The road south

After spending a week at the beach, it was time to experience a little more of Colombia. So, after our 10th hour of Spanish lessons, we jumped in a direct mini bus to Cartagena.

The trip it's self wasn't without adventure! Apart from stopping just about everywhere (not so 'direct' as promised, which we have since discovered is pretty standard), the driver was overtaking trucks on blind corners (also, the norm for south america), the air conditioning was so cold your breath had mist and we drove thru a tropical storm which left a foot of water on the road.

After a grulling 5 hours trip, we arrived in the beautiful fortified city of Cartagena. Our hostel was within walking distance of the walled city, giving us easy (and cheap) access to the town centre. We only spent a night in Cartagena, given we covered most of the sightseeing in an afternoon and it was f#&king hot (39 degrees).

Now the real travelling begins. Our next stop was Medellin, a 14 hour overnight bus trip, departing Cartagena at 8pm. Again, it was an experience. Our bus driver appeared to be trying for a land speed record, with the cabin wildly swing around on the windy roads. Needless to say niether of us got much sleep. We arrived in Medellin at 10am, very weiry.

Medellin is another sprawling city surrounded by mountains. It's appears more cosmopolitan than Bogota but for us it was just another big city. Once you've seen all big churches, the Simon Bolivar Plaza (every town has one) and walked the shopping strip you've pretty much seen everything. Now, If you want to party, then the city's are great. We only spent one night in Medellin, deciding to head south to the Zona Cafeteria (Coffee region).

We finally downloaded our first round of photos from Colombia,
follow the link (no login required).
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=18yfen8h.2dipn6ml&x=0&y=8uvzop&localeid=en_US