Wilmer and Islena hosted three family get-togethers over the holidays: December 21st, 24th, and 31st. As usual, each was awesome in its own way. The first one was the most elaborate and biggest, and Islena had arranged two different bands – videos below.

Some people came from far away! Cousin Miguel came from Cyprus, sister-in-law Luz Karime came from Puerto Rico, and Natalia was here from Switzerland. She is here to pick up Sanji and take him to his new home in Switzerland. ;-(

December 24th

This was quite the event, as you can see from the photos and videos. Many family members attended. There were two groups. The first one was Julian Del Valle, a mariachi band fronted by a singer who had been a contestant on a talent show, and boy did he have a great voice. This video does not do his singing justice:

A really interesting thing (to me) happened: the singer basically proposed to his boyfriend who was there helping with the band. It would not have been okay to be openly gay in Colombia 20 years ago, so that he felt safe to do so is great progress. There were also some gay family members there with their same-sex partner – again, in the past that would have been hidden. Good to see Colombia becoming a more tolerant society.

Wilmer’s cousins are part of the second band: Julian Basto D HIJO – the guy playing the accordion plus some cousins providing support, e.g. setup and takedown, etc. They were very different and a lot of fun – they had lots of people dancing. The first group was to listen to, the second group was to listen and dance to!

December 24th – 31st is party week in Cali. In addition to parties at home, there are all kinds of concerts by big name Latino artists. The clubs are also full and have some wild and fun stuff going on. I don’t go out to anywhere enclosed now, but others did and had a great time!

New Year’s Eve

This was another great time at Wilmer and Islena’s. No bands, but good music, food, and company. Wilmer also gets fireworks every year – here is one box from this year.

[For those concerned about dogs terrified of fireworks, Sanji’s vet told Natalia a trick that worked. She took Sanji in the room and put fireworks on her computer, plenty of volume. Sanji was confused at first, but once he realised Natalia wasn’t fazed, he wasn’t either, and this transferred over to the actual fireworks.]

Dapa

After all the holiday events, we went to Dapa again to enjoy some cooler weather and music. This is El Estación, which has a singer and everyone is invited to sing along. Here’s us!

Dapa is one of the areas we want to check out to potentially live. The climate is cooler and there are great views of mountains and the city. We’re not sure if there’s enough of a community. There are three areas to Dapa: Lower, Middle, and Upper as you go up the mountain. The top Dapa is right in the clouds and is always cold. The restaurant pictured is about mid-Dapa.

Salento

We visited Salento at a good/bad time! We arrived just before their annual feria, and boy was the town crowded. Population is normally ~10,000, but there were countless tourists there. It took us 1.5 hours to get into town, and we were incredibly lucky to find parking as all lots were full. The AirBNB we rented did not have any parking, as it was built before there were cars!

Salento is a tourist hotspot because it is a very pretty town. Here are Natalia and Sanji walking up one of the streets.

The house we stayed in was actually a hostel but they gave us the whole place. It is a wooden house built in 1842! It had two bathrooms inside and one outside, all three-piece. The bathrooms are additions – the original owner probably had an outhouse back in the day. Here we are outside the house:

And here is a video of the interior:

While it was really special to visit Salento, it also enabled us to rule it out as a place to live. It’s too cold and too far from the family and friends in the Cali area. The house had no heat – built in 1842, remember – and it would be impossible to retrofit heating without ruining the house. It happened to be unusually cold while we were there, but even the regular climate is chilly at night.

Salento has a week-long feria that starts on a Sunday. We arrived on Thursday and the town was already packed. The tents you see in the town square are the start of setup for the feria. It was impossible to get a clear video because of the tents and people, but here’s a part of the town square at night.

La Carbonera

We also went on a day trip from Salento to a giant farm called La Carbonera. It is huge – it looked like it included several mountains. It is remarkable for the extremely tall palm trees that grow there – they are the national tree of Colombia.

To get there, you have to take a Jeep Willys. They seat eight uncomfortably in the back and two more plus driver in the front. There is also a guide who stands on the back bumper. The trip is two hours each way, and I still have a bruise on my spine from that Willys. If you zoom in on the tires, they don’t have a lot of tread….

There were several stops, including the first and main one to check out the palm trees and the vista, which A and I are doing here.

Another stop was at a small but beautiful waterfall.

It’s a beautiful (and safe) place, but for visits, not living. We will certainly go again!

Here’s a final, short video of us on the hike. Yes, I am carrying Wilmer’s dog. He was in Cartagena on the beach, so we took care of Copi and Copi doesn’t like to walk. Natalia recorded this video; see if you can guess what Sanji did to make her cut it short.

Until next time!