Cali as seen from the Cristo Rey Hill. Photo C. Arango in Commons.
The full name of the city is Santiago de Cali and it is the third largest city of Colombia after Bogotá and Medellín. Cali is the provincial capital of the State of Valley of Cauca since 1911. It was founded on July 25, 1536 by the Spaniard conqueror Sebastian de Belalcazar. It puts Cali among the list of the oldest European foundations in the Americas, although its real industrial development would come only during the 20th century.
The city of Cali is an industrial and commercial center and the most important city of southern Colombia. The Alfonso Bonilla Aragón International Airport or Palmaseca Airport, located in the nearby city of Palmira, is the second most important Colombian airport. In 2009 it received 2,667,526 passengers and from that number 433,658 came from abroad. In that same year, 42,092 tons of merchandise were moved through the airport, according to Areounáutica Civil de Colombia. There are directly flights from Cali to New York, Miami, Tucumán (Ecuador), Panama, Caracas, Houston and Madrid. It is interconnected with the other capitals' airports of the country.
Cali is also at the head of vital areas of agriculture production of Colombia: sugar mills and coffee fields (it is just at the south of the Coffee Axes region); and it is at the east of the International Sea Port of Buenaventura at the Colombian Pacific Ocean coast. It is also on the Pan-american Highway that goes direct to Quito.
The city is also known as the International Capital of Salsa Music and it is the headquarters of international events of drama, music and poetry. It was the main scenario of the professional career of Colombian-Argentinian drama director Fanny Mickey. A city of universities, it is the seat of the University of the Valley (Universidad del Valle) that has been the center of studies and teaching of celebrities like NASA scientist Raul Cuero or philosopher Estanislao Zuleta.
Generalities
Cali is located Latitude 3º27'0" North and Longitude 76º32'0" West in the Tropic. It is in the middle of the wide Andean Valley of Cauca, therefore the name of the province to which the city is its capital.
It has an altitude of 995 meters up the sea level and the average temperature goes from 18°C to 30°C most time of the year.
Cali is located at 416 kilometers the south-west of Bogotá; 128 kilometers at the east of Buenaventura; 456 kilometers at the south of Medellín; 1,135 kilometers at the south of Barranquilla; 125 kilometers at the north of Popayán; 440 kilometers at the north of San Juan de Pasto and 831 kilometers at the north of Quito (Ecuador).
Cali has an area of 562 Km2. According to DANE, in 2005 the city had 2,068,386 inhabitants and 2,730,796 in its Metropolitan Area.
Salsa Music
One of the most important elements that makes Cali well known not only in Colombia but in the Americas, is the Salsa Music.
Every September the city is the host of the World Festival of Salsa Music. There are near 100 groups of Salsa registered in the city and some of them have international fame like Grupo Niche, Alma Latina, La Misma Gente, El Nuevo Son, Guayacán, Los del Caney and Son de Cali, among many others.
Tourism
Is Cali a safe city for tourism? The answer is yes. Even if the city has a high rank in criminality, violent events are constricted to 'violent areas' that your travel agency, hotel or Colombian friends or host will prevent you. For tourism, Cali is so risky as doing tourism in New York.
The city has several areas of tourism, some of them inside the Metropolitan Area and others in the State of Valley of Cauca. The city is also relatively near to other recommended places for tourism in the south-west of Colombia: at the north the Coffee Axes in the nearby states of Quindío, Risaralda and Caldas; at the west the Pacific Ocean coast with the port city of Buenaventura, at the south the 5 centuries-old Spaniard city of Popayán and at the east the State of Huila with the Archaeological Park of San Agustín.
Inside the Metropolitan Area
Cali Downtown
In the photo San Antonio Chapel, mid 18th century, located at the San Antonio Hill. It is a Catholic veneration center to Saint Anthony of Padua. Photo by C. Arango.
A place to walk, especially through some sectors that are rich in architecture and history:
Barrio San Antonio (map) and Barrio Granada: The Zoo, Museum of Modern Art of Cali, El Peñón Park, the Ortiz Bridge, La Ermita Church, the Cali Tower.
Cali
Cali
In the photo San Antonio Chapel, mid 18th century, located at the San Antonio Hill. It is a Catholic veneration center to Saint Anthony of Padua. Photo by C. Arango.