First timer

valdemar says on Mar 16, 2006, 21:17:

go to.... As a first time you should hang-out around la sexta in Zona Rosa. Calidad House (hostel) is a good place to stay. Here you will meet a lot of other travellers. Honestly, Cali is not the most exciting city in views of site-seeing, but I'm sure you'll enjoy the night-life. I find the cali folks some of the coolest in Colombia
; they are easy going talkative and they like to rumbiaaar. If you are into salsa you should go to juanchito which is a goood hang-out during the week-ends. I always go for a soccer game when I'm there and Dave at Calidad House will definetly be able to help you getting to this..... Feel free to write me (super_jens at hotmail.com) if you should have other questions...

Valdemar

Chao - Jens

0 funny, 0 helpful.

kat1 (Moderator) (Trustee board) says on Mar 17, 2006, 05:46:

GD Now I am curios, you have been mention this "Martillo" in your post recently, who is he or she?

0 funny, 0 helpful.

omargue says on Mar 18, 2006, 10:34:

some good night clubs are located in Menga (which is in Cali) you have....Praga, jala jala, la jungla.....those are 3 big nightclubs, i've only been to jala jala, really nice and big. other than that, check out la avenia sexta. with your lack of spanish you should have a problem picking up any chicks....but be careful at night, it can be dangerous, you gotta be aware that you are like red meat in a jungle....

0 funny, 0 helpful.

urs says on Mar 18, 2006, 11:19:

Guest House IGUANA Stay with us or just come around to get all the information you need once you are here in Cali.

Guest House IGUANA
Calle 21N No. 9N -22
57-2-661 35 22
iguana_cali at yahoo.com

0 funny, 0 helpful.

caslug says on Mar 18, 2006, 15:02:

Art..you should consider.. taking side trip to Cartagena or Bogota, both have more nightlife and tourist stuff to do. Cali is a provincial city is nice to live, but sucks as a tourist spot. As for girls, the better your spanish, the better your chances. Of course if you there's always the "other" type of not so nice gals that you won't need spanish for. Just $$$...

The nightlife in cali is concentrated in/near aveinda sexta and the shopping malls.

Sounds like you're going to be hanging out on aveinda sexta and the shopping mall for your entire trip. Without a good command of spanish and colombian street sense, you DONT want to go aimlessly exploring the city. Without local friends to hangout with, cali gets boring after 3 days or one weekend. That's why I recommend flying into cali, spend couple of days then spend the bulk of your vacation in CTG(which is low season right now) or BOG.

Here's my 6 weeks exp in Cali..
http://poorbuthappy.com/colombia/node/13855

0 funny, 0 helpful.

utopiacowboy says on Mar 18, 2006, 20:45:

Good to see you post, Caslug. You've always been one of the saner members of PBH which isn't saying much, I know.

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

caslug says on Mar 19, 2006, 16:18:

THanks for the kind words UC.. I've been busy w/ work so haven't been on the board as much. speaking of first time...

My buddy just return from a week in BOG(he initially was going to Cali, but I told him skip cali, hit BOG or CTG for his first trip to COL) he speaks spanish pretty well, been to Cuba. But Everything in BOG was scary for him! Everynight he return to his hotel by 10pm! LOL!

Guess he "looks" like he's giving away papaya, so taxi drivers, hustlers, etc., all tried to take advantage of him. He got hustle for drinks from locals guys meet, taxi drivers tried to rip him off w/ the meter, and shoe shine guys gave him crazy prices. Couple of times he said he felt people were setting him up for something bad. I suspect that he just had that "first time" paronoida we all get when we visit a new place. and the situation was not as scary as he thought. BUT i told that it was better safe than sorry, and i'm glad he listen to his instincts.

So for first-timers to COL, without local guides or friends, COL may not be a great experience INITIALLY. You really have to love the sense of adventure to visit Cali for your first time. Especially if Art(original poster) speaks little spanish and never been to COL.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

jh816 says on Mar 19, 2006, 20:39:

reason for the trip? What you do is probably going to depend on why you're there. Do you know someone, expect to meet someone? Yeah, not much to do during the day, but there are a few sites. If you know someone that'll show you around have them take you to: tres cruzes, statue of Belacazar, lago colima(decent waterpark but really windy), o.k. thought there were more things but that's all I can think of. Try the chiva bus and don't spend your whole time drunk or hungover.

joe.

0 funny, 0 helpful.