Cali - The Capital of Salsa

My expectations were not that high since I heard from two different person the opinion, that there isn't to much to do. It's boring. Well they probably went to another city, because my week in Cali was amazing. I was planing to stay maximum two or three days, but I kept extending my stay there.

However my first day wasn't interesting at all. I was just laying in my bed waiting for my friend to arrive who I met in Madrid at the very beginning of my journey. The meeting was fine. We had a dinner, and since he doesn't talk English I had to practice my Spanish. The only drawback, that I missed the free Salsa class which - as I later found out - was a big mistake. After the dinner with the friend, I had a few beers with the guys at the hostel. Later we also had a Table tennis competition. The table was shitty and the ball was soft, but it doesn't stopped us from enjoying the game. I had no chance to win, though, because there was a guy from England and he played like a pro.

The next day started pretty much the same. I was laying in my bed then in The hammock, then I sit to the table, and then back to the hammock.

Two girls arrived from the Netherlands this day. They didn't know each other it was just a coincidence. They were both really nice persons and full of life.

Oh and about coincidences. I only met two people from the eastern part of Europe on my whole stay in Colombia. And both of them were from Slovakia. The day before I arrived to Cali I met a Slovakian girl in Pereira, we talked quite a lot after breakfast and the very next day I arrived to Cali and there was a Slovakian guy atthe Hostel. It would be already surprising, but when I told the Guy which city the girl was from, he couldn’t believe. I mean he could. Because he heard about a girl who was traveling in Colombia from the same city where he was from, but they didn’t know each other, they never met. And here I am who accidently met both.

On my second day on the afternoon, two French girls, the British guy and a Bolivian girl who was a volunteer at the hostel decided to go up to Christo Rey. It’s famous because of the beautiful view to the city. We were five which is to much for a taxi, but colombians proved once again, that they are very felxible about the rules. We arrived to the top just before sunset. We saw the city in daylight, we saw the sunset and then we saw the city with lights on. We arrived back to the hostel right before the Salsa class. After the class the teacher recommended us a place for party so we went there, but it wasn't an actual party. It was more like a salsa class. At the beginning at the class I had no idea what I was doing there. A don't think that any of my steps was good. A bit later the bar opened, and people started to dance freely. But I didn’t have the guts to dance with those girl because they were so much better, and I barely knew the basic steps so I just bought a beer and talked with some people outside who felt the same way.

But on the next day! It started with the free class again. We practiced the basic steps again. It was really useful for me. There were only guys on the class. It was pretty funny when we got to the part where we had to dance in couples. First time in my life I experienced how the girls have to step. It's not that hard like I imagined. In Cali there are salsa parties every day. So we got a recommendation again. First I didn’t want to go, because of my bad experience from the day before so the guys left without me, but later when the Bolivian girl finished her shift she convinced me to go and we danced there together and it was amazing. She wasn’t to good to make me feel that I’m bad, but she as good enough to teach me a little, while she let me to lead as well. We worked good on the dance floor so I had a great time.

The next day was about another Bolivian girl who I met in Medellín three weeks ago. She was the main reason I came to Cali. Even though she doesn’t speak English we had a pretty good talk in Medellín. This made me feel really good. She invited me for a party, but we spent the whole afternoon together. She made a really good Bolivian dish. We talked a lot. We swam in their pool. And then I followed her to her friends where they were preparing for the party. And then the party! Well it was amazing. Lot of people, mostly exchange student from South America and a few from Germany and France. The place was cool, there was a nice view from the rooftop. The music was good, the people were fun. Some girls also showed me how to dance reggaeton properly. I enjoyed the party from the first moment until the last. :)

The next day I started to plan my next station, but the guys at the hostel were keep planning other things around Cali. Thanks to them, I had the chance to see a beautiful river, where was a famous beach for locals. And also I visited a very interesting small city, were you can only get using a weird train and saw the rain forest there and also I could look at the Pacific Ocean for the very first time in my life.