While South America was a big unknown to us (before our trip), Colombia was the biggest unknown of all its countries.
Peru has Machu Picchu, Argentina has Patagonia, Brazil has Rio, etc. But Colombia - we had no idea.
Despite this, we met so many travellers (doing SA from north to south, the opposite way to us) who said the country was their favourite of them all.
It's easy to see why, it has so much to offer - the Caribbean coast beaches, the lush mountains of the coffee region, and some wicked cities.
But I think most of all Colombia wins travellers' hearts because of the amazing turnaround in some regions from 'Danger: Do Not Visit, ARE YOU CRAZY?', to colourful, vibrant, and welcoming. (Although, like most places in SA, some places still feel a touch unsafe. I think that's part of its charm though.)
After a quick stop in Cali, we arrived at the capital of Bogota. Before meeting our last travelling buddy (my school friend Watson, who was visiting for three weeks), we checked into the Air BnB and watched England beat Colombia on penalties.
As custom dictates, we signed up to a free walking tour first. This one explored the beautiful graffiti that has been instrumental in rejuvenating Bogota to tourists.
We also did a free food tour which ended with us doing shots of the local spirit aguardiente (think sambuca, but with lime at the end).
Another interesting local speciality was hot chocolate and cheese (!!), which we all agreed was abit weird, and better kept separate.
Our last ever overnight bus (praise the lord) got us to Salento, a picturesque hilly town in the coffee region.
After watching England secure a spot in the World Cup semi-finals, we popped into a coffee plantation (a really small and cool one called Don Elias) to sample some of the local produce, before also sampling some local entertainment, Tejo.
Tejo is I guess the Colombian version of ten-pin bowling, just swap the ball for a stone brick, and the pins for little packets stuffed with gunpowder.
Instead of a strike, you get a huge sizzling bang when you hit the target. It was great fun, and a must-try.
The following day we jumped on the back of a truck (literally) to get to the Valle de Cocora - the main reason most people visit Salento.
The all-day walk was stunning, taking us around wonderfully green, rolling hills, before we ended up at a hummingbird house for a cuppa while the beautiful birds buzzed around our heads.
The walk ends up at the wax palm trees. They grow up to 60 metres high and are the tallest palms in the world.
Our next stop was Medellin, which until 1993 was home to Pablo Escobar's feared drugs cartel. At the height of its power it made $60 million dollars PER DAY, and supplied the US with 96% of its cocaine!
The walking tour here was fantastic (and very busy, you have to book a few days beforehand), and despite our misconceptions through the Netflix show Narcos that Escobar was liked by the poor, he really wasn't. Most people hate him, and still now people won't even say his name.
The tour of Communa 13 is a must, to learn how Medellin's most dangerous neighbourhood reinvented itself after drug and gang warfare. We even bumped into the Medellin mayor during the tour who was meeting locals.
The memory museum also puts pictures and names to the horrifying losses the city felt during those years (there are still people missing to this date).
After watching England crash out of the World Cup in a packed-out Irish bar, we visited the stunning Guatape, best seen from the top of La Piedra de El Penol (after climbing the 600-or-so steps).
We also took a boat ride on the river over to Escobar's old mansion, and played some ping pong in what was his old bar.
After a short flight we arrived to Cartagena on the Caribbean coast. The city has lots of colonial-style buildings and a pretty old town (the walls are a great spot to watch the sunset).
A trip to the local beach Playa Blanca was spent sipping beer and pina coladas from actual pineapples before we took a tour to swim with bioluminous plankton.
Having not seen the film Life of Pi, this totally blew me away - and possibly one of the most weirdest things we've done.
The plankton flashed blue when you disturbed it, lighting up the pitch black sea and creating a shape-shifting aura around your hands. (It didn't show up on pictures, which was annoying!)
After throwing Watson into the thick of backpacking, we decided to spend his last week chilling in style on the Caribbean island of San Andres. It's sort of opposite Nicaragua, but belongs to Colombia.
The island was beset with beautiful beaches and we spent our time sunbathing in the soaring sun with a beer (it's about 50p for a can of beer), wading around in the warm waters, or snorkelling in the crystal-clear sea.
There are lots of smaller islands you can also visit. Johnny Cay is good for sunbathing and blue lizards, and El Acuario for snorkelling. We saw loads of tropical fish, including the legendary smooth trunkfish, and we also swam with two stringrays. (It's very touristy, though)
We finished the week, and Watson's stay, off in style at the swanky La Regatta fish restaurant, which even has its own pet shark swimming underneath you while you eat.
After four great weeks in Colombia we flew to Panama - our last country! We spent a day hiking in the small patch of rainforest still remaining in the sky-scraper filled city where we saw toucans and massive spiders.
We also felt obliged to visit the engineering wonder of the Panama Canal, which Freya recently found out her great-grandfather helped build.
Then we spent three nights on the incredible San Blas islands, just off the coast of Panama. There are more than 360 islands, with just 50 inhabited, and all run by the local Kuna people.
The routine was wake for pancakes, jump on a boat to visit one of the many islands, head back for lunch, sunbathe/snorkel, eat dinner, then rum and coke for desert. The food was also great - freshly caught fish and lobster every day!
(The cockroaches in our beach shack weren't as great, though. It also wasn't the most waterproof as we found out during a thunder storm on our first night that felt like it would bring the roof down)
As I write we're sat in a hotel preparing to fly home tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon.. Eek! We've had the time of our lives on the most epic trip.
Thanks for reading!
