Colombia (Lonely Planet, 5th Edition) - Jens Porup [198]
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INFORMATION
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Internet Access
Paper Store ( 660 3616; Calle 15N No 6N-40; per hr COP$1800)
Sc@nner ( 660 2014; Av Sexta No 15N-37; per hr COP$2000)
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Money
Most of the major banks have offices on Av Sexta.
Bancolombia (cnr Calle 15N & Av 8N)
Citibank (Av 5N No 23AN-49, Parque Versalles)
Davivienda Versalles (cnr Av 6AN & Calle 22N); Granada (cnr Av 8N & Calle 18N)
Financiera Cambiamos SA ( 660 3706; 9am-7pm Mon-Sat) In the Carulla supermarket. Agents for MoneyGram.
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Post
Deprisa (Calle 12 No 2AN-37)
Servientrega (Av 4NA No 10-123, local 2)
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Tourist Information
British consulate ( 660 1031; Calle 22N No 6-42, Office 401) Organizes outings several times a year for Commonwealth expats and English-speaking passersby.
DAS ( 664 3808; Av 3N 50N-20, La Flora)
Tourist office (Secretaría de Cultura y Turismo; 886 0000, ext 2400; Carrera 7 btwn Calle 9 & Calle 10) On the 1st floor of the Gobernación building.
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Travel Agencies
Comfenalco Valle ( 886 2727; Calle 5 No 6-63, torre C) Comfenalco’s travel agency is one of the best in town. Organizes trips nationwide.
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DANGERS & ANNOYANCES
During the day, the city center is alive with street vendors and crowds. After dark and on Sunday it can get dodgy. Take extra care with your belongings.
The area between Sexta and the Guest House Iguana and nearby hostels is the main hangout spot for putos – transexual prostitutes sporting astonishing surgical alterations. Be warned: late at night, when tricks dry up, they have been known to rob travelers at knifepoint. After 11pm, take a taxi home, even if it’s just a few blocks.
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SIGHTS
The Zoológico de Cali ( 892 7474; www.zoologicodecali.com.co; cnr Carrera 2A Oeste & Calle 14 Oeste; admission COP$8000; 9am-5pm) has a good collection of species indigenous to Colombia, including chiguiros (capybaras), oso hormigueros (anteaters), condors, monkeys and a mariposario (butterfly enclosure). It’s 2km southwest of the center in Barrio Santa Teresita and is most easily accessed by taxi.
The Museo Arqueológico la Merced ( 889 3434; Carrera 4 No 6-59; admission COP$4000; 9am-1pm & 2-6pm Mon-Sat) is housed in the former La Merced convent, Cali’s oldest building. Its five rooms contain a small collection of pre-Columbian pottery left behind by the major cultures from central and southern Colombia.
In the same complex you’ll find the Iglesia de la Merced (cnr Carrera 4 & Calle 7; 6:30-10am & 4-7pm). Begun around 1545, it remains the city’s oldest church. It’s a lovely whitewashed building in the Spanish colonial style, with a long, narrow nave, and humble wood and stucco construction. Inside, a heavily gilded baroque high altar is topped by the Virgen de las Mercedes, the patron saint of the city.
The Museo del Oro ( 684 7754; Calle 7 No 4-69; admission free; 10am-5pm Mon-Sat), one block away from La Merced, has a small but fine collection of gold and pottery of the Calima culture.
Iglesia de San Francisco (cnr Carrera 6 & Calle 10) is a neoclassical construction dating from the 18th century. Next to the church are the Convento de San Francisco and the Capilla de la Inmaculada with the adjacent Torre Mudéjar (cnr Carrera 6 & Calle 9), an unusual brick bell- tower, one of the best examples of Mudejar art in Colombia.
Overlooking the Río Cali, the neo-Gothic Iglesia de la Ermita (cnr Av Colombia & Calle 13), constructed between 1930 and 1948, houses the 18th-century painting of El Señor de la Caña (Lord of the Sugarcane); many miracles are attributed to the image.
The small 1747 Iglesia de San Antonio is set atop a hill, the Colina de San Antonio, west of the old center. It shelters valuable tallas quiteñas, 17th-century carved-wood statues