Caliiii ✨✨✨✨

28/2/23

I said my byes to Narja, who was flying to Medellin for a final few days before flying home to London and then headed out for breakfast, which I found in a bakery. A Dutch girl had come to tell me that she did want to share a taxi with me to the airport after declining the day before, which meant that I had time for a proper breakfast as I didn’t need to mess about trying to find a collectivo. I had a breakfast in a bakery, where miraculously the woman could understand me perfectly and all was well. Then I went back and we got the taxi to the airport. Finally, I was going to the real Colombia, the bit with colour, energy and danceeee. I was ready.

When I arrived in Cali, I got a taxi straight to the hostel. I got chatting to an old man who was sat next to me on the bus and seemed concerned for my welfare. Having heard many stories of Cali being dangerous, I appreciated him looking out for me. He walked me to the cab and waved me off. I got to my hostel maybe thirty minutes later. It was beautiful inside, like some kind of peaceful Moroccan sanctuary in amidst the supposed chaos and crime of Cali. After checking in and unpacking, I decided to brave a walk around the local area. I had looked up what to do and apparently there was a nearby area, San Antonio which was very cute. Off I went with minimal money and my phone out of sight! I wasn’t taking any chances!! The roads were packed, and there were lots of people selling street food on the flyover of the road. It smelt good. There was epic street art everywhere, most of which I didn’t snap for fear of taking my phone out and it being snatched!

San Antonio was cute! I mooched about, walked through a small park and then decided I needed to do a food shop and went in search of a supermarket. I found one along the river, along with a park full of cat statues (bizarre, but famous in Cali) and went in. I got a lot of stuff – I was thrilled to find they had wholemeal bread, fruit, nuts and granola (what more could a girl want?!),and when I got to the till, I realised I’d spent more than I had! Luckily, I could pay contact less so all was well. I went back to the hostel and cooked filled pasta with veggies before the 6pm group salsa class. After the class, I chilled a little and then got ready for the night. The hostel was going out at 10pm to Gringo’s Tuesdays, a night I had heard a lot about in the last two months of travelling South America. I sat with some Germans, a Venezuelan and a Dutch guy and got a cocktail. Awhile later, we headed out, with some of the other girls from the dance class too.

Gringo’s Tuesday had a salsa room downstairs and a general (Gringo’s) room upstairs. Quickly the salsa room emptied out and everyone went to dance reggaeton and sing along to the Spice Girls instead – v bizarre! The squad was fun though, the three Germans, plus Luna and Marieka, two solo Dutch girls, Eva, a Spanish girl living in Switzerland, and Shireena, a Londonder who now lives in Fuertaventura, as well as two of our hostel salsa teachers, Steven and Stiven. I got slightly used to the reggaeton by the end of the night and like it a bit more than before now (the same story as bachata in Ecuador – if you listen to something enough, I think you get to like it!). We left pretty late (gals together) and headed back to sleep.

1/3/23

Happy St David’s Day, you Welsh beauties! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Today I enjoyed my granola breakfast with dried fruits and kiwi and then chilled. I had booked a salsa class for the afternoon with Stiven at 4pm so had until then to chill. I lay by the pool with a coffee and read my book. Luna had mentioned a good place for lunch the day before and both Eva and I fancied it. We set off together and had a glorious pulled pork lunch, with juice and soup and a little lemon mousse to finish, all for less than $4! On the way back I asked Eva about the shop for shorts since my denim shorts, which I’ve had at least since uni had absolutely died!! We went to an outlet shop and I tried on many a short, after the guy in the shop tried to guess my size! 😂 I found a good one successfully and was pleased that I didn’t have to wear jeans to the salsa night that night – it had been a rather hot affair the previous night!). I was back in time for my salsa class, which was at the same time as one of Marieke’s with other Steven. The class was fun and afterwards, I went back outside to chill and chat with the other gals. I had some food and went to get ready for La Topa. I was skipping the 6pm hostel class today because another woman in my hostel, Irish Tracey, had told me that there were two free classes in La Topa, THE salsa bar in Cali, so I decided I’d rather go to those. Tracey had already checked out of the hostel, so I headed there alone, checking that it was safe to walk there at 7pm. It was, and when I joined the queue to get in I got talking to a Cali couple in my dodgy Spanish. They were very nice and friendly and shortly afterwards, Irish Tracey appeared, followed by a guy Leo from Lyon.

The class started shortly after this and we made our way to the front at the side so we could see well. There was a lot of footwork but it was all fun! We did a full hour of dancing before a quick give minute break and then onto the next one! After the two hours of dancing, there were some dance contests on stages and Irish Tracey did one. Everyone was routing for everyone on stage, it was great!! I chilled a little and then Eva came to get me and we went next door to see a live big band – a fusion of jazz and Latin. We met her friend and a few hostel folk there and I treated myself to a margarita for the grand price of $6. The band was great. It reminded me of my big band with Mr Cheeke back in the day. All the players had a beer at their side and they were all clapping each others solos/improvs once they finished. I was also pleased that they had a full compliment of saxophones – 2 altos, one tenor, one bari (who ran in late, classic!), and a soprano when it was needed, played by one of the alto peeps. After an hour or so, the concert was done, and Eva and I headed back to La Topa for more salsa. I was still feeling a little frustrated at my lack of Calina salsa skills, and sat at the side for a fair while before getting up for a dance. Once I was up, I stayed up for awhile. Eventually, Eva, Luna and Shireena all left but I decided to stay a little longer since I was now in the swing of things. I watched an incredible cha cha danced by my two salsa teachers Steven and Sebastian too. Everyone stopped dancing to watch their dance play out. I headed home just before it closes for the night.

2/3/23

Today I made myself the usual granola breakfast with kiwi and then chilled by the pool all morning and then headed to Nona for lunch, the same place I had gone the day before. On the way, I bumped into the girls and we all went for lunch together, a full set of five of us. We had a great chat but I had to leave lunch a little early to make it back for my 3pm dance class.

My classes were fab. I had an hour with Sebastian and then an hour with Steven, who both taught me differently but both worked. Afterwards, I had an hour to chill and breathe a little before the group class. After the group class, lead by Sebastian and full of shines (lotssss of footwork), I cooked dinner. Afterwards, I went to get ready for the evening. Tonight was El Rincón, a dance space which was apparently outside.

I went there with Luna and some other girls from the hostel. Shireena had bailed because she needed to pack, Eva was ill and Marieke was coming post hot date. I liked the vibe of the place, with lots of seats outside, a solid sound system with lots of additional cow bells (lol) and a tiled floor installed outside with a gazebo over the top to dance in. I danced a few salsa and bachata and then there was a performance by two incredible dancers. Wowwww. They did fast feet, leaps, swings and generally just had a great time. Afterwards, I got better at looking for the people that could dance Cuban or Cross body salsa so I could have a chance of dancing something half decently! I ad a few good dances, but my best one was with a guy who ended up being from Greece, but worse than that, had learnt salsa in Scotland. Go halfway across the world for your best dance to be with someone who’s learnt salsa in Scotland – bloody typical that!! Watched another performance, danced a few more before Luna and I left around 02.00. Another late one!!

3/3/23

Sadly, today was an unintentional moving day. I had tried to book a final night in La Vaina, but my hostel had been fully booked so I was off to another place. I checked out off my room and spent some time chilling by the pool, before heading off to see the artesanal market with Eva and Luna around 11am. Sadly, when we got there, they told us it didn’t open til 1pm. We mooched back and decided to wait it out in a nice cafe nearby. Eva went back since she wanted to rest and Luna and I enjoyed some coffee and cake, mmm. We returned after 1pm to find some stalls open. I was searching for a choker necklace which Marieke had set me the challenge of finding after she had admired my Ecuadorian one. Sadly, we found none, but we did buy some pretty beaded bracelets. We walked back, got a bakery snack of cheese bread and then I rested a little by the pool before my two hours of class. Two hours is hardcore and today it would be intense because it was all with Sebastian.

We did one general hour of dance and one hour of ladies styling which I definitely need because I dance like an awkward British person!! Sebastian tried to make me flow a little better which resulted in crunching both my hips and shoulders in strange motions, which were apparently the movements I should be doing naturally when I danced!! Wild!! After the class, I had a quick mooch about town – I really wanted some food from the supermarket and ended up finding two beautiful squares on route. By the time I arrived back at the hostel, it was time for the group class. The group class was again fun. We did various shines, this time led by Steven. After class, I went to check in to my new hostel. I showered and changed and got chatting to a girl from Pasto in my room who was here for work. I invited her to come to the street party with my old hostel since the dorm was pretty sleepy and we headed off together.

We chilled at the hostel a little before walking the few blocks to the already popping party! The music was loud, the cow bells were abundant and the entry and the drinks were cheap as chips!! We all had a few salsas int eh street although it was a different skill because there really was no space to dance!! At some point, the party was closed because someone had done something stupid and so everyone dispersed between a few different clubs. Sadly for me, the salsa club was already full by the time we left the street party, so we ended up in a reggaeton club. It was fun but there was so much reggaeton and booty shaking to be seen!! The Stevens (both teachers at our hostel did a few sandwiches of us tourists lot which was funny!) and we all danced together in undulating circles. At around 02.30, I left because I was knackered. I grabbed a barbecue chicken skewer on the way out and got an Uber.

4/3/23

Today was moving day, properly. I had a class at La Vaina at 11am and went over pre-class for a coffee with the gals (Eva, Luna and Marieke since Shireena had left early in the morning). My final class was fun and we just did flares and cross body salsa so that was nice. Afterwards, Eva, Luna and I would go for lunch before Luna and I headed to Salento. We headed to a new place for lunch, which played jazz in the background. It was pretty hard to find but eventually we arrived and ordered foccacia and salad. An hour later, we enquired as to where our food was and they seemed surprised even though the only other remaining people in the room already had their food! Shortly afterwards, our food came. We wanted to have coffee and cake afterwards but couldn’t face another potential hour long wait so went elsewhere. Marieke had recommended a cute cafe which also did yoga and massages and we went there. It was cute. When we arrived, we realised it was almost entirely vegan apart from having some normal milk available for coffee. We had coffee and I had vegan cheesecake which really was surprisingly good!! Afterwards, we headed back to the hostel.

Luna and I had meant to leave for Salento, the coffee region straight after a ‘quick’ lunch. Since this hadn’t happened and we had enjoyed a leisurely lunch, we needed to get our skates on! We grabbed our thighs, filled our bottles and taxied to the bus station. From there, there was a bus leaving within ten minutes to Salento, so we made back time. Maybe five hours later we arrived in Armenia, a town nearby that we needed to change buses in. We switched to a small minibus and carried on. The next bus was meant to take an hour, but thankfully took only half an hour.

We arrived in Salento and went in search of food. We had expected Salento to be a small, sleepy town, but we were wrong. It was absolutely buzzing when we arrived on a Saturday night! Everyone was sat in bars and restaurants on the square enjoying life. We found a restaurant for food and ordered a mysterious ceviche (normally a raw fish soup) and a trout with prawns. When the food arrived, the ceviche came in an edible plantain bowl and had pineapple, potato and fried pork in it. It was not what we expected, but the flavours were really good. The trout was glorious too and I finally got to try the infamous drink Narja had told me about, limonada de coco, fresh lemonade with coconut milk. It was bloody delicious!!! After dinner, we headed to the hostel to check in and sleep.