17/10/2022 from Salento to Cali
Public holiday in Colombia
For some reason the bus trip from Salento to Cali took the whole day. One reason might have been that we only left at noon. The other reason was the public holiday in Colombia. This is why it seemed like all of the Colombians were catching a bus on that day. Therefore, we had to wait 1.5 hours for the next next bus at our stopover in Armenia.
What to expect
Cali
In the evening we checked into our hostel Pelican Larry, went out for dinner and called it a night.
18/10/2022 Cali
We are going on our own food tour today while exploring Cali at the same time. I don’t have to mention how excited that made me.
Go on a food tour
Grab a cholado
How to make fruit unhealthy? Eat a cholado! Cali is known for them, which are mixed fruit covered in different syrups, condensed milk and even grated cheese. You usually find them in the park “Simon Bolivar” at every corner.
I love sweet stuff in any form, but this was a little too sweet even for my liking.
Cheap lunch
Blake had a fresh lemon juice on the way before we grabbed lunch and a drink for only $2!
fresh lime juice 
$2 including a juice
Walk around the bohemian neighborhood San Antonio
We were both craving something sweet now. So we walked to San Antonio, which is the bohemian neighborhood of Cali and also the oldest part of the city with a lot of great street art and many artsy cafés. We found one of them called Tierradentro Café and Co., where we had a coffee and a banana bread on a quaint terrace.
A love for bakeries
After that we went for a croissant, which doesn’t sound special. But we both love bakeries and always love to try out the local goodies.
Drink a lulada
Our next stop was a drink of lulo fruit mixed with water and ice. We assume they also added a lot of sugar as they usually do with their fruit juices. Together with the “lulada”, we ordered an “aborrajado”, which is a deep fried plantain (like a banana) with melted cheese inside.
And I really did feel surprised why I was sick after all of this? 😋 On a side not: this was all AFTER our free breakfast in the hostel.
Visit Parque Artesanal Loma de La Cruz and its markets
After all this food we walked through a nice park in San Antonio named “Parque Artesanal Loma de La Cruz”, where we wandered around the different artesian market stalls.
Learn how to dance salsa
And then it was time to dance off all the calories again with our first salsa lesson ever. I mean if not in Colombia’s salsa capital, where else? I would like to give us more credit than we deserve, but I just say it how it is: we sucked at salsa! We could not believe that this was a beginner’s class as the moves were all way too fast and way too many.
I guess, salsa is not going to be our wedding dance😉.
Go to a salsa bar
This is why we wanted to see how the real salsa experts were doing it and went to a salsa bar after it. Unfortunately, 9.30 p.m. seems too early for Colombians to start dancing. So inside the salsa bar, called “La Topa Tolondra”, we could only watch one couple dancing salsa.
19/10/2022 Cali
Last day in Colombia
Today would be our last day in Colombia after five weeks in this beautiful country! We had only planned to stay in Colombia for three weeks. But we both fell in love with the country, its people, its nature, its food and even a little bit with its music.
Taking a night bus to the border and having to cross borders in the next morning after a 10-hour-bus ride needed some planning. So we took it easy today by doing laundry, repacking, buying our bus tickets in advance and walking to a café in San Antonio where we did a bit more planning (my favourite 😉). Afterwards we went to a steak house so that Blake could have his Colombian steak one last time (is that even a thing?).
And then it was time to hop in an uber to the bus terminal and say “adios, Colombia” and “bienvenidos, Ecuador”!
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