A splash of salsa and hold the chat

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This was published 14 years ago

A splash of salsa and hold the chat

Latin quarter ... salsa festival action in the rhythm city.

Latin quarter ... salsa festival action in the rhythm city.Credit: Reuters

As the sounds of maracas, trumpets and bongos perforate the steamy air, I find myself on a dance floor surrounded by couples who are effortlessly adept in salsa dancing.

A Colombian girl, Estella, is trying to coax a hidden talent out of me but exasperation swells her face as I step on her toes for the 15th time.

"Ssstttttttttteeeevvvvvveeeee," she says, wagging her finger at me. "Look at my feet - and copy me."

Cali is Colombia's hotbed of the swinging, swaggering, rhythmic dance routine. Its style of salsa is faster than the more famous Cuban version and is characterised by endless intricacies with the feet, while the upper body remains relatively still, poised and relaxed.

Men usually take the lead but I stare down at the dance floor and watch as Estella's feet - and hips - do a merry dance.

I try to mimic her but I have no rhythm, I'm clumsy and just seem to lack the in-built passion that these Calenos (Cali residents) have for salsa.

After Estella spins me around in one final flurry, we say our goodbyes. I trudge back to my seat, my forehead gleaming with sweat, and decide that she probably isn't my ideal partner.

There's no doubt she feels the same and, sure enough, I soon spot her bumping and grinding with a man who clearly knows what he's doing.

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Though residents of Havana and the Latin districts of Miami, New York and LA would disagree, Calenos claim their city is the world's best place to dance salsa (the Spanish word for "sauce" - and a hint at its spicy flavour).

Calenos regularly claim medals at the World Salsa Championships and, when they're out at night, usually eschew sitting, drinking and chatting for almost nonstop dancing. In fact, in Cali, a dance is like a conversation.

Countless times I see strangers coming together on to the dance floor. They strut their stuff for five minutes (often with startling intimacy), the song ends and they go their separate ways - without exchanging a word.

Salsa really made inroads into Colombia in the Swinging Sixties.

It's a blend of European and African dance ingredients and was influenced by the Son Cubano and Mambo styles that were all the rage in Cuba between the 1930s and '50s.

Back in the '80s and '90s, Cali was, thanks to the drugs trade, one of the most dangerous places on earth and the city's Cauco River was known as "The River of Death" due to the number of bodies fished out by police. But locals also became used to living for the moment and, for them, a rumba (party) and a dance soothed their often precarious existence.

Most of Cali's notorious drug lords are now dead or behind bars and, like the rest of Colombia, crime has fallen, its general image is improving and tourism is on the up, largely thanks to its reputation as the "Salsa City".

Perhaps my judgment becomes muddied by aguardiente, a local firewater, but with my time in Cali coming to an end, I dance with another local girl and feel that slowly but surely I'm finally getting into the groove.

See colombia.travel/en, smartraveller.gov.au.

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