Travelogues

San Antonio in Cali, Columbia

Guest Blogger Yulia Or Lev writes about her first journey to Columbia.

I came to Colombia to close a circle. After months staying in first
New York and then Guatemala, I felt I needed an energy change before
I came back home to Israel.

I am not sure what exactly I was looking for when coming to Columbia.
It is is a very interesting and diverse country. There are the Pacific
and Caribbean coasts, big cosmopolitan cities and surrounding farms
and countryside and a natural landscape that includes a desert, jungle
and the Amazon. Initially, I thought maybe I wanted to have fun at
beach parties on the Caribbean coast, but then I decided I’d rather go
to more calm areas of the country and meet local people.

Thanks to time spent learning the language in Guatemala (a country
where I found great peace, despite its recent violent history), I now
speak Spanish well enough to have hours of conversation with locals in
Latin countries. My Spanish is far from being perfect (thank God we
Israelis are used to speaking with our hands!) but it is one of the
greatest gifts I have received on my trip. There is nothing like
sitting on the beach talking to a 35 year old indigenous woman who has
a baby wrapped on her back and six more kids at home. That´s what real
traveling is for me.

In the city of Cali, where I arrived from Guatemala I met wonderful,
warm, helpful, welcoming and charming people. People in Cali also seem
generally better educated and more open-minded than those I met in
Guatemala. In Cali, I felt that no matter what happened, I would
always be fine because the people are so helpful. Locals told me that
people in Medellin are even nicer, but I don’t know if that is
possible. In Cali, people I had never met in my life literally walked
or drove me to places when I was lost. And I got lost several time
since the North of Cali is confusing.

The North of Cali, especially a neighborhood called San Antonio, is
the place to be if you are looking for an interesting bohemian
environment. It´s the colonial part of Cali, beautiful and quiet but
with things going on at night. At small bar-restaurants people meet to
actually hang out (as opposed to party which, according to locals, is
the only thing most Colombian like to do). I
stayed in a wonderful place called Cafe Tostaky
and was made to feel at home by a French-Colombian couple Claudia and Vince who
are really special people. Although I didn´t go dancing, Cali is
known as THE place to go salsa dancing.

From Cali, I headed to the Caribbean coast to Cartagena which I didn´t
like because it´s very commercial, very expensive and where some of
the people can be really annoying. There is a lot of poverty in
Cartagena and tourists are often aggressively approached at every
step. Cartagena is also full of drugs and hookers - much more than
elsewhere in the country. Its true that many people like Cartagena -
it is beautiful and the partying is great - but I really did not like
the energy and felt threatened there, like a target.

I would have liked to visit Leticia in the south of the country but, due to the legacy of guerrilla activity, often the only way to get there from other parts of the country is by plane and it´s damn expensive (US$400us dollars one way!). It sounds amazing, there are
jungles, indigenous people, the Amazon. It´s possible to cross the border with Brazil on foot or by boat from Brazil/Peru. Hopefully I will visit Leticia next time I am in the region.

Colombia is pretty expensive. I don´t know about food, but
accommodation seemed to be about double comparing to what you get in
Guatemala. But, if I do come back here again it will be because of the
people. Of all the people I’ve met on my trip, it is the Colombians
who I connected to with my heart.