellow hair!). There's a park just over the road from the hostel which is home to vultures, lizards and sloths! It's such a friendly city, and I've bumped into a few people I know - saw Shaan on the street and Josh turned up on my tour yesterday.

The tour was to the highest volcano in Colombia, only instead of lava bubbling away there is natural, mineral-rich mud. Yet another example of enterprising locals making money - you pay to walk up the side of the volcano, and lower yourself into the gloopy mud. Such a weird sensation! It feels like clay mixed with chocolate sauce, and because you move through the thick mud so slowly it feels a bit like being weightless. Probably the closest I'll ever get to the sensation of walking on the moon! Once we'd plastered ourselves in mud, we walked down to the sea to rinse it off... I was greeted by a local woman, who took my hand, led me into the waves, and bathed me! At one point she even whipped my bikini off and used my pants to wash my face! Totally worth the £1 charge.. it was certainly an experience!

Today I went to the Museum of Interrogation, which houses old torture instruments - very macabre - and leanrt about Cartagena's history as a major slave port. After a few late nights I decided a quiet afternoon sunbathing by the pool was in order, then I went to Cafe Del Mar on the waterfront in the old town to watch the sunset. Bliss.

My new Chilean friends and Joanna, my room-mate, have been teaching me Spanish - seems to get easier once I've had a mojito, funnily enough...

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