Cali and around

Lake Calima
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My man Samir invited me to his house in Cali for a little camping, salsa dancing and sight seeing... and he'll regret it forever.  Just kidding, I do want to officially say thanks to him and his family for their hospitality.

Samir and I met his two friends at the bus station in Bogota and caught a night bus to Cali. When we arrived in Cali, we went to his house where the maid prepared us some breakfast!!!!  I like that!  The whole time we were there, we were being stuffed by lots of good food.

Samir and I on the way to Cali
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We then went for a walk around the city, checking out a few churches and a few malls.  When it got dark we then went to a church located on the side of a hill for some good views of the city.

After that the evening stared, we went to one of the famous salsa clubs in town.  It was an interesting atmosphere, half moon shaped booths surrounding and pointing at 2 dance floors.  It is pretty common to order a bottle of alcohol here, instead of individual drinks.  We choose the cheapest, and national drink of Colombia, Aguardiente (and you thought it was coffee),  a liquorish flavor alcohol.  After a bottle of that my salsa dancing abilities improved greatly!  Cali is know in Colombia for being the best Salsa dancers and for having the most beautiful women.  Samir can dance really well... and yes.

Baby seats???
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The next day, we had a slow start, but got organized with food and tents to go camping on Lake Calima.  Basically it was just good, fun listening to music and BBQing on the fire.  The Aguardiente and beer were of course present... as well as some marshmallows for toasting... and a little more salsa.

The next day we packed up the tents and went to a couple of other favorite tourist stops in the area.  A city called Buga, with a catholic church famous for some shrine inside.  It wasn't really my thing... waiting in line to see a shrine, but the girls liked it.  And then we went to El Paridso a house showing life in the 1800's.  It is also the setting for a famous love story, which was made into a novel.

Lake Calima
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The next day we went to the Cali zoo, well worth the visit.