Everything has its charm and nothing is paradise.

On the 13th February of this year, I still didn't know what was going to happen and that after those marvellous months, I was going to return home and everything would be the same, everything except for me.

It was in the airport in Barajas where I met Andrea, a girl from Malaga with a very northern accent. When I saw her for the first time, she seemed like me. Except for the accent.

From that moment, we knew that we were no longer alone, we took a flight "across the pond" together and we had to start being friends.

With the time difference, we arrived in Dorado airport in Bogotá on the same day. It was very late and we were kind of afraid. A lot of taxi drivers approached to offer us a taxi, and that was the first time we were fooled. It cost us 40, 000 pesos (12. 27€) when normally they cost around 20, 000 pesos, to take us to the room where I was staying which I managed to book through another Spanish girl, but we didn't care that much. I remember my heartbeat getting faster in that yellow taxi, almost praying that the destination was nothing like what people there were telling us.

The following morning, we woke up without any signs of jet-lag (because when you travel from the east to the west, it's not as strong) in Pablo IV, a fairly residential area, not very far from the National University.

Because it was a Sunday, we went to explore a little. We walked around looking at everything, it gave me the feeling that things were only different and not dangerous. The clouds came out, they left and the sun came back. That's when I found out about the weather of "the fridge" (as the Colombians call Bogotá).

By talking to a Colombian boy who I met thanks to the webpage of exchanges on Granada University's Facebook, I found out what I should and shouldn't do to "no dar papaya", what he telling me was how to not attract attention to myself. The first thing that you shouldn't do is go down the road with your phone in hand, nor take out money in public or valuable objects.

Although at first this all annoyed me and I was aware of what I needed to do to avoid these problems with the lack of security in the country, I can't deny that I felt better, more free and less dependent throughout. I bought myself a mobile phone nothing modern - it could only make and receive important calls and I never went out with much cash, but I realised that I didn't really need much anyway. I would go walking in the streets or in some sort of transport and I couldn't stop looking at other people; there was a large diversity of appearances, some more brown, others very white, native features, mixed features... it was so lovely.

Remembering my first day at UNAL (the National University of Colombia) still makes me emotional. I arrived from the candelaria district by using the bus company "transmilenio" at "Calle 26", where there was one of the entrances and I stopped a little bit before reaching the entrance and read a sentence which I'll never forget: "They can cut down flowers, but they can never stop the arrival of spring" (Podrán cortar las flores, pero nunca detendrán la primavera), I smiled, I calmed down and I decided to go in. The campus was enormous, I went straight in but slowly, there was a lawn to my left and to my right there were a lot of people, a lot of colours, a lot of small candy stalls, food stalls and fruit juice stalls and the same students served you in all of them. There were people playing instruments, drums... music in the university! There were big and small groups of people laughing, dancing, chatting about interesting subjects... I was moving so slowly so I could appreciate it all. I took out my phone and called my mum to tell her: "Mum, I'm happy being here, I know that I'm where I have to be", and I cried.

Time was passing quickly, I used to go to eat at "Olla Vegetariana" everyday, a stall belonging to this woman who used to make food in the middle of Ché Square (Plaza del Ché). At least there I wasn't always eating rice, fried plantain and arepa (corn tortilla). She even made pasta sometimes! Everyday she would bless the aromatic water and the pot... there were times when I was so hungry and I got annoyed by having to wait for her to finish her ritual, but others watched and listened enthusiastically. What's for sure is that at first, I didn't know how to eat well in Colombia. I used to moan about the rice that I was eating daily, the cow meat and chicken. However, bit by bit I was discovering things such as tamales and the large variety and high quality of fruits, so that's what I became used to. I was happy and eating more which was obvious because I started gaining weight.

The university campus was fairly big, it seemed like a separate city from Bogotá. I loved being there. On one of the first days of class, I met this guy called Nico, he was pretty chatty and very funny, so I knew we'd get on well. When we were leaving class, he overtook me and he looked really good in the doorway of the faculty, with his black leather jacket and getting on a motorbike. He offered me a ride to show me the university, at first I was a little in doubt but I finally accepted. This time I wasn't scared, it was a wonderful trip and I enjoyed it without any fear, that's what friendship is, it doesn't make deals.

I lived in a 2-storey house with 14 bedrooms, it was a little strange. A kind of garage was our living room, where I'd usually meet up with the guys that I lived with, there were around 12 of them. They used to play on the playstation and crack jokes all the time, so it was really nice when I was at the house, we never had any problems. I spent a lot of my time with a guy called Daniel who was from Santiago de Cali in Colombia living in the room next to mine. He studied cinema and interpretation, he was a great artist and very mystic; I used to love sitting with him on the porch and listening to him whilst he smoked his little pipe. Sometimes we would go out to eat, other times we'd go out to buy props for his projects, to eat ice-cream or to take photos. Everything with him was always artistic and relaxing. We even went to his family home in Santiago de Cali to see his family, they were so nice to me that I almost felt like I was at home. Cali was very peculiar but nice, the weather was a little different from Bogotá, it was warmer, but not too much. We went out one night to "Topa", a kind of salsa bar, I had such a good time that I still get goosebumps when I remember the sight of the whole room dancing the same Currulao dance which started with some afro-Colombian girls and 5 minutes later, every person in there was doing the same dance. It was magnificent.

R10 is was where my friend Andrea lived, they had parties and events there almost every day, one person's birthday, another person's send-off... There were people from all over, although the majority of them were French. They were like a plague, sometimes it felt like we were in France, to the point where it felt like we were invading their territory. I met incredible people and I even experienced love several times. I usually separated my time between groups, they never mixed. I was never with Daniel and Nico at the same time, nor with anyone from R10 at the same time as Andrea. I liked it like that - separate.

My first trip was to the Tatacoa Desert, in the northern region of Huila; two French girls, a guy, Andrea and I took a night bus to get there. It was the first time that I had got on a bus in Colombia, it was incredible. We almost didn't sleep and people didn't stop getting on. The passengers that had to stand when they got on didn't seem to care, even if it was for several hours of travelling. There was a very drunk girl who kept falling on top of my friend Andrea, I couldn't stop laughing for the whole journey. When we arrived at Neiva station, it was already daytime and the temperature was excessively hotter. We had to get a car to take us into the dessert, so we got in the car with a kind of porter and we shared the car with 2 guys who were studying cinema in Medellín. They told us a lot about the short film that they were going to make and even asked us to participate! The journey was quite pleasant, I enjoyed watching the landscape and the hot air, some boys were following us on their bikes whilst we were taking photos and discovering new things about Colombia. I felt so fortunate.

We got to the small hostel where we would be sleeping in hammocks, and we decided to go and explore the area a little. The sun was beating down as hard as it could and we noticed that we were becoming more tired. Two of the girls went back halfway through the walk, although I carried on. It was hot but it was worth it. The desert was very red and there was absolutely nothing nearby, I had never seen anything like it before.

During the night, we went to an astronomic observatory, we found Jupiter and several stars. I never thought that I'd be interested in astronomy, although in actual fact, I was interested in everything since my arrival in Colombia.

After this sort but intense trip, I already liked Alexis and the other 2 French girls. We often saw each other, they just made me feel so happy and they were so nice.

During Easter, I went on my next trip, only this time I went with people who I didn't know at all. They were all Mexicans (with the exception of one Chilean), each one from a different place in Mexico. I met them on an exchange page on Facebook, they told me about the trip and I signed myself up without thinking about it. We were going to be spending almost two weeks going around the whole Caribbean area. Two days before the trip, I was sick doubled over in my room, but on the third day, I got my things and I went to the airport to start my trip.

We went to Santa Marta, we arrived at night to a hostel which accommodated young people from all over the place, we left our things there and we went to go and eat something. Santa Marta is a very coastal and Latino place, although, from my way of seeing it, it's only worth going there for a holiday. The men there are too sexist and chauvinistic and there's not much to do there. The best thing we did there was go to Taganga Beach and eat a really tasty, fresh fish stew. On the third day, we rented two cars and we went to Palomino which is just at the start of the Guajira Peninsuala. That was my favourite place out of the whole trip, the beach was spectacular and the atmosphere was magnificent. I had a bit of a bad time along the way because I saw huts in the streets and the true meaning of Colombian poverty - the inequality was incredible. Kids came out into the streets to beg for money at the doors of people's cars. It broke my heart to see that. On the first night, we slept in a hostel, but the second night, we didn't have any choice but to stay in the hippy commune, because it was practically impossible to sleep on the beach thanks to the mosquitoes eating us alive. That place was so strange, there was someone who was like a leader but he didn't seem like the "peace and love" type at all, in fact, he was quite aggressive and I think he was taking too much Colombian cocaine. We slept in hammocks and when we weren't sleeping, we spent our time between the tents of the other habitants. It was a great experience, we shared the food that we had left, we showered with two water droplets (being close to Guajira, water in Palomino is quite scarce) and we laughed a lot. The following morning, everyone woke up with thousands of insect bites, except for me, it seems like the insects don't like my blood.

It was also the first time that I had seen actual indigenous people in Palomino. The kids were dressed in a kind of white sack whilst the adults wore a type of white material as well. It wasn't a good feeling, something was happening which didn't make me feel good watching them, I think there was too many of us and they were letting us know through some kind of energy. I remained hypnotised by their presence, I even tried to wave to a little girl, but she looked through me as if I didn't exist.

Our next stop was Tayrona. How many marvels can exist in this world that we don't know about?! We went in there and it seemed like pure rainforest or like a type of beautifully eerie forest. Each one of us had to rent out a horse to get close to the Caribbean sea and at first, I was quite scared but that feeling went when I saw the monkeys in the trees and listened to the sound of pure nature; I could breathe better and for a moment I thought again about how fortunate I was to be able to be there.

We slept in a tent which we rented from a lodging place, we even met an Argentinian couple there who worked in exchange for food and a place to sleep. I actually thought about staying with them but after spending the night in a tent with holes and hearing snakes hissing under my mattress, I decided not to. I didn't know what to do, only that I wanted to cry and scream, but I couldn't wake everyone else. After a while I relaxed, or gave in, and finally fell asleep.

The last stop on this trip was in Cartagena de Indias, we got in a car and went out to party, and it lasted almost 3 days. On the first night, we met a DJ in the street who invited us to a party in a house with an open-air patio where he was the DJ. My friend and I were the last people who stayed, so the DJ invited us to another party and when we got there, we just walked in as if we were Shakira and Piqué, through the big door and our names being on the entrance list. The party was full of Americans spending their money until the last peso on drinks and cocaine.

The next day we went back to party, we went to a meet up of some friends in the same house and then to a club in the historic centre, it was astonishing to see how everyone was dancing, there was no way to avoid feeling like you were orthopaedic on the dance floor. That same night, we met a Chilean guy who looked like Leonardo Di Caprio, I fell in love the first moment I saw him, we even married each other that night. It was a great pretend wedding.

When we went to check out of the hostel, we realised that we didn't have any money left and my card wasn't letting me take any money out. We were the amount it cost for one night for one person and there was no way of paying it. We almost missed our flight but a friend was able to transfer us some money from a supermarket in Bogotá.

Finally, we arrived in Bogotá safe and sound and after a lot of exciting experiences. I went back to the university and enjoyed every moment there; Olla Vegetariana, the law classes taught by Professor María Paula, my classmates, Nico, the salsa classes...

I didn't waste any time in signing myself up for another trip, this time it was a trip offered by the National University, they provided us with a bus which was more than a decade old, and it took us to Santander and to various towns such as San Gil, Barichara, Guane etc... Yet again, I was with people that I didn't know who also ended up being a group of people that I still stay in contact with. We decided to go on some walks and do some extreme sports there such as canyoning, rafting, ziplining it was very exciting and new for me. After that, I am now a lover of extreme sports. That was when I also got over my fear of heights.

The town I liked the most was Guane. The Guane in reality was an indigenous tribe from this area of Santander. There were a lot of little things telling you about them, I fell in love with this little town. I was in a kind of asylum speaking with different women, there was a little old woman with whom I spoke for some time and she was really beautiful. She had some indigenous features and long, white hair which was plaited down to her waist. She asked me a lot of questions about my country and about me, she didn't tell me much, but speaking with her and being close to her was enough for me. I bought a bracelet for 12, 000 pesos from her, I said goodbye and I left. It's hard to think that you're not going to come back to see any more people who have communicated so much with you.

That same day, we went back to Bogotá again and we adopted a dog in our house called Carbón, I spent some time lying on the floor with him. We couldn't chuck him out onto the street because he was small and sick, so we let him outside our enormous house. It really upsets me to know that I won't see him again.

We soon organised another trip, it was going to be the last one and I think that it was the most significant one. Firstly, Andrea and I would arrive in Medellín and we could couch-surf in Francia's house who was a Venezuelan doctor who could not be any more creative or be any better. We loved Medellín, we walked around there as much as we could and the following day we met up with 3 German friends who we went to Choco with in a small plane. Usually, you can't reach this region by road, especially the part by the Pacific Ocean.

The whole population in Choco is Afro-Colombian, so when we got there I think we were the only white people there. In general, it rains a lot and the area is extremely poor. The climate is humid and it's a real-life paradise. Jungle and sea, the perfect mix. There are no cars or roads there, nor any foreigners, or hotels or anything of the sort. The only thing that exists is pure air, which is why this region is thought of as one of "Earth's lungs".

We arrived in Nuqui on the first day, and some boys met us at the small airport and offered to take us to a hostel, we completely trusted them and off we went. We had made our first friends, Jairo, Carlitos and Mané, 3 kids of whom the eldest must of been 14. We spend our days in Nuqui with them playing football on the beach and laughing whilst telling stories. I'll never forget when Jairo told me that one time he was bitten by a snake and the snake died! His little brother was constantly behind us saying that everything his brother said was a lie. They were very funny, it made me so emotional when I had to say bye to them. I promised them that I would come back some day and that of course, they would already be married and have kids of their own. They asked me if I could bring them a tablet or mobile phone when I returned, so I told them that I wouldn't forget. I cried again, but this time it wasn't from happiness.

From Nuqui, we travelled by boat to Juribidá, passing by white beaches and other paradisal places by the Pacific Ocean. It's very complicated to explain how I lived everything. I grew up bit by bit, I was fulfilled. I didn't need or miss anyone.

Juribidá was a small town on the seashore, full of little cabins and well looked after by the locals, I would have like to have stayed there for at least a week, but we had planned to go to Bahía Solano before and we wanted to go through the valley, so we went that day and continued on our way by boat.

When we got to El Valle we ate some good fish in the first place that we came across and we invited the boat driver, after we met up with a local girl who took us to the hostel which we had reserved in a kind of small car. The hostel was right on the coast and as we would say there "perdido de la mano de dios" (in the middle of nowhere). It was open-planned, there was nothing which was completely closed and whilst there, we rented hammocks. There were toads and various other animals everywhere and you could hear the sea and the rain at night, it was if the two were fighting to see who could make the most noise.

One morning, I decided to go swimming in the sea, I was stuck in the water and I was watching the palm trees and the jungle opposite me. It was so much like I dream until I wanted to get out of the water but couldn't. I tried everything and almost gave up. The Pacific had trapped me. Luckily, I saw a surf board in the distance, there was a guy with long blond hair surfing so I shouted and waved my hands in the air and he saw me. Thanks to him I was able to get out unharmed, although at first I couldn't walk, my legs had loosened up and I couldn't walk thanks to the amount of effort I had made. I almost died, and I mean literally.

Although it was dramatic, thanks to this little episode, I met David who was a Dutch guy with whom, I'm still friends with today. He was travelling for 9 months around South America so he had a lot of stories to tell. We even went to the town to see the Colombia vs. USA football match, it was truly a spectacle. Colombia won and the streets erupted; drums, music, dancing and partying. I can't find the words to describe it. It was one of those moments where I didn't know how I was feeling, sad or happy. Sad because there was so much poverty or happy to see how happy everyone else was.

Andrea and I finished our trip in Punta Huina, a beach cut-off from everything else, which you could only get to by boat. We slept in a house that a French friend had recommended. When we got there, we met some guys who were more or less the same age as us and told us some stories, the eldest of them had set himself the mission of going by boat to find some cocaine in the high seas and then return it to its owners. There were girls who were pregnant at the age of 12, abandoned kids, women who had been victims of abuse and even a man who had slept with his own daughter and had a son with her. It was a strange anarchic place. We met a Spanish guy there who casually had a cabana there, he had cut himself off from everything years ago, sold his company, left everything and he decided to stay there, he told us a lot of stuff about Punta Huina.

We were a bit scared at night, but we had no choice other than to relax and stop thinking about the things that could happen to us. The following morning I went to the beach with Andrea, I fell asleep and when I woke up, she was nowhere to be seen. All her clothes and everything were still there, just not her. I quickly looked around and still couldn't see her. I looked for her like crazy for 2 hours, I called the Spanish man, the woman who owned the house we were staying in and anyone else who could give me a spark of hope. We were all worried looking for her and at last, she was at the beach on the side playing with some kids. I almost had a stroke.

Once again, we came back save and sound, this time it was almost like a miracle. But mission completed, we went back to Bogotá.

I only had a bit of time left before I had to go back to Spain, so we tried to enjoy everything that we could in Bogotá, I spent some of my last days with Alex, I said goodbye to Daniel, the guys in my house who had gone back to their respective towns during the last days of University...

As for me, I had a mix of emotions. Sometimes, I felt happy and at peace and other days I felt strange and almost pained. I think that now I can distinguish when I felt one way from another. When I travelled around in nature and had discovered new landscapes (The Tatacoa Desert, the Caribbean Sea, Antioquía, the Pacific... ) I noticed and thought about how little it takes to be happy, I would be able to spend my life travelling and nothing else. Meeting people, having stories to tell to others, stories which whether good or bad, they were still stories to tell. The world was my oyster. I really thought about myself, and that seems good. I wanted to find myself, to know many things and even have some bad times for my own benefit, to overtake them alone and that it would have been worth it later. Everything to better myself. So, I was feeling good. All of this seems marvellous, it's what our generation wants. I saw videos and articles on social networks that talk about how young people don't want loads of money, they just want to travel and live not tie themselves down. Are we just tourists and nothing else?

I felt strange and doubtful when I stopped to think about myself. It all started with a conversation that I had with a law student from UNAL. He shocked me when he said that he didn't like to travel, that he didn't even have the slightest interest because he had so many things to do for his course and he couldn't dedicate himself to his well-being. At first, I can't deny that I didn't really like him, I thought that he was a bit closed minded and I told him that it's really important to get to know yourself and that we only have one life, that we have to try to be happy, we have to meet people, that travelling teaches you everything bla bla bla. His response was a questions: Ana, do you think that you live alone in this world? He carried on talking and even though what he was saying seemed interesting to me, and nor did I agree with everything that he said, it was that questions, even if at first it seems simple, it totally changed my perception of things, I went for days thinking about that question. I thought that it was important to travel, to get to know other cultures, to dedicate myself to myself, to find well-being in the smallest of things... but we weren't thinking and being individualists? Do we travel just for pleasure and the only thing we get from it benefits ourselves, even if it is learning? Is that all that happens in these places? Getting to know them more or less profoundly and that's it? It's good to think that these experiences are worth more than money, but from this we are doing something that is also superficial. My response to the question after a few days was: we get to meet more people, we get to know more cultures and lots of places, but we live alone, and for ourselves in this world and nothing more.

I went back to Spain later on feeling bigger, different and with a lot of memories and stories to tell, but there's something that I didn't do and is involved in improving something and really helping someone. Next time I won't hesitate. Colombia gave me a lot and maybe I did not give anything back in return.