Birthday Weekend - Cali, Caca, Popayan

Last weekend was a long weekend with Monday being a holiday for reasons I’m never aware of. So Gio and I, taking advantage of the few “puentes” (long weekend) that remain before we leave Colombia at the end of the year. We went with an girl friend of ours, and her male friend. E is American with an American dad and British mom, but she grew up in Cali, Colombia’s 3rd larg

est city, due to her parents’ work in an NGO in the region. For having spent half her life here in Colombia, she’s surprisingly very American, speaking English with a hard American accent and possessing typical American traits – stubbornness and a tough and sometimes indifferent demeanor.

View of Popayan from a small hill we walked up

So we set off on an overnight bus Friday night south of Medellin to her “hometown” of Cali. I had never been and Gio had been but years ago while passing through as a truck driver, one of his many odd jobs. The other day as we cruised through the city streets on our bikes, he pointed at the garbage bins and casually said he designed and constructed those exact ones when he worked in a plant that fabricated this sort of public necessity. Of course. Cali’s only 8 hours away from Medellin but with the rains that the country has been experiencing lately, the roads are never predictable. The journey was only prolonged by a short 2 hours, and we arrived to Cali at 5 a.m.
After a few hours of sleep back in the hostel we set off to find food and check out the infamous zoo (The week leading up to our trip when I was wavering in my decision to go, E assured me the zoo was worth it. However when I asked if there were dolphins, she said no. Elephants? No. Giraffes? No. Well..? “You basically named the only animals the zoo doesn’t have,” she said desperately. Ok. I will say that the zoo was entertaining, if only because of E’s childlike obsession with it, and a female baboon that was “in heat” and led the leader of the pack around their den with a bulging bum (no joke, the sign says when it’s their time of the month, female baboon’s bottoms swell up. Gross).Later that day, which was actually my birthday, we got an improvisedwalking tour of Cali by E, and then went to a surprisingly really nice restaurant. I say surprising because we just happened upon it while walking near our hostel, and it was really great quality food for a low price. I ordered ribs with a strawberry and cucumber salad, and Gio got fish with coconut rice. We all had “lulodka’s,” a vodka and lulo (tasty native Colombian fruit) cocktail. After the main meal a piece of delicious chocolate cake was brought out (surprise!) and everyone (the 3 people I was with + the waiter) sang happy birthday tome. Overall the day was pretty normal, with a lovely meal to finish it off – one of the best ways.

Gio and I in off-again, on-again rainy Cali.

The trip was not just about Cali though. The next day we went to Cauca, a state known for its FARC presence. E’s family had bought property there a few years back and was housing the family’s Colombian chauffer on it. The farm was really quite beautiful, set on 7 hectares of plantain, coffee, pineapple, and mandarin crops. We went on a fun, if not strenuous, little hike to the river at the base of the hilly land. On the way back up the path was on an angle and all of us slipped, with E’s nerdy friend falling on his backside and dirtying up his oxford shirt. Welcome to the jungle!

Enjoying a lovely bbq at E's finca in Cauca

Lovely colonial-looking streets of Popayan (day)

Could be the same street almost! (night)

After a wonderful meal (prepared by the family of E’s chauffer) we continued south to Popoyan, the capital of Cacau, known as the white city. And it really was white. It was beautiful, even though we arrived with the skies overcast and leaking rain. The streets were cobble-stoned, and all of the buildings were painted a plaster white. Traditionally a religious city where the masses flock to during Easter-time, the city was pretty dead when we were there. But I I didn’t mind, I thoroughly enjoyed my surroundings, soaking up the mountain landscape that ring all Colombian cities. We spent the night there and Gio and I got up early to tour the less touristy parts of the city before we caught the bus back to Medellin.

One of the many churches in Popayan

Although I was hesitant at first to leave my comfortable bubble of Medellin, especially to celebrate my birthday, I’m really glad I went away this weekend to explore another part of Colombia. I tried new food (empanadas with a spicy peanut sauce), saw new species of animals (the”King of Condors” bird), and picked up new regional Spanish vocabulary.