Galapagos was truly another world .Back to reality and stolen laptops . It seems House insurance will pay for new one …only downside is that I need to go to the Police to record the loss . Prejudice is everything as I imagine slipping a $20 note to the official. Surprising to say then it was a very pleasant experience. The tourist police spoke good English printed the story out in triplicate and no fee to pay . They even took me back to the hostal in their Hilux . They got lost finding the way to the hostal so I had to show them on MapsMe . With the grill in front of me I couldn’t give it to them nor could I open the door as it was locked . Amidst much laughter I managed to get it round the grilled window to the front ! A word about MapsMe . Of all the Apps we use this is tops . You can download it when you have wifi and then it uses GPS to locate you . You only need to download country by country . No roaming charges and you can search by anything you like … from bus stations to museums to ATM’s . I could go on at length about all the other APPS we downloaded but I think readership would tail off !!! 

Quito is another lovely capital city . We were strongly recommended to go to the Guayasamin gallery which was truly stunning . My usual attention span is about 30 mins for most galleries and I start to wonder what’s for tea. Not this time , he had a stunning house on one of the many hills surrounding Quito. On his death he donated all his artworks and portraits to the nation . He painted some scenes of the oppression suffered by the Indigenous people which were very harrowing in a Guernica style . A trip to ‘ Mitad Del Mundo ‘ is compulsory, Quito being on the Equator. A bit cheesy but had to be done . It includes various experiments you can perform including the plug hole water direction and the Coriolis effect . 

All to soon again we are on a bus to Popayan via the Columbian border and a night in Pasto. The Columbian currency is not easy 3,600 to the pound . New currency and old mix together, making for some interesting exchanges. Popayan is a beautiful colonial city with an outstanding climate never cold never hot about 21 degrees . Ceri found a lovely hotel in the cloisters of an old monastery. We tried to stay a second night but were denied because of ‘Semana Santa ‘  the week leading up to Palm Sunday is a hectic week of cleaning painting and putting up bunting and lighting in preparation for many processions throughout South America. Popayan has one of the best … so no room at the inn . Columbia is a long country riddled with ridges up and down its length which we had to cross lots of times as we take an overnight bus from Cali to Medellin. We expressly took a few hours in Cali to get the 23.00 bus . We thought we would have a quiet few hours near Cali bus station first . A bar always leads you somewhere and so we ended up with half a bottle of rum wanting just a shot . This seemed to loosen our tongues and we ended up life long friends on Facebook with two hydraulic engineers who were trying to drink the bar dry . Lots of merriment and double entendres! 

Medillin at 7 am , to what was the most dangerous city in the world . With the demise of Pablo Escobar and great urban planning they have created a marvellous city with metro and cable cars and a vibrant population. ( thanks Tessa for recommending)One notorious slum and drug area was Barrio 13 now transformed with escalators and street art to a safe place to live . We took a walking tour which was tops . She explained in some detail the intricacies of Columbian politics including FARC . Democracy has broken out with no major repercussions and they have a reconciliation process not dissimilar to South Africa .We get to see the Botero bronzes which adorn the city . A bit like a Beryl Cooke of sculpture.At the end of the tour she takes us to a Tango bar where they are playing Carlos Gardel . She also mentions that Mendilin are playing at home tonight . Joy of joys finally I get to see a South American football match . Lovely singing and well behaved players . Sadly Medillin lose 0-1 to Bocaramanga . Still I find out later Leeds Utd win 3-0 against Preston … playoffs looming as I’m sure you all know .

You may wonder what Ryan air has got to do with Columbia…well he bought Air Columbia and makes buses pretty redundant. True to form though we queue and queue to check in for our flight to Cartagena from where I write this . Later today we are taking a backpacking cruise to Panama which takes 5 days via the San Blas islands ( Tessa again )More of that when we get to Panama with Manfred and Petra our captain and mate . They seem lovely as we met them yesterday. I hope I can take the helm . My fame can not surely have spread with young Terry to ban me from taking the wheel . 

Cartagena deserves its UNESCO badge . A great harbour safe from marauding English pirates . Lord Vernon sacked the city and it was English for 68 days . Their museo d’Oro is spectacular. They also have a museum to the Spanish Inquisition. What a horrible spell of history .would’nt be good if we could serve a ‘denuncia ‘ on DT!  Enough I hear you say . Next missive from the Panama ​

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