Colombia - HOT to cccold

Colombia is so diverse: we've gone from non-stop sweating in Cartagena to wool socks & blankets at night in Guatape, and have done so much along the way. We arrived in Cartagena just in time for the city to bid Obama (& Harper!) adieu complete with naval ships, choppers and thousands of police officers. We met up with our lovely Belgian friends again and toured around the historic 'old town' where Britt introduced me to two things: the delicious desserts at 'Crepes & Waffles' & the clothing store 'Tennis'- I'm pretty sure I'm going to need to open one of each in Calgary when we return!

Old Town, Cartagena

We then spent the afternoon trying to beat the heat in the swimming pool at her dad's condo & enjoyed a delicious home cooked dinner. The next day we took a mud bath in Totumo volcano which was an eerie but very cool sensation with the added benefit of being very good for your skin.

Our next stop was Taganga, on the northern coast of Colombia where we stayed with two of the guys from our sailing trip in an apartment style room complete with our own balcony & kitchen. We took full advantage of the private kitchen & cooked up some delicious meals including a traditional Portuguese dish (compliments of John) & freshly caught tuna (caught by our new friend, Anne).

We snorkeled in Tayrona National Park, spent an afternoon lazing on Playa Conchal and topped the day off with a fun night out at 'Mirador Taganga' - an open-air dancefloor overlooking the ocean.
After some debate we decided to catch an overnight bus to San Gil, the adventure 'capital' of Colombia. We spent a morning taking in the beauty at Gallineral park while mustering up the courage to go paragliding that afternoon. Turns out we spent most of the afternoon waiting for the wind to pick up enough that Jody could go ;) but I was able to go twice! What an exhilerating yet peaceful ride with incredible canyon views.

 Here's a video of my first (not-so-graceful) landing, in a farmer's field :)

 The next day we went white water rafting with some fun folks from our hostel then spent the afternoon at a gorgeous, 180 meter waterfall just outside the town (the photo only captures a small part of the 180 meters in total).

After the waterfall excursion we caught another overnight, aircon-cranked bus to Medellin, the second largest city in Colombia. What a unique city! Their transit system puts Calgary's to shame, complete with gondolas reaching the suburbs up the sides of the mountains. We rode the gondola to the top of one of the mountains where there was a massive park, had dinner in Zona Rosa (and dessert at Crepes & Waffles!), walked around Botero square and took in the view from our Hotel's rooftop hottub.

We are now in a colourful, little lake town of 5,000 people called Guatape and are just loving it.

Yesterday we climbed the giant rock (~650 steps) randomly located on a hilltop just outside the town and spent the afternoon kayaking around the coves and bays on the lake.

Tomorrow we're off to Salento in the coffee region and hope to taste some delicious, local Colombian coffee!