Say hello to my little friend

  Learning salsa, visiting places, meeting new people, chatting with locals, enjoying night life. My time in Colombia was definitely beyond my expectations and came as a highlight. I just wish I could have more time to spend there. As just of my 12 days slot before flying to Panama, I could only see Cali and Bogotá. Sadly, I had to skip Medellin, the city I always wanted to visit. However, I`ve had enough time to absolutely fall in love with locals. They charmed me with their kindness, passion for dance, music and general love for life. Thought, Latino are well known for being very enthusiastic about dance and music, yet they still managed to surprised me how much they really do love it, and how important it is in their lives. And here we are in Cali, the city where salsa is coming from. Walking around, high on a coffee, I was able to truly discover this, once one of the most dangerous in the world, city. I saw people enjoying their life, dancing on the streets, being always surrounded by the music that could be heard from cars, houses, phones, cd players, literally from every corner. You really have to try hard to find a quiet place there. So many things happen always around, leisure areas are usually full of people. This can be hardly found in busy western countries that seems so grey next to colourful and vibrant Colombia. I met loads of local friends there along with other travellers. Not surprisingly, they all said that Colombia was one of the best destinations of their backpacking trips. I am just hoping, I will go back to to this country. There is still so much to experience and discover for me. Hopefully one day…

My highlights

• Enjoying live events in Parque Artesanal Loma de la Cruz.
• Watching Colombians dance salsa on the street.
• Lunch in mercado with just locals.
• Late night in Salsa Club, where I learned to dance it.
• Starting every morning with the best coffee in the world.
• Chilling on the hill around San Antonio Church.
• Enjoying rice and beans almost as good as in Brazil.
• Hanging out with Manu Chao crew, as they stayed in my hotel during his tour.
• Few scary night walks back to hotel.
• White rum with Russian version of Jack Sparrow (hello Anton;).
• Sweet bamboo juice.
• Making loads of amazing friends.