Unemployed & Unimpeded: 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.