Farewell to Latinoamerica

Well, the time has come; having seriously run out of money and with no immediate prospect of gainful emplyoment here, we are preparing ourselves to go home to the UK. As I write this I am sitting in Carolina´s flat in Bogota, preparing for a last day of sightseeing (we are visiting the world´s only cathedral built entirely from salt) and packing our bags.

The last two weeks have been a welcome change of pace, as we dandled our feet in the bath-temperature water of the carribbean on the island of Baru near Cartagena. We spent our days eating freshly-caught fish, reading and snorkelling on the coral reefs next to the beach, and nights sleeping in hammocks, being eaten alive by mosquitos and lulled to sleep by the song of crickets and frogs.

Leaving this idyll was difficult despite the fierce sun, but we headed next to Medellin, Colombia´s second city and a very civilised place indeed (now that there are no motorcycle hitmen gunning down rival gangsters on the streets). We explored the city, visiting parks and heading out for a daytrip to the ancient city of Santa Fe de Antioca, a calm and pleasant 16th century town with white-washed walls and a relaxed pace.

Another restless nightbus trip and we were back in Bogota, hearing horror stories about missing bombs on the roads we were travelling by only a matter of hours (FARQ and the paramilitaries are evidently not quite finished in Colombia yet!) and chilling out with Carolina´s two kittens Cecelia and Ringo. Bogota is chilly and overcast and probably a good re-introduction to the English "summer" we are (somewhat reluctantly) heading back to, but we are also looking forward to seeing friends and family in sleepy Hereford.

Cecelia (right) and Ringo (left)

South America has been amazing, frustrating, scary, hilarious, awe-inspiring, relaxing and at times extremely challenging. Our spanish has come on in leaps and bounds, and we are both sure that we´ll be back at some time in the not-too-distant future.

PS Here are my awards for best, worst, most friendly etc.

Friendliest people: Colombia (special mention to Otovalo in Ecuador)
Best typical food: Ecuador
Most amazing landscape: Peru
Best value-for-money: Bolivia
Best music: Chile
Most comfortable place to travel: Chile
Most diverse landscape: Colombia
Most hilarious haircuts: tie between Ecuador (for sculpted hair) and Colombia (for omnipresent gangsta mullets)
Scariest journey: Cali to Pasto after dark through FARQ country
Worst drivers: A packed field, but honours probably go to Peru where our bus crashed into a stationary traffic policeman´s booth in the middle of the road
Worst food: Bolivia - particularly vegetarian-hostile and very fond of deep-frying
Favourite place: Machu Picchu at dawn
Country most likely to return to (with a job lined up or on holiday): Colombia