We didn’t do much during the day yesterday. We had a little mooch around the shops close to the hotel but we didn’t buy anything. We were looking for accessories for carnival but couldn’t find anything we liked.

In the afternoon we just sat out by one of the restaurants with a couple of beers and watched all the people go by. I got a lovely neck and shoulder massage – he clicked my neck and it felt really good.

And then in the evening we went to celebrate carnival with the thousands of other people. We had tickets for Harem Camarote which was down near the end of the carnival route so we had to walk through the crowds to get there. A camarote is like a massive secure area with a restaurant, a mixture of bars, their own DJs and a whole other area where live bands play – it’s like a mini festival within the carnival. You can also watch the trucks go past and go out onto the streets to join in the fun.

This time I took my phone with me (secure in my flipbelt) but the photos don’t really show the immense size of the trucks and just how busy carnival actually is.

This photo is looking out onto the streets from the camarote – as always there is a large police presence which makes you feel really safe.

This one is looking across the camarote out into the streets

And this is of one of the trucks going by

And the carnival route we were on (Barra/Odina) is just one of three different routes in Salvador.

I absolutely loved carnival – the music, the friendly people and the whole atmosphere.

The one bad thing is that a lot of people pee in the streets so the aroma isn’t great and you end up walking through puddles of piss. But the walk home yesterday was not as busy as the other night as all the trucks had got to the end of the route.

After participating in the crazy street party that was Carnival on Saturday evening we decided to take it easy yesterday and just spent the day on the beach. The weather was gorgeous with just one small rain shower and the sea was lovely and warm.

In the evening we just went for a little stroll around the streets near the hotel and then had some diner. The restaurant we went to was not the best – they didn’t have a lot of the dishes on the menu and when we did get our food each dish was probably enough to feed three people!

We met some guys all dressed in the old Salvador traditional costume and they are part of a large group that follow the traditions of Ghandi – love and no violence.

We had a fairly early night and got up early so we could go sightseeing.

We walked the 4km from Barra to the old part of Salvador- Pelourinha. We passed Forte San Diego and Forte San Antonia and walked along a bit of a dodgy road.

Once we got to the old part of town we took the Elevator Lacerda from the bottom to the top of the city – it travels 72m in 30 seconds.

Once at the top we were at the main square- the majority of churches and museums are shut because of carnival and the tatues and fountains are all fenced off too.

See if you can spot me in the Salvador photo above!

We wandered around the old town for a bit – it’s really beautiful with the old colonial houses. We managed to find a Carmalite church that was open so we went in and had a look and it was pretty amazing – and it had free water and a clean toilet!

We popped into a little cafe for lunch and met an English guy from Essex – Jake, so we sat and chatted over a couple of beers.

We then visited the Mercado Modelo which is a large indoor market selling handicrafts – it used to be where the slave market was held.

On the way home we ran into the two other carnival routes so had to take lots of detours. We got a bit lost but managed to find our way back to the hotel in the end. We got soaking wet too as we had a couple of heavy showers- but it’s warm so it feels ok.

After eventually making it back to the hotel we just chilled for a bit. We went for some snacks and beer at our favourite restaurant so far – Portal do Mar – and just sat and people watched.

After snacks we walked down to Barra Lighthouse where there was a massive outdoor party going on – it felt just like a festival! We danced on the street for about an hour or so and then headed for home!

I can’t explain to you how crazy Salvador Carnival is – words can’t describe the atmosphere or what it’s like to be there amongst it all. It’s chaos but kind of organised. There’s lots of police around so it feels pretty safe but the streets are jam packed, everyone is dancing and singing along to the music.

The carnival is basically massive trucks with bands on them and each truck has a cordoned off area around it known as a bloco. We had tickets for the Timbalada bloco and the music was amazing. Even in the bloco it was really busy and you get squashed a lot. But it doesn’t matter as everyone is having a great time. Our bloco had a group of male dancers who basically led the dancing – you just follow their moves. It is very hot and sweaty!

I had a lovely dance with a Brazilian guy, a policeman have me his number and another guy gave me a kiss. Faye was propositioned several times too!

One Brazilian guy, Kacias, took it upon himself to be out protector and made sure we didn’t get too trampled on!

We also saw a group of guys doing capoeira within our bloco – marshall art style dance fighting – which was really amazing to watch.

The whole route is around 5km and it took around 7 hours to dance to the end and then dance and walk back through the crowds.

I loved it, it’s super busy but it’s amazing, the music is a variety of traditional latin american with an African influence and also some more modern music. Everyone loves dancing – one Brazilian lady was impressed that two English girls could move like Brazilians!

I can’t wait to do it again later this week.

I have one photo of us before we left but we didn’t take our phones our with us as we wanted to just relax and enjoy ourselves and not worry about things getting stolen.

Carnival is definitelty the best street parties ever!

I’ve really enjoyed my time in Colombia. I was a bit nervous about travelling on my own but everyone has been really helpful and friendly. I know Colombia still has a bit of a bad reputation but I never felt threatened or uneasy at all – both in the big cities and the smaller towns. The Colombians have always tried to help and they have been extremely patient with my very poor Spanish.

The food is carb heavy but delicious and there are always lots of options. I’ve tried a variety of things such as arepas, fat bottomed ants, refried arepas stuffed with mince meat and egg, pantacones, some amazing trout, cabaya and chocolate and cheese. The Colombian beer – both club Colombia and Aguila are really nice and the rum from Medellin is tasty too.

The hostels are also really good- all of the ones I stayed in were clean and comfortable and they all had free WiFi. Many restaurants and cafes also have free WiFi.

It’s hard to say what my favourite part was as the country is so diverse- the weather is different in different areas too – but even in Bogota I didn’t get any rain!

I’ve met some great people on my travels too, both from the hostels and on buses. Although you don’t get to spend loads of time with each other it’s nice to chat and make new friends and memories.

I would definitely come back here and already have a list of things that I didn’t get time to do in the few days I was here.

This is a national park west of Bogota. One of the Colombian guys we meet when we went to Lake Guatavita recommended it to me.

Jason, a Canadian guy at the hostel, decided to go to and we thought we would get there by public transport. The first leg of the journey was on the Transmilenio, which wasn’t too bad. But then we had to get a local bus and we ended up initially going in the wrong direction. We then tried to get a taxi but the particular taxi we flagged down couldn’t go into that zone. He told us to get a bus which we did but after two minutes the driver said to get off and get on a different bus. This last bus was actually going in the right direction and we told him we wanted to get off at the park but he overshot the stop by about 2km – which meant a 2km hike back along the road and then a 3km hike from the bus stop to the park entrance. But after a 3 hour journey we got there!

And the park was lovely. It’s a cloud forest- as you can tell by the photos.

We hiked up to a viewpoint and then to the butterfly point – which was a bit disappointing as we didn’t see any butterflies. But we did see a gorgeous blue bird.

All in all I think we hiked 5km around the park and the trails were pretty steep both up and down.

I was glad to get back to the top. Coincidentally the two Israelian girls I met doing the salt cathedral tour were at the exit and had arranged a mini bus back to Bogota so we joined them on that. And then it was just a few stops on the Transmilenio and we were back at the hostel.

I had a lovely hot shower and chilled out a bit before getting a taxi to the airport. The taxi driver was lovely – he didn’t speak much English but he gave me a guide of the city as we drive to the airport.

At the airport the immigration was really tight – it was probably harder to get out of Colombia than in.

Now I’ve got a 6 hour flight to Salvador ahead of me – I’m hoping I’ll get some sleep on the plane.

This morning I decided I would walk up Monserrate. It’s one of the mountains surrounding Bogota. It’s 1500 steps and the highest point is at 3150m. It was quite a tough climb and I had to stop a few times to catch my breath.

One of the other girls from the hostel, Sabrina from Germany, decided to do it too so we started the climb together. On the way we met a Canadian guy Christof and then three other girls; Olivia from England, Rebecca from Finland and Franzi from Germany.

Although the climb was hard the view was stunning. You could see all across Bogota and the surrounding mountains.

There was also a church at the top and quite a large market. We were lucky with the weather as there weren’t too many clouds and we got a good view.

We wandered around at the top for a bit and I had a vanilla milkshake type of drink with a cheesy roll.

We then caught the funnicular back to the bottom which took a couple of minutes – very different to the hour and a quarter it took to climb up!

Sabrina and I went back to the hostel for a quick rest and a cup of coffee before setting out to join the free graffiti tour. We met Olivia there again too. In the square where the tour started they were selling fat bottomed ants to eat so I decided to try them – they taste like crispy bacon!

The free graffiti tour was amazing. Our guide was fantastic and as well as explaining about the graffiti, or rather street art – as it is so much better than the average graffiti you see – he explained all of the history behind it, including all the politics. Only 6 and a half years ago a young 16 year old graffiti artist was shot by the police for creating his street art.

A lot of the graffiti speaks out against the corruption in Colombia. Although creating graffiti is not illegal in Colombia it is prohibited unless you get permission from the owner of the property on which you want to paint.

Some of the graffiti doesn’t have political messages and in one area the city have paid graffiti artists to create art in a play / sports area.

I think a couple of my favourite pieces were these two:

It’s amazing what the artists create.

During the tour the police came and spoke to our guide. Tours in Colombia have to have a certified guide – our guide wasn’t one but had bought a certified guide along. However, the police questioned him for around 30 minutes but after this time he found us and continued with the tour. It’s a shame the police feel they need to do this.

The art below was also a very clever use of space, using the lamppost and sign as part if the artwork. We came and ate here later this evening too.

After the tour Sabrina and I had a quick look around the main square (Plaza Bolivar) which actually wasn’t that nice and full of pigeons. The cathedral at the square was a nice building.

We then walked to another small square, Chorro Quevedo, which is where they say the city of Bogota was founded.

By this time were pretty hungry so we stopped off and had a Tamal which was very tasty.

We headed back to the hostel down a gorgeous pedestrianised cobble street with more graffiti on the walls.

I had a bit of a rest before meeting up with Sabrina, Rebecca and Olivia for dinner at Dos Gatos y Simone – a Mexican/ Colombian restaurant where I had some steamed trout with quiona.

We decided to go for a drink and I tried chiachi- a sort of fermented corn drink – which was actually ok although not my favourite drink in the world. We had a bit of a chat for our reasons for travelling and what might change when we get home which was very interesting.

After arriving fairly late at the hostel yesterday I decided to book the hostel arranged tour to lake guatavita and the salt cathedral.

The driver picked me up at around 8am – his name was Israel and he was from Venezuela so we got talking about all the problems there (in English). He had been shot three times when he was protesting against the government and had the scars to prove it. It makes you realise how different some people’s lives are.

We picked up a few more people – two girls from Israel (Noah and Michela) and a couple from Brazil (Walter and Roberta) – and headed off to the lake.

The lake itself was amazing as was the history around it. When the Spanish invaded they thought it was el dorado – a place of gold as they found some gold in it. This was the gold the indigenous people had thrown in to stop the Spanish getting hold of it So after draining over 60m of the lake they realised it wasn’t a gold mine and the lake has been protected since 2001 and open to the public since 2005. Nobody knows how deep it is though.

The colour of the lake is due to the algae in it. The highest point we climbed to was around 3000m.

We stopped for lunch in Zipaquira and I ate capybara (like a large rodent). It was very tasty.

Feeling very full we set off for the salt cathedral which was absolutely amazing. The cathedral is obviously in a salt mine and the miners made it themselves without any payment- certain parts of the mine are still being mined for salt.

As you follow the route you follow the stations of the cross.

At the deepest point of the cathedral we were 180m underground. This chandelier is also made out of salt.

As well as salt the mine does contain minerals but these are not mined – in particular there is quite a lot of fools gold (iron) which when it decomposes forms sulpher so in some areas you can smell this.

Although all the mine is salt the majority of it is black as the salt mixes with the coal.

This cathedral has the largest underground cross- although it looks like it is a cross that is hanging down the cross is actually carved into the wall – it’s a bit of an optical illusion, enhanced by the lighting.

The cathedral also hosts the largest sculpture made out of salt.

After the tour we watched a light show in another part of the underground cathedral which was amazing.

I was really impressed with the cathedral – just the sheer size of it and the fact that it had all been made by miners by hand.

When we returned back to the hotel I had a cuba Libra and got chatting to Hugo – a French guy living in Spain. He’s also spent 3 years living in Bolivia so I picked up lots of tips from him about where to go.

So most of today was spent travelling. First of all a bus from Salento to Pereira which the hostel said left at 11am but it didn’t actually leave until 1130am, so I spent about 40 minutes at the bus terminal playing with the dogs and admiring the local sculpture.

At Periera I met another English couple and we shared a taxi to the airport. It’s a tiny little airport but I grabbed some lunch and sat and read my book.

The flight to Bogota was delayed by about an hour. I travelled business class as when I booked the tickets it was the same price as economy – just wish the flight itself had been longer than 40 minutes!

Had to wait ages for the bags to come through but after that it was pretty straightforward getting to the hostel in a taxi.

The hostel seems really nice and the staff are very helpful and friendly.

I’m in a bit of a dodgy area of town appatently so I’m staying in tonight and I’ll go exploring tomorrow.

I was panicking a little bit this morning as the two cash machines in the town square were not working and I was getting low on Pesos. Luckily by the time I came back from the coffee farm tour one of the machines was up and running again.

There are a lot of coffee farms around Salento but I had heard good things about the Don Elias Finca so we decided to go there. It’s a small organic coffee farm and our guide showed us around and explained how the coffee was made too.

As the farm is organic they plant fruit trees such as banana and orange trees which attract the insects and keeps them off the coffee plants. They also plant avocado trees to provide shade for the coffee plants. The coffee is harvested twice each year and after both 8 and 16 years the coffee plants are cut back to around 15cm so a new plant grows. And after around 20 years the plant is dug up and a new coffee plant is planted.

Our guide talked us through the removal of the pulp, the drying, the peeling and the roasting process. The best grade coffee is exported and the lower grade coffee is sold in Colombia itself.

Following the coffee farm tour Bob and Peter departed for Call and I went and had a huge Colombian lunch.

I then decided to burn off some of the calories I had consumed and walked up to the Mirador over Salento- some great views of the town from.up there.

I walked across from this lookout to another one just a few metres away.

I went for a quick afternoon nap before heading out to get some dinner – I was craving something healthy so had a massive salad which was so tasty.

It poured with rain and we had thunderstorms this evening but I went to the local Tejo hall – it’s a bit like bowling but with explosives. Basically you throw a stone to try and hit the white triangles which explode if you manage to hit them.

Tomorrow I’m off to Bogota where the weather looks a bit like English weather – rainy and colder.

This place is amazing. It’s a half hour jeep ride from the town square in Salento along a fairly decent road.

I went with Bob and Peter and when we arrived we were directed onto the path to take – which was actually not the way we’d planned to go hour in the end it worked out a good route.

As soon as you get to the valley you can see the massive palm trees – I’ve never seen anything like it before.

It’s a good couple of hours hike with a pretty steady upward incline, to get to the small finca at the top – at 2860m. It’s a good resting place and they serve a nice cup of coffee.

From there it’s about another hours hike to the hummingbird sanctuary, down and then up, over some rickety bridges. We saw a variety of different hummingbirds and they whizz right past your head.

The entrance fee include a hot chocolate with cheese – I’m getting quite a taste for this.

We also met a coati whilst having our drink, he was really cute.

It was then another 2 hour hike through pine forests, along a river (I got wet feet) before arriving back at the starting point.

Salento itself is also really pretty but quite a bit more touristy then Jardin.

We went to watch the sunset at the Mirador but it was cloudy and we got there a little bit late.

But we stopped for an artisan beer as it had started to rain before heading back into town and having some delicious food at Cafe Barroca and a couple if runs in the square itself. Bob and I also tried a little bit of salsa and merangue.

Great day but feeling tired now – hopefully I’ll sleep past 5am which seems to be the time I’m waking up at the moment for some reason.