17/3/23 – 24/3/23
Somehow another week on Cali has flown by? I arrived early on the 17th to be greeted by none other than Miss Aisling who had also booked my hostel for a few days. We had breakfast together in the hostel before our days continued with classes and chilling. On the evening, Luna arrived from her flight from the coast. Reunited in Cali once more! I spent the first few days chilling, catching up with Miss Aisling and Luna and enjoying parties in the night. Of course, Friday was the street party again and the whole hostel went together. Afterwards, I went to Manimala, a salsa bar and Luna went to a reggaeton place with my salsa teachers Steven and Sebastian. Aisling went home to sleep.
Sunday was Luna’s 24th birthday and we welcomed her birthday in in a fairly drunken stupor counting down the seconds til midnight in a reggaeton club. The whole hostel was out once more and it was a good time. We got talking to a guy Colada from New York who got us birthday cocktails (yes, I benefitted from Luna’s bday)! Shots of rum were poured into mouths while heads were tipped back and much perrea (basically twerking) was done by many!!
In the day on Sunday, I had a hostel breakfast and then, I rang first Georgia and then my mam for mother’s day. I made exciting plans with Gi for her to come out to meet me and for us to maybe live together again, but this time in London, eeeeep! Afterwards, Luna and I headed out for cake round one. We went to Sukha, a vegan, but very tasty cafe and had a nice girly time. Afterwards, we headed back and chilled by the pool with Aisling and another cool cat Marcella from the US. I went out for a but of a mooch around the park with Aisling and Treasa, another Irsih gal, I had met on my first trip and then later, we headed back out for dinner near the park. Aisling sadly couldn’t make it because she had an early night bus to the desert but Luna, Marcella and I headed out together. We sat on a rooftop overlooking the city and ate pizza and drank wine. While the pizza dough was not up to scratch, the atmosphere and the company really were 💛. The view over the city was gorgeous. After dinner, we got churros and strolled through the park, which was bustling with market stalls, theatre, love and laughter. There were some people effectively sledging down a hill on crates for drinks. Genius!! After dinner, we headed back and prepped for the night. We wanted to salsa and another girl Fleur who has been in Cali for ages mentioned a white party. We went there but the girls were not keen on it because there were a lot of old folk there. We changed and went to a place one of Luna’s mates suggested instead. It was a dance theatre with a huge Cuban car in the reception. It was very fancy and we did not feel prepared for it! We went in and were shown to our sears. Awhile later, the show began. It was unreal!!
After the show, we social danced a bit before we tried to go downstairs where more people were dancing. At some point a very serious security woman came to ask us to leave. We weren’t sure why but eventually it turned out it was because we weren’t well enough dressed! We went back upstairs for a little and I got to dance with a professional dancer from the show!! It was fun, but I can’t say it was ssleek on my side! 🤣🤣 Afterwards, we headed home. Luna’s birthday was over.
The rest of the week was filled with coffee dates, dance classes, lunches, nights out and the odd cocktail! It was a good time! Miss Aisling returned to Cali after a few days in the desert and we chilled and cooked together a few days and obviously got the happy hour cocktails in. There was much dancing as always in Cali!!
wanderingwelshie2 travels 