Finally! Finally! Finally! I am here! Bienvenidos a Colombia!! The wait is over! The sheer joy on my face for everybody else to see is obvious! I have not been this excited for best part of a couple of weeks!

It’s been a long time coming and a very emotional feeling is inside me to at last have finally arrived here! The good thing was that even though there was the big mix up I had up with the flights and being here two days late behind schedule it was a morning flight and I have the whole mofo day ahead of myself! I have my Colombian James 10 shirt on that I purchased back in La Paz Bolivia and want to get out, let’s get involved and get up amongst it!

Check in is at the ‘Mystic House Hostal’ in Calle de la Media Luna Getsemani. You will probably get told by many to avoid this area but this is where the party is folks. One of the busiest roads I have ever crossed in my life is that of Calle 30. So many taxis, one after another. This is where my hostel is based so any no early lay-ins during the mornings here. A lot like Mexico City, Cartagena starts the day early! Check out that cheeky grin below upon my arrival.

So little did I know I was going to be having a four bed dorm all to myself for five nights! It’s out of season for most travellers except for yours truly 😉 but one thing I did notice in particular especially also in Panama, how warmer the climate is North of Colombia and at the top of South America in general. I finally get to feel some heat at long last in South America! Only issue is it’s now going to be wet season so as hot as it is here at the moment it sadly could rain at some point. Hopefully not for a few weeks yet!

I put on my Ipod, drown myself in Paco Rabanne 1 million which I purchased cheaper in back in Chile and off out I go for a walk around town. Almost immediately I am approached by a few locals, guys and girls all trying their hardest to sell me things at the cheapest of prices (sunglasses, fruit, tours etc). This seems to be the norm here for most tourists and I am sure of some of this stuff is hard to pass by without at least having a look. I then come across an older guy who looked the spit of Morgan Freeman. I got quoted for $50,000 COL Colombian Pesos for a walking tour of the city for two hours. Now do not panic people I am not about to blow the rest of my thousands on a tour! It was obviously quoted in Pesos not Pounds! $50,000 Pesos is the equivalent of about £10 in the U.K. and in fairness I didn’t want to be out in baking hot +30 degrees heat for hours on end.

The tour itself was very much in depth but at a chilled pace, I learnt a lot about the history of Cartagena and the invasion of our good old greedy friends the Spanish back in 1499 with also yet another invasion of by none other then us Great Brits ourselves in 1739. We declared war on Spain and that meant Cartagena in itself became one of many British forces top targets, sadly though, we lost. Obviously back in the day the Spanish were a force to be reckoned with as they made sure the bulk of South America is spoken and dominated in Spanish. Colombia is a proud country, I’m sure that all South American countries have the same pride and would rather their own independent language but guess those Spanish deemed this part of the world theirs as much as anywhere else they could get their hands on. Colombia’s time for independence would come along soon enough though. History lesson over!

Trying out the local food here was certainly an absolute privilege as most things cooked here are fried so as good as it tastes and as cheap as it all is here it’s important to keep a close eye on that waistline! Very easy I bet to pile on the pounds. Arepas, Empanadas, Queso Frito which is fried cheese galore and when I am feeling hung-over from a big night out guess I need to be trying out the Bandeja Paisa which looks like an English fry up but of a more fatty nature containing avocado, plantain, chorizo and a horrible looking thing called Chichorron which is pork fat! I am not sure I can stomach something so high in fat as the fat intake would probably be so dam high it would cause me a god dam heart attack! Defo worth trying it out anyhow at some point!

So after the tour I needed to head back and pick up some gifts along the way back towards my hostel. Got myself some more beads, bracelets and a few more football jerseys of the national team. Getting a bit more obsessive with it all now and quite a collection I have with me so far. This is all without even making it to Brazil yet where I intend to be buying heaps! One thing I am loving about Colombia so far is it’s very welcoming and the locals seem to be incredibly friendly with gringos! I could see myself living here for sure one day. Here’s a few pictures of my day out in Cartagena.

Once getting back to the hostel I had a lot to get on with for where I will be heading after my time here. I just wanted everything sorted so I could relax and enjoy my whole time in Cartagena. Flights and accommodation for Medellin are unbelievably cheap. One flight for an hour journey to Medellin via ‘Viva Air Colombia Airlines’ is about £30. This is for a flight!? Booked at short notice also! It was a must and the airline itself are one of the most popular used throughout Colombia. So being as the flight was so dam cheap I thought I might as well treat myself to a more classy place to stay in Medellin with a hotel instead. Hostels seem relatively cheap don’t get me wrong but a hotel can give you a little bit more luxury. I will come on to that a bit later though. Luxury does not always bring you guaranteed happiness!

Now what would Colombia be like without a good little market trip to the market to witness all the fresh fruit and foods. From meeting other travellers throughout my trip so far who had been here they all stressed how important it was to get out and try out all of the lush exotic Colombian flavours! Everywhere I have been so far I have I have always been trying out the local food and drinkyou have to! Goes without saying. It’s the only way to embrace how the locals eat and drink everywhere across this part of the globe.

I sampled all types of fruit, some amazing and some not so great but the flavours…. Out Of This World! No wonder Pablo Escobar couldn’t stay away from his own country for long on the run. There is something about it here that just seems unique and unlike anything I have come across as so far. It was remarkable watching guys push round wheelbarrows full of fruit in such a tidy fashion. It’s so cheap here. Can I stay forever?

Size of them bananas! Turn away G lol!

The currency is just something else and you can live like a king here, if your English! However, the further I got into the market I started seeing the real struggle outside the tourist part of the town itself. The term ‘third world’ springs to mind. As I went through the back end of the market there was an awful smell that continued to materialise. I had no idea what it was but I did notice the environment looked a lot more polluted particularly passing by which seemed to look like a river with tons of rubbish and waste floating around in it. There were even some pelicans sat around it all swimming around and cleaning themselves looking the worst for wear. Think I may have probably gone too far into the market here. Locals don’t seem to be as welcoming in this part of town and I started to feel as if I was starting to get some dodgy looks. I am starting to see another side to what I thought the beautiful Cartagena was. It had only taken me walking a few kilometres out of the town to see a side I wasn’t expecting and I am now seen by many shaking my head in utter disbelief on my way back towards the city centre.

The hundreds and hundreds of motorbikes that pass both directions look like a nice easy route to get me back in a more a comfortable zone but out here you got to be ultra wary as some of these guys are legit and some are not! I went with a taxi instead just to be on safe side, still ridiculously cheap! Check out that traffic below and me almost getting run over lol!

That night there is local football televised in the bars near me so I go out for a few pints and try out the local beers ‘Club Colombia and Aguilar’ which lead to meeting a few other travellers including one guy from Florida U.S. called Ji who had been living here in Cartagena for a while. Ji was telling me how much he loved it here but warned me I was lucky that I wasn’t attacked or mugged earlier on that day on my trip around the market where I decided to be bold and walk a bit further then I probably should of. I appreciated his advice and concern and took what he had said on board. I was questioned when am I planning to visit Medellin? I had heard a lot of good things about the place and mentioned it was my next stop. Obviously Medellin has some pretty disturbing history but those days are long gone now. This is what travelling is all about! Going into the unknown, see what there is to see and get the hell out of there if it’s a bit dangerous! With all your limbs intact lol!

The next day was a short walk to ‘Castillo San Felipe De Barajas’ which is located on the hill of ‘San Lazaro’. The structure of this ancient castle was simply beautiful. Built in the 1600’s by yep you guessed it, the Spanish. It was apparently the most formidable defensive complex of Spanish military architecture around at that time. After taking a few pics and having the walking tour around it I needed to be on my way back to the hostel to pack but on my way back I came across something I have only ever seen in FHM. On the floor itself and paved into the slabs of concrete are pictures of all the Miss and Mrs Colombias from over the past fifty to sixty years. I do not think I have seen more attractive women in my life. As the years got closer to 2015 the standard got even better so while there I thought I best take some pics. You just don’t get this in England. Defo something in the water over here! Here’s a few more photos of the castle and that rather interesting bit of concrete…..

After packing it’s time to get to the airport and get myself onboard for the extremely long ass journey of a fifty minute flight to Medellin! I had an awesome time in Cartagena but after the randomness of witnessing a monkey and iguana smack bang in the middle of the city centre park it was time to see what surprises Medellin has to offer me instead. Hopefully not with an AK-47! Vamos Medellin!

Lastly from me on Cartagena, I revisited here again in April 2016 because I loved it there so much! Below is a few photos and videos of my big return back to Colombia’s most touristic city and what else I was lucky enough to see…