Yep, I’m still in Cali!!!

22/4/23

I needed a rest from the five hours of classes and dancing every night, so I decided to give myself a long weekend after our slightly drunk SofarSounds night on Friday. Saturday, I had brunch with Laura and then headed down to the river for a mooch and a decompress. I finally saw the full extent of Parque del los Gatos, a river side walk with lots of differently decorated car statues. It was cute! Afterwards, I chilled by the pool a bit and then went for a mooch around San Antonio. Obviously, I ended up in yet another cute coffee shop! In the evening, I went to a rueda (salsa in a group circle) class. It was fun to try again after so long – I hadn’t done a class since pre covid!!

23/4/23

On Sunday, I seized the day! I woke up early and decided last minute to go to a rueda in the park event Treasa sent me (gracias chica!). It started at 09.00, with a note not to be late arriving on the event. Of course, the event did not run on time, but everyone was relaxed. I was the only tourist there. I asked where the easy class was, and the organiser said there wasn’t one! (I think he feared the Gringos would ruin their rueda en casino circle!). I didn’t! I found the easiest group and went for it! It was lots of fun!! After the class, they went into learning an ongoing routine s9 I left for home. I was feeling virtuous, so changed and went straight back out for a run, ending in a cute square with a Sunday market. One of the market-stall holders noticed me itching my bites while sat on a bench and came over to ask if I wanted some bug spray. Spanish is a warm language. He addressed me as ‘mi amor’ and ‘mi reina’, which when translated to English seems very extreme as a stranger is calling me ‘my love’abd ‘my queen’, but here its normal practice! The day before, the owner of a coffee shop addressed a homeless man asking for money as ‘mi amor’ too… spreading the love! I headed to my coffee shop from the previous Sunday, this time with money for food! I had a scrummy (if small) breakfast with glorious flat white and then headed home to shower. I went to San Antonio Park with the hostel lads pre sunset and headed to a rooftop pizza date with Laura for sunset. Both the view and the food were gorgeous, (company too, of course!!). 😆😆 When I returned to the hostel, Alex was nowhere to be found. He was apparently doing karaoke with Ronny in the dance studio! I went to join them, but sang minimally as all the songs were Spanish. Then we salsaed a bit, and Alex taught Ronny some bits using me to demo. We danced a bit more before I headed to bed.

24/4/23

Today was my planned day of doing nothing. First, I moved from La Vaina back to the guesthouse I had stayed in before with Laura, and then we went to Buscar por Dentro to try the cinnamon rolls that Fleur had rated so highly! We bumped into a fellow salsero there, Marco from Austria, and then the girls Gina and Clara arrived, and we headed off on our spa day. Time to relax! We had a lovely time, with the whole place to ourselves and with a quick massage included, not to mention rooftop margaritas and barbequed chicken ribs waiting for us afterwards – so random! Afterwards, we returned home to chill a bit before I headed to La Topa in the night for salsaaa.

25/4/23 – 28/4/23

Back to normal. More dance, more Spanish, more coffee and more cake. Nothing much else to report!

Tuesday I went to a concert in the evening, which was part of a folklore music festival across Cali. I went with Laura and Alex, and we met one of the teachers from Rumba y Salsa, Alondra there too. The heatre was very fancy and looked lime the New Theatre at home in Cardiff. Home comforts! 💛 The first three countries to dance were bizarre because Chile, Estonia and maybe Poland all danced in way I recognised – some danced like Morris dancing with handkerchiefs and shoes with buckles, some danced more like a ceilidh or traditional Welsh folk dancing and some like an Irish jig! It seemed the world of folk dance was very similar all across the globe!! Then Hawaii came on and they were dressed like Lilo and Stitch and the music was almost identical! Cali’s show was electric and of course not anything like British folk dancing! Venezuela was also pretty different! All in all, a nice night!

Wednesday was the birthday of a friend from the dance school, Derrick, so we celebrated in the dance school and then went to La Topa later. It was cute!

Thursday after a normal day of classes, (two hours of dance and two of Spanish), and a cute final dinner with Alex and Guillerme, Laura and I decided to try a Chiva bus, a traditional way to party in Colombia, and yes its on a bus!! We went wirh Rumba y Salsa, which took us to different and more typical (less touristy) salsa spots across the city. Dancing on a moving bus is quite a challenge, especially salsa, and at times, everyone was thrown across the bus! It was funny! We drove across the city ‘touring’ it. Cali is quite the city. Ir has a few cute areas with gorgeous cafes and bars but also many deprived areas, which really would not be safe to be out in at all. Some other backpackers had said they felt uncomfortable going through these areas on a party bus because they felt like they were looking at people as if they were exhibits in a zoo. I didn’t feel this because while you do see some extreme poverty (you can see it in more or less every street across the whole of Cali anyway), you’re mainly focusing on staying upright while dancing on a moving bus!! I also think since the chiva bus is a Colombian thing, and not just made for tourists, it feels different. Either way, it was a fun experience!! We headed to El Rincon to dance on a reliable and non-moving floor afterwards!!

Friday again! I went out for breakfast pre 10am dance class, skipped Spanish since we needed a break and just chilled, had lunch with the ladsssss, and then hung out in La Vaina for a bit since it was Alex’ last day. Ahhh! We said our goodbyes and then I had another hour of dancing before Laura and I headed to bingo!! It was a cute set up on a large terrace overlooking the mountains, but it wasn’t boozey bingo, it was just golden oldies bingo!! Everyone was welcoming and we managed a round before we headed off in search of dinner. Afterwards, I chilled at home with Netflix and a face mask. Wild Friday!!