We started with a visit to the Police museum which might sound an odd choice but it´s actually really interesting and you get a free, private guided tour from one of the young men doing their national service. The museum includes a big section on the life of Pablo Escobar and the Medellin cartel all the way up to his eventual capture and fairly brutal death (and weirdly includes his cousin´s Harley Davidson!). 
We then visited the Botero museum that features lots of paintings by the Colombian artist (and a few others by Monet, Gaugin and Dali). 
The next morning we took a cable car ride to the top of Cerro Montserrat, a big hill behind that city that has amazing views over the whole of Bogota. In the afternoon we visited the gold museum which was huge (and full of gold, surprisingly....).
The following day and it was time to jump back on a plane (oh the luxury of being able to travel long distances in short times) down to the Amazon part of Colombia to a town called Leticia. 
The area is known as the triple frontier as it´s where Colombia, Brazil and Peru meet. You can easily walk from Leticia into the neighbouring Brazilian town of Tabatinga without any immigration hassle (unless you plan to travel further into either country). And you can hope on a boat over the other side of the Amazon river to the Island of Santa Rosa which belongs to Peru. We arrived happy to back in the sweltering heat and immediately got down to arranging a jungle tour for the next day. We opted for the slightly more luxurious jungle lodge option over the hardcore trekking and camping in the jungle option, this is a honeymoon after all. Our hostel owner presented us with these fat maggot-like creatures for our first breakfast, we politely declined.....
The area is known as the triple frontier as it´s where Colombia, Brazil and Peru meet. You can easily walk from Leticia into the neighbouring Brazilian town of Tabatinga without any immigration hassle (unless you plan to travel further into either country). And you can hope on a boat over the other side of the Amazon river to the Island of Santa Rosa which belongs to Peru. We arrived happy to back in the sweltering heat and immediately got down to arranging a jungle tour for the next day. We opted for the slightly more luxurious jungle lodge option over the hardcore trekking and camping in the jungle option, this is a honeymoon after all. Our hostel owner presented us with these fat maggot-like creatures for our first breakfast, we politely declined.....And so after a earlyish night (including a short stroll into Brazil!) we were up early the next day and down to the port in Tabatinga to meet our boatman, Costa. 
He took us up river for about an hour and a half over to the Peruvian side where we met our guide Roberto in a really small riverside village called Porto Alegre. After some dolphin spotting he took us briefly back to his village so we could see the local school (no jobs for Jo though unfortunately...).
He took us up river for about an hour and a half over to the Peruvian side where we met our guide Roberto in a really small riverside village called Porto Alegre. After some dolphin spotting he took us briefly back to his village so we could see the local school (no jobs for Jo though unfortunately...).After this we transferred boats and got into a proper canoe (only oars, no outboard, damn!) and started to paddle through a little inlet off the Amazon. It was hot work but totally amazing as we realised we were now experiencing the jungle proper, and to really hammer the point home it wasn´t long until we spotted our first tarantula sitting on a leaf about 2 feet from our boat! 
Eventually (after about an hours rowing and tarantula dodging) we emerged out onto the Lake Marasha, home to the Reserva Marasha and our lovely jungle lodge. 
Eventually (after about an hours rowing and tarantula dodging) we emerged out onto the Lake Marasha, home to the Reserva Marasha and our lovely jungle lodge. After hopping ashore, checking out our cute little room and dropping off our bags, we were back onto the lake for a proper tour around the perimeter. The guide had packed four bananas and we initially thought it was a little snack for us, but we paddled to the other side of the lake, nosed the boat into a hedge and the guide asked us to hold the bananas out in front of us and preceded to whistle. In a matter of seconds, loads of small Titi monkeys were climbing all over us tucking into the bananas!
(Not sure on the ethics of feeding the ´wild´animals in reserve but it was still good fun! We did turn down the chance of paying to hold a jaguar the following day!) Once they´d demolished our offerings they were soon back off into the trees leaving us to a relaxing afternoon on the water.
(Not sure on the ethics of feeding the ´wild´animals in reserve but it was still good fun! We did turn down the chance of paying to hold a jaguar the following day!) Once they´d demolished our offerings they were soon back off into the trees leaving us to a relaxing afternoon on the water. The following day we went on a 4 hour walk into the jungle, which as it´s coming to a high water season, meant even our wellies were pretty useless as we went nervously wading waist deep in water!
Unfortunately we didn´t see too much in the way of wildlife (or maybe that can be counted as fortunate given the venomous nature of alot of the creatures in the jungle!) although there were plenty of mosquito´s managing to bite us through our clothing!
After arriving back at the lodge and applying plenty of bite cream we were back out on the lake for a fruitless but very relaxing fishing session.
Unfortunately we didn´t see too much in the way of wildlife (or maybe that can be counted as fortunate given the venomous nature of alot of the creatures in the jungle!) although there were plenty of mosquito´s managing to bite us through our clothing! After arriving back at the lodge and applying plenty of bite cream we were back out on the lake for a fruitless but very relaxing fishing session.That evening after dinner we went out onto the lake to try and spot some cayman. We think we just about saw one beady red eye from a distance!
The next morning we had a bit of a relax sitting by the lake and decided to have another crack at fishing, but alas it was another fruitless venture! By afternoon it was time to leave and to give us another type of experience, the heavens decided to open, reminding us that we were definitely in a rainforest.
The next day we flew around Leticia and Tabatinga on the back of motorbikes or mototaxis (a cheap but risky way of getting around) sorting out money changing and passport stamping. We then packed up and went down to the port in Tabatinga to board our riverboat that would be our home for the next 4 days and 3 nights on the journey to Manaus. We strung up our hammocks, and proceeded to have a very chilled out few days admiring the scenery. The food was actually pretty good and there was also a bar onboard so all was well!
We arrived in Manaus on the Friday morning and were pleased that we had a flight out of there that same evening as the city is not particularly attractive.
We´re now in Salvador ready to put some more beach miles on the clock!
Hope you´re all okay.
Lots of love.
Al and Jo xxx
We were staying in a hostel called La Casa de Felipe which is definitely one of the best places we´ve stayed in, made even better by the fairly constant 35 degree heat! On arrival we made the sensible decision to spend a couple of weeks here (with a visit to Tayrona National Park wedged in the middle!). Obviously we weren´t the only people to be impressed with the place as the hostel is full of people also making extended stops here!
We met loads of sound people, gave the blender an excellent workout making rum based cocktails and also had two fish-fest evenings involving masses of a fish similar to tuna and on the second night a couple of gigantic lobsters (all purchased straight off the beach!)! 
Our friend The Sheriff haggling with the lobster salesman........!
The two beauties ready to be boiled.....
After our first week in Taganga we took a trip to the Tayrona National Park a few miles up the coast.
It´s a section of gorgeous tropical beaches separated from civilisation by lush jungle, so after a 1 hour journey by car to the entrance you have to hike for an hour through the jungle before stepping out onto something that resembles a scene from LOST!
The rocks and currents are fairly treacherous so swimming spots have to be chosen with care and there´s clear evidence that ships are at risk too....
During our three days there we did a nice hike back into the jungle to some ruins called Pueblito and plenty of lying around soaking up more of that 35 degree sunshine.
Once again we were sleeping in hammocks which is definitely not as comfortable as it sounds.
We did however get to justify the purchase of our mosquito head-nets and remained bite-free for the duration of our stay, although this was at the expense of looking slightly ridiculous!
One day we took a trip out to visit a mud volcano called 
After a brief massage you then step out to let the mud dry on you which 
After a few days of being in the beautiful but hot oven of 
As we stepped on to the white sand though we realised it had 
It was an excellent few days and after another night in 
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!