We had the worst seats on the night bus....that didn't recline and were directly in front of the toilets that smelt. Not just bad, but the kind of smell that constantly yanked at you gag reflex muscle with every breath. Trying to sleep was difficult as the bus broke harshly every 10 minutes!! So when we finally arrived in Medellin we were tired, cold with stiff muscles and a fear of Columbian driving!

Luckily when all the locals dispersed all what remained was a group of backpackers with lonely planets in hand trying to figure out how to get to a hostel.

Reading the opening statement of the town was a surprise as this was the first time we had read about Medellin. We only came here to see Andreas. The Lonely planet states 'Medellin was once the worlds most murderous City' this should be interesting!!

We quickly formed a group and headed to the cities metro system. Hoping to reach the hostel that had been recommended to one of them.

So off we went sweating and bonding to Casa Kiwi Hostel with Aliene an Irish girl from Cork and Kerry an Aussie from Perth.

When we got to the hostel we luckily got a 4 bed private room that was the same price as a dorm.

We managed to arrange a shower before checking in. It was another hostel that claimed to have hot water 24 hr a day..... .....the best shower so far, it was so hot!!! I was literally smiling while showering. A clean set of clothes later we went to a typical Columbian restaurant and tried to order using our broken Spanish and Kerry's phrase book....it worked out well the food was good and filling.

With the afternoon still ahead we decided to explore downtown using the free map the hostel gave us. The were a selection of satues by a Columbian artist,Fernando Botero, which were cool and all the Columbian tourists were having very suggestive poses with them which was amusing and I think Mark wanted to join in!!

Then we wandered around some more to see a group of concrete poles that looked like telephone masts but were actually the 'square of lights' that represented the moon cycle. We then went to a random park that had a museum of water and a group of small metal cylinders that we didn't really understand so back on the Metro to the hostel to grab a few beers and finally relax...

We booked our train tickets and hostel for Maccu Piccu when we got back...

We met up with Andreas (from Roraima) back at the hostel, it was really nice to see him again and we have arranged to spend the next few days with him.... this should be good!

We spent the evening with Andreas, Kerrie, Aileen and a german couple drinking beer and eating Pizza.