Cali
Trip Start
Oct 06, 2006
1
72
76
Trip End
Sep 14, 2008
Cali,
Colombia
Friday, April 4, 2008
If you are blond and tall like myself you stand out like a sore thumb and people will approach you to ask for money. This doesn't really bother me because I take the opportunity to chat with people but I also explain to them that looking like a foreigner doesn't mean $$$ and that there are plenty of locals that have a much thicker wallet than a backpacker. In fact, after spending a few nice days in Manizales, in Colombia's coffee region (beautiful!), I headed straight to Cali, the Salsa and Silicon Capital of Latin America! There I met up with my good Colombian kiteboarder friend Andres who I met in Miami and wow ... what an experience I had there. Cali is not a nice city but it vibrates at night with Salsa rhythms and good "rumba" atmosphere in the many clubs. Friday and Saturday are the nights to go out and "rumbiar" (party). While Cali back then was famous for its Cali drug cartel, narco-traficantes (drug-lords) obviously still exist which I realized after seeing how easily money got spent in bars and clubs and after ending up in a luxury Penthouse overlooking the city of Cali one night. Enough said!
