Days 240 to 242 - Wednesday 17th to Friday 19th May 2006

Waking up for my first full day in Colombia was a decent feeling as Colombia was probably one of the countries I had most looked forward to visiting since starting to think about travelling in this part of the world.

We all went out for some fried breakfast goodness, before trying to find out the deal with the strike and when it was likely to be cleared. It wasn’t all that straightforward a task as everyone kept giving us different answers.

One person would say that it would be cleared the following day, others said about 2 more days; others even said it would be two more weeks!!!

Not wanting to be stuck in Pasto for two weeks we considered the option of taking a flight further north to Cali, Bogota or even Cartagena. We talked to the travel agents and eventually Aaron and I reserved flights to Cali, whilst the Swedes and Jon reserved flights to Cartagena.

We were told we needed to pay that afternoon so had little time to make our minds up. Did we wait for the strike to clear possibly risking some added time in Pasto or book the flight and hope the strike didn’t clear?

We played safe and booked the flights. Jon and the Swedes would fly to Cartagena on Saturday, Aaron and I would also fly on Saturday - but to Cali.

With the formalities sorted there was nothing left to worry about, so we could enjoy the town of Pasto and its surroundings. The main square wasn’t overly special but it was nice to sit and have a fruit juice or coffee, so that’s what we did. I also managed to polish off some of my book.

Thursday was pretty much the same, we wandered around and even took a taxi to the nearby village of , but it was really shite. The only thing of note that happened was me being threatened by an angry German Shepherd dog, before I literally shouted at it and told it to “fuck off”. It was obviously a multilingual dog - a German Shepherd that understood English in Spanish speaking Colombia.

Thursday night was alright for drinking, and that’s what we did. We headed to some bar on the outskirts of town and proceeded to polish off a decent amount of rum. We were certainly having a good night, and the people that were in the bar were too. It was just a shame that there weren’t all that many of them!

Friday was also a day of relaxation. I spent the late afternoon watching Da Vinci Code in the oldest cinema I have ever been in. In all honestly it is a pretty ordinary film, in a pretty ordinary cinema. The most exciting bit was the people handing out Anti Da Vinci Code flyers outside the cinema.

The evening was another night out. Only Aaron and I wanted to drink so we got a bottle of rum and drnk that in the hostel before heading out.

We took a taxi to a place recommended by the taxi driver. There were plenty of people there, but it was very much for couples. There were single girls there, but there seemed to be a pattern amongst them. They had all bought bottles of the local tipple Aguadiente – a Sambuca type drink – and proceeded to drink it in neat shot form. By the time we arrived these girls (about 15 of them - all in small groups of 2 or 3), were sat slumped in their chairs heads lolling, sleeping off the effects. It was quite a sight.

After finishing half a bottle ourselves the club closed and we were told there was nothing left open so it was back to the hostel to sleep it off and wait for our flight the next day.