by Anna Downing | Mar 28, 2011 | Features, Travel
The morning after my fun jaunt through the death zone of Medellin was finally time to move on – to Manizales, coffee capital of Colombia. But not before finally meeting the Aussie guy also on a homestay across the street – the one the girls were doing...
by Anna Downing | Mar 27, 2011 | Features, Travel
My last day in Medellin started off well – my visa got sorted in five minutes and then I went for a wandering Spanish lesson in which my teacher Jorge and I walked around town and ate a huge lunch. Then he had to go teach another class and I had a task to attend...
by Anna Downing | Mar 23, 2011 | Features, Travel
The very morning I had to extend my visa for being here too long (never done that before) was the same day that demonstrated exactly why I have stayed here so long in the first place. So the day started off pretty uneventful. I spent 5 hours sorting out my visa (which...
by Anna Downing | Mar 22, 2011 | Features, Travel
I’m now four/five days into my homestay and Saturday night was a great turning point with my family – we got plastered together, Colombia style. But my story begins a few hours earlier, when I shunned Spanish lessons in favour of taking a day trip to Gautape, a...
by Anna Downing | Mar 20, 2011 | Features, Travel
After cramming more exercise into five days than I have in my entire life, I just wanted to lay my butt down on a beach and eat lots of food for a couple of days – so that’s exactly what I did. We got back to Santa Marta on the Friday night, I slept like a baby...
by Anna Downing | Mar 18, 2011 | Features, Travel
First of all, I should explain why I wanted to drag my exercise-shy ass through a muddy, mosquito-infested jungle for five days, sleeping in hammocks every night. Basically, the Ciudad Perdida (Lost City) trek is said to be a bit like Peru’s Inca Trail, except there...
by Anna Downing | Mar 15, 2011 | Features, Travel
So the day after getting back from Cabo de la Vela (which I promised to continue – basically we had a bad journey back, being ripped off and arguing with taxi drivers a lot), we went to Laura’s cousin’s apartment in Barranquilla, a swanky place in a...
by Anna Downing | Mar 7, 2011 | Features, Travel
After Cartagena Laura and I went off the beaten path (even more so than just being in Colombia…) to a place called Punta Gallinas. The Lonely Planet describes it as being near impossible to reach without being on an organised tour that costs $350 (for 3 days!), and...
by Anna Downing | Mar 4, 2011 | Features, Travel
A retrospective post about Panama, as things have been such a whirlwind that I’ve blasted through to Colombia and been too excited about this amazing country that I just want to write about here. But Panama was really gorgeous. The landscape up north was similar to...