We initially weren’t too sure whether visiting Medellin was a good idea. The city is still most famous as the place Pablo Escobar called home during the peak of his powers in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, when Medellin was awarded the dubious title of world’s most violent city.

We had heard that Medellin had changed a lot since those days, and by taking an excellent walking tour of downtown we were able to understand both how the city earned its dangerous reputation and how it has worked hard to turn things around. A key to the transformation has been turning criminal slums into public parks and libraries. Another key has been building a progressive public transport system, featuring Colombia’s only metro system as well as cable cars and escalators that enable poorer people in the hills to come to, and feel part of, the city. This urban planning resulted in Medellin being named as the world’s most innovative city last year. We found that the best way to appreciate the scale and impact of these initiatives was to ride the free cable car over the slums to the top of Medellin.

During the darker Escobar years, an interesting ritual developed in very religious Medellin, where hired guns would go to church both before clocking-on for their commandment-breaking day job (to say they know what they were about to do was wrong) and afterwards (to be completely cleansed of their sins). Although there aren’t as many hitmen anymore, prostitutes of all types (ladies, men and somewhere in between) still station themselves outside city churches, allowing their clients to complete their cleansing ritual.

Paisas, the residents of Medellin and surrounding areas, have always been known as proud people (other Colombians would say too much so). We got the impression that Paisas are particularly proud of their city’s resurgence. The Medellin metro, a central symbol of the transformation, is the only public transport either of us have ridden anywhere that has absolutely no graffiti. Although we’re definitely not trailblazers (tourists have been increasingly coming to Medellin for over a decade), the locals still seemed genuinely pleased to be seeing us in their city, with many stopping to say hi. In-fact the closest encounter we had with a dodgy looking character in Medellin was a guy who approached our walking tour group and said, in intoxicated spanish, ‘I know I’m a junky but I just wanted to say hi and I hope you enjoy your stay’.

The welcoming theme continued when we visited a local Crossfit gym. At the start of the workout the coach introduced us and gave a really nice long speech about Crossfit being a global community. When after the class we asked if they had any t-shirts for sale, instead of just saying ‘no, sorry’, the coach tried to offer Sam the shirt off his back. Of course we couldn't accept that, so instead we arranged to come back a few days later to pick up some shirts and have another workout (although they didn’t let us pay for any of it).

The day after our workout we woke up with very sore legs, so our timing wasn't great to take a day trip to the nearby small town of Guatape, where the main attraction is climbing 740 steps to the top of a 200 meter high granite monolith. At least the view from the top of the surrounding lakes and green hills was worth the pain. The town of Guatape itself was also definitely worth a visit, featuring a fairy tale mix of cobblestone streets and colorful buildings.

While in Medellin we also took a day trip to the more historic Colonial town of Santa Fe de Antioquia, which was established in 1541 and has been very well preserved. Although less colorful than Guatape, the town featured plenty of beautiful streets, buildings, churches and plazas.

The most famous legal Colombian export is coffee, and the vast majority of the stuff is grown in the highlands between Medellin and Bogota. Cindy, in particular, didn’t want to leave Colombia without visiting this region. We chose to stay in Salento, a tiny town that was built along a key trade route but was cut off when the route was diverted. The result is a beautiful small town that feels like it has been frozen in time, although perhaps not for too long as it is an increasingly popular destination for Colombian weekenders and backpackers from around the world.

On our first full day in Salento we rented bikes and rode down a steep dirt road to take a tour of a boutique organic coffee farm. Our tour guide took us through the whole coffee production process, and was able to explain to us why we hadn’t found as much good coffee in Colombia as we had expected. Apparently when coffee pods are extracted from their shells and put in a bath of water, the good quality coffee (which sinks) is separated from the not so good stuff (which floats). Because Colombians are generally reluctant to pay big money for coffee, the cheap stuff stays in the country and the nicer stuff is exported to more discerning, and less price sensitive, coffee addicts around the world.

The next day we headed to Salento’s other main attraction, the nearby Corcora Valley. Lonely planet calls this valley a lush, tropical version of Switzerland. Although Sam thought this analogy was a bit of a stretch, the valley certainly is beautiful in its own way and is well worth a visit. The first half of our hike was through dense forest, following and regularly crossing - often on rickety one-person-at-a-time bridges - a small rapid-lined river. At the midway point the trail climbed steeply out of the shade to La Montana, offering views of the beautiful valley below. For us the highlight was on the way back down the mountain when we walked through a massive field of 60-meter high palms. After powering through the supposedly day long hike before lunch, we returned to Salento for a relaxed last afternoon and evening in the beautiful town.

The next day we headed to Salento’s other main attraction, the nearby Corcora Valley. Lonely planet calls this valley a lush, tropical version of Switzerland. Although Sam thought this analogy was a bit of a stretch, the valley certainly is beautiful in its own way and is well worth a visit. The first half of our hike was through dense forest, following and regularly crossing - often on rickety one-person-at-a-time bridges - a small rapid-lined river. At the midway point the trail climbed steeply out of the shade to La Montana, offering views of the beautiful valley below. For us the highlight was on the way back down the mountain when we walked through a massive field of 60-meter high palms. After powering through the supposedly day long hike before lunch, we returned to Salento for a relaxed last afternoon and evening in the beautiful town.

After a long bus trip back to Medellin we caught a flight over the Darien Gap to Panama City, marking the end of 18 unforgettable weeks in South America. We wouldn’t claim to have done the whole continent, with the main omissions being a wintery Patagonia and the politically unfriendly Venezuela, but we hope to visit both at more suitable times in the future. Otherwise, we managed to knock a whole bunch of items off our bucket list and we had a lot of fun along the way. That said, we’re definitely not ready to drop the backpacks and return to our western professional lives yet. Next stop Central America!

The World Cup was a major focus of our travels, but as sad as we were to leave Brazil we knew we still had plenty to look forward to. Our next stop, Cartagena in Colombia, was one of the more anticipated destinations ahead of us. Despite stifling hot temperatures and going without any water (so no showers) for two days, we really enjoyed our time there.

Cartagena was founded almost 500 years ago and in its early life was the main port used by the Spanish to transport treasure that they’d plundered from the natives back to Spain. The treasure  helped build a beautiful city, but also attracted plenty of pirates. After five sieges, the Spanish built a wall around the city, which is why most of the cobbled alleys, plazas, churches and beautiful buildings have survived until today. To get a deeper appreciation of this rich history, we took a segway tour around the walled city, which was a lot of fun.

We found that Cartagena was at its best around sunset, when temperatures start to drop and the city feels most romantic. At night we enjoyed some of the best (but certainly not the cheapest) food we had in Colombia, with the highlight a Peruvian/Japanese fusion restaurant. During the day, we watched each of the World Cup quarter finals in various air conditioned bars, including the Brazil v Colombia game. The atmosphere around Cartagena before that game was amazing, rivaling the atmosphere in Brazil before their national team played, but after the game the place was silent. Colombians were convinced that the game had been fixed (something to do with Fifa wanting to manage bad press in Brazil around World Cup spending). Cindy’s alternative, more plausible, explanation, that the better team on the day won, was generally met with cold looks and deepening conspiracy theories.

While in Cartagena, we took a day trip to a beautiful white sand beach, playa blanca, enjoying a nice fresh fish for lunch and trying not to stare at some of the most obvious plastic surgery customers we’d ever seen.

From Cartagena we took a bus along the Caribbean coast towards Venezuela in search of more beautiful beaches. We stayed in Santa Marta, a small town with a rich history but not too much, in terms of colonial buildings and public spaces, to show for it. While there, we visited the nearby beach towns of Taganga (hippy town with a dirty beach but a nice relaxed vibe) and El Rodadero (a more modern beach town preferred by Colombian holidayers that’s relatively lacking in character). We also visited the final residence of Simon Bolivar (famous military and political leader who helped Venezuela, Panama, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia all achieve independence from the Spanish empire), which has been turned into a nice open museum.

The main attraction in the Santa Marta area is Tayrona national park, home to some of Colombia’s prettiest beaches, including Cabo San Juan which Lonely Planet uses as the cover photo for Colombia guide books. The problem with Cabo San Juan is that it’s not as accessible as many would like, requiring a one hour bus trip to the national park gates followed by a two hour hike in 35 degree heat. The alternative is a pretty scary, and relatively expensive, one and a half hour boat trip through relatively rough seas. For this reason a lot of people decide to camp overnight (in extremely hot tents or in cramped hammocks) to get maximum mileage for the time, money and effort it takes to get there.

We decided to get up early and just do a day trip. The two-hour hike through nicely set out trails offered lots of beautiful vantage points along the way. Two thirds of the way there the searing heat started to get the better of Sam, as he reflected that it wouldn’t have been difficult for the Conquistadors to sell Christianity to the locals, since it promises believers will either go to heaven (which sounds like a good place) or hell (which would at least offer cooler temperatures). At that point, we arrived at La Piscina, a protected beach that afforded us a much-welcomed opportunity to jump in the water and cool off.

We got to Cabo San Juan before 11am and immediately booked the 4pm boat trip back to Taganga (at that stage an overpriced near guarantee of sea sickness seemed more appealing than repeating the hike). The twin beaches at Cabo San Juan were at least as beautiful as the lonely planet pictures suggested and we really enjoyed spending several hours in the turquoise water. However we were ready to go when it came time to board the boat back. The boat trip lived up to its dubious reputation, with the beachside boarding and initial efforts to get out past the waves particularly hair-raising. One American passenger (not Cindy this time) seemed to be particularly convinced that the boat was going to be the end of her, but in the end we all got back to Taganga safely and without any dramatic episodes of sea sickness.

Sam woke up the next morning looking forward to the day ahead, watching Brazil hopefully beat Germany in the World Cup semis from an air conditioned bar before flying to the significantly cooler city of Medellin. In the end Brazil lost 7-1 and the locals threatened Sam with everything from deportation to rape just for wearing a Brazil jersey (which is pretty disgusting, but also sad since when we were in Colombia in March all the locals we asked had said Brazil was their second favorite team). After the game we headed to the airport only to be told that, despite getting two confirmation emails, there was a problem with our reservation and we couldn’t get on the plane (in short, don’t book with Viva Colombia unless you want to know what an airline worse than Easyjet or Ryanair looks like). At that stage the last buses and planes had left for the day, but after much pleading with rival airlines, internet scrambling, expense and inconvenience we were able to fly to Medellin the next morning from the somewhat nearby city of Barranquilla (Shakira’s home town).

We arrived in Bogotá after midnight and were initially a little apprehensive. Back home when we hear of Bogotá it's often in the context of muggings, drugs, shootings, machettes etc etc, and the city is going through some interesting times politically. Over the course of our stay we continued to be cautious but felt increasingly safe (seeing policeman and security guards on almost every block certainly helped).

We stayed in the historic La Candelaria region, and on our first full day took full advantage by wandering through its cobblestone streets and visiting the many museums and government buildings nearby. In Bogotá's main square, we took the ultimate tourist photo (one that we think rivals the holding up the leaning tower of Pisa scene for corniness) - sitting on a llama wearing a Colombian scarf and sombrero (see below picture). At sunset we rode a cable car up Monserrate mountain to take in a breathtaking view (literally, given the place is a kilometer higher than the highest mountain in Australia) which showcased the size and topography of the city.

For our second day we booked a day trip expecting to be herded around on a massive bus but ended up getting a private tour of the famous Catedral de Sal, the nearby town of Zipaquirá, Lake Guatavita and the green farmlands surrounding Bogotá. We particularly enjoyed the company of our cheuffuer, a very kind Colombian man with an interesting, although very unfortunate, backstory. 

At this stage, we're still a bit disorientated on the roads - in the last month we've gone from Australia where they drive on the left, to the States where they drive on the right and then to Colombia where it seems they drive on the left, right and centre. We´ve learnt that in Colombia the speed limit is governed by engine capacity rather than law (generally faster downhill than up, particularly if you drive a tuk tuk and have a 6 foot aussie bloke in the back).

Yesterday we went for a 5 hour bike tour of Bogotá, visiting parks, historic buildings, universities, a bull fighting ring, a coffee brewing house, a fruit market, a red light district, and many sites where Colombian politicians took their last steps (and bullets). The tour allowed us to see parts of the city we wouldn´t have got to otherwise, either because we would have run out of time or because we wouldn't have been brave enough to go by ourselves. Although we didn´t set a cracking pace on the bikes, with a base altitude of 2600 metres, we certainly felt like we got some good exercise out of the tour.

At the start of the trip we agreed we wouldn't be buying any bulky or heavy souvenirs. Less than a week into the trip we found what we thought was a worthy exception to that rule, a beautiful hand painted clay model depicting a La Candelaria street scape. Hopefully we still like it as much after 6 months of lugging it around.

It's currently 4pm and we're siting at the airport still a little under weather from last night. We had dinner and more than a few drinks at the highly recommended Andres Carne de Res, which is famous for its steaks, entertainment and atmosphere. The venue more than met our lofty expectations. The only downside was the bill. Bogota is divided into 6 zones by wealth, and although stayed in zone 3, Andres de Res sits in zone 6 perched on top of malls filled with designer brands and people with more money than they know what to do with. For us it was interesting to travel through the various zones and visit a first world oasis in such a big third world city.

Maybe it's the hangover, but Sam is obviously looking as white as ever. At the check-in desk, while fumbling to retrieve his passport and itinerary, the airline staffer guessed that we were the McLeods.

In half an hour we will fly to Quito and then (all going well) catch an overnight bus into the Ecuadorian Amazon. We´ll be off the grid for a few days but will check in when we return to civilisation late next week.

After 27 hours of traveling, including 3 flights, we arrived at our first destination, San Andres island. For those who have never heard of it, San Andres is part of Colombia but sits 500 miles off the mainland. Nicaraguans would like to claim the island as theirs, and if you look at a map above you'll understand why.
 
We chose to stay at the brand new Decameron el Isleño all inclusive resort, which certainly exceeded our per night budget for our trip but nevertheless proved to be well worth it. We arrived on San Andres tired and stressed after a busy few months, and the beautiful pools, unlimited daiquiris, white sand beaches, aqua Caribbean water, nightly live reggae music, comfy bed and massive room at the hotel were exactly what we needed to recharge our batteries.

In the middle of our stay, we had our 2 1/2 year wedding anniversary (yes, we realize it's weird to celebrate monthly anniversaries), and marked the occasion by renting a jet ski and taking it to a nearby island. 

Over the course of our stay we got better at handling flocks of locals who tried to sell us anything from activities to jewelry to cocktails (often at the same time). We learnt to ignore people who run after us screaming 'gringo', to not be drawn in by the 'Sunday end of week special deal' (as no doubt there'll be a 'Monday start of week special deal' tomorrow) and to politely but quickly say 'no gracias'. No doubt we'll need to apply and develop these skills further over the next few months.

So far the locals have struggled to pinpoint where we're from. It seems Cindy could pass for a Colombian but Sam has been called an American, Chilean, Argentinian and even a Brazilian, but so far not an Australian (apparently they don't see many Aussies on San Andres). Our conclusion is that so long as Sam keeps his mouth shut we will minimize our chances of getting ripped off!

A highlight of the trip was meeting a nice Colombian couple who were staying at our hotel. They invited us out for coffee and gave us lots of helpful tips on how to make the most of our time in Colombia (the first being that Sam needs to start drinking coffee).

We are determined to stay fit on this trip and the all inclusive resort didn't set us back on this goal as much as it could have. The food and wine didn't exactly inspire overindulgence and there was a nice new gym poolside that we used a couple of times.

Tonight we fly out to Bogota for a dramatic change of pace, climate and altitude.