Day 71, 72 and 73 - Some culinary delights, Cerro de las Trés Cruces and the drive to Bogotá

Day 71 - Thursday 1.12.2022
The Colombian Dürum that the locals call Arepas

We started the day very comfortably again: a balanced breakfast in the late morning followed by a looong walk through the beautiful old town of Cali. The Colombian salsa capital is well developed for cyclists and pedestrians and offers many beautiful paths to the countless green areas, bars and restaurants. We took some casual photos of the extraordinary architectural highlights until the rain forced us under a protective roof once again. We did some shopping to be well prepared for our flights to Fiji. 
In the evening, we went to a restaurant recommended by our good friend Magdalena. It was a simple but very authentic Colombian place. Once again, we had to prove our Spanish skills, or rather we only partly knew what would be served on our Arepas. We also ordered a 3-liter jug of juice, where we could only guess what we would be served. We were pleasantly surprised by the Arepas, as well as the slightly sour drink. After that, we went to a café to satisfy our craving for something sweet. After a cappuccino and a huge piece of cake, we struggled with "explosive" sensations. With great effort, we dragged our slightly overfilled bodies to the apartment and spent the rest of the evening on our rooftop terrace.

Day 72 - Friday 02.12.2022
Hike to Trés Cruces

Today we had a small hike planned to the nearby mountain. The hill with the name Cerro de las Trés Cruces overlooks the city and once it gets dark, we can see the three crosses, which were placed at the highest point in 1937, perfectly from our rooftop terrace. 
With several options to reach the summit, we had to decide on a route. We chose the Bataclan path. We started directly from our accommodation, as Maps.me showed only 1 1/2 hours to the summit. It was the shortest and fastest way to reach the top, but also the steepest and most arduous option. However, being from Austria, we are used to steep mountains, we thought. After the first 900 steps, we were already out of breath, a rhinoceros would have been jealous of our snorting nostrils. Once we left the stairs behind us, we had to do some climbing to continue. Despite all the effort, the ascent was beautiful and we had almost perfect views throughout. 
Finally, when we arrived at the crosses, we were surprised to find a small church and even a gym. Of course, we still pumped up our muscles, but then we were once again forced under a roof by a heavy rain. We waited for the worst to pass and ventured back down after about an hour. We made it back to the city without any major problems, did some shopping and went to the Airbnb. We both knew that a little muscle soreness awaited us the next day.
In the evening, we applied for our work visa for New Zealand, as we want to improve our travel budget there. After that, we treated ourselves to our last beer and enjoyed the absolutely amazing rooftop terrace one last time.

Day 83 - Saturday 03.12.2022
One last day in Cali

We wanted to enjoy the culinary highlights of Cali one last time, so we went to a restaurant for breakfast that had caught our attention over the past few days. We were the first guests and had to wait a bit for the chef to arrive at his booth, typically Colombian. The wait was definitely worth it, the chef was extremely friendly and the food was super delicious. 
After that, it was time to pack since we had to check out of the apartment at 12:00. The cleaning lady knocked right at twelve and explained to us where we could store our luggage. We had booked an overnight bus to Bogotá, as it would be almost a 12-hour journey. So we had to bridge the rest of the day until departure at 9:00 p.m. We strolled through the city until Manfred insisted on wanting to watch the current World Cup match. We found a very appealing restaurant with big screens and treated ourselves to a rather pompous lunch there. We wanted to fully enjoy our last day in the city. After this culinary highlight, we strolled around a bit until evening. We picked up our things and went to the bus station. One thing we had completely forgotten when we boarded our bus: our sweaters, which turned out to be a really bad decision. The vehicle was air-conditioned to what felt like 10 degrees Celsius, and we froze for half of the journey, although it was surprisingly comfortable.