Two cool places and Pendizzle!

We've made it to Colombia. Currently in the city of Cali and Lydia has arrived! She got here yesterday and we told her to meet us at the hostel, but we had secretly decided to surprise her at the airport. However, in typical Jandice style we were waiting at the wrong exit and while we stood there like idiots with a sign reading 'COME 'ERE RUDE GIRL', Lydia was already in a taxi on the way to the hostel. Great. So we beefed it back on the bus where Cand had to sit next to a lady wearing a fur coat (it's about 30degrees). So that was fun.

Since last time we have been to two really cool places and a couple of good places. First stop was Banos in Ecuador where we rented bikes to cycle to the waterfall (another 'short' cycle) but read the map wrong and ended up cycling halfway up an active volcano. When we finally got there, we were so wet and tired that we just got the bus straight back. In the evening, we got forced onto the 'party bus' up a hill to look at the volcano but it was so foggy that we couldn't see anything. However, we did discover a great new drink called hot canelazo which is hot water, passion fruit juice and local moonshine so that brightened us up. We also met a kind of strange couple who were fun but confusing, the less said about that the better really.

The next place was one of my best experiences of the trip so far. It's a tiny (and I mean like ten houses) village in the middle of the rain forest called San Miguel. The villagers have set up a project there to raise money, check out www.cayapasadventures.com for more info. It took us ages to get there involving three buses and a canoe.The canoe was the most fun part as we travelled down the river surrounded by thick forest on either side, stopping occasionally at tiny villages to drop off clean drinking water. It's wasn't very comfortable though as we were basically sat on wooden slabs, trying not to fall in the water for four hours.

Argh...annoyingly, my battery is going to run out so I'll have to finish this another time. But tune in for tales of Boa Constrictors, getting lost in the Colombian countryside and rice, rice and more rice.

Ciao