The end of Colombia

Tomorrow I fly to Peru. Today I am in Bogota. On Thursday I was in the Caribbean in Cartagena. Taking planes to places when you're used to the bus is strange, as I can't believe I've managed to cover so much distance in so little time.

So, Colombia. It's been a brilliant couple of weeks, in an amazing country with amazing travel buddies and lots of fun and sunshine. It's very cool in South American traveller world to love Colombia right now, but I honestly think that I would still love it even if no one else did.

I went diving again whilst up in Taganga, and I'm so glad I did. The two fun dives I did were the first I'd done since taking my Open Water in Thailand, and I'd forgotten just how amazing it feels to be in the water. I thought that would be the last diving opportunity I would have on this trip, but happily I have found out that I can also dive in Brazil.

After our extended beach time in Taganga, the travel buddie group splintered off, with the boys going off to do the 6 day Lost City trek, Carina staying in Taganga and Jayne and I heading for Cartagena.

Cartagena is beautiful, but it's basically Europe. It's a perfectly preserved colonial city of cobbled winding streets and churches, which is scarily similar to bits of Barcelona's old town, the South of France and, most strikingly, Dubrovnik. It's very hot, and not really a party place, so lots of people were speeding through, but little occasionally-homesick-for-Europe me really enjoyed the time I spent there.

I indulged myself slightly by choosing to fly from Cartagena to Bogota instead of taking a 20 hour bus. Flying was more expensive, but only by 30USD, and I got there in 1 and a half hours! Going on planes makes me so excited - I'm even excited about tomorrow's flight. It's almost a shame that I'm that I'm too clever and ambitious to be an air hostess, huh?

Bogota is cool, in both senses of the word. As the capital, it's edgier, more fashionable and more noticeably gay than anywhere else here. It's quite a change from the beautiful but plastic WAG wannabes of Medellin, or the rastafied residents of the Caribbean. I like it, but I think I would like it more if I wasn't so damn cold - it's only 15 degrees for heaven's sake! I am dreading the genuine cold of the Andes, without even thinking of the cold of England in November. Whoever meets me at the airport is going to have to bring thermals and a big duvet coat...