4 friends, 4 weeks, 3 countries, 12 flights
Cusco
Accommodation:
Stayed 4 days in the Wild Rover. Epic hostel, spend some time there.
Activities:
White water rafting. It was ok, good craic but not the adrenaline rush I expected.
Macchu Picchu. Phenomenally beautiful. Got the bus and train there. Personally, I wished we walked the track like many backpackers do. Look to book Huayna Picchu which you will need to do a bit in advance.
Bungee jump. Missed it due to hangover and then a national holiday
Restaurants:
The Tree House in Aguas Cleintes (Macchu Picchu). Best restaurant I was ever in.
Arequipa
Accommodation:
Wild Rover. Not really as much craic as the one in Cusco, however, I met others who met a great crew there and had better craic here.
Activities:
Mountain bike down El Misti mountain. Very very good. A must.
Chocolate making course
Walking tour
Colca Canyon day trip. Very picturesque but left at 3am, arrived home 7pm, 'twas a tough day.
Restaurants:
Arthurs. Serious sizzling food
Medellin
Accommodation:
Pitstop hostel. Cool spot facility wise, but shite craic because it was basically empty and the barman was a bit of a tool. Few other hostels were booked out, so it makes me guess they were better craic elsewhere.
Activities:
Half day trip on a coffee farm (V good)
Pablo Escobar tour (Shite, worst thing we did. Basically drove round watching the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary about him and being flogged shit. Met his brother, it was just weird)
Got a metro then cable car to Parque Arvi, had to turn around once we got there so we could get to an Atletico Nacional game.
Atletico Nacional game. I despise soccer but this was epic. Well, well worth visiting. Try get the tickets a few days in advance.
Parque Lleras at night and some night clubs above a shopping centre.
Restaurants:
Nothing memorable here. Al Alma near the hostel do a lovely breakfast.
Santa Marta
Accommodation:
The Dreamer. Not the atmosphere that the Wild Rovers had but very cool and incredibly sound staff. On the outskirts of Santa Marta
Activities:
La Ciudad Perdida (Class, 4 days in the jungle. My favourite thing of the whole holiday, a must!!!!)
Parque Trayona (only went for a day to a beach. It was cool but I think the real beauty of it is walking into the parque and spending a night there. We just didnt have time)
Scuba diving (Quimera Diving. Epic. The instructor is a guy called Diego. He's a marine biologist and most dives I've done you just follow the instructor and what ever you see you see but he goes looking for stuff and shows you loads of cool shit. Highly recommended. Brought us for lunch after, then spent hours drinking mojitos with us. Hilarious bastard.)
Restaurants:
Lulo (Went here with Diego, cool spot). Ate in the hostel the rest of the time
We went Curacao too in the Caribbean. TripAdvisor is the bible, didn't let us down once.