I landed in Medellin and took a bus towards the city centre. The ride was about 45-50 minutes and cost $4 rather than the $30 a taxi would have cost. Medellin is a large-ish city (c. 2.5m people) set within surrounding mountains. The drive in was stunning. As we appeared out of the clouds and descended a mountainside, the city came into view, sprawled across the valley.

I'd met an American couple who were heading to the same neighbourhood and so we decided to share a cab. We got in and I was immediately suspicious when the driver told us that the cab was metered and refused to tell us roughly how much it would cost. We all knew that the journey should cost no more than $7-$8. The driver did his best to seen genuine as he talked us through important sites such as shopping centres and the metro. We seemed to do numerous loops and turns, eventually the driver stopped to ask for directions, all the while the meter wad ratcheting up quite a handsome sum. We also realised that he had not reset the meter and so we had started out at COP 15,000 ($8) rather than COP 2,600 ($1.5). When we finally arrived, we were all ready for an argument, and we weren't disappointed. He asked for COP 30,000 (the fee should have been no more than COP 14,000). We told him no, explaining that he had not started the meter correctly, which he of course denied. After a couple of minutes, he asked for COP 20,000, claiming that he had given us a tour of key sites. All the time, he had this patronising expression on his face as if to say 'I expected problems from you tourists'. I wanted to punch him in the face. The best way I can put across my feelings towards him is probably to say that, like the guy in Guate who stole my money, I hope he gets hit by a bus. We eventually settled at $10, not wanting to stay and argue the whole day.

I checked into Tiger Paw hostel, which was reasonably priced at $10 and well located in the popular tourist neighbourhood of Poblado. I spent some time walking the streets and getting familiar with the local area. I met Joe, an English guy who was staying in the same dorm. We started talking and got on well.

That evening we hit the bar and had a few beers. I was tired from the travelling and decided to get an early night, having decided to head to Parque Arvi the next day.

Joe had managed to have one too many beers so I decided not to wake him and headed to Arvi on my own. The journey was fantastic. Medellin has a very good metro system which is connected to a cable car system that takes you up to the neighbourhoods further up the hillside and to the park. It was built to allow the poorer people to have a cost-effective way to get home. The ascent in the cable car was amazing. It gives you beautiful panoramic views of the whole city and the surrounding mountains. Once at the park I met a German couple and a guide started to explain to us about free tours and areas we could access. Unfortunately because of rain in previous days, there was a lot we couldn't do. I had hoped to get to the laguna but was told this wasn't possible. We decided to do a shorter nearby route ourselves, which ended up being a pleasant walk through the forest, but it didn't quite provide the views I was hoping for. All in all, I was disappointed with Parque Arvi, but had it not been for the weather I think my experience would have been altogether better.

I was in a rush to get back as Joe and I had decided to find a bar to watch the Colombia-Bolivia world cup qualifier. I got back just in time, having bought a fake Colombia shirt for $10. We walked around for a while trying to find the American couple, with no luck. Eventually, we found a place full of locala and settled down. We were approached by a stunning girl dressed in a very tight yellow Aguila (local beer) dress. She explained that we could enter a competition to predict the score if we bought four beers. We were both too dumbstruck by her to say no. I predicted 3-0, and Joe 4-1. As we saw away our beers, we enjoyed the atmosphere and watching Colombia win 5-0. At one stage another of the Aguila girls handed me a football and said I would win a scarf if I could do 21 kick-ups. On my practise attempt I kicked the ball down the steps to the toilets after 6. Watched by a lot of people, I managed 33 on my second go, taking the scarf to a small round of applause. We ordered a couple more beers before heading off. When the bill came it was something of a shock. COP 59,000 ($30) for 6 beers. Ridiculous.

That night I met up at Casa Kiwi with the American couple as well as the two Swedish guys I had shared a dorm with in Taganga. We headed to a few bars in large groups but weren't organised enough to get ourselves to a club. We wrapped things up around 4am.

On Saturday, Joe and I headed to the Botanical Gardens. It was free to get in which was great. We strolled around for a couple of hours, seeing some beautiful orchids, plants, birds and even an Iguana. Afterwards we went to Parque Berrio to see the interesting Botello statues. They are famous for being of fat people/animals. Saturday night was another good night. We headed to a park with some rum and mixers and then headed to a couple of bars.

Sunday was a recovery day. Nothing much to tell! I met a very friendly couple, Hector from Scotland and his wife, Pilar from Colombia. They were both teachers in Bogota and both very animated and interesting.

After an early-ish night on Sunday, we headed to Guatape the next day. Joe and I took a bus in the morning, arriving at La Piedra at around 11am. This is a huge rock with 659 steps to get to the top, from where there is a great view of the surrounding countryside. At the top we met Rohan and Dee, the Aussie couple with whom I had dived. The views from the top were beautiful, though whoever put up the sign saying it was the most beautiful view in the world needs to travel a bit more I think! After the rock, we headed into the town of Guatape for some lunch. The town itself is very interesting. All the buildings are painted in bright colours and have some form of picture sculpted into the front wall. After an hour and a half of strolling we headed back to Medellin. That evening, myself, Joe and an American guy we had met over the weekend (Will) had some drinks with Hector and Pilar, as well as some people we met from the Basque region in Spain (there were two guys and one girl - she was absolutely stunning - if they all look like her I need to get myself to Basque country asap!). It was great practise listening to all of them speak Spanish and I did my best to keep up/get involved when I could.

Tuesday was a very exciting day. Joe and I had signed up to go paragliding. We took a cab high up into the hillside where we met our guide. I was up first and could feel my knees shaking as the guide strapped me into the gear. He only told me two things before we started - run when I tell you and put your feet up when you land. Not the detailed brief I was expecting! We waited for what seemed like an eternity for the wind to pick up, then I heard the shout of 'corré' and we were off. It was a strange feeling when my feet came off the ground. We ascended very quickly and I could soon see for miles and miles around. The instructor was a bit of a joker and descended towards some trees very quickly, shouting 'arbol! Arbol! Arbol' in a panicked voice in an attempt to scare the s*** out of me. It worked. We ascended again and I saw a beautiful waterfall as well as the city sprawled out below me. It was a very strange feeling looking down and seeing birds flying below me. We flew for about 25 minutes before making our descent. This was really enjoyable and felt like a rollercoaster ride as we went from side-to-side before finally landing.

I had met a German guy called Robin a couple of nights before and we had worked out that we had a relatively similar route throught to Peru. He decided to travel with me, with the next stop being Salento in the coffee region, south of Medellin, on Wednesday. I was really sad to be leaving Medellin. It is a beautiful city in the hills. It's not too small and not too big, probably has the most beautiful women in the world, is very modern, with all the creature comforts of a big western city but it's also easy to escape the city to the beautiful surrounding countryside if things get a little much. Medellin had really left its mark.