Tales from an intrepid viajero in Latin America Despite promising myself that I´d never be so self-indulgent as to write a blog that´s exactly what I´m going to do. Welcome to the blog that I´m writing while studying Spanish and travelling in Latin America over the next 8 months

So, I finally left Xela, Guatemala, after five incredible months. It was a real wrench to leave but in the end I thought I'd end up regretting it if I didn't take the opportunity to see some other countries. And now to Colombia. My flight to Colombia was fairly undramatic and it just shows that flying can be without debacles as long as choose any airline apart from BA and American...

Cartagena in Colombia is a fairly spectacular Colonial city. In fact, it is probably the best I've seen in my time in Latin America. The centro historico has some incredibly beautiful buildings and the general setting of the City on the ocean makes a great backdrop. The newer part of the city has some impressive high rise buildings that somehow make for a great skyline instead of ruining the city. All in all it's definitely a must see. The other day I went to a "volcano" called  volcan lodo de totumo. Now, after climbing various awe inspiring volcanos in Guatemala it was somewhat of a joke to see a 28m mound being described as a volcano. However, the thing spouts out mud instead of lava and you can take a mud bath which apparently has therapeutic qualities. It was a little different but nonetheless interesting. Other than that, I've spent the last few days wandering around the city and generally taking in all the great buildings.

Now, my initial thoughts on Colombia...

1. It's hot, like, seriously hot. But that might just be Cartagena. The interior of the country can't possibly be this hot. Mind you, I've just spent the last 5 months at more than 2000m so I was bound to find it hot at sea level.

2. Why can't people on the coast speak spanish like Guatemalans. From being able to pretty much listen in on other peoples conversations on the streets I'm basically back at the point where I stare at people with the "what the hell are you saying to me look". Luckily, I can say whatever I need to and understand when people speak to me normally i.e. don't speak spanish to me with a Jamacian accent...

3. The army and police are all over the place. Coming from Guatemala where "law enforcement" and the "law" generally don't exist it's quite comforting to know that Colombians take the law quite seriously...

4. Seems like Colombia is a fairly rich country. Well, with all that drug money over the years some of it had to find it's way to the general populace...