Salsa and silleteros - Cali & Medellin

I have been told by many women that a man who can salsa dance is a rare and wonderful thing. With that in mind, I hopped on a but to Cali, 'the home of salsa'.

Sleep was hard to come by on the bus trip, possibly because I'd drank about 17 coffees during a coffee plantation tour in Salento, so I was not ready to deal with a useless taxi driver. I don't know if it's a macho thing, but no male person in this continent will ever admit that they don't know where something is when you ask for directions. In the street they will nod their head convincingly, point in the complete opposite direction, and assure you that you will arrive at your destination. This especially applies to taxi drivers who are running a meter (surprisingly). After driving around aimlessly for an hour we finally found the hostel and spent the next 10 minutes arguing over the price.

As far as sights go, there is not a huge amount to see in Cali. It is a hot industrial city with office blocks, malls and not much else. My only aim was to take salsa lessons. I technically achieved this.... The people of Cali know how to party! They are also ridiculously friendly. This combination resulted in me being given many salsa lessons by random people in the bars of Cali. The traditional Colombian drink Aguardiente (similar to Sambuca) was almost always involved - you buy a bottle and drink neat shots all night. Crazy nights were had, sore heads were endured. My salsa skills improved by about 6%.

After Cali, I headed to the city of Medellin. This coincided nicely with the famous Feria de Flores (flower festival) which I will write about next time. Otherwise, there is lots to do in Medellin. I met back up with Keke and Andrea, who I'd met in Salento, and wandered around the city. One of the main things on the list was Plaza Botero - a square with lots of statues by my favourite Colombian artist (OK, the only Colombian artist I know...) Fernando Botero.

The next day myself and Andrea went to visit the towns of El Peñol and Guatape. In between the towns is a huge dark monolithic rock that you can climb. It really is a striking sight as there is nothing else like it in the region - it looks a bit like an alien spaceship that touched down and was forgotten!

There is a large fissure at one end, inside which a crazy zigzag of stairs have been built. There are 740 in total and you really feel them in the sun. They look like real-life Schroeder Stairs...

An interesting, and slightly hilarious fact, is that on the northern face are large white letters, "G", and an incomplete "U". The towns of Guatapé and El Peñol have long disputed ownership of the rock, and one day the residents of Guatapé decided to settle the matter by painting the town's name on the rock in huge white letters. It did not take long for the residents of El Peñol to notice the work, and a large mob was assembled to stop it. Only the "G" and part of the "U" were completed before fighting broke out!

At the top we were rewarded with stunning views of the lakes and wetlands in the region. I have never seen anywhere quite like it!

After that we headed to Guatape, a lovely small town with colourful buildings, for a bit of lunch. The buildings are in pristine condition and the whole town looks like something out of a children's story.

All Colombian cities seem to have a cable car. Medellin has two! So the next day we decided to see what was at the top of one of them. Expecting a nice view from the top of the surrounding mountains, we were rather surprised when the car carried on over the peak and onwards into a huge forest. After about 30 minutes of cable car'ing, we wondered if we were ever going to stop!

We finally embarked in the middle of Arvi National Park, a beautiful spot with lots of walking tracks. After wandering around the countryside we found a farmer's market with some displays for the upcoming flower festival. I had a go at being a silletero (flower farmer/vendor) and saw a beautiful display that a farmer had made for the park.

The last five days have been spent enjoying the flower festival, which I will write about in a separate post. Here are some random pictures from the rest of the city!

Beautiful views from the top of the rock...

Medellin from a cable car.

This is what I normally look like when I'm working.

This represents the feeling when you wake up after a night drinking Aguardiente ...

One fat pigeon!

A building made of oversized matchsticks!

This statue represents the creation of Medellin. I kept thinking it would be great fun to climb.

And the bottom part.

These are actually lights. They look great at night... but not so good during the day.

Botero plaza.

The top of a large hill overlooking the city - Colombians are really into flying kites. I was jealous that I didn't have a kite too and had to suppress the urge to steal one from a small child.