Mathilde and I arrived in Medellin around 7am and I soon found Harriet in her dorm. We had a very hushed welcome as we tried not to wake everyone up before having a good old chinwag over coffee. It was good to see a familiar face again after so long.

It was also a reunion with Jonathon and Luke, my travel companions prior to the Galapagos trip so was good to have so many people under one roof. Luke was not semi-local and told us that we should head up the cable car for the day.

Medellin itself was a beautiful city, far away from the image of a drug smugglers haven that it was only 20 years previously. The streets were clearn, smart and modern the people are beautiful and soooo friendly and the climate was comfortable - it is certainly a city on the up!

The super clean and modern tube system took us to the start of the cable car and we started the climb up the dramatic mountains that surround the city. It took ages to get to the top which is the entrance to a national park. At the top we met up with some of Luke´s frends from Mach Pichu and walked with them towards a viewpoint.

However, after about an hour the heavens opened and with little cover around we all got absolutely soaked. We decided to turn around as the clouds were heavy and it didn´t promise much of a view anyway. We stopped again as the heavens opened under a hut where Luke decided to leave his 300US dollar pair of raybans that he bougth by accident. We finally returned to the cable car entrance just in time for glorious sunshine to finally come - typical.

On the way back down though there was a problem with the super shiny metro system so we stopped in a very non-touristy neighbourhood for food and were greeted by everyone and anyone. We got a taxi back to the hostel and after a home cooked meal of meatballs from Mathilde we jumped head first into some drinking games. I am told that we went out that night, but I have no memory at all of anything past the drinking games - I blame the altitude of course.

Next day I woke up early for a slightly hungover walking tour of the city. It was very interesting as we learnt about the cities history, and not just the drugs which it is so infamous for. We visited all the different parts of the city, including the dodgy areas and saw where many of the car bombs had gone off during the wars of the drug lords.

The highlight of the tour came when we were all sat down listennig about the city when a policeman on a segway rocked up behind me. I asked him if I could have a go on his segway and to my amazement he was more than happy to oblige. It didn´t take long before no one was listening to the tour and everyone was taking turns on the segways. By now another 2 policemen with segways had also scooted over to join the party before the tour continued.

In the afternoon I had a much needed siesta. When i woke up i was told by Luke and Jonathan that I had slept with Mathilde the night before, of course I had no memory and what with Mathilde acting strange around me thought it was true. I was awkward myself all afternoon trying to piece together my evening when only several hours later did they tell me they were joking, we hadn´t and that was Mathilde was in on the joke as well. I´m glad that I was told that day though because the plan was for Mathilde to email me a few days later saying she was pregnant - HORRIBLE PEOPLE THE LOT OF YOU!

Still I have learnt something from this story, its not to get so drunk that you don´t remember anything, but that you can´t trust your friends!

In the evening and not put off from alcohol yet, we had a few more drinks. We had planned to go out but the heavens had opened in style and everyone was having fun at the hostel anyway so we partied until the early hours and only had a short walk to bed.

Next morning Harriet, Jonathan and I were up early for the Pablo Escobar tour. The man is the most notorious drug dealer in the world and at his peak was the 7th richest man in the world and even in the Colombian congress. The tour was fascinating learning about the drug trade and his ridiculous lifestyle. There were so many stories that it would take forever to write about them on here, so just check out his wikipedia page instead. We visited his massive house, the headquarters of his drug operation, buildings and sites that he had had bombed and finally his grave.

We even had a full on legitimate Colombian incident with a lorry that decided to hit our minivan and remove our wing mirror. I write about it casually, but it was nearly a big disaster!

That evening we had more drinks at the hostel and went out with a couple of Israeli boys that were good fun. The club we went to was all you could drink, but you had to pay extra for mixers and non-alcoholic drinks - as I am on a budget now it didn´t end well and some of my memory may be missing again!

Next morning was a lazy one but we decided to go to the Santa Fe shopping mall for the afternoon. The girls were going with the intention of shopping, but I think it is fair to say that the boys were going to people watch as the women here are beautiful!

The mall itself was shiny, clean and new with expensive western shops. It even comes with the biggest ball pit I have ever seen which soon lifts even the most severe hangover. I had to wait until after lunch in the food court before I could get close and explore the pit.

I was saddened to see that it cost 10pf for just 15 minutes in the ball pit. However, after some pleeing in bad spanish I managed to get myself 2 minutes free for some photographs, it was enough I was so happy!

Back at the hostel that evening we had decided we were going out again, but this time we had a reason to party. Sarah, an Australian in our room had succesfully managed her first poo in 10 days that morning. I don´t care what the location or context that deserves a party!

We went out in a big group and it turned into more of a walking tour, than bar crawl as no one could decide which bar to go into. However, despite this we finally settled on one or two and it turned out to be a half decent night out. We got back in the early hours and after challenging the Israelis to a play fight to see how quickly they could kill me in real life I finally turned in.

The next day was our last in Medellin, we had intended an action packed day, but waking up late put an end to that. Instead we just about made it to the shop for lunch before returning for a siesta. Luke and I also discovered that we were both now broke. We had been looking at getting a flight to Bogota that evening instead of the bus, as the bus took 12 hours longer. However, given the extra 10pd in cost we decided we had to get the coldest night bus in existence. We said our goodbyes to Jonathan and Mathilde and hit the bus terminal.