I just spent 2 months in Colombia - the last 3 weeks or so in Cali, including the feria. I met up with several members from the forum while there, including scotian, JayMillz, and Sonny (briefly). All awesome guys and I highly recommend getting in touch with them if you're ever in the same city. I haven't seen a writeup of the feria so far - so here goes.
This year the feria was from 12/25 - 12/30; I believe it's always just after Christmas until just before NYE; the website is here:
http://www.feriadecali.com/
The feria consists of a series of events programmed by the city - parades, concerts, beer gardens, as well as events put on by clubs and bars. While some Cali residents leave town because of the congestion of the city, those that stay are generally up for partying every single night, and in a great mood. Notable exceptions are Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve - these two nights are spent with family until about 3am, at which point some Caleños will go out and hit the bars and clubs.
Daily Events:
Events that happen every year - Salsódromo, a salsa parade; Cabalgatas, the horse parade; Antique Cars parade; Cali traditional parade; the "Super Concert", and the melómanos vinyl collectors. For many caleños the highlight is the Cabalgatas, which consist of heavily operated women (Cali is the plastic surgery per capita capital of Colombia, surpassing even Medellín) riding on horses. I didn't attend this one, but all the parades are more or less the same setup; they shut off about 15 blocks of the southern highway (autopista sur), a few blocks of them they set up stands for rich people who want ot pay to be separated from the rabble, and the rest is open air, with the center highway fenced off, and huge crowds of people jeering at the parade contestants, spraying each other with foam, and getting completely trashed on beer (sold by street vendors) and street food (corn on the cob, meat on a stick, etc.). Do not wear anything here that you don't want to get trashed. The salsódromo was the first event, and consisted of parade cars with live orquestas and really good dancers - this was my favorite. The antique cars parade was somewhat disappointing - although you see many classic 50s and 60s cars on the street in Cali, the criteria for the parade was just that the car be 25 years old, so there were literally broken down 1980s Toyotas in the parade. The parades are generally working class people out to get drunk and yell so plan accordingly; if you're up for that, it's a pretty good time, and while a lot of people show up, it's not so packed that you're constantly surrounded. The parades generally start around 1-2pm and go until 5-6pm, so a nice option during the mid-day, and I believe there's a different parade every day of the feria.
This superconcierto this year was Marc Anthony and Don Omar - I had seen Don Omar a few weeks before in the festival llanero in Villavicencio, and wasn't really interested in this. I believe Sonny and maybe some other forum guys went - entry tickets are quite expensive (80k+), and the VIP significantly more so, so could be a good way to meet upper class caleñas. There are also additional concerts in the stadium all week long.
Melómanos - in the cancha panamericana, groups of vinyl collectors meet every day to talk about their collections, put on salsa, talk about the history, and hawk their goods. I bought really nice quality guacharacas, guiros, campanitas, etc. all made in Cali here; JayMillz got some cool shirts and some things exclusive to the feria. The collectors are interspersed with live orquestas, people show up to dance and drink beer and it's a chill time. The last day of the feria, there were fireworks here, live bands, dancers - this was basically where the feria closed, but it's open every day, and if you like salsa, it's a must see. Tons of amazing music here - original vinyl, cds, and USB sticks filled with music (25k pesos for 800 songs on a 4gb usb stick).
Beer Gardens/ Alumbrado:
Starting in December (mid-December in Cali, earlier in Medellín/Bogotá) all of the big cities in Colombia set up a section of town with a huge Christmas light show, the Alumbrado. This is actually really nice in Cali - they light up the south side of the river near the center (next to CAM), all of the trees, set up giant stars and weird sculptures, and all evening there are groups of families/groups of girls walking through to check it out. Can be a nice spot for daygame and also just worth walking through.
On the other (north) side of the river, the city (and Club Colombia, the beer company) sets up a giant beer garden called the tascas. There's a picnic area, lots of individual food vendors, tons of places for beer on tap, and a stage with live music. You'll also find various promoter girls for cigarettes or beer walking through here; they're also open to meeting people, although they generally don't finish until midnight/1am. This is a great spot to get warmed up in the early evening.
Clubs:
There are two main parts of town I hit up to go out, and a few other clubs scattered around the rest of the city. In the north, there's a semi-upscale series of clubs basically in the middle of nowhere, called Menga. There are probably 20 clubs here; the party starts slightly later, but I'd say most nights (with the exception noted above for Christmas Eve/NYE) 1am should be good. Most of these clubs play "Crossover" - which means they'll play some salsa, some reggaeton, some bachata, some pop. The good thing about this is you can be dancing salsa caleña, which is much faster, and then it'll switch to reggaeton for grinding. The bad thing is that compared to the rest of Cali, the people who go to Menga can't really dance. The crowd is slightly upscale. I visited Mi Tierra (I think it's called - big open air club next to space, pretty nice), Space, La Clave, Seven, and another one which was pretty empty which I don't remember. With the exception of Mi Tierra, these clubs are basically a central dance floor with huge rows of booths, and extremely loud music. Most colombians go in groups, and it can be difficult to pull girls from other booths to dance; generally you go in groups of already existing friends. Occasionally there will be a booth of all girls which is open season; however, the music is loud enough in these places that it can be tough to talk at all. Pull them outside for a cigarette. You generally can't get beer or any individual drinks here; you have to buy by the bottle (around 60k). Sometimes there's cover (pretty cheap, 5-15k), other times free especially if there aren't many people. For these reasons, I'd suggesting going here with a group of girls you already met somewhere else. None of this was really my scene, as I was in Cali to dance salsa more than anything else; the nicest place here by far was "La Clave" (also the best music, and stuck mostly to salsa). I also think Cafe Mi Tierra seemed cool and much easier to meet people, but we didn't stay there long, as we got pulled into Space next door.
Another section of town filled with clubs and bars is Avenida Sexta. This area is working class, slightly dangerous at night, and the clubs are much trashier. However, I thought the vibe was much more relaxed here. My favorite on this strip was El Viejo Barril - like all these places, they play crossover; the big difference here is that there's a huge patio you can sit on outside on the street, and when you hear a song you like, you can pull girls in to dance or just dance outside with them. Inside the dance floor is pretty small but there are often groups of girls sitting next to it waiting to dance. For mixed groups, feel out the vibe; it makes sense to ask a guy in a mixed group if it's ok for you to pull one of their girls to dance.
The first time I went here was with Scotian; an online girl had suggested it as a place to meet. We walked in, scanned the bar, got a drink, didn't see the girl; headed out to the patio, and saw a group of black girls taking pictures of each other, looked like the girl from online, so scotian jumped down in the middle of the picture, grabbed the two girls next to him, and said CHEESE with a shit-eating grin on his face. We took a couple of pictures with them and sat down and started talking, then pulled them in to dance, etc. I started making out with one of the girls during a reggaeton song, a really cute black girl with a cowboy hat. At one point scotian got up to use the bathroom, walked by the bar and came back with a big smile; the girl he was originally supposed to meet up with was actually at the bar, this was just a random group of girls whose picture he had jumped into. We stayed with them for a while, they were a cool group and we met up with them a couple times during the trip, but eventually got pulled to La Clave to meet up with another group.
Other notable spots *near* la sexta are Zaperoco, a really good salsa bar (unfortunately closed for a private event the night we went), and MiKasa Bar.
http://zaperocobar.com/
https://www.facebook.com/MikasaCali
These are both more salsa spots, less crossover, especially zaperoco. Regret not being able to go back there; next time.
For food, across from the viejo barríl there is (esp. for Colombia) a really good pizza place; nice fresh juices, friendly service, pizza by the slice that's actually good. If you're drunk and it's late at night you can go next door for a hamburger. You just might fall in love with a girl at the hamburger bar and stay in Cali for the rest of your days.
Finally, there are a few other salsa spots around town that are must-see if you came to Cali to dance. The #1 place within Cali is Tin Tin Deo. For dancing, this is the best salsa club I have been to by a long shot - the music is incredible, the vibe is great, *everybody* in here knows how to dance, it's not expensive (15k cover I think, 10k of that goes toward drinks), and there are decent looking girls in here. No qualms about asking anyone to dance, just go for it. Middle class crowd and people that just love music, nobody is here to look fancy. The only tricky part is getting a cab back home at night - everyone goes out on the street at the same time and the cabs just fly by you, especially when you're loaded. Stick the whitest guy you have on the street and tell him to not act drunk, you'll find something.
http://www.tintindeo.com/
Another spot I loved is Don Heberth. This is underneath the Roosevelt bridge - can be tricky to direct your cab here. It's a really small dance floor - gets incredibly crowded, and the level of dance is very high. You can buy drinks inside and chill by the bar and pull girls on the tables at the edges to dance. You have to be able to dance in a tight space though. You might catch and elbow to the head and you'll probably get stepped out. The music is amazing though and again, everybody can dance (except gringo tourists but there's not so many). However, the cool thing about this place, is you can also chill outside - there's a huge section of tables and also people just standing around in the street drinking aguardiente, beer, and partying; people are pretty friendly, I met some good folks here, and if you're near the entrance to the club you can also just dance outside. Really fun place. There's another club in the same parking lot area which is way less packed and also has great music, I have no idea why no one goes in there.
https://www.facebook.com/elrincon.deheberth
Juanchito: Chango is the place to go, unfortunately it's about 45 minutes out of town and I couldn't get anyone to go with me. Next time. This used to be the #1 spot for salsa in Colombia, people say it is dying off but it's still gonna be a mecca for me.
Other areas/things to do:
La tertulia, the art museum, has a good permanent collection and nice rotating exhibitions. Free on Sundays I believe. They also have a theater with arthouse movies and small film festivals, an outdoor amphitheatre with occasional free concerts, and a pretty nice cafe. It's very close to el gato del rio, which is a very cool outdoor sculpture; next to el gato del rio at night there are also some small liquor stores with tables outside and nice music you can drink and meet people at.
http://museolatertulia.com/
The zoo in Cali is awesome - it's the best zoo I've been to in South America, because it isn't depressing at all. The animals have lots of room, the monkeys are partying, the luladas are on point, the girls look great. Costs 15k. Great place to go on a nice day and it's not a bad walk up the river to get there.
http://www.zoologicodecali.com.co/
The best modern art gallery/cultural center I found in Colombia was Lugar a Dudas - it's a small cultural center with a library, a cafe, a patio where they show movies, an art residency, and a small gallery. Really cool spot and really nice people.
http://www.lugaradudas.org/
There are two main theaters in Cali - the Teatro Jorge Isaacs, and the Teatro Municipal Enrique Buenaventura. The Isaacs is right next to the Ermita cathedral, which is really nice, and tickets are very affordable.
http://www.teatrojorgeisaacs.com.co/
http://www.teatromunicipal.gov.co/
The nicest upscale mall in town is Chipichape. Good spot to daygame. I ate at a brazilian restaurant with JayMillz which had the best service I had the whole time I was in Colombia - wasn't cheap but the food was on point, and the manager checked in with us to make sure our food was good and whether we needed anything. I hate malls but as far as they go chipichape is very nice - large nice outdoor patios, clean, good-looking women, good luladas. Good place for daygame. Restaurant linked here:
https://www.facebook.com/RodizioDoSul
Generally, wander around el centenario and downtown, drink luladas, eat mango verde with lemon and salt, get yourself a raspado, platanitos (fried plantain chips) y tostados de platano, chontaduro (it's basically a potato, caleños eat them with honey and salt), sit at the cafe across from Hotel Obelisco and have a drink by the river, chill at the Parque del Peñon, and talk to random people. Caleños are incredibly friendly. Just try not to get robbed - don't take your cell phone out on the street, especially if you're alone. Don't act flashy like you think you're scarface - you're not, motherfucker lives in Cali and you will get jacked.
Out of town - go windsurfing on lake Calima. I didn't do this because I went out every night. For vacation I went to the pacific coast btu that's another data sheet maybe scotian will take that on.
San Antonio is the original colonial part of town; really pretty little houses, and nice food going up the hill to the church. On saturdays & sundays there's often live music and storytellers on the hill/park in front of the church. Gets dangerous at night though, I got jumped coming home from here one time and got beaten with a stick while I was trying to punch the other kid. Make sure whoever jumps you doesn't have a knife or a gun because you will end up in the hospital or dead. There are some nice places to eat especially if you're a vegetarian. I recommend el buen alimento, lunch specials are 9k I think weekdays (14k on Sunday) comes with a juice, soup, main course. Also very good is la pita majita, arabic food and much cheaper than cafe los turcos (also good and right by hotel cuartavenida), lunch specials are I think 7k, plates are around the same price at dinner. To drink there's a really nice dive bar called la colina around the corner run by a cool old guy. Nice music, cheap drinks, good crowd.
https://www.facebook.com/elbuenalimento
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pita-Maji...9640224623
Next door to pita mojita is a mexican restaurant called Mezcal something, I was highly tempted but everyone I knew that went there good food poisoning.
Also notable down the street from San Antonio is a bar called Absenta. This is the most expensive bar I went to in Colombia, a glass of absinth cost me 45k pesos and they didn't know how to serve it (didn't put water in it, I had to ask for it, etc.), but also had really upscale clientele and very beautiful women.
http://www.absentabar.com/el-absenta/los-antecedentes
You could also hang out down the street in the InterContinental - there's a small casino, a really nice cafe by the pool, and a small nightclub.
http://www.ihg.com/intercontinental/hote...teldetail/
Logistics:
Whatsapp is king here. Bring an unlocked cellphone iOS or android, install whatsapp, get a virgin mobile sim card - it's 38k pesos for a month of unlimited internet (or 3gigs or whatever). Definitely worth it. Almost everyone has whatsapp and that's the way they prefer to communicate.
Where to stay: scotian and I found a really nice deal in el Centenario, right across the street from the tascas beer gardens, el alumbrado, center of town. They're apartastudios which means you get a bedroom and a huge living room, you can get a balcony, plus a small kitchen (with gas) and a bathroom. This hotel was hooked up, the owner's brother has a hotel about a 5-10 minute walk with a turkish bath and pool which you can use for free, you just have to let them know when you want to turn it on. We negotiated a rate of 100k pesos per night, they don't charge IVA because we're foreigners, and it comes with a free breakfast basically of whatever you tell them to cook. I would get huevos pericos (with tomato and onion), a big slice of papaya or mango, fresh squeezed orange juice, hot chocolate and an arepa. Booyeah. The only downside is that breakfast is only served until around 10am which is tough when you're up until 4-5 every night. This place is called Hotel Cuartavenida and it's across the street from plaza Jairo Varela my main man from grupo niche. You're also a 5 minute walk from viejo barril, the bomb ass pizza place, the alumbrado, and you're in the center of the city so taxis from here are dirt cheap, usually the minimum. Oh yeah you're right next door to casa de los leones the classic narco party pad from the 80s, unfortunately it's abandoned now. If you like malls the centro comercial centenario is right next door. You can walk 5 blocks and you're in granada (nice restaurants and bars, I didn't spend a lot of time here, but next time). You can take girls back but if they spend the night pony up 15k. This is the best location in Cali.
http://www.hotelcuartavenida.com/home.htm
If you're dirt poor get a hostel in San Antonio. I recommend Tostaky, they're very nice and have a good cafe. I think it's 15k a night for dorm or 25k a night for private rooms. There's also casa cafe down the street, viajeros (which has a pool but costs 2-3x more), and some other spots. But seriously forget those places and just stay in hotel cuartavenida.
PM me for contacts on private salsa lessons, it's worth it. Any other questions stick them in the thread I'll monitor the next few days. Scotian/JayMillz/Sonny if you have anything to add please go ahead.
