Colombia's salsa capital where lulada drink, chontaduro fruit, and the world's best dance floors open after midnight
Cali is the third-largest city in Colombia and the undisputed world capital of salsa — not the ballroom kind but a street style, Cali-style salsa (Caleña), danced in the salsa clubs of Juanchito and Menga by dancers who have been learning from the age of five. The food here is Vallecaucana: lulada (a sour-sweet cold drink made from lulo fruit, served with chunks of the fruit and crushed ice), sancocho de gallina (thick hen stew cooked with plantain and yuca), chontaduro (palm fruit sold from street carts with honey or salt), and cholados (shaved ice towers piled with fruit, condensed milk, an…
Founded in 1536 by conquistador Sebastián de Belalcázar, Cali grew slowly compared to Bogotá and Medellín until the 20th century, when the completion of rail connections and the sugar industry's expansion made it a commercial centre. African slavery in the Cauca Valley (brought to work the sugar plantations) is the origin of Cali's deeply Afro-Colombian musical identity — the African rhythms transported from Cuba as son, guaracha, and cumbia merged with local musical traditions in the 1940s–50s to create the distinct Caleña salsa style that now defines the city's global reputation.