Cali

Almost a record day yesterday, but not quite.  143 kms. Our previous record of 144 kms in a day was set in Cuba and still holds. As expected, and a very pleasant change of pace, the 233 kms ride from Salento began with a 1000 m descent – mostly coasting which was fun! – followed by about 150 kms of flats. What a difference. It felt like we were floating. Just the hum of rubber on pavement. I love that sound. It’s the sound of effortless progress. The progress is made easier by the abundance of great pavement in this country. We are both amazed at the quality of roads in Colombia. Most of the time we’re enjoying the luxury of sharing a nice wide paved shoulder with the odd horse cart or broken down motorbike. We assume the obvious reason for such high quality pavement is the frequency of toll stations (aka peaje), which we are delighted to report are free for cyclists. We even get our own lane!

We didn’t plan on a big day yesterday, it just worked out that way. As the afternoon passed, and we didn’t find anywhere to stay for the night (or I should say, anywhere acceptable to us...we were being fussy since the riding was easy), all of a sudden we were seeing signs for Cali and decided we might as well just ride it out. As an incentive, we knew there was a hostel with a pool with our name on it in Cali. Helped by a relatively easy city to navigate and surprisingly reasonable rush-hour traffic, we made it to the El Viajera (trans: “the traveler”) hostel in time for a couple of poolside cervezas. It was a good decision.

Leaving the zona cafetera behind us, we have entered the flatter and hotter lowlands of Cali. Although, what we gave up in topography we also gave up in scenery. We are firmly back in the land of endless sugar cane fields, and of course, hotter temps. Elevation is everything here in terms of temps. At 1000 m, Cali is hot. Not Cartegena hot though with it’s 100% humidity. And, it cools off at night in Cali, which makes for good sleeping. All in all, a pretty decent climate, and probably the reason why there’s a city of 3.5 million here.

We aren’t here for the long term, just a stopover. Not much to report in terms of what Cali looks like, since we aren’t planning on any serious sightseeing. Today is a rest day to refuel, relax beside the pool, take advantage of the free yoga, and, of course, the free salsa lessons. Cali is, after all, the salsa capital of the world. In fact, it seems that many of the travelers here are here specifically to take salsa lessons and take in the salsa club scene. By all accounts, it’s a very happening scene. First sign we saw on the way into the hostel was “salsa party tonight at Siboney’s [a local salsa club]: 8 pm till dawn”. Since 8 pm is about our bed time, we took a pass on that one.  We might be able to squeeze in the 7 pm lesson, provided it doesn’t go too long J

Tomorrow the drive continues south towards the city of Popayan – reported to be a very charming colonial city and UNESCO world heritage site know for it’s food (perplexing given the lack of gastronomical adventures so far in Columbia). We’re both looking forward to that. As referred to previously, what goes down must come back up here in the Andes (you just have to learn to put that out of your mind as you whiz downhill). The next few days involves a nice little climb (crawl) back up into the mountains. We can feel that mountain air already. More soon.