It’s been so long since I was last time in Cali, that it embarrasses me having forgotten what a fantastic, vibrant and colourful place this really is. Cali is also darn varm, but honestly, coming from the the Carribean, it’s not bad at all. Even though the temperatures hardly ever seem to dip below 30 degrees celcius, you’re not sweating profusely, as the humidity isn’t that high and so far I haven’t even used the aircon in the apartment. Something I was heavily using in the Caribbean recently.
Yesterday marked my first of supposedly many Enduro classes in Colombia in November. The local KTM shop in Cali (Potenza) supported me with a bike, helped me get the word out and put a group together, so that really nice of them. We went to ride in the nearby hills and got to do a lot of all the good and important basic training, but we also got to ride a bit in on the nearby trails and it definitely didn’t disappoint. Fun stuff, but the best was to come today…
After finishing the training, I strolled back through the city in hopes of getting some shots at the Bulevar del Rio. It’s a busy place, located in the historic part of the city and with a very mixed crowds:
Today, I got up at 6 am to do the famous hike to Las Tres Cruces (translated: The 3 Crosses). A hike I’ve done numerous times, every time I’ve visited Patrick and I even did it once on motorcycle. Hiking the hill to the the 3 crosses seems to be an imbedded culture of the Caleños (people living in Cali) and in any given day of the week, you’ll never be sweating alone. It’s an almost vertical climb at times and an activity that people of all ages seem to enjoy. Apart from the great workout and view of the city surrounded by mountains, I’m sure a lot of people also use the freshly squeezed orange, carrot or grape juice and homemade pies as a motivator to keep walking. And for the one’s that didn’t burn enough calories, there’s a little Flintstonesy workout area where you can do your thing, or like me, take some pictures of Cali’s fittest guys and girls. Aside from salsa, there’s also a strong culture in Cali of being fit and it’s an incredible vibe to experience; something I’d highly recommend everybody to do once.
I ended up spending a bit too long on the hill, so I was 10 minutes late for the training today, but not too surprisingly, we didn’t get going until more than an hour late! Once out there, we picked things up where we left yesterday, did a lot of fun technical training and it was clear that the guys were already tired from yesterday and it doesn’t help that the exercises and my training method is fairly energy consuming. After a short break, we set sails for the mountains and found some really cool places!
