Four taxis, two planes and a bus

We were up earlyish and got a taxi (10,000P, though 8,000P on way back) via the bank to the stunning Las Lajas Sanctuary, a church built on a bridge spanning a gorge.

The setting is absolutely beautiful with a river running underneath and a couple of waterfalls to the sides. The actual church, for me, isn't the nicest - it is a dark grey with white outlining making it look a bit tacky up close.

We didn't have time to stay too long and after grabbing a few things from the bakery we got bus tickets to Pasto (8,000P) leaving just before midday. Some of the bus journey was the most hair raising yet - it was windy, mountainous roads with a very, very sheer drop just by the side of the road and the driver seemed to like hurtling down the hills and swinging the little bus round the corners. I tried to focus on the movie but we were both gripping the arm rests with sweaty palms at several points!

Thankfully we made it to Pasto in one piece a couple of hours later. We got a taxi to the airport (40,000P) not realising quite how far away it was...it took about an hour of windy roads with our lovely driver shouting questions at us. A lady threw in some oxygen at a set of traffic lights - apparently a legal requirement for taxis.

We got to the tiny airport with just 50 mins before take-off and found a long, slow-moving queue for check-in. I went to the lady in baggage drop and she kindly checked us in - phew! They all asked us about Anna's leg...luckily she'd taken off the half-cast but we had to assure them it wasn't broken.

We had an hours flight to Bogota, a 'proper', big airport with 2 terminals, had some dinner and then took another hours flight to Cartagena.

A lovely wave of heat hit us as we stepped off the plane - however I'm sure we'll be moaning it's too hot tomorrow. We picked up a taxi voucher (great system, avoids being ripped off) and were dropped off at Hotel Stil (86,400P) about 9:30pm.Read more