Colombia and getting to Panama....

Ok, where to start?

Its four weeks since my last proper blog so I´ll try to get together some thoughts over my experiences in the last month. Though as it was during the festive period a few may be a little hazy but I´ll try nonetheless! Here goes....

So after re-reading my last update it appears I´d managed to arrive in Lima and was waiting for my flight to Medellin. An uneventful night in Lima was spent before I got on the flight to Medellin and arrived at around midday on the 19th December.

It was a short taxi ride to the hostel where I was met by my good mate Maurice who I began the trip with in Thailand almost seven months ago. So as it was going to be a relatively long catch up I dumped my bags and we headed to the bar along with a few other guys to have a few beers and begin the month long Christmas and New Years Celebrations.

Now, from here I could perhaps fabricate the next part of the blog and talk about all the museums, monuments and great things that Medellin certainly has to offer...but which I never got round to visiting! However, I´ll be perfectly honest and say that from the moment I arrived in the hostel in Medellin to the moment I left for the beaches and sun of the Caribean Coast in Cartagena, we partied the whole time.

Therefore, rather than giving a Time Out style guide to the bars and clubs of Medellin I´ll rather comment a bit about the people and lifestyle of Colombia and the Colombianos. Now I never had any preconceptions of the place but perhaps reading "Killing Pablo" before I arrived put me, only slightly, on edge when I arrived. Lets not forget that Medellin and Colombia as a whole was in the midst of a bloody and violent "civil war" only 15 years previously, so perhaps a slight wariness was understandable.

However, my experience of the Colombian people was and has been an overwhelmingly positive one. I´m not making an off the cuff comment when I say the Colombians are the nicest, friendliest and warmest group of people I have met throughout the whole time I´ve been away. They are always available for a chat and will go out of there way to help you if you have any questions or need anything. And so whilst during Christmas and New Years I could have felt a little homesick, the spirit and openness of the people made sure that wasn´t an issue.

So after the xmas party in Medellin I took an overnight bus to Cartagena in and around the 29th to see in the New Year. In Cartagena and for the next week or so I was joined by some of the worlds truly beautiful people from Bogota, Cali, Medellin and all around Colombia. I´d been told what to expect from the Colombian women but it is seriously indescribable at how stunning they really are and me and the lads spent many a day having a few beers on the beach in awe!

New Years was a really big affair in Cartagena and the city put on a great show with fireworks, light shows, salsa and rumba music and a few shots of the Medellin Rum to accompany us. It really was a great atmosphere and that New Years is one I wont forget in a long while.

And so after partying for the best part of 3 weeks I finally decided it was time to take a bit of time out and so I took a bus a small beach town called Taganga where I whiled away a few days by the sea.

I returned to Cartagena to look for a boat to take me and my Danish amigo Simon to Panama. One way or another we ended up bagging the final two places on this American guys huge Catamaran and took a four day journey away from Colombia, up through the stunning San Blas Islands and finishing up on the coast of Panama.

Again getting lucky Simon, the two Argentinian guys we were with and I managed to hitch a ride to Panama City where I´ve spent the last couple of days.

And so the South American adventure drew to an end and the beginning of a new continent starts.

The last few months spent in South America has truly been the time of my life. From the stunning time I had in Buenos Aires to the equally fantastic times spent in Colombia, every day has offered something new and every day I´ve been drawn closer and closer to the countries, cultures and people of this amazing continent.

It has never once dissapointed and has always thrilled so while it is the end for the moment, as a whole I know my time in South America is only just beginning....