Armenia , Cali , Popayán

Since we felt we saw everything worthwhile,we left early. The sun enters the valley from the other side in the mornings. So we searched for the right spot to get a good look and took our farewells.

We were not able to get a coffee at the hotel in the morning and got even more confused when realizing that most “tiendas” or kiosks were also closed. The entire area here is a THE world famous coffee region and even is a Unesco World Heritage site for that reason. It is not easy to get coffee or breakfast before 8am though. So we drove into the city of Armenia to get both.

Every single Colombian you ask will tell you that the coffee you get here is the best in the world. Our tastebuds do not agree. While Colombian coffee is world famous for having a mild but rich taste, the majority of the ones we tasted were rather on the sour or acidic side. Anyway, checked the city center of Armenia, had breakfast and got back on the road , heading towards Cali.

We both had big expectations. Cali is THE Salsa capital of the World and renowned because of it. We were warned about being careful there but obviously had to go and see it for ourselves.

Upon entering we got excited because we passed hundreds of Salsa bars, clubs and advertisements for these places that all looked promising.

So we parked Jim in one of the better neighborhoods and started exploring.

We wanted to like it so we had a sugarcane juice to increase the blood sugar at one of the 5000 sugarcane juice squeezers that you find on every second corner in the city.

But even the lime enhanced super sweet and extremely tasty juice could not lighten our spirits. The city just is not beautiful.. And we really tried..

The doors or entries to almost all the houses are barred,

so after around 2-3 hours of giving the city a chance we were ready to head on. I told Lu to look angry for the camera and this was the result:

Oh well you cant win them all…

While walking around i told Lu that Cali reminded me a bit of Brazil. There, you have a saying that roughly translates into: “Laugh in order not to cry” or “ Lachen, um nicht weinen zu müssen”. Maybe thats why they dance so much in Cali?

We did not find out and left for Popayán.

Popayán is known for its whitewashed colonial buildings and as a religious center with popular Holy Week processions. The city is lively and, especially after Cali , was well welcome sight. We arrived just before sunset and thoroughly enjoyed every second of our walkabout.