Day 9 Cartagena
After rather a late night at a salsa bar, dressed up to look like somewhere in Cuba in the 50s, we woke late. It was ‘goodbye’ to a few of our group as this was the end of the first part of the tour.
For Valda and I the first stop was a massage and it was very good. We then had the afternoon free to wander. The narrow streets remind me of Cuba and some of the women even dress the same. It was very hot walking on the top of the walls surrounding the historical centre.

We welcomed 2 new Swiss girls, 3 Aussies were yet to arrive, and went for dinner at a local restaurant where seafood soup was the speciality – it was very tasty! We have also been introduced to coconut lemonade – a very refreshing non alcoholic drink.
Day 10 Cartagena
Early start to be shown around the area before it got too hot. We were taken to a castle where we learnt about the Spanish and English invading this area. The next part of the day was at a local market, not any market but one where you really saw and smelt poverty first hand! Definitely not a place to go to by yourself!! There was calypso music blaring out and you could see people trying to make money any way they could. People appreciated us saying ‘ hello’ and ‘how are you’ in Spanish.
We then came into the historic centre and were shown different areas and given information about each place. It was very hot and very , very humid and so we were glad when the tour was over and we could escape to a cool air-conditioned restaurant.
Late afternoon we walked along the walls again to the perfect spot for seeing the sun set only trouble was ‘the beautiful people’ (?) felt the need to take selfies and therefore blocking the view for us lowly ones! It was not as spectacular as some other sunsets I’ve seen!

Day 11 Cartagena to Minca
Although we didn’t have an early start Valda and I had booked another massage so we headed there after breakfast.
Our journey today was five hours, hot and boring, up into the mountains. It feels a little cooler but not much! We are in  a pleasant hotel where, in the morning and evening dozens of hummingbirds buzz around the feeds that have been set up for them. We sat watching them looking out over jungle. It’s a pleasant change from a town!
The fact that there is no hot water is another give away that we are not too near ‘civilisation’!

Day 12 Minca to Taranga
Early start but that was down to a rooster who decided we should all be up! After breakfast with the hummingbirds we go into jeeps for the very rough ride up to an organic coffee plantation. It was an interesting tour as all the machinery was over 100 years old bought in from England. Tried the coffee and delicious warm carrot cake before heading back down the dirt track. Ewe then had a walk to a waterfall – as impressive as it might have been there were so many people that it was a big disappointment.
We returned to our hotel for lunch and then back into the jeeps for the hour long drive to the coast. Although the bay is beautiful the beach leaves a lot to be desired! In one section the appears to be a great amount of builders rubble! Sorry Colombia but Wollongong leaves you for dead! We did enjoy a cocktail watching the sunset.