The Revenge of the Monkey

(I guess the zoo isn't only for kids)

Our unexpected detour to Cali landed us smack in the middle of a holiday weekend (Columbus is popular south of the border as well); so we decided to chill out and enjoy the fiesta for a couple of days. Sultry Cali is the salsa capital of Colombia and renowned for its nightlife. As it’s also known as the center of surgical enhancement in Colombia we kept our eyes peeled for fake ‘tetas’ in our ventures out on the town. (Colombia is a popular destination for medical tourism, with some vacation packages including plastic surgery, lasik, and dental work.) In the end we found a mellow city that’s set up for a constant salsa party but we missed the magnet spots for those with artificially augmented body parts- we saw no more than in Medellin.

(a not so little friend from our hostel in Cali)

On our first stroll through the center of nightlife in town we passed by one disco after another pulsing with constant salsa beats and disco lights, only interrupted by the occasional guy on a microphone shouting above the music. All this at 4:30 in the afternoon, with most places completely empty. Pretty wild. We ventured back to the thumping party later on in the evening. Music and lights were still going strong, this time accompanied by contingents of dancers throughout the bars. Quite a sight, although our gringo selves felt a bit left out as we had neglected our salsa lessons ahead of time. Lesson: if going to Cali, take some salsa classes first (not many other options in the way of nightlife)!

(Just one of Cali's unique Salsa blasting locales)

One of Cali’s other claims to fame is one of the best zoos in Latin America. We started off amazed by the setup and content of the place- condors, jaguars, monkeys, flamingos- mostly Colombian species and even more. In most cases you can walk right up to the cages- close enough to put a hand in! We saw the dark side of this as time went on though and our fascination shifted to the zoo within the zoo. Instead of walking around and enjoying the sights many Colombians like to play a different game. It’s called: Harass the Animal. It included but went well beyond whistling and banging on the glass. After watching a kid try to hit a zebra with a rock we turned around to see a group smacking llamas on the head. Next came a girl trying to get an emu to snap at her hand. Right around the corner everyone from ages 5 to 50 seemed to think it was a good idea to stick their hands through the chain link fence into the mountain lion cage to see if one would react. There should be a rule- you can only harass the animals from inside the cage.

(Once he got the cat's attention by sticking his hand through the fence, time for a photo-op)

In the end we found a troupe of monkeys that had a good handle on the situation. They loved the attention and ran around putting on a show for everyone, chasing each other, grabbing tails, swinging from ropes. They loved cameras as well. After seeing a girl’s camera one ran over to make faces right in front of it. He looked over his shoulder at one point and saw that I had a bigger camera. Immediately done with her, he ran over to give me a little photoshoot. Awesome. The best part of the whole show though was when a kid would climb up right next to the glass to peer in. After being standoffish for a minute or two, a monkey would jump lightning fast into the glass and bang its hands as loud as possible, the shock literally knocking kids backwards. Sweet revenge.

(Mugging for the camera...)

(This kid has no idea what's about to hit him...)

(This guy's serious face loses all credibility with his nose pressed against the glass. je je)