Cycling The Globe

My sixth sense had told me that taking a break in Cali would be a good idea – and my sixth sense didn’t fail me this time.

I had been in contact with fellow Dane, Inge, and was invited over to her place for Christmas. Dinner was an interesting mix between Guatemalan turkey soup with tamales and Danish rødkål and ris a l’amande. People from places such as Canada, Sweden, France, Germany, Argentina, Guatemala, and of course Colombia were joining the party. I had only been in Cali a single day but very much felt I dropped into a place that would be hard to leave.

I saw no sense in racing ahead, so instead I found myself a room to rent for the next weeks. I didn’t realize it at first, but I had also bumped right into the Feria de Cali… the biggest party of the year in this salsa capital of the world. A place where every kid learns to dance at age 5 and where listening to music without moving is unthinkable… Talk about a fun-loving people!

After yet another party to celebrate New Year things slowly returned to normal – in a very comfortable way. On a typical day I would spend some hours in the morning working on my laptop and the afternoon taking a salsa class. In the evening I might join new friends for arepas, a delicious local corn bread with different kind of filling. We also had our favourite café which showed good movies for free every night. I haven’t seen a lot of movies the last years. Now I’m slightly more updated.

The Bianchi was starting to look slightly bored over there in the corner of my new house. Cali had a solution for that as well. A morning ride up to the Cristo Rey viewpoint 500 m above town was a great way to start the day. And wow the bike felt light without all the usual luggage.

If you were more in a hiking mood the two hour trek to Tres Cruces was another option. At first I couldn’t understand why the track was absolutely packed on a normal Monday morning – until I realized that this Monday was a public holiday.

On top of all the things I have listed here, the real attraction in Cali is the locals. I still have a hard time explaining what it is about the Colombians. Their way of being just puts a smile on your face. Oh, and it also doesn’t hurt that the Caleñas (women of Cali) are quite possibly the most beautiful I have seen on the the whole trip 🙂

If it sounds like I love Cali that wouldn’t be a wrong conclusion on this post. I’m going away on a little trip but will be back shortly.