Colombia Part 8 - Enjoying civilization in Cali!

After my time in the south of the country, enjoying a lot of nature and spectacular landscape it was time to get back to civilisation for a bit!

Maxi where heading towards Ecuador going to Popayán and the border and I decided to go to Cali. In the Macarena National Park wemade friends living close to Cali and they had invited me to come by - So I used that chance to get to know the city before going there.

From Neiva I went with the Mini Van to Cali, which took about 9 hrs.

I got to the hostel at 4am. Trying to be silent I walked in the dorm, because I thought that everybody would be asleep... But surprisingly I was wrong!

There where two german girls totally drunk and fun waiting for me at the room :D

They had been partying at some salsa place in the city and where telling me all about it! - This was the beginning of a long and awesome friendship with my next travel buddy: Kathi!

The next day we had some small breakfast (They had a big hangover).. and decided to explore the city a bit.

Cali (officially: Santiago de Cali) is the capital and a municipality of the Colombian department of Valle del Cauca and the third largest city in the country by population so its pretty big!

The municipality has 2,394,925 inhabitants, of which 2,358,302 live in the urban part of the community (as of 2016).

Founded in 1536, Cali is one of America's oldest cities. I first heard about it watching "narcos", the series in Netflix telling the story about Pablo Escobar and the drug war in Colombia. - There I learned about the Cali Cartel, which was next to the one in Medellín, one of the most important and most powerful cartels of the world.

Drug trafficking and drug related crime continue to play a major role although the drug cartel no longer exists.

Like in every big city of Colombia you can find these guys at the main square and they tell you what you should do and see in the city!

Luckily Cali is located at about 1000 m above sea level in the west of the country at the confluence of the Río Cauca with the Río Cali. So the average temperature is 26.8 ° C and there are no major seasonal variations due to the proximity to the equator, which makes it perfect weather to walk around a lot.

We started with the Historic district. Here you find a lot of churches and the main square. The city is also rich in monuments, parks, squares and museums.

I like that the city has a colonial style and a big city vibe at the same time!

The Plaza de Cayzedo is the main square of the city. It is named after one of Cali´s heroes: Joaquin de Cayzedo y Cuero. Here you find important monuments around like the Otero building, the cathedral and the palast of justice.

As I like to go to the view points of a city to get an idea of it, our next stop was the monument of Sebastian de Belalcazar.

It is famous due to its pointing finger, which is pointing to the opposite direction of the valley, while its face is looking down at the city. It is the most visited and popular sight in the city located in the hills.

Another nice place with an awesome view over the city is the Cristo Rey statue, which is a also a destination for many pilgrims. In my opinion it has the best view of the city! It is 31 m high, of which 5 m belong to the base.

The area around the Cali River is one of the most peaceful zones in the city. Here you also find a lot of restaurants, hotels and museums like "La Tertulia", an art museum.

My favorit part here is "El Gato", a big sculpture of a cat by Hernando Tejada.

Behind the big cat you can find "las novias del gato" - The girlfriends of the cat, which are: Anabella, la gata súperestrella, Yara, la diosa de las aguas, Ilustrada, Vellocino de Oro, Sucia, Gachuza, Ceremonial, Entrañable, Coqueta, Bandida, Presa, Gata en cintas, Mac, Siete Vidas, Fogata, Cálida, Kuriyaku, gata vigía del río, Engállame la gata, "La Gata Dormida - Aquí y Allá", Dulce, Melosa, Frágil and Decorativa.

Every cat has it´s own stories, design and caracteristics listed next to them.

A bit further on the river you find the Boulevard del rio. It is 980 meters long. Everywhere you find street art in this city, which is awesome!

The "Parque del perro" is located in the San Fernando neighborhood, this is one of the most popular areas in the city. It is full of restaurants and bars. The park gets its name because it has a dog monument in the middle of it.

Here we decided to take a break and eat something before we went back home.

For coffee you go to Juan Valdez! - The Colombian copy of Starbucks :D You literally can find this cafés everywhere right next to Starbucks haha and the coffee is indeed really good!

At night you have a big number of discotheques dedicated to salsa music, because Cali is known as the capital of salsa in Colombia! That makes it also the perfect place to learn salsa!! - People are offering courses everywhere!

Of course we also went! ;)

It was nice to be back in some town for a while before getting to the country side again! - Cali is definitely a city with a lot of culture to offer!

As always I hope you liked my article and I am grateful for every Upvote, Resteem & Comment as you are suppoting my travels with it!

Cheers,
Liz

Colombia Part 1: Bogota D.C. - A city full of history and culture!

Colombia Part 2: Guatavita Lagoon, The Muisca Civilisation and The Legend of "El Dorado"

Colombia Part 3 - The Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá

Colombia Part 4 - Adventure time at the Natural Pools of Guejar River in the Jungle

Colombia Part 5 - Flying to Macarena National Park being a Copilot ✈

Colombia Part 6 - The Rainbow River at Macarena National Park

Colombia Part 7 - Riding Motor Bike and Chilling in the Pools of the Tatacoa Desert