Cali

15-21 January 2014

Here in Cali it is blessedly cooler than in Cartagena, but in the city there is not much to do, except go out for Salsa at night. It is the Salsa capital of Colombia. The music here is great. I especially liked the live band that my hostel 'El Viajero' hosted. They have a way of creating music that's impossible to sit still to. You have to get up and dance!

Leaving Cali


21 January, 2014

Well, I missed my flight to Ecuador yesterday. I got a taxi to the bus terminal so I could catch a bus to the airport, only to be told that the bus (which costs COP5000) only ran until 8pm and I'd have to catch a taxi (I shared with two other ladies and it still cost COP25000). The ladies had heaps of luggage, and the driver put it in the middle seat. For some reason, after only two minutes of driving, the ladies decided that they couldn't possibly spend the 20 minute drive to the airport seperated by two boxes, so they made the driver stop and re-arrange the luggage so they could sit together. *grumble grumble!*

Once at the airport I was told that I had missed the deadline for checking in my heavy luggage, so even though the plane was still on the tarmac I had to either leave my luggage behind or pay for another flight. Argh! So I went and paid another COP225000 penalty for changing my flight, then went up to the airport hotel so I could sleep, only to discover that the damn hotel was fully booked out. So I had to take a taxi back to Cali (COP50000) and pay for another night in Hostel El Viajero (COP24000). All in all, an expensive mistake to make.

At least I had a great yarn (chat) with the taxi driver on the way back to the city, although I can't say I enjoyed the first half of the journey, because of the smell. I think there's a waste treatment plant near the airport, because the first 10 minutes back to town was permeated with a truly horrific odor (and all the windows were open because it was so bloody hot!)

And I think there's a conspiracy to stop tourists from sending postcards in Colombia. I spent 2 hours walking around Cali on a wild goose chase looking for a post office, and I asked for directions in book stores, stationary stores, express post stores, courier offices, and even asked policemen and vendors on the street, and every time I got a different location, and when I got there....nothing...nada...zip! In my extra day in Cali caused by my poor time management skills, I went to the mall, assured there was a post office there. Same deal. Spent one hour wandering around following false information from the information office and the express post office. Gah! I resigned myself to sending my Colombian postcards from Ecuador. I was annoyed, because my mum has a thing for collecting postage stamps, and I really wanted to send her a Colombian stamped postcard! *sigh*

On my second arrival at the airport, I stood in line for 10 minutes to check in my bags, only for the lady at the counter to tell me that I should have waited in the line on the opposite side of the barrier because the bags reached the plane faster from that line. I was right there, and she indeed could have processed my bag, but nooooooo, she had to send me to the other line to wait for 45 minutes while I watched her process other people while I stood with my heavy bags and got stared at by everyone because I was practically the only white person in the airport. The children especially had no shame. At least I got to look at interesting bling. I swear, bling looks so much better on darker skinned women. I think more than half of them had diamontes on their tops and pants, and a large majority had large, sparkly jewellery on. If I tried to wear that stuff I'd just look ridiculous....or cheap.

(Sorry about lack of pictures! My computer keeps shutting down the webpage when I try to upload them. Will try to use hostel computer when I have access to one to give you all a visual of my journey!)