Cali- Not THAT Cali, but Cali, Colombia

Although Medellin is amazing, Jay and I decided that we needed to see some of the other cities that Colombia has to offer.  We booked a flight to Cali, Colombia, and arrived there on Friday.

Upon arrival, we could tell Cali was going to be different.  Once again, the airport is pretty far outside the city, but this time we took a funny little bus where Jay and I were squeezed into the front seat and rode our way into Cali.  After the bus dropped us off at the bus terminal, we got a taxi and our driver drove to our hostel.  One thing I noticed right away was that although it was the middle of the day, no one was out. Once we got out the taxi, we realized why:  it is VERY hot in Cali.  I wouldn't leave the house either.  They should call it Cali Caliente.  (Sorry, I couldn't help the joke!)

We checked into our funny little french hostel and ate some delicious lunch.  Then we went up to the room and were hit with another heatwave.  Not really knowing what to do, we took a little rest and then headed out to the large park across the street.  I called our friend Bobby (well, my friend Jeff's friend Bobby, but now is our friend too) and we made plans to meet up later.

El Gato de Rio

Still too hot to walk around, we went back to the hostel and hung out until Bobby showed up.  He showed us around a little bit and we ate some empanadas at this patio restaurant down by the river.  We had a great time and saw some of the culture Cali had to offer.  We were in San Antonio, which is the bohemian artsy district of Cali.  The buildings are painted in bright colors and have a unique character to them.  There is also a lot of art graffiti on the walls, adding interesting pictures to every turn you make.

Not my idea, a colombian made me pose like this!

Jay on the streets of Cali (his shorts adding more color to the city, ha!)

After Bobby led us back to the hostel Jay and I got ready for the night. We ate dinner at a pizza place where you choose from a very long list of pizzas you would like and they bring you little mini pizzas of all your choices.  Afterwards we went to a cuban restaurant and listened to some live cuban salsa music and drank some mojitos.

The next day  we went to a little art park and perused the little shops and park. It started to get hot again, so we decided to check into a hotel with air conditioning.  We found one in the downtown area, headed over there, and checked in.  We did a little spanish homework, rested up, and started the night.

Checking out the park by our hostel, where we ran into a comedy show

After taxiing to a restaurant that looked promising online but turned to out to be out of business in person, we ended up near our old hostel again and had dinner at a restaurant with some more live music.  After that, we headed over to Tin Tin Deo, which is where some of Cali's best salsa dancers go to get their salsa on.  Bobby had told us this was a very fun place to go, and since Jay and I were obviously salsa masters from our one lesson, I was pretty pumped to see the famous Cali salsa dancers doing what they do best.

Man, these people can dance.  It was amazing.  I should have been moving a lot because there was some great salsa music and it was a dancing bar, but I could not take my eyes off all these incredible dancers.  My eyes got a slight break when we started talking to some British and Irish people, which led to us talking to some other British people.  The bars in Cali have to close at 3, but there are several options for after the bars.  One set of our new British friends invited us to a house party with some other Colombianos, so we went along for the ride.

House party this wasn't. There was a DJ playing more salsa, all kinds of people dancing, other playing musical instruments to go with the music, empanadas being sold, some sort of indoor garden, and everyone just having a good time.  We even got to play some of the instruments, I got to dance and show off my extreme gringo salsa, and we left thinking "What just happened?"

our british friends adding to the music

Hanging out with the Brits and Colombians

Sunday was spent laying in the shade at the park reading and doing spanish homework, trying to stay cool before our flight back to the perfect weather of Medellin.  We said good bye to Bobby, and were very appreciative of our friend for telling us about some great spots in Cali!

Final thoughts about Cali:

1.  I can appreciate that much of the city unites in the belief that if it is too hot, it's best just to stay inside and blast salsa music.

2.  People here can, and want to, dance like nobody's watching.  But they know everyone is watching.

3.  Cali is a little, for lack of a better term, rougher than Medellin.  It has it's own beauty to it, but it is not as obvious as Medellin's.

4.  Not as much plastic surgery as I expected to see.

5.  Dogs were everywhere!! Including this adorable little guy: