The weather has been pretty rubbish since we got into Bogota, Colombia. Rain storms and overcast skies has given the city a very gloomy and dark look. It rained so hard yesterday that there was literally a river running down Avenue Jimenez in the centre of La Candelaria, the historic centre where we are staying. We were caught in it and sought refuge in a door way for an hour.

La Candelaria, in this weather at least, is not quite what we expected . It is much more run down than we thought it would be, paint peels from the graffiti walls and rubbish piles in street corners. There are quite a few bars and restaurants but not too many are really attractive, they don't draw you in. A lot of the bars are like caverns, bit like a few I remember from Uni, although here you always need to check the price of the drinks before you purchase as they have a habit of charging way over the odds and you have to argue over the bill afterwards. We are staying in a pretty cool hostel, the Cranky Croc, run by an Aussie called Andy who is very helpful for local knowledge. It's pretty spacious, it's clean and has good facilities.

We have had a good walk around the area, in between the rain and the Plaza Simon Bolivar, the heart of the old town is pretty nice. Christmas decorations light up the historic buildings that surround the square and there must be 100 white luminous Christmas trees in the centre of the square, with a larger green one in the centre . Near by the centre there was a street performance guy with around ten guinea pigs and lots of plastic bowls with the fronts cut out. He was asking people to bet on which bowl a particular guinea pig would run to and seek refuge in. It was bizarre seeing ten guinea pigs scooting round the pavements.

We also climbed the mountain, Cerro de Monserrate, that overlooks the city with a number of people from the hostel, which gives an expansive and impressive view of the city. On the top is a church that was playing Christmas carols, it was lovely. As the weather is much more like it would be at home and hearing the songs in all the shops and churches here we are for the first time getting our heads round that Christmas is just a few days away.

In terms of museums we visited the number one in Bogota, Museo del Oro - the Gold Museum. It holds over 30,000 gold pieces from down the ages and it was pretty dazzling to walk around it for an hour or two . It is claimed to be the most important gold museum in the world and despite the fact there isn't one really big piece, in terms of size, it was amazing to see the intricacy and breadth of the collection. We visited on a Sunday and it was free. The only problem with it being a Sunday though is that all the restaurants are either closed all day, or close early, so that evening when we wanted to eat we scoured for 90 minutes before realising there was only one place open, McDonalds. After months of no fast food it tasted remarkably good. Still can't believe that in such a large city that the place shuts down on Sundays...

Near to Bogota is a town called Zipaquira famous for its Salt Cathedral, which is underground, built into the mountainside. It is fairly easy to get there on your own via bus and we just asked directions in the town itself when we got there. It was a great trip, the Cathedral is made from an old salt mine. It is absolutely huge with 120 metre long caverns and tunnels on three levels that circumvent the main cathedral area, which must be 20 metres high and 80 metres long. The guided tour, which comes with the price of the ticket, is fascinating and you can't help but marvel at how long it must have taken for them to build it.

Next stop, Cartagena on the Caribbean Coast for some Christmas sunshine, relaxation and from where we will welcome the New Year in.