Stepping out into Cali weather was like a flash back to Sydney on a bad day; the same mix of heat and humidity that leaves you sweating after a 10 minute walk. Outside the airport I caught a taxi into the city. The airport is a fair distance out of
town and they print you out a ticket before getting into the taxi with how much
it should cost you.

The hostel I had booked was in the suburb of Bellavista, a 20 minute uphill walk from the city centre. The nice thing about being up on a hill is the breeze comes through and it is significantly cooler, and in this particular hostel it really lured
you into not want to leave its confides. When the taxi pulled up at the address
I wasn’t sure if I was in the right place – the address was correct however I
was standing outside a mansion of some sort. Even the taxi driver seemed sceptical this was a hostel and hung out the front while I waited for someone to answer the gate door.

Soon enough a gorgeous young woman answer and invited me in. The hostel was indeed a mansion, a huge white house with an amazing patio outdoor area and even a pool that was okay to swim in. The part owner, Rodrigo, spoke perfect English and is convinced the mansion used to be owned by a drug lord. I had to agree with him, this type of wealth it’s exactly the norm here in Colombia. The only other person staying in the hostel was an American girl who Rodrigo joked that she never left the hostel. And as the days went on I could understand why.

Cali isn’t exactly a tourist city. It’s your standard industrial city with just about
nothing to keep a tourist to stay, or even want to visit for that matter. I was
sure I had seen pictures of Cali from other backpackers and it looked
beautiful, but I obviously got the city wrong as there is nothing particularly
beautiful about Cali. That’s not to say it’s an ugly city, it’s actually quite
pleasant, however it lacks any colonial architecture to make it picturesque. In
fact I couldn’t find anything interesting to take pictures of! The only two photos
of Cali I took where of the hostel!

And yet I stayed an extra two nights here for a total of 5 all up. The only reason was because of the hostel, and the American girl had hooked up with one of the
locals and he and his friends (one who worked part time in the hostel) were
over each night so I sat around with them drinking and chatting. They were all
very cool guys, into music like Pink Floyd (and of course Salsa) and we even
had a lengthy discussion on Quentin Tarantino films.

After the five nights stay I was ready to leave and move on. I had seen some photos of the small coffee town of Salento and was set on travelling there, and especially to get some excellent coffee as the coffee in Cali was quite weak. After paying up, Rodrigo was nice enough to drive me to the bus terminal, the traffic being insane with so many motorbikes on the road weaving their way between the cars at dangerous speeds.

At the terminal I grabbed a ticket for Armenia where I’d have to change to get to
Salento. The bus was a little thing, they don’t appear to have the usual normal
sized buses here in Colombia, they’re more like a cross between a standard bus
and a minibus. While the bus was comfy the roads aren’t exactly well paved, so
it was a fairly bumpy 4 hour ride to Armenia. After only 10 minutes in the bus
terminal I was back on a minibus and making my way to Salento.