Facebook post, 2015
Salsa! The city is awash with salsa music and dancing. You can go to as many classes per day and per week as you wish, and a choice of countless clubs at night.
People and music influence each other of course. I have really been paying attention to the music one hears in the different Latin American countries I have visited. Music played in buses, in shops, on the radio, in the streets, everywhere you go.
In general Mexican music is vibrant and fast, Guatemalan a bit more romantic and slower, common Peruvian music is deeply influenced by the Andean rhythms. Ecuadorian music has a slightly more international flavoring.
Colombia in general, but Cali, the "salsa capital of the world" in particular, has vibrant and upbeat salsa music coming from everywhere, every shop, cafe, restaurant and street corner.
Integration. Colombia is the most racially integrated country I have been to. Deeply mixed bloodlines from Africa, America and Spain have created a population of diverse shades of skin color and features. These people are beautiful! And it almost seems a class-less society from where I am looking. I have not seen any beggars on the streets or homeless people. Ok, maybe one or two, and there is a well known super rich class that owns everything, but in general, in this city anyway, everybody seems happy and pretty much in the same boat.
The vibe is great. Everybody is friendly, open and just getting on with life.
The women are beautiful, strong and proud! The machismo that is so prevalent in Latin America, seems much less severe here. Women seem to be as much in control of the life they lead as the men.
If one had to live in a city (it has been a very long time since I have) it would have to be CALI.
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