Venturer's Log: Cali III

So far, I have no regrets about staying longer in Cali. 

Obviously I don't know know what it would have been like had we gone to Popayan, and by now we would've been in San Agustin already. 

But it's been a pleasant stay in Cali. We're in a hostel but we have a private room with our own en suite as well as a small kitchenette, dining area and a private hammock as well - it's almost like our own wee apartment rather than a hostel, but with the additional benefits of having a reception area that we can ask questions too, and various other social areas that we can hang out in and meet other travellers if we want to, which we did a few nights ago. 

So what have we been up to the last few days? 

Tuesday

The evening we were supposed to go to Popayan, Nick discovered that Cali had it's own branch of Hooters - I begrudgingly told him that we could go one time because I think the food at Hooters is rather unbearable, but we headed there for lunch anyway and it was a pleasant enough walk through an area of town that we hadn't seen before. We also went to a pharmacy and picked up some stuff for the rash under Nick's armpits (which seems to be doing a good job of fixing him up - fingers crossed it stays that way). After Hooters we moved accommodations, to where we are now.  

That evening after we had dinner, we headed upstairs to the hostel terrace where a bunch of other people were hanging out and chatting, which I joined while Nick edited some of his photos. I met some more people who were in Cali to learn salsa, and I also spoke to someone who had just spent a month volunteering at a farm about an hour away from Cali which was really interesting. I think one thing that we definitely need to do is slow down a bit and actually have the chance to connect with locals in an impactful way, and I think volunteering is a good way of doing it so maybe that's something that we will consider as well. 

Nick enjoying his chicken wings at Hooters

Wednesday

Then yesterday we headed across to Galeria Alameda which is one of the bigger markets in Cali. We wandered around and tasted some bits, including some unusual fruits we'd not seen before, and we also had lunch at a stall where we watched them bulk-cook tamales about 100 at a time, which was super interesting to watch - we shared one tamale between the two of us which was a good shout because the portion was absolutely enormous and we were stuffed afterwards. 

Watching the tamales getting batched-cooked at Galeria Alameda

We also decided to use the kitchenette in our hostel room so we purchased some vegetables from the market and carried them back to the hostel. Nick had forgotten that the Liverpool game was on so we chilled in our room for most of the afternoon watching the game on the hostel wifi. Obviously, watching it out in the city would have been better but we've struggled to find football games shown live if they are from any country other than Colombia.

We didn't really do too much after the football. I read a bunch of my book and got started on dinner while I sent Nick to the supermarket to pick up a few additional bits we didn't get from the market. Over dinner we shared a bottle of wine and then I spent most of the evening reading my book in the hammock. 

Thursday

Nick was keen to do a food tour of Cali so today we set off earlier to join a free walking food tour. In particular Nick was interested in trying some particular breads such as pan de bono which is a cheesy ring-shaped roll, as well as aborrajado which is a fried ball made of plantain, with some cheese inside. Our food tour literally started by taking us to a bakery and trying both of these things which was a great start. Personally, I thought pan de bono was much better than the aborrajado - I love cheese, and I love bread, so it was a fabulous combo, whereas the plantain was a bit heavy and a bit greasy, and not for me. 

The food tour was really good, and quite comprehensive. We actually headed back to Galeria Alameda where we were yesterday but it was useful having the guide as he pointed out particular things that we should try, and gave us some context about the gastronomy of Cali and Colombia as a whole, as well as how the different cultures have all brought their own melting pot of flavours to the city. We tried several drinks and loads of different fruit, most of which I'd never heard of before. I'm not super into fruit in general so I was a little less keen on that bit but we did discover some that were really delicious and I think Nick enjoyed trying all of them. 

Some of the varieties of avocado in Colombia are ENORMOUS!

We also tried this drink which was really weird and quite unpleasant in my opinion. It's called champús and it's made of pineapple, lulo (a Colombian fruit), sweetcorn, panela (sugar cane), cloves, cinnamon, and orange leaves. I thought it sounded really interesting to begin with but when it came out it wasn't blended or anything so the drink was quite lumpy and a very odd texture. I'm glad Nick and I agreed to share a small one because it was... Odd. Not my favourite thing we tried today but interesting nonetheless. 

I think that my favourite thing that I tried today was probably the pan de bono, although we also tried some cheeses which were super tasty too. The pan de bono was great though and it's fabulous because it's baked in basically every bakery across the city (and hopefully around the country) which means we'll be able to find it super easily - I actually purchased some from a different bakery nearby to the hostel we were staying after the tour ended. 

Watching the cheese vendor cut up some bocadillo, or fruit paste, to add to our cheese samples

We were also going to go do another free walking tour which was more about the history and culture of the city, but after the food tour we were so full and tired so we ended up coming back to the hostel and relaxing for the rest of the afternoon. Nick had a private bachata dance lesson and then I did a group class in a dance style I think called el quadradiño which is a Brazilian twerk-dancing style which was really difficult due to my complete lack of strength in my thigh and my total inability to move my hips. 

Nick has also convinced me to do a private bachata dance lesson with him tomorrow morning so that will be interesting, and then hopefully we'll actually go do the free walking tour tomorrow afternoon. 

Honestly though I've really enjoyed the downtime. I finished my book this evening and it's been nice not to feel rushed or like we have to pack up our bags again and move again. So while I'm disappointed not to have seen Popayán and San Agustín, it has been nice to feel like we are relaxing and not rushing from one place to another.