Things to do in Cali
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Zoológico de Cali
The Zoológico de Cali has a good collection of species indigenous to Colombia, including chiguiros (capybaras), oso hormigueros (anteaters), condors, monkeys and a mariposario (butterfly enclosure). It’s 2km southwest of the center in Barrio Santa Teresita and is most easily accessed by taxi.
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Feria de Cali
The main city event is the Feria de Cali. It lasts from Christmas to New Year's, with parades, masquerades, music, theatre, bullfights and general citywide revelry. Given the city's staunch faith in the beauty of its women, it's no surprise that the beauty pageant also draws in hordes of spectators.
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Saloon
This edgy, arty bar has a student vibe. Foreign DJs sometimes spin here, and every other Friday there’s live music. You can get sandwiches and light salads (COP$10,000 to COP$12,000). It also sometimes hosts art installations. It’s on the second floor of a white building in the heart of Granada.
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Museo Arqueológico la Merced
The Museo Arqueológico la Merced is housed in the former La Merced convent, Cali’s oldest building. Its five rooms contain a small collection of pre-Columbian pottery left behind by the major cultures from central and southern Colombia.
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Parque Artesanía
On Loma de la Cruz, this is one of Colombia’s best artesanía markets. You’ll find authentic, handmade goods from the Amazon, Pacific coast, southern Andes, and even Los Llanos.
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CC La Pasarela
CC La Pasarela is a two-story shopping center that’s elbow-to-elbow computers and parts. You’ll find great prices on laptops and repairs.
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Museo del Oro
The Museo del Oro, one block away from La Merced, has a small but fine collection of gold and pottery of the Calima culture.
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Restaurante Vegetariano Salud Vibrante
Your best bet for a cheap veggie meal in Cali. Staff makes its own soy milk and wholemeal bread. Also sells good veggie empanadas.
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Cali Viejo
Set in the lush grounds of the Bosque Municipal, the city park adjoining the zoo, Cali Viejo shows off Cali’s Pacific roots. Seafood is the star here – try the cazuela de mariscos (seafood stew, COP$41,000) or lobster (COP$58,000) – but it also does a great sancocho (COP$20,000). Wash it down with a champú or lulada, or a shot of the homemade aguardiente. The dining room has no walls, letting a breeze blow through. If you’re coming here from the zoo, take a taxi or flag down a passing bus; the area is a bit isolated and, hence, a bit sketchy.
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Platillos Voladores
The food at Platillos Voladores (literally 'flying saucers') is out of this world, combining spicy, sweet, sour and savory in novel ways. A mecca for the city's foodies, the chef takes fusion to new heights, borrowing inspiration from Asian, European and indigenous Colombian cuisines. The decor, too, is both colorful and eclectic.
There's also a small store on the premises that sells bottled versions of the restaurant's complex sauces and chutneys, many of which feature exotic produce from the surrounding Cauca valley.
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Agapito
By 02:00 or so, it's time to head to the salsatecas of the Juanchito District, about 12km east of the center. A taxi should get you there from the center for about US$5. Salsatecas generally don't charge admission, and you order drinks by the bottle.
Agapito is next door to Changó, a humbler but no less sexy salsateca, which features a viejoteca on Sunday afternoon, when older folks take over the dance floor.
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Chiva Night Tours
If you're wary of setting off on your own, consider a night-time tour in a traditional bus called a chiva. One of the best is organized by Viajes Oganesoff. Its chiva, with live music aboard, departs from Hotel Intercontinental on Friday and Saturday at 20:00. The five-hour tour calls at several music spots (usually one in Juanchito and one on Av Sexta) and includes half a bottle of aguardiente per head and a snack.
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Paladar
It looks like a cafeteria, but wait till you see what it serves – homemade lasagna, casseroles of every sort, even the occasional stewed rabbit. The dessert selection is divine – cakes, pies, mousses; it makes us drool just thinking about it. The pastel Paladar (the house specialty, a multilayered chocolate and mocha cake) is orgasmic, and if you like lemon meringue pie, get in before noon – it goes quickly.
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Macondo
This San Antonio institution does great coffee, a wide range of desserts, light sandwiches and salads, and serves beer and wine till late. Jazz plays on the stereo and the smell of coffee is in the air. Try the scrumptious cocktails, like the Melquiades (mango, chocolate, coffee, Baileys, whiskey and blackberry sauce) or the Macondo de Lulo (coffee ice cream with fresh lulo and whiskey).
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Tin Tin Deo
This rocking salsa joint attracts some of the best dancers in Cali. Posters of famous salsa singers look down on you from the wall, and industrial fans keep the room from overheating. Drinks are moderately priced, and the cover charge is consumible, that is, you get it back in drinks at the bar. Also sometimes plays música del pacífico (music from the Pacific coast).
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Iglesia de la Merced
The Iglesia de la Merced is in the former La Merced convent. Begun around 1545, it remains the city’s oldest church. It’s a lovely whitewashed building in the Spanish colonial style, with a long, narrow nave, and humble wood and stucco construction. Inside, a heavily gilded baroque high altar is topped by the Virgen de las Mercedes, the patron saint of the city.
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Hacienda El Paraíso
Escape the city for a day and head to the old sugarcane plantations to see how the Colombian elite lived in the 19th century. Hacienda El Paraíso, a lovingly restored manor house, has been converted into a museum. It provides an insight into Cauca life, complete with literary connections - it's the setting of Jorge Isaacs' romantic period novel María.
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Juanchito District
When the sun goes down, calenõs (Cali people) have one thing on their minds - salsa. The city's best-known salsa nightlife is in the legendary Juanchito district, way south of the center. Two of the most famous salsa places here are Changó and Agapito. Come on the weekend - preferably after ten - and take a taxi or a chiva(bus)tour.
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Iglesia de San Antonio
The small 1757 Iglesia de San Antonio is set atop a hill, the Colina de San Antonio, west of the old center. It shelters valuable tallas quiteñas, 17th-century carved-wood statues of the saints, representing the style known as the Quito School. The church also affords a good view of the city; it's just a 10-minute walk west of the Torre Mudéjar.
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Baharoque
This new San Antonio restaurant serves a great set meal for COP$6000. Sample amazing salads garnished with tropical fruit, plus good steaks and chicken for you carnivores. Sundays see old-fashioned Cali dishes served, such as arroz atollado, a kind of risotto, and of course sancocho and ajiaco, both types of Colombian stew.
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LA 14 Supermarket
The best cheap eats in town are in the LA 14 supermarket. It has half-a-dozen small eateries, including its own bakery, which does excellent meat pies (pastel de carne), pizza by the slice, buñuelos (deep-fried doughy balls of curd cheese and flour), pan de bono (bagel-shaped bun with a tart flavor), etc.
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Centro Comercial de Chipichape
A typical evening begins at the Centro Comercial de Chipichape, an upscale mall just north of the main drag along Av Sexta. Caleños of all ages come to launch their evening with a cerveza (beer) or two at one of the many outdoor cafés.
From here you might head to a bar or lounge along the Av Sexta corridor.
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Kaiserhaus
This German restaurant prepares its own authentic sausage and sauerkraut. The breezy 2nd-floor balcony is a great spot for a bratwurst and imported German beer. Also does picadas (COP$37,000 to COP$67,000) – mounds of toothpickable sliced sausage, enough for four to six. The pretzels (COP$500) with mustard make a great snack.
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Barra de Mayolo
This Spanish tapas bar has some of the best food in Granada. Tapas selection includes fried calamari, Spanish ham and chorizo, as well as sample platters big enough for groups to share. Try the paella (COP$26,500 to COP$35,000), or whole suckling pig (COP$210,000), prepared specially if you give advance notice.
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