It took a day or two for it to sink in that we were actually in South America. After catching up on some sleep and recovering from our land-sickness (it's an actual thing, who knew) we headed out to see what Cartagena was all about. One of the first things I noticed was how many English backpackers there were. In Central America we only met a handful of Brits, but here every other person we met seemed to be from 'good old' Blighty. I wonder if this will continue and if so, I wonder why South America is a more popular destination for Brits than Central. We'll see! Anyway, most of the people who were on our boat from Panama all stayed in the same hostel, and it was nice hanging out on dry land while retelling stories of our fab trip, as well as promoting the hell out of it to travellers heading the other way. We wanted everyone to have the experience we did because it was such an amazing six days. It would appear that it worked, as the next boat back to Panama was at full capacity. We had a final evening out with everyone to round off our journey to Colombia, hanging out in Plaza Trinidad where we ate local street food, soaked up the entertainment and eventually said sad goodbyes to each other and our fabulous Captain, Charlie, and his family. Cartagena is a wonderful city, full of life and things to do. The old fort is impressive and there's some great shopping, but for me the highlight was the old town. Confined by an extremely thick rock wall all the way around, stepping through the huge entrance gates is like stepping back in time. The cobbled streets are lined by wonderful old buildings, most of which house very expensive pretty shops. Reminiscent somewhat of a European city like Barcelona, there were lovely outdoor restaurants under canopies of greenery and fairy lights, with wonderfully-dressed diners sipping cocktails beneath. Sadly we had neither the outfits nor the budget for such places, but they were lovely to see. We walked atop the great wall back around and instead went back to the hostel to (somewhat sadly) cook up the backpacker staple - pasta and tomato sauce...
Having seen the harbour, the old town, the fort and of course numerous bike shops in search for the latest bit of kit we needed for repairs, we decided it was time to move on. We felt like we'd been lucky enough to see plenty of sandy beaches, beautiful ocean and hot weather, so headed directly south, with the end destination being the buzzing hub of the Antoquia region - Medellin. With the distance being nearly 700km, we broke the journey up over two days, with a stop in a very funny little hotel just outside the town of Planeta Rica. The first day was a little on the dull side, riding through the lowlands where it was still extremely hot, all the while dodging potholes and being bounced about by our too-soft shock absorbers. Although a major bonus was that the tolls (of which there are many) have a special lane down the side for motorbikes and we don't have to pay! The second day's ride saw us again riding along bumpy roads dodging potholes, but this time through some very pretty marshland littered with bright white herons and giant lizards, and then up into the foothills of the Andes. This part of the ride was truly stunning; as we climbed higher and higher the road seemed to actually improve, and the visibility was amazing - the luscious green mountains seemed to go on forever.
After seven hours we had descended into the basin that is home to the sprawling city of Medellin. Having been blissfully cool up at 2500m, the temperature soared once again and we were back to our usual sweaty selves as we weaved through the trucks, cars and thousands of mopeds into the city centre. As we overtook trucks on the windy mountain roads and weaved passed hundreds of meters of standstill traffic we once again were so happy that we were doing this adventure on a bike - we might get hot and sweaty or soaking wet but the freedom it gives you to get where you need to go really is unrivalled. Medellin was a very cool city. Buildings rose from the river in the base of the valley, a thousand metres up into the hillsides. We took the cable car up to the top of these suburbs taking in the view of the seemingly endless city, and then took a walking tour to get a feel for the place. I'd highly recommend Real City tours - it's free (you just leave a tip for the tour guide at the end) and is a fabulous way of getting to know Medellin and its history, as well as the history of the rest of the country (which is fascinating). It's hard to believe some of the things this city has been through, the sadness and violence it's seen and just how far it has come in recent years. From being one of the most dangerous cities in the world it has become a thriving city full of life and hope, which its resident Paisa people are very proud of.
After a couple of days it was time to head on, and this time it was just a short jaunt to the town of Guatape, before we take on the mammoth journey to the capital.