Actually the heat started to beat us in the north so heading south we were excited to find some cooler climates. Our first stop was a relatively small town a night bus away from Santa Marta. We had heard from fellow travellers that there had been flash floods and bad weather was expected further. But we decided to ignore the forecasts and naysayers and head on.

San Gil didn't disappoint. Tourism is part of this town, but it certainly doesn't make or break it, and that was refreshing. We spent two days in this small river town and barely met any other tourists. We spent one day in local smaller villages in the hills, wandering cobbled streets and taking a scenic walk between two towns, Barichara and Guane. Guane was particularly wonderful. One restaurant, with a verbal menu, the bus stop was also the local bar and the odd stray dog. A very laid back vibe, in a place time and tourists seemingly forgot.

After feeling relaxed and happy to have made the journey we took up an activity with the local activity agency to go canyoning through the beautiful countryside. We did four rapels down gradually more challenging routes, including one waterfall. We were in complete control of our descent and required some real upper body strength to control the ropes as we lowered ourselves down.

The guide and his friend spoke very little English, so we both enjoyed the broken conversation and it forced us to practice the lingo even more. The route included a long trek across borders down the valley and to jumps off cliffs into the river. Olly mastered the jumps, whilst I just couldn't face the jump. When I found a suitable height to jump, I apparently started shreiking before I even left the cliff edge, according to Olly and the two other guides, I don't really recall.

From San Gill headed west to Medellin, taking another exceptional night bus complete with a VIP waiting room and swanky toilets. I could get used to this. We both managed to sleep really well. We arrived bleary eyed in Medellin and hopped on the super fast metro through town to our hostel. We had some time in the afternoon to explore the centre which was slightl unremarkable, but we really enjoyed the main gallery displaying a huge volume of the most famous Colombian artist Fernado Botero. Outside of the museum there are large number of his famous bronze casting statues, which all carry the stylistic features of his paintings too.

That evening we met up with a couple from our Lost City trek and attempted a night out but made it to 1am before collapsing into bed.

The next day we were up and active. We joined a walking tour to Communa 13, a once ferociously dangerous area both during and after Pablo Escabars time. Now the area has been rejuvenated and the streets are lined with the Colombian signature of graffitiart and an escalator has been installed to help the locals navigate steep paths as the community resides on the side of the hill. Feeling more energised we then took one of the many cable cars up the side of the city , flying over the house and hills was a surreal experience, but the ultimate experience for a nosey person. There was also the start of the flower festival underway, so we made an attempt to find some of the exhibition, but found just a small park with lots of food and drink stalls, and few flowers.