After a pretty smooth ride south we arrived in Manizales. A local town unbothered by tourists like us. We dumped our bags in our hostel, which was more like a large apartment run by a nice lady. Our plan was to start a hike the next day and luckily enough we walked into the agency at the same time as a German /Dutch couple who wanted to do the same. After some bad translations , and me becoming the best Spanish speaker amongst us four we set out to be ready for a 4.30 wake up call.

When we returned to our hotel the owner was looking shot grumpy and trying to explain something about an office and meat. For five minutes we stood utterly confused until we finally cracked the puzzle of what she was trying. To say. After that she seemed to enjoy a very basic conversation with me whilst I cooked a mammoth amount of pasta. I would turn around and she would have cleaned up the scraps of vegetables I had use cooked. The most attentive guest house owner we have ever had.

The four am get up wasn't too bad, and with a small bag packed for three days we headed out in the dark with the guide and driver. We drove a considerable distance on some very bad roads where no other vehicles passed. Breakfast was at a small farm in the middle of nowhere and then a further drive up to the start of the glacier hike at 3700 metres climbing to 4700m at the top. Needless to say the altitude sickness kicked in very quickly. But with Olly's help and the guide forcing very frequent team breathing brakes we made it.

I'll leave the next three days description in photos. Needless to say this was an absolute highlight of our trip this year.