Salsa capital

Cali's Feria is the world's biggest salsa festival, and for ten nights we were in the middle of it. San Cipriano — reachable only by motorised rail cart — was a warm-up act for the city's relentless rhythm.

As Christmas and the New Year approached we had to decide where to spent it. We remembered our time in Cartagena where we got the advice about a big festival in Cali, the Feria de Cali. It is known as one of the biggest Salsa Festivals. It takes place between the 25th and 30th of December. So we just booked 10 nights in Cali to enjoy this tradition and party hard!! 💃🕺

Hostel paradise

Since Cali is very popular this time of the year, it was quite hard to find a place to stay. But we got very lucky when we found a hostel that just opened 1 week before. La Vaina Hostel Cali became like our second home! 😁

When we arrived we knew right away that we wouldn’t be disappointed! Guy, the owner of the hostel, welcomed us with open arms and showed us around. It was a huge place and had a big swimming pool area to relax.

Christmas Time

The first time away from home during Christmas was a weird feeling, but with all the amazing people around we felt like at home. And of course with 30 degrees, sun all the time, cocktails and beer at the pool, we didn’t miss Germany that much. 😅🎅☀️

360° Panorama — Drag to explore

On Christmas everybody from the hostel sat together on a big table and we had a Colombian dinner. We met great new people, even somebody who also worked with 360 cameras.

Cali and Salsa

After Christmas the Salsa festival, Feria de Cali, started with a big parade. With some people from the hostel we went to see the event. Unfortunately we weren’t the only ones there. The place was pretty crowded but after a while we luckily found a place on a bridge to watch the parade. We saw a lot of parade cars and many Salsa dancers, even the leading world champions from Colombia. 💃🕺 It was nice to watch for a while and even got nicer when a guy in front of us offered us some Rum! Another guy who we talked to in English for some time invited us to another beer. 😁🍻

Since we also wanted to get to know a little bit more about the history of Cali we once again took a free walking tour. This time the tour was a bit different, as it was also a little bit about the food and drinks. We got to try “Chontaduro”, a kind of fruit from the peach palm, cooked and served with honey and salt. 🌴 Let’s say it tasted interesting…

A night out

After the tour we decided to go out. As we both are not that much into “clubbing”, we decided to go to an outdoor event sponsored by the local beer brand, Tascas Club Colombia. It was in a nearby Park, Parque de la Retreta. We had to pay for the entrance but got one beer and one water voucher for it. It was once again pretty crowded, but right after the entrance we got to talk to a guy who invited us to join his group of friends. We found ourselves in the middle of the festival with all the people around us dancing Salsa! Of course we had to get some beer first before we tried to learn some basic Salsa steps. 😅

It was a nice night out and unfortunately one of the last once as Magda suddenly fell ill. 😷🤒🤧

Work and New Year’s Eve

Meanwhile Christian offered Guy to help promoting the new hostel with a video and a 360 tour. So he was a little busy shooting.

And as time flies by so fast, it was already New Year’s Eve. The hostel offered another dinner, where everybody sat together. For dessert Guy even opened the in-house club and we got to party a little. But as Magda was feeling ill, at midnight we celebrated the New Year with tea and early bedtime! 🍵

San Cipriano

After all the time in the city we wanted to get out and see a little more of the sourrounding area. We read about San Cipriano, a natural reserve and small village, about 2 hours from Cali. We took a small bus to get there and after crossing the river we had to take “la brujita” to actually get to San Cipriano. “La brujita” is a wooden plate where you can sit on, placed on old rail tracks and powered by a motorcycle. Yes, it is quite as adventurous as it sounds! 😅

The 20 minutes ride through the rainforest on the one and the river on the other side was really impressive. We passed through some tunnels and watched the deep vegetation. It was worth waiting at the of course crowded place. Unfortunately we weren’t that lucky with the weather. After a lunch break inside the natural reserve, we headed for a swim in the river. But we got stopped by heavy rain… ☔️ So after waiting some time for the rain to vanish we just headed back.

Of course we had to wait quite a long time to finally catch a brujita and then another collectivo to get back to Cali. The way back took like forever, as we were stuck in traffic. For around 20 km it took us more than 2 hours. But it was another quite adventurous ride. So when we finally arrived back “home” we were pretty glad but also tired.

After spending so much time in Cali with all the Salsa and everything it was sadly but finally time for something new…