I went to Colombia to photograph Shakira who was doing some work for her charity Pies Descalzos Foundation.

At the end of the trip Shakira went off to spread the love elsewhere and myself and the writer Amy got dropped off in Barranquilla for a night of R&R. It was during the build up to the carnival and we were lucky enough to stumble into La Troja, the best bar in town; in fact its probably the best bar in any town… Here’s Amy:

It wasn’t so glamorous, more cheap and cheerful - but really cheap and really cheerful.

There was a carnival-inspired foam fight going on.

This guy gave me the best high-five I’ve ever had.

It made my hand feel like Shakira’s ass.

1 dude 2 cups

Eventually we managed to pour ourselves into a taxi home…

The next day I spent an afternoon and an evening in Bogota, where I photographed crack-head callisthenics.

Bogota is a really nice city, but it does have the odd sketchy neighbourhood.

According to my research, Colombians are fans of the fuller figure.

In fact this ladies figure was so full it could apparently levitate…

The day before this I had been on a private plane with Shakira and the Colombian President, Alvaro Uribe. Left to my own devices for 24 hours I somehow ended up down an alleyway in Bogota with this guy.