Cali
Every now and again you set out to visit a place and have a particular image painted into your mind. Maybe it was one too many Narcos episodes or one too many stories about the salsa scene. But I had an image of what Cali would look like. Unfortunately, one’s imagination is usually much more powerful than the truth. Turns out Cali is the salsa dancer’s dream but for me it didn’t offer much more than that.
Bit of History
Cali is the second largest city in Colombia with a population of 2.4 million. Similar to the rest of Colombia it’s recovering from a cartel controlled past.
Best Around Cali
This is probably the hardest “best of” list that I’ve done in Colombia. Truth be told my personal opinion is that you should only visit Cali if you have an interest in Salsa. Aside from salsa the only things that saved Cali from being a complete zero was its nearby trips.
- San Cipriano (check out guide here)– this is a Afro-Colombian community slightly cut off from the rest of the country. Accessible only by self engineered motorcycles turned railway cars known as Motobrujas. The community is based in and around a natural reserve. Complete with waterfall hiking, tubing and swimming in the crystal clear river.
- Lago Calima – this is a massive man made lake north of Cali. Known for kite surfing & adventure sports.
- Bahia Malaga National Park – this is one of the country’s newest national parks. Designated in 2010. The park is located on the pacific coast of Colombia. Accessible only by boat or small airplane.
Best Salsa in Cali
Nearly every hostel in the city offers some free or cheap salsa lessons.
- La Topa – this is a popular club if you want to mingle with the locals. They offer lessons for $5,000 COP (~$1.50USD) on Mondays at 1900. The club is small but very friendly.
Where to Stay
Most of the hostels are located in the tourist neighborhood of San Antonio.
- Havana en Cali – (top pick). Located a 10 minute drive outside of the popular tourist neighborhood. This hostel is in a nice working class section of Cali. The place is beautiful and the staff is friendly. It was my favorite part about staying in Cali.
San Antonio
Getting in/Getting Out
- North – Buses leave from the terminal to Salento vía Armenia, Buenaventura, Bogota and Cali.
- South – Buses leave from the terminal towards Pasto, Ipiales and Popayan.
Safety
Cali, similar to the rest of the country is battling a dark past. San Antonio felt pretty safe into the late hours of the night. Tourists are walking around everywhere and so are the private security hired by the businesses. The downtown is relatively safe during the day but should be avoided in the evenings. The popular opinion of Cali is being the least safe of the larger Colombian cities.
Afterthoughts
I can’t really say I enjoyed Cali. It’s probably joining my South American skip list just after Guayaquil and before Sao Paulo. They have some cool restaurants and bars but so do every other city in the world. The city is large, congested and just doesn’t offer much aside from dancing. My best advice is to plan your visit to Cali on a weekend to check out the salsa scene. Aside from the night life Cali is best used as a base camp to visit the surrounding areas.
