One day we took a trip out to visit a mud volcano called Totumo. The volcano is only 20 metres high and the small crater at the top is filled with warm mud heated by gases below! It´s a really strange sensation as you step in and feel really buoyant! Any attempt to try and swim seems futile and you have to rely on some poor chap who works in there to push you in to position!
After a brief massage you then step out to let the mud dry on you which doesn´t take long in 40 degree heat before climbing down to the lagoon next door to clean all the mud off. 
After a few days of being in the beautiful but hot oven of Cartagena, it was time to head to what is said to be Colombia´s nicest beach Playa Blanca. The journey there is quite interesting as it requires a 45 minute local bus ride, 5 mins over a canal on a canoe then 20 mins on the back of a motorbike which delivers you direct to the beach!
As we stepped on to the white sand though we realised it had definitely been worth it - finally we were on a `honeymoon beach´! The beach is of the classic Caribbean style (warm crystal clear water, palm trees etc!) and the accommodation for our two night stay was in hammocks right on the beach!
It was an excellent few days and after another night in Cartagena tonight we´re off up the coast to a place called Taganga for more of the same. Really disappointed to be missing all that snow.........Love to all.
Jo and Al x
From Cali we travelled to the coffee region, or the Zona Cafetera, to a beautiful little town called Salento. The countryside is so green and lush, not unlike good old Britain, although the massive wax palm trees are a constant reminder we haven´t accidentally ended up in Wales!
We stayed in a lovely hostel called The Plantation House owned by an English guy and his Colombian wife. It used to be a coffee finca and is set on the top of a hill at the side of town with incredible views (especially from the hammocks at the bottom of the garden!). He also recently bought a coffee farm down the lane that we visited which again is stunning. One of the benefits to staying in the hostals here is free great coffee available 24/7, although having consumed about a gallon between us on our first day and not getting a great deal of sleep we learned to moderate our intake! 
We took one of the local jeeps (that take the place of buses in this rural area!) out to the Valle de Cocora and did a lovely hike (if a little muddy!) up to a place called Acaime.
There`s a simple little cafe set in the cloud forest and there are hundreds of different coloured hummingbirds constantly buzzing around.
Al is at the front with a blue helmet and I´m sensibly it the back in yellow.
It was a pretty bad museum but has to be done for the photos! We also visited a better museum next door that is apparently on the actual equator and randomly bumped into some friends from our Galapagos trip (Ed, Lynne and Andrew!). Here we had some demonstrations of water running out of a bowl both clockwise and anti-clockwise depending which side of the equator the bowl was placed.
Our friends kindly gave us a lift back into Quito and we stopped on the way back to go up in a cable car that climbs up to the top of a mountain giving amazing views of the city.
They also very kindly took pity on us as we were having credit card issues and took us out for a meal in the evening (thank you so so much!).
The journey was made slightly more hair raising when Jo attempted a 3 point turn in the end of a tunnel on a bend, after this she was relegated to passenger/navigator duties, but this didn´t make for any more of a safe journey as she made repeated efforts to grab the steering wheel and plenty of shouting about my flawless driving.....(Jo is daring me to make some comparison with her Mum here, but I´ll refrain...) 
We could actually climb (following an impromptu bit of caving!) up so we could stand behind the water as it came thundering past which was amazing.
Unfortunately the train that makes the precarious journey clinging to cliff edges was broken so we had to get another bus further down the line to a place called Aloisi. From here we could take a funny little one carriage tourist train down the most scenic part of the route, made more fun by the fact that you can sit on the roof!
After boarding we were served a nice big Christmas lunch .However, just as we were finishing the mains there was a loud knock followed by the sound of glass smashing and I turned to see Jo clutching her head in pain. A glass light fitting had fallen from the ceiling of the boat and had caught her right on the head (fortunately it had smashed on hitting the floor rather than her head). She´s a pretty tough girl though so there was no fainting but unfortunately quite a bit of blood appeared and it was apparent that we´d have to go to hospital to get it checked out. By this time we´d set sail so we had to be dropped off at the nearest port right at the northern end of the main island of Santa Cruz where a taxi took us down to the main town at the southern end, Puerto Ayora.
So after a bit more discomfort for Jo we left to rejoin the Darwin with Jo a bit light headed but determined to still make the most of the trip. Unfortunately the Doctor had advised us that Jo should not snorkel which was something approaching disastrous when that´s one of the main daytime activities on a cruise. However after being a compliant patient for a whole one day, suffering watching everyone go off snorkeling, we had to try and come up with a way to mean Jo could get in the water but keep her head dry. The best option was a small duty-free carrier bag which just squeezed over Jo´s head, with the added bonus of a borrowed wetsuit hat! The end result had Jo looking like an elite fighter in the SBS but it was remarkably good at keeping her head nice and dry.
