South America: cali cali cali

A girl from the surfers agreed to help us find an appartment. She is so nice! She's from Cali, doesn't speak any English, we don't speak any Spanish, and yet we've been together for 12 hours, and somehow managed to understand each other! I learned a lot of words on the way. I feel kinda like a parrot, repeating everything. Saying words out of nowhere, reading every sign on the way. I guess I'm getting better. For ex. the most complicated thing I said was: Te qieres dos fillet de pollo para quatra personas? ... (do you want 4 chicken filles for 4 people?) There ! :)The girl (Camila), told us that some guy wanted to date her sister, but her sister didn't like him, so he killed her :((( Is that the latin passion that is so well known?
We just found 1 appartment, that is furnished, and doesn't require 1 year contract. But it was kind of dirty and didn't give us a good feeling. On the way we found another hostel. First we didn't even want to hear about it ... bulk beds, shared washrooms ... NOOOOO!!! .. but then we decided to come in, and it's so clean, the vibe is very nice, they were learning salsa with an amazing teacher. Eva got so excited, she's like "That's it, I don't want to look at anything else, I don't care about anything else, we're staying here!!" There are so many different stories about dangerous things. For ex. we went to a bar/club street where everybody said - no don't go at night, always take a taxi. We went there and it was fine, just like any other street. So it's hard to know who to listen to. Also people say that you should always write down the license plate of the taxi, or call somebody and tell the number to them. And close the doors, because if there is traffic, then somebody might just come in and as they said "take a tour in the bank". Also, it's not advisable to stand on a red light in the center of city. All these precausions, but we didn't really see anything dangerous. Anyway, we were there for a few hours, and me and Alex went home (by foot), and Eva continued parting until 6 am ... figures !! :) nothing has changed since greece :) Eva said that there was guy who's about 40 who lived in LA for 20 years. And he said that he couldn't take it anymore in LA, people are so cold, and I guess that he just got into the routine, and didn't live at all. And here people are friendly and so open, and express their emotions, and that's what the real life is about. The next morning, me and Eva went to check out another hostel which by the reviews on the internet was supposed to be the best. well not really ! the host was so cold, not interested, not helpful, so we decided that he doesn't need our money, and went away. On the way there, found massages for $12/hour, and manicure for $1. There is this amazing yogurt that's mixed with fresh fruits, so now we're having it everyday! And there is so much variety ! mucha gusto :))Went to check out of our hostel, and our hostess didn't want to give us any discount :( it was 202,000 pesos, so she gave us 2000 discount so that we won't cry! grrr ! went to the hostel that we liked, and the owner told us that he has an appartment for 1 month, but again, it was in the basement, not really nice, with windows to the main street, so we could hear every car passing by ... and that's a lot of cars !!! still undecided about what to do, Alex doesn't want to stay in the hostel, and we don't want to stay in the appartment. anyway, went to the salsa lesson. The teacher is really good, and we were learning fast fast mucha fast salsa :) I think in 1 hour I drank 4 glasses of water, and by the end couldn't stand on my feet! :)The owners (married couple) are the best! They help with everything, give us addresses, phone numbers, go out of their way to make us feel comfortable. They always say "welcome to the family". Yesterdays was a birthday of the woman owner, so the whole hostel was helping the guy blow balloons, 1 guy cooked a whole dinner for everybody, and we had a cake!
The neighbourhood where we stay is an old part of Cali. I really really like it. There are alot of small streets with 2 story buildings all connected to each other. Very colorful, and with their own character. Later on after 2 hours of salsa, we decided that we didn't have enough, and went to dance some more!! :) We went with the couch surfing university students. First I couldn't really related to them, but now they're so so cool ! just the most amazing people ! A lot of fun, very open, honest, helpful, it's unbelievable what the people will do to make others feel comfortable. It's also a "tradition" in here to share everything. Even if you don't know somebody, they will ask to try what you're eating, and if you order in a restaurant, it goes through a circle of everybody else before coming to you.We went to a student club, it was fun. People dancing on the street. Everybody's talking, having a good time. Later on we went to a house party, so we needed to get some alcohol. I said it's way too expensive, a 750 ml bottle of vodka costs > $30 in a store, and they said that we need to know special places where taxes somehow don't exist, and bought the same bottle for $10. nice! :) To a house party we went in a guys's car - Lada :)) I have no idea how it's still driving, but it does. even up the 45 degree street! although when we parked and wanted to go, it took 4 tries to actually get out :) I think it was more going back than forward ... thank god there were no cars behind us :)In here also you don't pay for parking, but you pay to the guys to look after your cars so that nothing will happen to it :)
5 days in cali, and the phone is going off like crazy! everybody invites us to different places. And we do different things every day. LIke jazz bar, night club, park, tango club, there is salsa championships that starts tomorrow, day after tomorrow a jazz festival, house parties, so much to do, so many different people to meet, and you talk to them or they treat you like you've been their friend forever!It's also interesting that every backpacker has always the same story. Oh I was working, and then I thought that it's not what life is about, so I decided to go travelling :)

Today Alex found a 1 room to rent beside the hostel. It's in a nice house with a huge roof terrace, and some weird and creepy artist who has tens of paintings of naked women in all poses on the walls, and his portrait among them :S But their having parties every weekend, and Alex loves to cook, so we're sure to visit his place quite often. Our hostel owners said that he can also hang out here whenever he likes.We bargained about the price, and what we got is 300.000 pesos for month/person = $5/day, and private salsa lessons also for $5/hour ! :)