Cali, the salsa capital of Colombia, if not the world, was a shock to the system after the cold, rainy days of Bogota. I can't tell you much about the city of Cali as we hardly saw the city by day. In Cali we turned nocturnal - salsa all night and sleep during the day.
We came to Cali for the salsa and a mini Delfin Solo reunion. Our hostel offered free 2 hour salsa lessons every day so we were all pretty excited to show off our new moves on Cali's dance floors. While we weren't so smooth yet (constantly stepping on other people and one of the group elbowed a security guard in the face) I think the locals appreciated our efforts. One table next to us was constantly encouraging us to dance with them and took way too many photos of us.
Sunday was a bit of a change of pace as the hostel owner took most of the hostel out to a local football (soccer) game - Cali vs Nacional. While I don't really go in for most sports (Alex was loving it though) it was definitely an experience. The bus ride to the stadium was something else. The bus was jam packed with Cali fans and us, there were people sitting on the roof and a lot of heckling of all us gringos. Footage of the gringos at the football match made it onto national TV. For the game itself, someone else would have to tell you about that, I had no idea what was really going on, but it was fun seeing how into it the crowd was. The Journey there and back ended up being longer than the actual game and by the time we got back to the hostel everyone was pretty knackered. This meant we finally had an early night at 2am.
For all the time we were in Cali we didn't end up taking any photos, except at the football. Luckily Mauricio, the hostel owner, came to the rescue and posted heaps on facebook. Here's a few that I stole:
Saturday afternoon Salsa Classes
Relaxing in the "Spa" before going out
The group on Saturday Night at Famous Salsa Club Tin Tin Deo
Alex getting interviewed by National TV - sadly we don't think it made the cut
The gang just before watching the match
The guys in this penned off area - the ultras - were literally dancing the whole match and at times it turned into a mosh pit
Bogota, Colombia's Capital, with it's very British weather and different culture turned out to be a nice surprise. The very first thing we did in Bogota was a Graffiti Tour of the street art in the area we were staying in. Our tour guide was very keen to give a different impression of Colombia and he succeed. The Bogota community is very accepting of street artists, in some cases they've even had police guarding them while they finish a piece of work. This has lead to many international artists coming to Bogota for their art and staying for their new family. The street art in Bogota is world class.
Our Guide showing us some work by Spanish artist Pez
Possibly my favourite artist that we saw, Rodez
Awesome Art and a Fantastic Restaurant - French Style Cooking of Colombian Ingredients
Another of my favourite artists. After looking all around the city Alex ended up buying one of his t-shirts. Inside the building is a great sounding community hangout for local artists, complete with bakery.
Some more political work
One of the other big musts of Bogota is a visit to the Gold Museum. I was a bit skeptical but we ended up enjoying it. It was an interesting insight into the pre-Hispanic culture's skills and beliefs.
Adorable pottery that I found very entertaining
The intricacy of some pieces was amazing
Some pieces were down right scary
Funerary urns represented uteruses where the deceased were reborn into new beings. Since the bones of the dead were the lasting parts of the body, they symbolised the continuity of social life.
A few other activities around the city included taking a cable car up Cerro de Monserrate for the view, enjoying some of Colombian artist Fernando Botero's work where all things are chubby, even the guitars, and eating a local classic - hot chocolate and cheese.
The population of Bogota is about 2 million more than all of Scotland. This is when we fully appreciated how big Colombia really is.
Some Classic Boteros:
I still have no idea how you are supposed to eat this. Some say you put the cheese in the hot chocolate, but I'm still doubtful.
The next stop on the tour was San Gil, Adventure Capital of Colombia. Here you can go paragliding, caving, canyoning, bungee jumping, white water rafting etc.
We took an over night bus to San Gil, which meant we got to wake up to this amazing view:
The first adventure we undertook was Canyoning in Pescadarito. This involved scaling rocks, practicing our diving (I'll admit the boys were a bit better at it than me) and snacking on Milo biscuits.
Alex found a natural water slide
Turns out Colombians love Milo, it's everywhere in all different forms.
James showing us how to swan dive
I don't so much dive as I run off cliffs
Luc loving a bit of climbing action
The next big adventure was whitewater rafting down the Rio Suarez. A quote from the Lonely Planet: "Thrilling Rio Suarez is a world-class run that even experienced rafters say still scares them". After reading that I was like "Hell no, I'm not doing that" and then I forgot and decided to do it anyway. It was crazy fun and I'm really glad we did it. After the whole raft flipping on a Class 5 rapid causing everyone to ping-pong between rocks and me falling out by myself on another rapid and having the water rip my helmet off the damage was as follows: multiple bruises, one cut, one lost earring and one lost thong. I'd say that's a pretty good damage report.
The Delfin Solo team before we knew what we were getting into
This time we managed to get some better footage of the action!
After the guys left us for Medellin we hung around San Gil for two more days to relax. What we thought would be a nice walk up to the mirador (lookout) but it turned out to be dash from dangerous dogs after we took the wrong route up and ended up in somebodies backyard. I think it made us appreciate the view even more.
San Gil
The Fence Alex had to jump over to get away from the dog. Remember how tall he is!
After the Mirador we thought we deserved a smoothie. San Gil has an awesome fresh food market where you can get delicious smoothies. And of course any normal smoothie bar would have a stash of aphrodisiacs, right?
Our last day we visited the near by village Barichara, supposedly one of the nicest villages in Colombia. We didn't get to spend much time here but we managed to have an awesome lunch (think skewered crumbed prawns for an entree) for $6 AUD and enjoyed walking around the streets.
Typical Barichara Street
From Barichara we did the popular 5km walk to the near by village of Guane. There isn't really anything to do in Guane beside visit the fossil museum, play soccer with the local kids and enjoy the slow pace.
The Church, Guane
San Gil is in the Santander Department which is famous for eating ants. Sadly we didn't ever find any of these ants for sale. The closest we got was pretending an ant was eating Alex.
San Gil is also super hilly. It's crazy, I've never seen a town like it. This was the street leading up to our hostel that we had to walk every day. It's steeper than it looks, trust me.
We couldn't decide where we should go after Cartagena, even now that we had our Bible (The Lonely Planet). In the end we went with the easiest option - follow our new friends from the boat to Taganga and Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona. Done.
We didn't know much about either but they turned out to be beautiful. Taganga is a small town set on a horseshoe bay. The colours there are amazing, all deep blues and oranges. Taganga made it feel like I was finally really in Colombia.
We had an afternoon in Taganga before heading over to check out PNN Tayrona.There's a little bit of trekking and a whole of lazing on beaches here. We stayed for one night in the park where there's not a whole lot to do after dark. Pro Tip: bring cards and friends. On our second day we beach crawled all the way back to entrance, quite a relaxing two day and some prime reading time.
The water is so cold and the sun so hot
Found a few of these guys hanging out
Where we spent the night, all the hammocks were full
Thanks to Alex's efforts we got to snack on some fresh coconut. Throwing them against a rock really does work!
After PNN Tayrona we spent a couple of more nights in Taganga were we danced to Bailando (a Latin American Staple) at possibly the world's windiest club.
Cartagena is mostly known for it's old town, a neighbourhood of preserved colonial buildings surrounded by a wall and cannons. The top thing to do here is pretty much just stroll around old town, admire the buildings and maybe buy a fruit salad or pastry off the street.
Our first day in Cartagena we spent literally doing nothing. Being on a boat for 8 days really seems to take it out of you. Our second day was spent wandering around Old Town and trying to find a South America guide book. After 3 different bookstores we finally found one. The reward was McDonalds. It's a guilty pleasure of mine to see how McDonalds changes between countries. Look at all those sauces!
After Maccas we checked out the fort, Castillo San Felipe de Barajas. The audio guide was a bit heavy on specific fort design details but it was still interesting to wander around and imagine the French and the Brits attacking. The fort offers a bonus view of the city.
On our last day we decided to check out the mud volcano. It was a different experience. Basically you climb up and then down into this volcano full of luke-warm bubbling mud. There's guys down there who will give you a massage for $3000 COP ($1.50 AUD). Then you just hang out in the mud for a while. You can't touch the bottom but you can stand up and sort of just float there. Sometimes people would lose their balance and limbs would be popping up everywhere! Once you have enough you climb back up out of the volcano (a slightly scary experience climbing a slippery ladder covered in mud). You get your final photo taken by the guy you paid $3000 to hold your camera. Next you try and dawdle a bit, have a beer or something. Try and get the mud to really soak in. Finally you walk into the near-by river where you can pay, you guessed it, $3000 for a lady to wash you. She gets right in your ears and even does your togs, leaving you naked in the river for a moments or two while she scrubs. You got back, dry off, get your clothes and then everyone who you owe money to descends upon you all at once trying to get paid. Hectic. Then it's off onto the bus and back to the hostel where you can take a nap.
Mud Volcano
Alex is loving his massage
Ghouls emerging from the lagoon
Cartagena, with it's delicious pizza, too greasy pastries and vibrant colours made for a great introduction to South America.
