Colombia is FIT

Sitting on the flight after being told that Quito's airport is one the most dangerous in the world already put the fear in us, and then the lift-off just topped it off. The most terrifying take-off EVER. The plane's engines roared as the plane set off down the runway (it had to get as much height as rapidly as possible due to its resdiential location...) but as it succesfully passed over the nearby buildings the engines quieted so much so it felt like they had failed and we were goin to return back to Earth with a bump. "What the fuck is happening?!" screamed Lisa, and I couldn't have put my fear in better words.

Reassured by the flight crew, Lisa continued to be petrified throughout the flight to Bogota, and to be honest so was I even though I was trying to give her constant reassurance that we were going to be fine. We arrived safely, thank god, in Bogota an hour and half later and e couldn't have been more relieved!

Thirsty and hungry (the benefits of a hangover) we headed for the ATM to get out some Colombian pesos but the machines said NO. Both of our usual cards had been declined, but thankfully I had my Natwest bank card so was able to take out some money and then we ran to Dunkin' donuts to get some food and drink down us.

After bumping into what we believe was the Colombian football team, we boarded our connecting flight to Cartagena, a city on Colombia's caribbean coast. After a much more smooth flight, we jumped in a taxi to the first hostel on the Lonely Planet list and hoped for the best. Luckily, they found us a room straight away so we whacked on the fans asap in the humid caribbean heat!

That night we ventured around the corner to find somewhere to eat, trying to stick to our diets always causes us problems, NO MORE RICE, a pretty hard thing to not eat in South America.

Walkign past a bar someone tapped Lisa's shoulder, it was Severin, a guy the girls had met on their travels in Cusco and someone who we had bumped into in Mancora the first time we visited. Then we found a cute, quirky restaurant which had a lovely menu so we went in, only to find a birthday party in mid-motion. But we were starving so sat there as the only un-vited guests haha! The next minute the birthday girl arrives as does some singing and dancing men with trumpets and guitars, awkward much? The best part was Severin finding us again and trying to talk to us over the trumpet guy who coincidently blew it everytime he tried to speak!!!

The next was true tourist day and after a hefty amaount of cath-up sleep we went to visit the walled city where there are restaurants, shops, etc and it was really pretty, even after a typical tropical rainstorm it was still really nice. But the men were definately intrigued by our blancita skin!

The next day was an early one, catching a boat to the islands of the coast with the plan of staying at Playa Blanca, a beautiful beach on the Baru island. Walking along the beach we took the advice of an English couple to stay at 'David's place'. We would be spending the night sleeping in a hammock.

After swimming in the gorgeous blue caribbean sea, we had a few beers with David and his friends who were all celebrating the Day of the Fisherman.

We bumped into a girl who asked if we were English and she only ended up being a scouser!!! I had only met one scouser in all my 4 and half months in South America and I ended up bumping into one, Cat, on a carribean island!! haha

Then nighttime came and the island was in darkness, David had gone back to his village and basically left us alone in his hammock place until the morning. Thats when the shit it the fan, me and Lisa got into our hammocks ready in the pitch black and got ready to sleep. This is when a big guy walked in and got in the hammock next to me.... "Alo?" I asked, He said that he had already paid and arranged everything with David, but David hadnt said anything to us.... weird!

So back to sleep we went...
THEN his hammock was touching mine as they were so closely placed together, I then felt his hand come underneath the mosquito net covering my hammock and he grabbed my arm, not with force but suggestively. I was so shocked and pushed his arm away, thinking that maybe he was sleeping and didnt realise. I then stayed wide awake to see if he attempted it and he did 20 minutes later to which I screamed "What are you doing?" He mentioned something under his breath that I couldnt understand and it had woken a concerned Lisa.

There were 2 tents next to the hammocks so I jumped in petrified, and after rustling in the kitchen and a missing said man, Lisa joined me in the tent worried that he was in the kitchen looking for a weapon or god-knows-what! We both more or less stayed alert all night and had never been so glad to see daylight. We told David all about it the next day to his utter shock as 1) he had no idea who this guy was and 2) this had never happened before. We couldnt wait to jump on that boat back the next afternoon, we were traumatised!

The next day we left on a bus for Taganga, and stayed at hostel Casa de Felipe, owned by a french guy. We got placed in a 3-bed dorm with a potential RAR after working that out from his Armani belt and shirts piled on the top of his rucksack. Our first night we took a stroll down to the beachfront, only being 5 minutes away, and grabbed a pizza.

Our first full day in Taganga we spent at the beach, we already liked Taganga better, it was more relaxed and friendly, and much less touristy than Cartagena. The next day was spent mostly the same, except for getting attacked by wasps whilst trying to eat. That night we went to a beachfront restaurant to have some local cuisine. We ate fish, rice with coconut in, plantain and salad, something we had already had on the island by Cartegena. But 3 hours later, Lisa wasnt feeling too good and spent the night vomitting continously, but she told me not to worry and to go asleep.

I was awoken at 2am by Lisa screaming for my help as she collapsed onto her bed coming back from the bathroom, she hadnt stopped vomitting all night. I tried to encourage her to drink sips of water but she couldnt keep it down, and the guy in our room was so nice, helpful and understanding too. She really wanted to go to the hospital but there was no way of getting there as there was noone at reception to help us!

I woke up the next morning andLisa was still really weak and ill. I also felt ill with the worst migraine ever and couldnt move from the bed, but i hadnt been sick. So i went to the hostel snack bar to get powerade and crisps to try and re-hydrate Lisa but it would not stay down.

That day we had planned to sort out Lisa's visa for the US. She had her passport stolen a month before so currently had an emergency passport from the British embassy in Lima but the US dont allow you to even fly through their country with this without having a visa. So after filling in an application you have to go to a certain bank (one which was in the next town) and pay for a pin which you use to ring up and get a visa appointment with the embassy in Bogota.

That day, this was NOT POSSIBLE. Lisa could hardly stand never mind queue up for this. I had to take her to the clinic, it was obvious food poisioning and sever de-hydration. As soon as we arrived, the nurse took her to the doctor straight away whilst i sorted out all the formalities. She had to be put on a drip for 3 hours.
Trekking 5 blocks from the clinic to call Lisa's parents in the burning sun was an effort but I didnt mind, I knew she'd look after me just as well if I was in her position.

We left a few hours later and went back to the internet cafe to call Lisa's mum and let her know that Lisa was much better. However, we left the internet cafe to find comotion and police cars everywhere outside. When jumping in a taxi back to our hostel in the next town, we found out there had been a shooting and a man was shot dead. Could this day get any more dramatic???

The next day we HAD to get to the bank to sort out Lisa's visa, feeling a bit better, it wasnt so hard. NIGHTMARE struck! Even after buying this pin, it wasnt activated for another 24 hours, but she needed an appointment the next day in Bogota!!! After ringing the embasy to explain the situation, the guy said she could pass through with a usual ESTA waiver visa, all seemed well until we got back and found that the ESTA visa wasnt applicable to emergency passports. The only thing she could do was risk it on Monday.

We had to pack as quick as poss and get down the bus station to catch the overnight bus to Bogota. Another cold chicken bus, but a vast improvement on the bus to Quito, took us 26 hours instead of 18 due to the tropical storms en-route. Finally arriving in Bogota at 6.30pm we went straight to the hostel after grabbing some enpanadas and coca cola at the bus terminal.

Our first day in Bogota we went to the Gold Museum, apparently the best in the world, but after one floor of gold bits we were bored already, was gold actually that interesting?! So we found a big centre of souvenir shops just around the corner and got some presents.

Trying to keep down on costs, we found a supermarket and bought pasta and chilli con carne in a tin which actaully turned out pretty tasty. We also got a load of colombian coffee to take home and I got some for my host family and Shadia.

For the saturday night, we had planned on going out, but still knakered from the overnight bus to Bogota we couldnt face it. Well-rested the next day we took a walk around the centre of Bogota, all shut off from cars on Sundays. Between the Edward Scissorhands statue man and people randomly paying for gos on karaoke machines in the street, the sun was shining and we were loving Bogota. We stopped at the park and had a cheeky sunbathe before going back the hostel to have some lunch. Later on we packed and got into bed at 9pm for our 3am start to go to the airport. I was flying back to Lima and Lisa was flying back home!

I checked-in and me and Lisa had our last breakfast together, both of us crossing our fingers for her to be accepted to fly through the US.

I returned to rainy Lima to find out that the US had refused Lisa to fly!!!
After being stuck in Bogota for a further 2 days and paying for another flight home going through Spain and not the US, this morning (my time) she finally got back to London!!! Thank the lord for that!!!!