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CALI CITY,
Colombia
Santiago de Cali, the city's complete name, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca, department in Colombia. It is the second largest city in the country, with an estimated population of two and a half million people. Your village homestays takes you into a cultural feast of Latin excitement and history (see below)!
Cali is located between the western and center ranges of the valley of the Cauca river. The weather is warm and humid at day and fresh at night, and the surrounding hills cause it to be very windy. The average temperature is 25°C, (85°F) throughout the year, as there are no seasonal changes due to its proximity to the Equatorial line.
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Your village homestay host, Tatiana:
Your host, Tatiana (right), lives in the southern suburbs
of Cali in a very nice apartment.
Tatiana is an economist and has a postgrade in International business. She has her own business and speaks English. She only has one free bedroom. The complex that she lives in has a pool and is the near to the mall, and close to buses.
There is a deposit payable to secure the booking, with the balance payable in cash to you host on arrival at the apartment.
50,000 Colombian Pesos is about US$30.00
Transportation fee – 50,000 pesos Colombianos Optional fee in the event you request airport pick-up service
Single room - maximum two adults. Cost per adult:
Per Month: 2,250,000 pesos Colombianos. No incluyes meals
Per Week: 525,000 pesos Colombianos. No incluyes meals
Per Day: 75,000 pesos Colombianos. No incluyes meals
Room - Fully Furnished, Bed Linen and Towels
Meals (additional cost):
Tatiana cooks your meals ... the costs as follows:
Breakfast:
Lunch:
Dinner:
Similar to the lunch
Typical food and drinks (see images below):
Sancocho de gallina o pescado, ajiaco, Frijoles, Aji with aguacate (avocado), arepa, lulo, mora, maracuya, guanábana, guayaba, badea juices, sobrebarrida al horno, aborrajados, atollado rice, pandebono, avena, champús drink.
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Bande Japaisa |
Arroz Atollado |
Areopas |
Sancocho de Gallina |
Ajiaco |
To enquire about staying with our host email us.
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Places of Interest
La Ermita: Gothic-style church located in the downtown area and a well-known
tourist destination.
La Tertulia: Museum of modern art.
Museo Arqueológico La Merced: Colonial-type church, converted
into an archaeological museum displaying items from ancient cultures which
inhabited the region in pre-Columbian times.
Jorge Issac Theater: its important place in Cali.
Otero Buider: it is was building in 1922, it´s French desing.
Museo del Oro del Banco de la República: Museum containing
archaeological exhibits of pre-columbian cultures which existed in the region.
Cerro de las tres cruces: A hill embellished with three big crosses
from which the whole city is visible.
Iglesia de San Antonio: Colonial-type church at the top of a hill.
Cerro de Cristo Rey: Another hill embellished with a large statue of
Jesus Christ.
Canchas Panamericanas: Sports Complex that includes the Pascual Guerrero
stadium, Evangelista Mora Gym, many sporting fields, pools and so forth.
Is also widely known for a common iced drink (Cholado) sold here.
Pance: Extended rural zone at the south of the city frequently visited
for leisure purposes, surrounded by plentiful vegetation and irrigated by
the Pance river.
La Novena: This is a main street where you can find a lot of restaurants
and fast-food places. It is located at the south and it's the caleño's
preferred street to be after the big parties in Juanchito or the pink zone,
at 3 A.M. Here you can buy hamburgers, hot-dogs, chorizos, etc.
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Latin dance
Cali is
the number one destination for tourists in Columbia Cali is known for for
Salsa, and in Juanchito you can find places to join the locals in dance.
The city hosts many international Salsa championships - take this link for more.
This is how Cali's Salsa Clubs have been described: You step through the darkened entranceway, leaving the tropical night behind. Suddenly, waves of sound crash over you Iike ocean surf. Breaking out in a sweat, your heart pounds to the rhythm of bass, bongos, bells and brass. The walls seem to pulsate. The pungent smell of perspiration mixed with perfume assaults you. As your eyes adjust to the dark, broken by hypnotic flashes of the multi-colored strobes, you realize it’s not walls that enclose you, but dancers— scores of dancers gyrating, weaving and swirling, limbs flashing, hips thrusting in quarter—time beat. You fill your lungs with the spicy aroma, tighten your belt a notch and plunge in. Welcome to Chango’s in Cali, Colombia - one of Latin America's hottest Salsa night clubs.
History
Cali has a fascinating history reflected in many of the fine old buildings.
Before the arrival of the Spaniards, the current region of Cali was inhabited by many indigenous tribes, mostly speakers of Cariban languages. In the region between the Cauca River and the Western Cordillera, the Gorrones were established between the present day Roldanillo and Cali. The biggest town of the Morrones was sited on the River Pescador near the present day towns of Zarzal and Bugalagrande. Although cannibals, the Morrones traded with the Quimbayas who inhabited the north of the Valle del Cauca.
On his way to Cali, Sebastián de Belalcázar first met the Timbas who ran away before the arrival of the Conqueror's men, leaving behind their towns and gold. After the Timbas, towards the north, the Spaniards entered the territory of the chief Jamundí and his tribe, the Jamundíes, between the rivers Pance and Jamundí. These Indians offered a strong resistance to the invaders, fighting with poisonous darts and arrows against the arquebuses and swords of the Spaniards. After taking Jamundíes' town the Spaniards looted the Indian's gold.
Before taking complete control over the region, the Spaniards had to defeat the chief Petecuy, whose tribe inhabited the area between the river Lilí and the Western Cordillera. Petecuy formed a big army with many tribes and fought the Spaniards on Holy Tuesday of 1536.
The Morrones gave up easily to the Spaniards and were divided in encomiendas. The already "mestizo" nature of the Spaniards made the process of mixing with the Amerindians easy. In fact, Belalcázar himself fathered several children born in the Americas from Indian mothers, as did his men.
Cali was important for Belalcázar because it was beyond the Inca empire. After the capture and execution of the Inca Atahualpa at Cajamarca, Francisco Pizarro had sent Belalcázar to take possession of Guayaquil and Quito on his behalf, but Cali, being beyond the Quechua empire, was claimed by Belalcazar as his own territory. After his death, his descendants maintained possession of much of the land until the war of independence against Spain.
Founding and colonial period
La MercedThe founder of Cali, Sebastián de Belalcázar, came to the American continent in the third voyage made by Columbus in 1498. In 1532, after serving in Darién and Nicaragua, he joined Francisco Pizarro in the conquest of Perú. In 1534 Belalcázar separated from Pizarro's expedition to found the city of Quito, and later in his search of El Dorado he entered the territory of what is now Colombia, founding the cities of Pasto and Popayán.
On July 25, 1536, Belalcázar founded Santiago de Cali, first established a few miles north of the present location, near what are now the towns of Vijes and Riofrio. Under the orders of Belalcázar, captain Miguel Muñoz moved the city to its present location in 1537, where the chaplain Brother Santos de Añasco celebrated a mass in the place occupied by the Church La Merced today, and Belalcázar designated Pedro de Ayala as the first municipal authority.
During the Colonia (colonial period), Santiago de Cali was part of the gobernación of Popayán, which was part of Quito's Audiencia. Although initially Cali was the capital of Popayán's Gobernación, in 1540 Belalcázar moved this function to Popayán due to better weather.
Until the 18th century most of the territory of what is now Cali was occupied by haciendas (plantations), and the city was only a small town near the Cali River. In 1793, Cali had 6,548 inhabitants, 1,106 of whom were slaves. The haciendas were the property of the dominant noble class with many slaves dedicated mostly to stockbreeding and raising sugar cane crops. Many of these haciendas became neighborhoods of the present city like Cañaveralejo, Chipichape, Pasoancho, Arroyohondo, Cañasgordas, Limonar, and Meléndez.
Cali was strategically positioned for trade, centrally located in relation to the mining regions of Antioquia, Chocó, and Popayán. In the colonial period, the first trail for mules and horses between Cali and Buenaventura was completed.
Independence
On July 20, 1810 Santiago de Cali proclaimed its independence from Popayán's Gobernación. This local uprising predates the national one in Bogotá by 17 days. Soon the local militia looked for allies forming the "Ciudades Confederadas del Valle del Cauca" with Anserma, Cartago, Toro, Buga and Caloto. Immediately after the rebellion the Governor of Popayán, Miguel Tacón y Rosique, organized an army to control the uprising. The people from Cali called for help to the "Junta Suprema" in Bogotá which sent a contingent under colonel Antonio Baraya to support the independence cause. On the 28 March 1811 in the battle of Bajo Palacé the Army of Baraya defeated the royalist army with the help of Atanasio Girardot.
In the following years there were many battles between royalists and local militia. After having been released from captivity by Napoleon, King Fernando VII of Spain sent a large army under the command of the Pacificador (peacemaker) Pablo Morillo who reclaimed power for Spain.
In 1819 after Simón Bolívar defeated the bulk of the Spaniard army in the Battle of Boyacá, there were new uprisings in the Valle del Cauca and the Criollos took control permanently. In 1822 Bolívar arrived in Cali. The city was an important military outpost and the region contributed many men to the war of independence that liberated the nations in the south.
Modernism
Municipal TheaterIn the 20th century Santiago de Cali, capital of the Cauca state, was a very quiet community with no more than 20,000 inahabitants. The urban center of the city were in the neighborhoods of Empedrado or Altozano, which were surrounded by La Merced and San Antonio neighborhoods.
The city was surrounded by mango plantations, pastures and communal lands that were transfered from the Spanish Crown to the impoverished class. From the market gardens on these lends the city was supplied in food resources. The economy was based mainly on livestock, sugar cane, beef, panela, a sugar derivative, cheese and the gold mines from the Pacific; there were also a small growing industrialization sector of the economy.
Around 1890 a private company, Company of Public Works of Cauca, built the Plaza de mercado (market plaza). This originates the development of a commercial area and from this becomes the transformation of the Plaza Mayor or plaza de Caycedo. In 1921, the market was sold to the Cali municipality, very close to the 9th street, were located the princial station of the tranvia of Cali, this system linked the city with urban areas.
Recent History
Cali towerIn the year 1971 Santiago de Cali hosted the Pan American Games, an event which is considered by many as the height of the city's golden age as a model of civic orderliness: after it Cali was named the Sports Capital of Colombia. That same year, the government of Cali inaugurated what is now the second largest building in the Republic of Colombia. "La Torre de Cali", or The Cali Tower, has an hotel, offices and apartment complexes. It stands at 42 floors above the city, making it the 2nd largest building in Colombia, followed by the Colpatria Tower building, which stands in the capital of the republic, Bogotá.
