Self-proclaimed Salsa capital of the world and ranked 9th most dangerous city in the world. In 2012 it was ranked the 4th most dangerous city so there has been some improvement. It’s hard to believe that the same article also states that our home Newcastle is the 3rd most dangerous city in Europe.
We checked in to Cali as it was a short 5 hour bus ride away from Manizales and were sick of overnight bus journeys. We found neither murder nor salsa in Colombia’s 3rd largest city. Principally because we didn’t go looking for either.
We are both clearly not salsa dancers, the few lessons we took in Mexico helped prove the point, so we skipped the salsa clubs and headed for the colonial, bohemian neighbourhood of San Antonio where we joined the friendly locals chilling in the park below the Chapel of San Antonio.
Drinking beers from the second floor of an expensive restaurant with live music we could see the city lights sprawling across the distance. It was hard to think that Cali was such a dangerous place. But a few drinks later and some food we decided to be safe and call it a night ready to continue our southward journey in the morning.