Sarah & Bart's Great Escape

Our trip has taken us over 115,000km across the globe!!

From Cancun we caught a short ferry to Isla Mujeres (Island of Women) - the island where Spanish conquerors left their women for safe keeping in the 17th century while they went into battle!

The beautiful north beach, Isla Mujeres

We managed to negotiate super cheap rates for this brand new hotel, right on the water, Isla Mujeres!

Streets of Isla Mujeres

Fresh whole fish for dinner YUM!

Snorkelling day trip off Isla Mujeres

Johnny made sure he stayed close to us and away from the sharks!! And yes we CAN swim without life jackets - government regulations grrrr

Miami Vice, eat your heart out!

Waboba-ball championships

After Isla Mujeres, we caught a ferry back to Cancun, then continued south along the coast to Tulum.................

We made it to Tulum and found some great cabanas on the beach. We had arrived in HEAVEN!!

The view from our beach front cabana!

Stunning Tulum beach!

Battle of Tulum!

Mayan mud masks

We tore ourselves away from the beach for a day of history...........

Temple of Kukulkan, Chichen-Itza - ruins from the Mayan civilization that existed here in 600AD, was a must-see and did not fail to impress! 2 hours north-west of Tulum

Dumb and dumber???

The 3 amigos celebrate Johnny's last supper - with tacos of course!

And then there were 2.................

Stunning Tulum Mayan ruins

And just when we thought we had done it all.............. we were also able to tick off cave diving!!!

This has been our humble home for the last few weeks.......

We made the most of our last few days of doing this.....

............along with morning yoga classes and daily walks along the beach trying to avoid Tulum's happy-go-lucky nudists......

We posed for photo number 20,002 (not joking).............. and whilst we have loved sharing our adventures with you, we are ready to give our camera a rest

For those of you who said we would never do it........... it is DONE!! 2 backpacks, 5 continents, 350 days ...............and not once did we look back!

Thank you for joining us on our journey.....it's been a blast!!

See you in AUS!!

Mexican fiesta...

Stunning Playa del Carmen beach

Cafe con leche?? (coffee with milk) Playa del Carmen beach

Hasslehoff

Johnny's first authentic mexican taco... and it was gone in seconds!!

And the celebrations begin!!!

A few drinks on the balcony before dinner

The birthday dinner!

The cake - Happy 30 years Bartholomew!!

Bartie Bartie too much party!!

Loud and proud at 30!!!!

And then it was onto Cuba................

We had heard that the food in Cuba was going to be terrible.... so the boys decided on one last gourmet meal at Cancun airport!

The nervous walk along the tarmac to board our 60 year old former Soviet Yakov plane to Havana, Cuba. Cubana Air is the only airline in the world still using Yakov planes.......

Even Cuban Air is stuck in the 50's - literally with this former Soviet Yakov plane that apparently still flys!

A super nervous Johnny prays and crosses his fingers for our survival!

The air hostess was certainly not giving us ANY confidence as the Yakov took off!!!!!!!

Bye bye Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico - we really hope we will see you again!!

Thankfully we survived the Yakov (or was it a time machine??) ............... and were suddenly in Havana..... in the 1950's??

Cuba has been ruled by Fidel Castro since 1959, when Castro led the socialist Cuban revolution to overthrow the previous dictator, Batista (in recent years his brother Raul has taken over but the common consensis is that Raul is merely a public figure for Fidel). Under Batista, Cuba was one of the most profitable countries in the Americas however the economy was attributed to a very rich and successful minority (many US citizens) and most of the country lived in terrible poverty. Castro's socialism model eventually won, promising equality for all. The US citizens and most of the wealthly Cubans fled to Miami during the revolution and then Castro proceeded to repossess all property, houses and land (much of which was US owned) and then divide it up equally amongst all Cubans...

The repossession of US owned property by Castro resulted in America implementing a trade embargo in 1960, which still exists today - preventing Cubans from importing and exporting with America. With the wealth gone from the country and profits limited to government owned rum and cigar export business, Cuba's economy has continued to decline and is now one of the poorest countries in the Americas. Hence why Cuba still looks and operates like it did in the 1950's....all businesses are government owned and Cubans have not been able to own their own businesses since 1959. So, in actual fact the 'socialism' model is really a 'communism' model...... led by the dictator Fidel.... Incredibly a ration book system is still used to divide up food and essentials (pork, rice, beans, salt, soap etc) and the average wage is only $20US per month - equivalent to many African countries.

We were fascinated by Cuba and it was both beautiful and ugly at the same time - remnants of its former glory still exist however the majority of buildings are run down and collapsing and a sense of depression exists amongst the majority of the people. To make matters worse, the food is really, really terrible due to poor and limited produce..... but at least they have great Mojitos!!

Our first day in Havana and we thought no better way to see the city than in typical Cuban transport!!

A view of Havana from Havana Fort

San Francisco Plaza, Havana

Enjoying the beautiful view on a rooftop terrace in old Havana

A real Cuban snap - side car and a mural of Fidel Castro on the building in the background!

Exploring Havana.....

3 litres of joy, Plaza Vieja

Cuba is limited by the fact that they are forced to be self sufficient and make the most out of a lot of less than desirable produce..... the local market in Havana was quite a shock

Locals, Havana

Children playing in the streets of Havana

The Buena Vista Social Club, was a gathering for Cuban musicians and singers in Havana in the 1940's and 50's. We went along to the Havana institution to see some of the original members perform

Cuban canapes..... help!!

One of the many stars of the 1950's Buena Vista Social Club entertains us with brilliant Cuban Jazz

With one of the Buena Vista Social club stars after the performance

Traditional perfumery

We actually had one very good meal in Cuba - fresh lobster - for around $10!!

The only other good food was chocolate from this hand made chocolateria, Havana!

Mmmmmmmmmm yet another Cuban delight!!

Streets of Havana

Even the bridal attire is old-school!!

Standard Cuban dessert - straight out of the 50's! Complete with sprinkles.... and this is for adults!

Our waiter entertains us with some amazing card tricks!

Curious girls, Havana

We came across a surprising concept... a bar that serves pina colada's, where you add your own rum..... as much and as often as you like! It would never work in Australia - it was even very good quality rum! We stayed for several hours!!!!!

YUM!!!

Pina Colada numero 4!!

After Havana we made our way to the Cuban countryside to Vinales - the region where tobacco for Cuba's famous cigars is grown......

Our hotel in Vinales looking over the valley

Cowboy Juan

Vinales farmlands

Cowgirl Mary shows Johnny how its done!

Teeny, tiny tobacco seeds. Tobacco is a seasonal plant and the whole cigar process takes a full year - planting, growing, harvesting, drying and producing cigars - all done by hand!

Juan and tobacco farmer Alejandro share a cigar moment!

Alejandro's hand rolled cigars

oh dear...is that Billy Crystal??

Vinales valley vista

Picking up some of Cuba's best cigars 'Cohibas' from a factory in Vinales

Outside a tobacco drying house, Vinales

Rows of tobacco leaves drying

A local tobacco farmer demonstrates how to roll a cigar, Vinales

Inside the tobacco drying house

The sunsets of Vinales valley

Desperate for some edible food, Bart decided to try the spaghetti bolognese - surely its a safe bet .......... WRONG!!

From Vinales we headed to the quaint colonial town of Cienfuegos.............

Cienfuegos church

The hotels in Cuba are all like stepping into a time machine........ welcome to the 1950s!

Castro government propaganda, in many cases using national heroes such as Che Guevara is prominent all over Cuba

Locals relaxing in the main square, Cienfuegos

Main square, Cienfuegos

Waiting for mum after ballet class, Cienfuegos

A 50's style diner!

After this Cienfuego local had finished telling us that the only thing Cuban national money was good for was to wipe your behind, he happily posed for a photo!!

Bart and Mary on the rooftop terrace of our hotel, Cienfuegos

Dinner in Cienfuegos

One of the more edible meals.... still very average!

A very common sight in Cuba!

Palacio Azul, Cienfuegos

Cienfuegos Yacht Club

Only in Cuba can swings in a children's playground be made out of missiles 'daddy when I grow up I want to be a dictator'???

More fabulous old cars!

Dinner on the rooftop terrace of the historical La Union Hotel, Cienfuegos

Cuban slop - slightly more taste than normal!

The secret to the best tasting Mojitos in the world? 3 year aged Havana Club white rum.... and a splash of bitters!

Cienfuegoes museum at night

And from Cienfuegos we made our way to the seaside town of Trinidad........

Streets of Trinidad

Trinidad rooftops

Main square, Trinidad

Trinidad local

Accommodation in Cuba is still very much like 1970's motels!!

Buffet for the masses!

Johnny and Sarah, Playa Ancon - Trinidad

Relaxing at Playa Ancon, Trinidad

One night back in Havana..............

Mojitos at Hotel Nacional, Havana

More bad food!

Cuban taxi

Our last night in Cuba and we were delivered home in the Chevrolet taxi!

Only in Cuba can airport security sleep on the job!

We farewelled Mary who flew back to Aus and we flew to Cancun, then caught a ferry to the Mexican island - Isla Mujeres............

We really didn't know what to expect from Mexico City - with 21 million people and a reputation for being big, dirty and dangerous, we arrived with caution. Our experience was completely positive and we were blown away by its welcoming residents, impressive monuments and delicious cuisine.....

Hmmm not sure what to make of the taxi drivers in Mexico city!

Drinks vendor selling various cordials poured over shaved ice

The people behind the golden arches think of everything - McBurrito, Mexico City

The surprisingly modern and cosmopolitan streets of Mexico City's business district

Modern art museum, Mexico City

Royal Palace, Mexico City

One of Mexico's most celebrated painters, Diego Rivera was commissioned to paint wall murals between 1929 - 1945 reflecting Mexico complex history on many walls inside the Royal Palace

Street vendor, Mexico city

Our first of many Mexican street tacos.......... made with a soft corn tortilla (the crispy tacos that we know don't even exist in Mexico). They were delicious aside from the blow-your-head-off chilli salsa!

Meat and tortillas prepared on a coal BBQ

The calm before the chilli taco storm!

And then came the warning - the chilli sauce is very spicy......too late!

The hottest chillies in Mexico - we learnt about these AFTER we had eaten the chilli tacos, much to amusement of the locals!

Cop and cowboy, Mexico city

We just happened to be in Mexico City on a Tuesday night................ 'Lucha Libre' aka Mexican wrestling night - so we thought we should go along to see what all the fuss was about.............

Lucha Libre masks for sale outside the stadium!

Lucha Libre figurines

OK so the Mexicans are mad for this crazy stunt-actor sport. Men, women and plenty of children were standing on their seats screaming and yelling for wrestlers named CRAZY MAX, SENSEI and MISTICO............ while we sipped on Corona's and laughed our heads off! HILARIOUS

One of the many statues of Aztec gods excavated from the Templo ruins, which are right in the centre of Mexico City. The statues and other relics are now housed in the Templo museum

Mexica/Aztec sun dial, 1100-1521 - National Anthropology Museum, Mexico city

Mayan hieroglyphics, 250-900 AD

We arrive at Mexico city bus terminal to be pleasantly surprised by how modern and clean it is and also at the fact that no one even raised an eyebrow at people sleeping on an air bed in the middle of the terminal. Anything goes in Mexico!

On the road from Mexico city to Oaxaca

Yep, we are definitely in Mexico - roadside cacti

One of many colourful cathedrals in Oaxaca

Artisans, Oaxaca

Local cowboys, Oaxaca

The women in Oaxaca have seriously long hair!!

Street vendors, Oaxaca

Enjoying a Corona on our guest house rooftop terrace!

Streets of Oaxaca

Excited to try a meal in a local food hall

Several different types of Oaxaca's famous Mole paste (made into a sauce to flavour meat) in the local food market

Yummy........NOT ............. crispy grasshoppers!

Oaxaca is famous for its delicious hot chocolates - made by melting blocks of traditional mayan recipe chocolate (crumbly in texture with a high cocoa content) into hot milk

Hot chocolate with sweet dipping bread

Very strange Easter Parade, Good Friday evening - Oaxaca

We sign up for a cooking class in Mexico's culinary capital Oaxaca and Chef Oscar takes us to the local market to pick up our ingredients

Cactus leaf - an essential ingredient for many Mexican salads and other dishes

Jalepeno chillies

Salsa for sale

Fresh cheese stand

Dried chillies

Chilli stall

Mmmmm, juice in a bag!

Bart gets a few tips from chef Oscar

Oaxaca is famous for Mole (pronounced moh-lay), a thick sauce poured over various kinds of meats. There are 7 variations, each with around 30 ingredients including chillies, nuts, seeds, herbs, spices, vegetables, fruits and even chocolate!

Toasting sesame seeds for the Mole

Mole with a hint of Oaxacan chocolate simmering away!

Tortilla press

And now for the secret salsa ingredient...........

Take a closer look.......... WORMS!!!!!!!! Aaaaaaaaaaaaah we are brave, but not that brave!!

We learn to makes salsa 5 ways - and yes one contains worms!!!

Streets of Oaxaca

Oaxacan Senora

The stunning Santo Domingo Church, 1570 - Oaxaca

Alambre (stir fried meat, vegies and cheese served with flour tortillas).... YUMO!

We left Oaxaca and continued east to the Chiapas region of Mexico, to the quaint colonial town of San Cristobal de Las Casas.................

Streets of San Cristobal

Mexican taxi

San Cristobal's Cathedral

17th Century cathedral, San Cristobal

View over San Cristobal De Las Casas

Local delivery boy, San Cristobal

Indiginous women, San Cristobal

American fast food chains penetrate every corner of the globe - Mayan themed Burger King. And no, we did not eat here!

Textile stall

Local food market

Beans and more beans!

Mexico has over 40 different types of chillies!

Local transport, San Cristobal

Streets of San Cristobal

Visiting the indigenous village of San Lorenzo Zinacantan, near San Cristobal. This lady is making traditional corn tortilla on a clay tablet over a wood fire - and they are delicious! The Zinacantan people on average live beyond 90 years thanks to strong bones ........... their secret? Calcium is added to their tortillas - the equivalent of 1/2 glass of milk in every small tortilla!

The Zinacantan women dress Sarah in their local attire!

Very different indeed!

A Zinacantan girl selling trinkets

Traditional Zinacantan bride and groom wedding attire

A further 5 hours east and we arrive at Palenque, home to some of the most impressive Mayan ruins in Mexico, dating back to 100 BC ...........

We are instantly blown away by both the size of the ruins and how intact many of the buildings are - absolutely stunning!

Temple of Inscriptions, home to remains of Palenque's most famous Mayan ruler Pacal

View over Palenque city from a hilltop temple

Residential building

Amazingly, many motifs are still clearly visible on the stone facades of the ruins!

After 4 hours in the hot sun ............ completely ruined!

Next we head to Mexico's east coast to Playa del Carmen in the provence of Quintana Roo, where Bart's mum Mary and our friend Johnny meet us to Celebrate Bart's 30th Birthday, before travelling together for 2 weeks in Cuba..........

'Welcome to Colombia...where anything is possible and everything is unsafe' was a quote from one of the Lost City Trek guides a few weeks earlier .... as we travelled through Colombia we would be continually reminded of how true this saying really is!

View over Medellin, Colombia's 2nd largest city at an altitude of 1600m

A cable car was installed in Medellin in 2005 in an effort to help the poorer residents living in the surrounding hill slums reach the city. The impressive cable car stretches for kilometres and takes only 30 minutes, instead of 3 hours to reach the city

View of the hilltop slums from the cable car

Modern art on the hilltop near the highest cable car station. With a couple of cows for extra effect!

Cazuela de frijoles, a Medellin specialty - one of the best soups we have ever tasted - beans, crispy pork, corn, chorizo, avocado and topped with fine potato chips - Delicious!

The rather cosmopolitan main square in Medellin

Medellin main square

Fernando Botero, a Medellin born artist has won numerous accolades and worldwide respect for his unique 'voluptuous style' of painting and sculpture. This was his rendition of 'The end of Pablo Escobar'

One of Fernando Boteros famous 'fat people' bronze sculptures

Pablo Escobar may be famous for all the wrong reasons however we were interested to discover more about the man who rose to fame in the 70s, was the 3rd richest man in the world in the 80's and finally saw his last day in a dramatic execution in the early 90s.... At one point, Pablo Escobar virtually controlled Colombia and over 50,000 deaths in a 2 year period in the 80s were attributed to Escobar and the Medellin cartel...

Escobars 1st house in Medellin - an entire apartment block for 4 people (incl his wife and 2 kids), a floor each, plus entertaining spaces, gymnasium etc. It was seized by the government shortly after his death and still remains empty...

Pablo started his black market career by stealing tombstones, sanding off the engraving and re-selling, before moving onto cars, then marijuana trafficking before hitting the jackpot with the cocaine trade. He owned the entire process from plantations to laboritories, logistics and runners..... and anyone that stood in his way (including many government officials and presidential candidates) was simply executed. At one point when he was determined to get back at the police for trying to extradite him to the US, he offered $600 reward for ANYONE that killed a policeman....

Pablo Escobar, late 30s

Pablo lived fast (literally...with fleets of planes, helicopters, lots of very young women and parties, went to jail twice, made so much money he had it hidden in the roofs and walls of houses all across Colombia) and died young, at just 43 years....

Various photos taken when Pablo was executed, including a photo with the police posing with his body......only in Colombia

Outside Pablo Escobars aunt's house where he was in hiding until special forces raided the house in 1993 and shot him dead on the roof whilst he was trying to escape...

That was an eye opener.... Pablo's wife and children now live in Buenos Aires, Argentina (with new identities) and while the Medellin Cartel and Pablo collapsed in the early 90's, Colombia is still the biggest producer of cocaine in the world and the United States the biggest consumers....

With Pablo out of the way it was time to explore the rest of Medellin. Whilst Medellin is famous for beautiful women (fake boobs, bum lifts, thigh and calf implants and liposuction) it is not normally well known for its food culture and local produce.

We had heard virally about a great place to try Colombian produce and made our way to Medellin's Buddha hostel for an 8 course degustation for $13, cooked by a former Michellin trained chef.....

Mmmmm Mango cerviche!

Only in Colombia can a chef smoke, drink whiskey and prepare food all at the same time........we weren't too sure about this!

Batman had to borrow a jumper off the chef. Sexy!!

Medellin was a fascinating city but after city hopping for several weeks we were well overdue for a tree change. So we headed south to Salento - a small colonial town, complete with horse roding cowboys, surrounded by farms and coffee plantations......

We arrived in Salento and were collected in a tuk-tuk (or a moto taxi according to the locals) and taken to La Serrana eco farm

View from La Serrana eco-farm

Cheeky Salento kids (who incidentally called Sarah 'leche' ie milky - blonde hair is apparently not seen often in this town!)

We both LOVE a good coffee and thought we knew a thing or 2 about the whole process of how an espresso ends up in a cup. We were wrong! Colombia is the world's 3rd largest coffe bean producer in the world (behind Brasil and Vietnam surprisingly) and specialise in Arabica coffee (there are only 2 types of coffee beans in the world, Arabica and Robusta and Arabica is the superior bean).

Excited to go on a coffee tour in Salento

For those ignoramuses out there (which included us until now!), this is a coffee plant seedling - literally a bean on a sprout - how cool!!

Ripe coffee berries (which contain coffee beans) turn from green to red or yellow depending on the varietal..

Fresh coffee beans straight from a berry. Beans are soaked in water to remove any sugar, then dried and finally roasted. The washed, dried beans are called 'green beans' and these are the ones that are exported around the world. The roasting is almost always done in the final destination as a roasted bean should be consumed within 6-9 months. The more a bean is roasted, the less caffeine it will contain and the more bitter the coffee ..... Italian and French coffees are typically made with darker roasted beans. Sorry if this bores anyone but we were fascinated!

Baby coffee plants

A machine that extracts coffee beans from ripe coffee berries

Admiring the coffee plantation view!

Drying coffee beans on a rooftop - a process which lasts 3 weeks!

We decided to explore the surrounding countryside on horseback with ranchero Oscar - Julian (US), Henrik (Ger), Elisha and Damian (Aus) joined us for the wild ride!

Colombian cowboy.... he doesn't go down there to fish!!

We dismount and walk to a beautiful waterfall

A butterfly (or moth??) lands on us near the waterfall

Yee-haa!

We felt like we were in a movie - galloping through the Colombian countryside with seemingly wild horses, crossing rivers including this one.... brilliant!

City slickers strolling through town (a little sore) post horseride!

Streets of Salento

Now we know we are in the middle of nowhere! Fresh milk anyone??

We head off on the Cocora Valley trek with Niamh (Ireland) and Tom (Aus).... very grateful for our gumboots as we shlep through the mud!

Stunning Cocora Valley

A stop at a hummingbird sanctuary (which is actually someones house!) along the way, with Niamh (pronounced Neve)

Cute!! Hummingbirds

Jose Miguel, the Hummingbird sanctuary owner

Aguapanela y queso (sugar tea and cheese) is our snack at the hummingbird sanctuary

Really safe stuff!!

Wax palm silhouette, Cocora Valley

We literally missed this landslide that blocked the whole road by only a few hours... we had to climb over the wreckage to get past and were thanking our lucky stars this tree did not land on us!

The amazing 50m tall wax palms in the Cocora Valley, near Salento

I aint moovin for anyone.... a cow enjoying her wax palm pastures!

Relaxing in the farm house with last nights AFL game! GO PIES!!

Our GIANT bed in the farm house - heaven for weary backpackers!!

The sun sets over the lush green Salento hills

Streets of Salento

Together with 10 other travellers we head to the local Tejo club for Friday night Tejo and some beers. Tejo is a traditional game that involves throwing a metal 'puck' at gunpowder targets which explode on impact... sounds fun!

Tejo is not as easy as it looks! Similiar to a game of darts but SO much more fun!

KAPOW! The metal 'puck' hits the gunpowder target and explodes whoo hooo

Smoothing out the clay

Horse parking out front

Colonial town Salento by night

Salento church at night

A week of country air left us feeling energised and ready to take on Mexico........we caught an overnight bus to Bogota to catch our flight to Mexico city...............

ARRIBA, ARRIBA!!

MEXICO HERE WE COME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A night in Buenos Aires on the way to Colombia and we can't resist re-visiting La Cabrera. A famous steak house in Palermo....

750g of delicious, juicy steak (each) and Argentinian red wine - HEAVEN!!

Then it was onto to the capital city of Colombia, Bogota.............

Streets of La Candelaria, the historic heart of Bogota

Downtown Bogota

This is a normal sight in Bogota and many parts of South America - paying to use a mobile phone by the minute, usually attached by a chain or string to the vendor!

One of the best museums we have ever visited, Bogota's Gold Museum showcases thousands of hand-made pre-hispanic gold pieces, many over 2500 years old

An ancient snorting device that Sharman's (indigenous spiritual leaders) used to snort various hallucinogenic plant extracts to help them enter the cosmic world!

Impressive underground salt cathedral, Zipaqueria, 50 km from Bogota

Bart praying that he never has to go to work again!

A crazy meal at Andres Carne De Res - a wacky, theatre restaurant 50km outside of Bogota!

The sun sets over Bogota city - surrounded by mountains, Bogota is the 3rd highest city in the world (after La Paz, Bolivia and Quito, Equador) at an altitude of 2600m. It is cold all year!

Bogota by night from 'Montserrate' - a monastery perched 3030m above sea level reached by cable car. We were a little giddy from the altitude!

From Bogota we flew north to the caribbean coast, to a small fishing village called Taganga in the Santa Marta area. We spent a few days in Taganga then headed off to do the Ciudad Perdida (Lost City) Trek............

Taganga main beach

Fishing boats, Taganga Colombia

Local children enjoying the beach, Playa Grande (Big Beach), Taganga Colombia

Believe it or not, this is the Caribbean coast in Colombia - not quite the white sand and turquoise water we had imagined! Relaxing with Adam and Michelle, Playa Grande - Taganga

The 5 day Ciudad Perdida (Lost City) trek in the Sierra Nevada jungle begins .....

Day 1 - the only way is up...........and up.............and up!

mmmmmm it has been a while since we've had bacon!! A chancho (pig) from one of the farms we passed through on the trek

Donkeys were kindly carrying our food for the next 5 days

Ciudad Perdida Day 1, the first buena vista!

Half a day down, only 4.5 Days to go. What have we got ourselves into??? This is HARD!

Hot and sweaty but loving life!

We would have to get used to sleeping in rather small hammocks... not ideal for a big, broad shouldered lad!

Ciudad Perdida Day 2, 6am. Cuppa with the donkey. Why not!

Mr Miyagi

Breakfast with the other trekkers (a fantastic group from the UK, France, Belgium, French-Caribbean, Canada and Germany)

Our stunning surrounds, early morning Day 2

Mud glorious mud - but stunning views along the way!

Born to be a trekker..................... probableeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Unripened Coffee berries in a plantation we pass in the mountains. The government are paying local farmers to pull up their cocoa plants and plant coffee instead in an effort to reduce cocaine production and trafficking

Passing through a 'Kogi' village - the indigenous people living in the Sierra Nevada mountains

Kogi lady and her baby, ceremonial village, Sierra Nevada Valley. Kogis marry at 13years and start having children at 14years. By 30, most Kogi women have at least 8 children....

Day 3, 7am..... so beautiful!

Sarah now has a numb tongue! Trying some toasted cocoa leaves....

One of the many river crossings - many were waist deep!

Day 3 and we're almost at the base of Ciudad Perdida

Day 3 and we arrive at Camp

Day 3, hanging out with our new friends.... and a bazooka and a few machine guns

The chief of this military post wanted a photo with the blond gringa and his machine gun. Just another normal day for us!

Day 3, 5 hours of trekking complete! We entertained ourselves with cards and lollypops for the afternoon

A Kogi hut on the top of one of the peaks

A much needed refueling stop

Banana delivery! The local Kogi children deliver fresh bananas to our group

Day 4, 6am and the 2 hour trek up to the lost city begins....

Steps to Ciudad Perdida....awkward, uneven and treacherous!

Hot and sweaty, but almost there!!!!

Sarah powering up the 1200 steps to Ciudad Perdida

We finally make it to Ciudad Perdida!!!

The lost city is believed to have been built between the 11th and 14th centuries on the northern slopes of the Sierra Nevada in Santa Marta and was the largest Tayrona indiginous settlement in Colombia. The Tayronas were wiped up during the 17th century Spanish conquest and the 6000 people believed to have lived here disappeared along with the city.... until 1975 when it was discovered accidentally by graverobbers in search of pre-hispanic gold. All that remains of the city now is some foundation stones and a magical view........

The slog was worth it! Breathtaking views at the lost city, on one on the highest peaks in the Sierra Nevada

Sharman Sarah. This seat was used soley by the spiritual leader (the Sharman) during rituals and ceremonies!

The amazing view from the Lost City

Hot, sweaty and DEAD SEXY!! Thrilled to have made it to the peak of the Lost City

Par 3, 210 metres, difficulty rating....HIGH!

A small Kogi hut near Ciudad Perdida

Kogi family

The return trek begins and we clock over another 6 hours of trekking in the afternoon...and the knees start to wobble!

Another gorge crossing!

Sarah crossing a gorge on a very 'colombian' rope and pulley system....we were all scared, VERY scared!

Frogs mating in the middle of the path. This exhausting process lasts three days and gives new meaning to a foam party!

A curious, young Indigenous Kogi boy looking for some sweet treats from the gringos!

Day 5 on the Ciudad Perdida trek...the home straight!

With the finish line in sight we bid farewell to our guide, Nicholas (who was met by his father and son - pictured) ................52kms of MUD, SWEAT AND FEAR, completed!!!

Local cowboys in the village where we finished the trek -Machete Village in the Sierra Nevada

Post Lost City Trek dinner with some of our fellow trekkers - Christina (USA), Regis (France), Alan (French Caribbean) and Ruth (England)

A challenging but extremely rewarding 5 days of trekking - we had a great group and lots of laughs along the way!

After a few days of relaxing and recovering and washing the mud and stench out of our trekking gear, we went on a day trip to Tayrona National Park, an hour from Taganga..........

Park Tayrona, Caribbean Coast

A little bit of paradise!

The river mouth at Playa Los Angeles which created a natural jacuzzi and perfect place to relax and catch some rays!

Playa Los Angeles

A local resident of Playa Los Angeles

A young girl from Playa Los Angeles feeding a squirrel....she tells us they've been friends since she was born!

The streets of Taganga

From Taganga/Santa Marta area we headed west along the coast to Cartagena

Main entrance to the Historical Town in Cartagena

Trying traditional Colombian sweets made from sugar, coconut, nuts and caramel

San Pedro Claver Church, Historical Town Cartagena

Con the Fruiterer

Alley of Sweets by day. Historical Town, Cartagena.

Cartagena Old Town

Iguana, a local resident in Centennial Park, Cartagena

Local fishermen in dugout canoes. Cartagena, Caribbean Coast

Heaven! Now this is the Caribbean we had imagined! Playa Blanca (White Beach), 40 mins by boat from Cartagena

Postcard perfect, Playa Blanca Caribbean Coast

Lunch - a typical dish served on the Caribbean Coast...Red Snapper (fried), coconut rice and deep fried plantains (green bananas)

Bart working on his Matador technique

Locals, streets of Cartagena

We stumbled across an Aussie Cafe that served sausage rolls and pies, and couldn't resist... AND the bill comes out in a VEGEMITE JAR. Brilliant!

Cartagena's histroical old town where the streets are lined with brightly coloured colonial style houses

A local Colombian selling tea, coffee and cigarettes. Cartegena, Caribbean Coast

Juan Valdez...a Colombian coffee chain that we would normally steer clear of however the Cafe Navados (Iced Coffee) kept us coming back for more!

Cocktails at sunset at a bar on top of the wall that surrounds the Old City, built during the Spanish conquest

The Alley of Sweets. Historical Town, Cartagena

A mud Volcano 50kms east of Cartagena - 25m deep and full of black, thick mud believed to have medicinal and healing properties......so we decided to check it out!!

Mud therapy!

Indigenous Colombians!!

Next Stop....the 2nd biggest city in Colombia, Medellin........