Cali (Salsa Capital of the World!!! )

Andres Carne de Res Chia

Andres Carne de Res

Thursday morning we woke up and did some more touring of Bogota.  We were really enjoying this city.  We waited out a thunderstorm, which apparently happens daily, but we lucked out the day before, then headed up in a cable car to see the beautiful city views.  Another great thing about this city that was not expected, is how much security there is.  Just about every street corner or block there is police officers with police dogs, and they are usually pretty helpful if you need help with directions as well.

arepa con todos

             

Later, we got ready and took the one hour drive out to Chia, to go to the restaurant/club Andres Carne de Res.  We heard many good things about this place so we were super excited.  People have said, “You haven't been to Bogota if you haven't been to Adnres Carne de Res.  When we got there we checked out the loaded 66 page menu.  We ordered drinks and empanada appetizers, which were probably the best I've had yet.  This place is known for steaks so we ordered steak as an entree, it was delicious!
After dinner, we hit the dance floor, and danced, chatted, and sang the night away.  This place had lived up to its reputation.  This was probably one of the best nights we've had yet, and we met some really cool people as well.

Friday morning we took an early 45 minute, easy flight to Cali, the Salsa Capital of the World!  We booked this flight here last minute, because we wanted to be in Cali for the weekend, so we'd be there on a Friday and Saturday night.   Back to high 90 degree temperatures, we walked around the city a bit, not too much to see.

 Iglesia de San Antonio 

Zaperoco

We went to the Iglesia de San Antonio (church of San Antonio), which had great views of the city.
Later that night, we met up with a local of Cali, a friend of Brianne's (my best friend from college) that she met last year on her trip to Peru.  He picked us up and drove us to Zaperoco, known as the best salsa spot in Cali, where all the locals go.  We were told, “if you only visit one salsa bar in Cali, make sure it's Zaperoco.”  Right away we loved this place, the music, the people, the energy, it was so much fun and quite the workout.

Coffee truck

Saturday we walked about an hour to Lomo de la Cruz, which is an artisanal  market, and ate a delicious arepa con todos (arepa with everything, beef, chicken, sauces, egg), sooooo good! At night we went to the popular salsa bar Tin Tin Deo with these guys that we met from London.  It was amazing, the locals were really really good here, best I´ve seen on this trip.  We liked dancing with them because they are very good at leading you through the song.  At the end of the night around 3am they had two professional dancers close out the night, it was so fun to watch.

London boys

Tin Tin Deo