Cali - A Nice Place with some Poor Timing

Boy oh boy. Sometimes when you're travelling you just don't catch a break and all you can do is laugh.

So I arrive in Cali off the night bus ready to really see what Colombia had to offer. Only problem, there's no wifi. It's Sunday, so not much is open and I can't buy a SIM card. I got an arepa (a corn pancake thing with cheese inside), then asked every soul in the building for internet until a bus company let me use their wifi for a bit. So I tracked down my accomodation, met up with my friend Cat from Melbourne and had a look at what was on.

Shorts, Jandals and shirts. ANZAC ambassadors right here.

Turns out...not much, because its Sunday. We took a free walking tour, and we were the only people on it. It was actually kind of nice, the guide seemed relieved to be able to give the tour entirely in Spanish (apparently we were the she had ever had to request a Spanish tour) and we could ask questions without feeling like a douche for holding everyone else up.

One thing our guide showed us: Chontaduro fruit, an odd, sweet-potatoey tasting fruit that Calenos love served with honey and salt. Apparently an aphrodesiac too, maybe it helps with the Salsa dancing?

Afterwards, we walked around a bit more, then had some drinks in the afternoon, but with no real vibes emerging and nothing happening at the hostel, we just decided to give it a better crack in the morning.

Unfortunately the morning was Monday, and that is the day that all the museums close in most places in South America. D'oh! So instead we explored the city some more and tucked into our first Bandeja Paisa, a Colombian dish featuring beans, rice, various meats, avocado, salad and a mini arepa. It was a simply unbelievable amount of food, that cost us just $5! I also started what has since become a near addiction to Limonada de Caña - sugar cane juice with lime. So good and so refreshing! At less than a dollar for an ice cold cup, it's hard to resist.

Cane juice stall with cane crusher. Sometimes hand cranked, but usually running off a small motor.

All in all, this was not exactly an exciting start to a country I had been anticipating for months. Cali seemed nice, but also still scarred by the drug wars. It was still pretty safe, but there was a tension in the air that you could feel at times. People still aren't relaxed in the streets yet, though from the sound of things it is massively improved since the downfall of the great Cali cartels. It is also most famous for its dancing, but that really happens on Wednesday through Saturday nights, and we didn't feel like sticking around.

Now it's onwards and literally upwards as we journey to the mountains of the central coffee region to get genuine single-origin coffee. Where else could two Melburnians go?

The fairytale church near the main square. Our guide told us someone designed it in this German gothic style and everyone just kind of went with it. Very out of place compared to the old stone colonial churches.