The weekend flew by and now I am sad. I know I’ve only been here 3 days, but I preferred this city to Cartagena in many ways. Here are my takeaways on my last day in Cali.
- The weather is much easier to deal with! More temperate and way less humidity than humid Cartagena
- Easier to get around: considering Cali is bigger with 2.5 million people to Cartagena’s 900,000, I can only guess this is because I stayed in a more convenient location to all the attractions as a tourist as compared to living in the barrio in Cartagena. I don’t think that’s totally it though
- The sights are in residential neighborhoods: In Cartagena, you only go to one area as a tourist, The Old City and adjacent Boca Grande. In Cali, sights were spread out a little bit more, and were in areas where people live so it felt like I was seeing “the real Cali” while also sightseeing
- Cheaper: apparently Cartagena is the most expensive Colombian city, and while still cheap to a Torontonian like me, I noticed that Cali was even more affordable
- Cleaner and prettier: Aside from the ocean and the old city, Cartagena is not that pretty. And there is trash everywhere. In Cali, the river doesn’t smell so great, but the streets and paths were very tidy and well kept. The overall impression was it’s cleaner than Cartagena.
I don’t want to make it seem like I am sorry to go back to Cartagena, because I am not. I am really glad I visited Cali though! What a great weekend!
Here are some shots from my last day, visiting the Cristo Rey on his mother’s holy day.
Wonderful descriptions of your travels ! Did you cut your hair?
Haha no Pat it just has been too hot to wear it down – ever!