We arrived in Palomino at around 9pm at night after a 2.5hr journey from Santa Marta. The bus journey was extremely cramped with anything and everything on board including an exceptionally drunk old man that started off entertaining everyone but ended up just being a nuisance.

Palomino itself is tiny, literally just a collection of buildings next to the side of the coastal road. As a result we checked into the first hostel we saw, which fortunately was very close and had a brief stroll through the town. The girls had decided to cook some pasta they had left over but Jonathan and I managed to find some really grub up the street. After we just chilled and talked before retiring for an early night.

The next day we woke up at 5.30am and walked to the beach which was 15 minutes walk away. We were up so early because we were told that only between 6am and 7am in the morning was it possible to see the snow capped 5000m mountain nearby. Unfortunately, the weather was grey and miserable so we did not get to see the mountain. However, the beach was beautiful and went on for miles whilst there wasn`t a soul around due to the time, so not all was lost. Unfortunately the weather took a turn so we sheltered until the rain passed then returned to the hostel for the rest of our overdue sleep.

When we woke up we did nothing, just reading for a long time as the heat was blistering and its too hot to move far. In the afternoon, after the midday sun though Mathilde, Ea and I went tubing whilst Jonathan did some work. We followed the hostel owner into the jungle and rented some tubes before being pointed in the right direction into the jungle. The 3 of us walked for an hour into the jungle barefooted carrying our tubes, it has to be the single most sweaty thing I have ever done in my life! However, our efforts were worth it because the tubing was awesome. We finally arrived at the river and go our float on, passing through the jungle with no one around. Every now and then we would reach some rapids which made the adventure all the more interesting. We floated downstream just chatting when we were in suitable proximity to each other until we reached the ocean an hour and a half later. From here we had to walk for a kilometre or so along a huge sandy beach back into Palomino. It was not a bad way to spend the afternoon!

Back at the hostel we freshened up, went back to the cheao place for dinner and then went to one of the 3 pool clubs in town. For such a small village, they must really love their pool, but we were`t complaining as it gave us something to do with our time. When we returned to the hostel there was an indigenous family in our hostel who were staying on the floor overnight. I chatted to them for a while in my awful Spanish but it was really cool to speak to people from such a different background to myself.

The next morning we were lounging about most of the day waiting for my laundry to be returned. We had a lazy morning just reading before we went back down to the beach where there is a nice hostel. We stayed in the hostel for a couple of hours, utilising the only internet in the village and sipping on juice before we returned, as did my laundry and we waved down the next bus bound for Cartagena which was around 7 hours away!