African Music, Colombian Egg Nog, and Soccer in Cali

After a pitstop in Salento, it was off to the most populous city in western Colombia, Cali. Proclaiming itself as the salsa-dancing capitol of the world, it's a city rich with a vibrant nightlife and diehard soccer fans, all propelled by its deep African influences. We timed it so that we would arrive in Cali on Friday evening and stay until Tuesday. As hard as it was to leave the coffee region, we were excited to meet some new people and experience Cali's nightlife. The bus from Salento to Cali offered plenty to see as we descended from the high mountains and into some of the country's deepest valleys. We made it into the city by nightfall and easily made our way to the hostel, The Pelican Larry. Although it wasn't terribly hot, we still weren't used to the change in temperature after spending a few days high up in the mountains. We put our bags down, grabbed a beer, and started chatting with some other travelers. We soon realized that we had already met one of the travelers, Thomas, when we were hiking in Salento. This is starting to become a fun routine for us since so many backpackers are taking a similar route through the country. After a few drinks and some much needed food, we set out with a small group and began walking through Cali's vibrant streets lined with bar after bar. It had traits of Medellín with a mix of African flare.

We thought we were back in SF for a second

The next day, Thomas and our German friend Frieda convinced us to go to the Pacific Music Festival, a free concert celebrating the city's African roots. Packed shoulder to shoulder, the crowd swayed and moved to the music while vendors sold a traditional homemade African liquor, viche. Light brown and milky, it had a faint resemblance to egg-nog without any of the happy feelings of Christmas. It took each of us a while to get used to, but it did the trick.

The festival

Being 6'2" in Colombia helps with the views

With our friends Frieda and Thomas 

Viche in all its glory

We absorbed the scene and after the concert ended around 12, we met up with our crew from the first night and took our viche-filled veins back to the main drag of nightlife. At one bar, we ended up getting ripped off after the bartender said the $5 I paid for our beers went towards two Colombians' drinks. Claiming the obvious that they were not with our group didn't help. With limited Spanish vocabulary, I had trouble putting up an agrument. The third day, we woke up to a city ready to go to war with a rival soccer club. The game was at 3pm and festivities started well before mid-day. Our group of six had food and drinks at the hostel and we made sure that no one was accidentally wearing the rival team's colors, bright red. After arriving at the stadium, we snaked our way through the sea of green jerseys and managed to convince a police officer to take us through the side gate and straight to our seats. The atmosphere inside the stadium was pulsing with energy. Our English, Dutch, and German friends agreed it was a boring game on the field, but you wouldn't have noticed based on the crowd jumping, screaming, and chanting. Not knowing many of the rules of soccer and being red/green colorblind, I too found the players to be pretty unexciting. Towards the end of the game, we made our way into the thick of things in the home stands, the Colombian equivalent of the Raider's "black hole." With our ears ringing, we left a few minutes early to beat the crowd. The next morning, Shanta and I said goodbye to our weekend friends and continued south to close in on the Ecuadorian border.

Ticket prices (1 USD = 1950 Pesos)

The visiting team's bus

Our friend leading us into the game

Shanta and Frieda

Shanta/David duel

The crew representing 5 countries (also, unfortunate leg angle)

Almost more police than fans

The fans getting rowdy 

Next up, making our way to Ecuador.

The Land of Coffee, Trout & Jeeps

It's funny how often strangers can impact your life when traveling. Something as small as a suggestion can turn into an hour long conversation and next thing you know you've altered the (rough) itinerary. That's how we ended up in Salento.

Taxi jeeps in the town square

Since Salento is in the coffee region, we tried about every coffee shop in town, but quickly found a favorite.

This coffee maker is over 100 years old

The menu is simple. You can either get a small or large coffee with steamed milk. And it costs less than $1 USD per cup! Given our love for Colombian coffee, we decided to take the hour hike out of town to a small coffee farm that offers tours. We had taken a tour in Costa Rica and were curious how the two differed. Honestly, the biggest difference was that this one was significantly cheaper, only $3 USD per person, and this included the cup of coffee you received at the end!

This lab hiked the whole way with us

Flowers from the trail

Taking a quick break

Almost to the farm

Our tour guide

Lots of banana trees on the farm too

Drying out the beans

Enjoying a fresh cup 

After the tour, and our hike back into town, we were ready to try the local trout that the area is also known for.

Trucha and patacon

Patacon is basically a large plantain tostada. I had my fish with garlic sauce. Phill had his topped with sautéed tomatoes and onions. They were absolutely delicious! 

The next day we were ready to head out for a hike in Cocora Park. We took an early morning jeep taxi from the town square hoping to avoid the fog, but it never quite burned off. 

First view of the river

Saying hi to a few friends along the way

One of many makeshift wooden bridges

Settling down for lunch

Making our way back down

Favorite part of the hike

Our taxi jeep soon to be stuffed with people

Phill taking a pic while holding on to the back

On our last day in Salento, we walked up the 250 steps of Alto de la Cruz to see a panoramic view of the city.

More winded than I should be

Then we settled in another coffee shop (with wifi) to work on the blog. For dinner, we found a restaurant serving American cuisine. The owner is from Oregon so we knew it was legit. It had been over a month since we had anything that resembled food from home so we couldn't resist!

My first cup of mora juice

The main street

Phill's massive burger loaded with EVERYTHING

Sunset from the town square

If these pictures haven't convinced you to add Salento to your bucket list, I don't know what will!

Medellín's Feria de las Flores

Feria de las Flores, or the Festival of Flowers, has been a highlight in Medellín for over 50 years. The week-long festivities include concerts, parades and of course flower displays around the city! It was coincidently perfect timing that David had chosen this week to visit us, when Medellín is overflowing with energy. Earlier in the week, we visited downtown to see the vibrant animal sculptures constructed with flowers, but you didn't have to go out of your way to see a flower display as most restaurants, shops, and hotels had some sort of flower arrangement showcased for the week. Then midweek, we all went to the Classic Car Parade and enjoyed a few Colombian-style micheladas. Micheladas in Colombia are unlike the ones I've had in the States. They aren't spicy at all! The vendors around Medellín coat the rim of the cup with lime and salt, fill 1/5 of the cup with freshly squeezed lime juice, and finish it off with either a Pilsen or Aguila beer. We also devoured candied coconut strips. Quite the combination! The celebrations concluded with the much anticipated Flower Parade. We secured our spots towards the finish line an hour before the parade started. Good thing we did, otherwise we would not have been able to see anything past the crowds. The three-hour parade included dancers, singers, and oddly enough, circus performers. However, the men and women carrying silletas, various types of flower arrangements, stole the show. Since we were near the end of the route, we saw some men and women on the verge of tears due to the weight of these arrangements. But the crowd never stopped chanting the phrase "sí, se puede" while clapping and cheering them on. This phrase translates to "yes we can" and it was awe-inspiring to hear the crowd's chants motivate the silleteros to not only carry on, but with smiles on their faces. This was the perfect way to end a memorable week in one of the best cities in Colombia.

[ flower sculptures ]

Flower power frog

Largest sculpture of the bunch

Silleta at the top of Parque Arví

 

[ classic car parade ]

Pilsen: our favorite beer for micheladas

Front and center at the parade

Classic chiva party bus

Luckiest girl at the parade

[ flower festival ]

First group of dancers

Just a handful of silleteros

Circus performers doing their thing 

More dancers

"We paint our lives"

The last dancers had the best costumes 

A silletero bearing the load