Last country stop - Colombia!!!!

The crossing from Otavalo (Ecuador) to Ipiales (Colombia) went very well; 20 min taxi journey to Ibarra (Ecuador), 3 hour bus ride from Ibarra to Tulcan (Ecuador) then a 5 min taxi ride to the Ecuadorian border. No queues whatsoever so we were stamped out of the country within 5 mins. A short walk then over the bridge where the Colombian flag and sign welcomed us. Again, no queues so we were stamped in and ready to get into a taxi within minutes.
This is where it started to go a bit pear shaped. The "legitimate" looking taxi driver was willing to take us wherever we wanted to go at a very very good price (that was dodgy within itself because you usually have to barter for a while). I was on alert straight away........whilst Jurgen was packing our rucksacks into the trunk I noticed the taxi driver whistle over to a mate, who suspiciously walked towards him and winked and then went over to 2 dodgy looking guys and making hand gestures in our direction. Jurgen was in the back of the car, but something with me just didn´t feel right. I think my instincts proved me right because as I leaned into the car to ask Jurgen if everything was locked, the taxi drivers mate then walked over to him and gave him 40,000 Colombian pesos with another wink! The dodgy guys had got into a car and looked like they were waiting for us to leave. At that point I just lost it, told Jurgen to get out of the car and pulled all of our stuff from out of the trunk. We calmly walked off and found another taxi. The driver didn´t even flinch!!....... I think we made the right decision......

IPIALES
Not much going on here at all so were pleased to only need one night there. We were staying in a very basic hotel near the main square. Police guarding every corner with guns whilst ´lady-boys´ paraded the streets and locals glaring at us as if we had just fallen from the sky! We didn´t really like this kind of attention and felt as though we were in some kind of lost city. Villages at boarders tend to be like this in South America.
07:00 the next morning, we were off again - 12 hour bus journey North West to Cali. Bolivarano Expreso (Bus company) - excellent!

CALI
....self-declared salsa capital of the world......
We arrived at 19.00pm to hustle and bustle. It was rush hour and the was traffic horrendous - it was like driving in London! Plus, it didn´t help the fact that our taxi driver couldn´t see 1 metre in front of him nor read..... we had to give him directions in the end and read out the street numbers to him!
Anyway, we finally arrive at our hostel which was situated in one of the safest and nicest areas in Cali with security guards patrolling the streets 24x7.
The Dueña was named ´Esperanza´ (she suited her name. The meaning ´hope´). The whole house plus Esperenza had a certain 60´s/70´s hippy flair with art decor matching the mood of each room, including the kitchen. We had a balcony with a view of the city and as we were the only ones there for a while, the kitchen to ourselves! We wanted to take advantage of this and to try and get onto a better diet especially as the exotic fruit here is in abundance and cheap.

My main concern was to get my hair sorted out because the style was starting resemble the famous Colombian footballer, Valderama (cult hero here). He´s advertising every food and drink possible so on every billboard - there was no escaping this torture. We found an upmarket hairdresser who couldn´t wait to get her hands on my hair. I tried to explain what I wanted whilst her husband tried to translate - i think we got there! We couldn´t believe the friendliness of the people here. We had been in the hairdressers for about 10 mins and before we knew it, the owner was showing us around the whole salon - massage, sauna and jacuzzi area with a relaxing tv area upstairs. He was offering this to Jurgen while I´d be having my hair done. The 5 or so beauticians looking near enough perfect, smiled appropriately.....Jurgen liked this place!!!!
Tour over and he whisked us off next door to his favourite restaurant for lunch. We were given the VIP spot and treatment with servings of traditional Colombian food; sancocho - chicken, potatoes, yam and cassave with rice plus, a lighter version of Ajiaco - sweetcorn, avacado and potatoe stew....delicious. All for the price of 6,500 Colombian pesos each (around 1.70GBP)!!

Esperenza had taking a liking to us and invited us to attend her friends concert - traditional Colombian music, apparently. We had planned to go to a salsa club but that´s something we could do at anytime in Cali so we took her up on her offer (she couldn´t attend, so we had her tickets). Now, we think that some things may have got lost in translation because when we turned up to the theatre hall, we soon realised that it was a concert in homage to her very good friend (we can´t remember his name). The theatre was full and different acts performed on stage but the music wasn´t what we like; pan flutes etc and poetry reading. Once the poetry reading started, we headed off quickly because we couldn´t understand a thing.

Next night was Salsa night. We headed to the best place in town apparently - Tin Tin Deo. The bouncer kindly placed us with front row seats facing the dancefloor (all the seats were situated around the dancefloor in 2´s). THe dancefloor was obviously the heart of the club. Bit by bit, couples would have a dance....warming up!! We were in awe of these people, because they moved with such elegance. By 11.30PM, the place was packed, music in full swing and it seemed as though everyone was on the dancefloor, except Jurgen and I. Jurgen was suffering with a cold and I dare not attempt to dance with fear of embarrassment! Couples strut their salsa stuff each with their own distinct style - it was a pleasure to watch and learn!! We´re sure that some couples were practising for the Cali salsa competition which was soon coming up......

We liked our 5 days in Cali and were well rested when we headed for our next destination: Bogota, the Capital of Colombia.

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