We have arrived!

It's been ages - sorry about that. There's a lot to catch up on,so here goes...

We arrived in Cartagena with the lovely Linda about 4 weeks ago. After some dodgy weather in the rest of the country, we were really looking forward to some sunshine and we got it alright. It was so hot when we arrived that we spent the first few days sitting under fans, seeking out air con and sleeping. On one of our trips on the lookout for cold places to sit in, we stumbled across an amazing cafe that sells five different types of cheesecake, brownies, milkshakes, the best sandwiches and it has air con. You might not think this is anything special but the food here is pretty limited so it was very exciting for us. Needless to say we've been there...a lot!

We also took a trip to Playa Blanca which is a gorgeous beach a short boat ride away from Cartagena. After getting angry at the touts trying to rip us off at the port we finally took our sweaty places on the boat. Pretty much as soon as we got on a huge fight broke out because some of the other people in the boat had been told the boat would leave at 8.30 and it was now 10.30, so they had been sat in the immense heat with no shade for two hours. So after some threats to call the police, the boat finally left. The beach was really nice, white sand and clear blue water and we easily found some hammocks where we would spend the night. However, we later found out that the particular accommodation we had chosen had no toilets...at all...nada.

So, they wanted us to pay to use the one next door to us. We refused along with another couple and another huge fight broke out between the owners of the two places and the woman who owned our hammocks made her dislike for us known for the rest of our stay. Charming. Apart from that the beach was brilliant and it was really nice to wake up, jump straight in the sea and have the beach to ourselves for a few hours.

Linda left us the next day and we were sad for a while....but now we have a new Linda! Yes, that's right we have friends! We met new Linda at an interview for a teaching job at a school called Instituto Meyer. The 'interview' was meant to be a short English test but on the day the power had gone off in the area, so instead, we had to teach an impromptu lesson.Great. But it went ok and we got the jobs. However, we are still waiting for them to sort out our visas so we can't start yet which is really frustrating.

On a more positive note, we have a lovely apartment in the Old City and it's so nice to finally unpack our bags and have some space of our owninstead of a sweaty dorm room. It has a gorgeous balcony covered in flowers and air con, of course. I'll put a video up soon. You might think i'm over reacting about the need for air con but it is so hot here some days that we have seen people burst into flames in the street. I'm not complaining though it's lovely to be able to nip down to the beach whenever we want and sit out in the evening.

Back to the new Linda. She's from Latvia and she's introduced us to some other people working here which has been nice. We went out with her, her boyfriend Carlos and some of his friends (now nicknamed Lenny Kravitz, Dido, Jay Z and Pitbull - we are Shakira and Rihanna obviously) last night and partied Colombian style.

First we were taken to a 'party' which was actually a small family gathering in someone's house. As soon as we walked in, all eyes were on us and we provided great entertainment as we were forced to salsa with the old men whilst everyone took pictures. After that we went to a club and then onto some more bars. It was really good fun and we ended up staying out until 7am this morning. We had to get up at 10am so I'm pretty tired and rambling on a bit so I'll leave it here for now. I'll update soon with a story about nearly starving in a national park and our alternative carrer as sandwich sellers!

Ciao xxx