Part 2:
The nighttime Rumba is fantastic for taking girls out and having a good time. Meeting girls at night is somewhat more difficult due to the 100% mixed sets. From what was explained to me and from the fights I’ve witnessed, Colombian guys are possessive and jealous. I wouldn’t risk AMOG game here and try to steal girls from guys. Remember, life is cheap here - this includes yours. I don’t recall encountering pros or even semi-pros in Cali. If I did encounter them, I didn’t realize it. For that stuff girls go work in brothels. What I did encounter was guys with stunningly hot girls which were paid for. Also, if your Spanish not strong, you won’t be able to understand at clubs when they’re blasting music. I can speak at an low intermediate level but my listening sucks. I cannot understand anything inside clubs.
If you pay attention, you can get a feeling of what kind of clients a club caters to. There are several categories. From Sunday through Thursday, places in Cali close at 1. There’s a neighborhood in the north called Menga which is just outside of Cali which is great for after parties since the places there close at 5 AM every day. The main parties go on during Fridays and Saturdays. Again, everywhere you go, the near 100% mixed sets rule applies.
Mini bars - these places usually do not serve any food. You’ll find them all over Cali. They are little shops with a small bar and a cooler for beer. Outside you will have a few tables with plastic chairs and a TV or 2 playing soccer. These are great for hanging out with friends.
Small indoor bars - these have small dance floors and have no cover charge or a “consumibles” fee of up to 10,000 pesos which go toward drinks. These can get unbelievably packed. There will be no room for fancy dancing. La Topa Tolondra is usually packed and has no cover charge and is just south of Rio Cali. Only locals frequent this place. Tin Tin Deo has a 10K consumibles charge and has more tourists since it’s a famous salsa club - go on Thursday night.
Large Outdoor Bars - these are open air establishments. My favorite ones are Cafe Mi Terra in the Menga neighborhood in the north - my default afterparty spot. Las Brisas en Jamundi is in the far south and is great on Mondays.
Large clubs/discos - there is usually lots of seating in these places for large groups of people. During Friday and Saturday nights, the dance floor usually isn’t big enough since most of the floor area is for tables. Table service is expected everywhere you go, and is not absurdly expensive the way it is in NYC. See Roosh’s book for pricing information. Compared to clubs in NYC, the clubs in Cali are very laid back and more casual. They welcome you. No dress code. There are no dumb lines with dick bouncers when the places are half empty inside. There are a few very large clubs in the Menga district - Jala and Favela are very nice on Saturday. Favela is huge, very modern, has multiple levels with a central atrium. The lighting they have in there is crazy good and the lasers are strong - probably illegally by US standards - otherwise, places like Webster Hall or Pascha would have better.
In places with cover charges of 15,000 pesos, the environment is a lot nicer, and so is the quality of girls you will meet. You will also encounter narcos or drug lords partying in these places too. The most ridiculous sight I’ve seen while out partying so far is 1 man at a table with 7 hot girls - all of them with butt and breast implants. Needless to say I did not approach the gangsta’s girls.
Overall, the nightlife is geared toward groups of people. Everyone can dance Salsa at a basic level. I find going out in Cali to be more fun than going out in NYC. There’s just a friendlier more chill vibe, with a focus on the group and the people that you’re with. Although people here have smartphones, it’s rare to see them out. At any given time, maybe 0-5% of people are staring at their phones. Having had the good fortune of growing up during a time before phones, it really seems pitiful to me when I go to a club in NYC and I see so many people using phones as a social crutch while utterly failing to enjoy the moment and to get outside of their heads.
Music - This topic is something that is very special to me. Learning how to dance salsa changed my life. I’ve danced all over the US, in the Caribbean, and in Colombia. Cali is known as the capital of salsa, and for what it has to offer as an overall package, I agree. It is possibly the only city in the world where Salsa is the undisputed heavyweight champion of music and entertainment. The salsa force here is strong. If the music or dancing (or both) is something you enjoy, I highly recommend Cali. If it’s something that you’re curious about, I recommend taking some classes here and trying it out. Salsa is everywhere and for everyone. The cab drivers blast it in their car, you have nightclubs dedicated entirely to salsa music, there’s a disco called Salsa (I wonder what they play inside), they play it in the supermarkets where occasionally live bands will play (yes, in the supermarket next to the veggies). At crossover bars, they play a mix of latin music and 50% of it will be salsa. For a lover of the music like myself, I think that Cali has the best salsa I’ve heard anywhere in the world. From really old tunes from way back in the day to the newest salsa (from anywhere in the world), you will hear them. The mixes here are incredible and many DJs are lifelong salsa aficionados who really understand the music. I compare them to a disastrous salsa DJ from Shanghai I heard once and it makes me laugh. In the crossover bars, they also play a really good mix of cha cha, cumbia, vallenato, and other Latin music. When I wasn’t dancing, I found myself singing at the top of my lungs to amazing songs I haven’t heard in 15 years, such as Selena’s Amor Prohibido or Shakira’s earlier hits. I also had the opportunity to see one local band play and it was fantastic. In NYC, you will find a crowd mostly 40+ at live salsa performances. In Colombia, it’s a much better mix of young and old.
Dancing - A basic level of dancing is something that I would consider a prerequisite for maximizing the nightlife fun in Cali. Although everyone can dance a basic level of salsa here, the overall level of dancing is very low. You have trained professional dancers which are amazing, and you have the general population. Although most people have danced all their lives, they usually have not taken any classes, and have never progressed beyond a few basic steps. They dance the basic basics every song, every night, week after week, year after year, for their entire lives. This is great for most non-dancing Americans because anyone who takes regular salsa classes for 1 year will be way better than the average person in Cali. There are many styles of salsa. For Cali, it’s best to take Salsa Calena (Cali Style Salsa) - you can look this up on youtube and you will notice the fast and furious footwork, and not much spinning for the girls. General Colombian Style salsa is very similar to Salsa Calena, with less crazy footwork. These two are your best bet if you want to prepare before you come to Cali, which I recommend. Unfortunately, outside of New Jersey and NYC, I can’t think of a place with a large enough Colombian population to sustain it. In NYC, Piel Canela offers it - http://pielcaneladancers.com/classschedu...ton=Search
In New Jersey, I can think of two places - Baila Conmigo Dance Studio in West New York, NJ - Johana vasquez 201-923-4689 6009 Bergenline Ave. W N Y, NJ 07093 [email protected].
She is the girl in this video and she has some serious credentials - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv_f7hsheFE
The other place in NJ is in Linden - http://otto-show.com/
I know Salsa Calena is taught in London as well.
If you cannot find Colombian salsa, your best bet would be Los Angeles/LA/On 1 salsa. The timing and footwork of On 1 salsa is the same as salsa Calena, and girls will be able to follow you. You won’t need more than the first few basic moves you learn in the first few weeks of classes for Cali because the average girls there won’t be able to follow it. There is no limit to how much rhythm you can develop, so if you enjoy it, you might as well keep going. Otherwise, 6 months will be enough to make your trip very enjoyable during the nighttime salsa in Cali. In NYC, we mostly dance On 2, which is on a different timing. For Cali, I wouldn’t recommend it. There are a few other styles I’m aware of - Cuban, Miami Casino, Rueda - I have no experience with these and therefore do not know how the timing works compared to salsa Calena. Keep in mind, getting any dance experience is better than going to Cali cold and learning it there. Learning any style of salsa will force you to learn timing and how to count, and familiarize you with the music.
The professionals here are incredible. They take things very seriously. The schools are geared toward routines and winning competitions. Calena style salsa is focused on fast and furious footwork. I’ve made friends with a few professionals and would love to meet more, but they usually don’t go out to clubs for dancing - it’s boring for them since so few people dance at a high level. At times, I feel the same way. In NYC, we have socials every night of the week where I can find good music and moderate to high level dancers all gathered for the sole purpose of social dancing, practicing, and improving. I haven’t found that in Cali. Sometimes, an incredible song comes on and I want to bust out dancing, but I am by far the highest level salsa dancer in the club, and I wind up doing basics with a girl for the entire song since she can barely do a single turn. So, I listen to the best Salsa music night after night, but unless I go out with professionals, I find myself wishing people danced at a higher level - for me, this is perhaps the only drawback of Cali nightlife.
Safety and Driving - You can find all over the internet information about safety in Colombia. Other information I think would be useful to tourists pertain to buses, taxis, and driving. I already talked a bit about the insane bus driver. I would like to further emphasize how insane it is to take buses in Colombia - especially the overnight buses that go from one town to another while traveling over mountains. I wanted to visit a town close to Medellin called Santa Fe. Since it was so close, the only option was to take a bus. Unfortunately, I missed the stop at Santa Fe, and continued up high into the mountains to lord knows where. It is scary up there - there is no infrastructure. If your bus breaks down, no one will come to help for a long time. The roads are usually only 2 narrow lanes and buses come within inches of each other. Rockslides and mudslides which block roads are common, especially when it rains. There are no guardrails to prevent you from falling off the mountain. The bus drivers think they are starring in an episode of Fast and Furious: Colombia. We were so close to the edge of the mountain that the rocks kicked up by the tires fell over the edge. I was very scared. On top of all this insanity, our bus broke down - buses are not well maintained. http://uk.news.yahoo.com/colombia-bus-cr...54304.html
At night, it’s even more dangerous because there are no lights! If things go wrong, you die.
I drive in NYC and I battle the entire fleet of yellow taxis, messengers on bicycles, and hordes of pedestrians without a problem. I consider myself a skilled driver, but I would never consider driving in Cali, especially at night. I may be repeating myself, but.. it’s insane! Life is cheaper and less valued. There are many many more scooters on the road that you have to contend with. People on scooters and bicycles attempt suicide squeezes all the time and it’s not like in the US where fear of lawsuits will make drivers hold back. In Cali, we get collisions. I saw my first corpse outside of a funeral home in Cali. The guy was lying in a pool of his own blood in the street next to his wrecked motorcycle with a jacket draped over him.
At night, the driving insanity reaches a new level. There are less cars and pedestrians on the road, but traffic lights stop mattering and every intersection becomes a crossroads between life and death. I take cabs at night, and they go fast. When they approach a red light, they do not stop or slow down. They honk twice, and blast right through it at full speed. Cab drivers moving perpendicular to you have the right of way so they do not stop either. The strategy is “I hope I do not collide.” On some roads, there are arrows on the ground which indicate flow of traffic. The first time a cab driver went against these arrows at night, I thought to myself WTF and I asked him what he was doing. He and 10 other cab drivers have tried explaining the system to me, but I still don’t get it fully... something about flecha no importa.. O_o.... From what I am able to understand, the arrows on the ground and one-way streets no longer matter at night anywhere.
If you are a pedestrian, be careful. You do not have the right of way. You will get run over. People will not stop. I haven’t seen anyone dumb enough to cross a street while texting. Doing so will get you killed.
People and Culture - I read some of the threads about DR and how things can be very screwed up with people trying to cheat hustle and steal from you all the time. I haven’t experienced anything like that here in Cali. It probably also has something to do with the people I hang out with - younger, middle-class, early to mid-20’s college educated, english-speaking folks with jobs/careers. I’ve always felt very welcome here and making friends has been very easy. The Caleno culture is just something that I resonate with - I can be my true self without holding back and it’s ok. I found people in general to be very helpful, friendly, curious, and more patient. For example, when I was at a University cafeteria, I was confused about what the server was trying to say to me. I had never encountered “blanquillos” before (white beans). The guy in front of me helped with the translation, and we wound up having an hour lunch together chatting and exchanging information about Colombian and American culture. It’s something that just happened spontaneously without any effort on my part. This is just one example of something that would never happen in NYC without me being being the initiator in my social mode. When it comes to friendliness, NYC is a cold and unwelcoming place. When I first started my PUA/social training, it felt like I was climbing up a mountain. Even after achieving proficiency, going out and being awesome still feels like something I have to flip a switch and turn on, and although it is vastly easier than when I first started out, there is still work involved and I have to exert a degree of mental effort - especially at the start of a night. Despite all my social awareness and understanding, this is something I have not quite been able to grasp yet. In Cali, being friendly, social, and awesome just happens naturally for me. I am always on. I make friends and meet women effortlessly. Despite years of training and practice, in NYC it still feels very subtly like I am doing something against the social grain when I go into awesome mode. I read the reports of other travelers and here and there I get a sense that things are just more easy and natural outside the USA. For me, Cali is one of those places - I just don’t fully understand why yet.
Cali Overall - with the information provided above, I’ve done my best to convey to the Roosh peeps what Cali is really like. It’s information I would have liked to have available before I began my world travels. It would have been a damn shame to have had to travel the entire world while missing this place. Fortunately for me, I found my paradise quite easily. If it wasn’t for family ties, I would move to Cali. For now, I am happy to have my special little city in this big world.
Final Thoughts - The Game by Neil Strauss first came out in late 2005. The cast of characters in the book are what I consider the pioneers or our first generation - I would group Roosh in this same category. Having discovered the game in 2006 and having trained under those cast of characters, I consider myself 2nd generation - and I certainly feel like an old dog compared to today’s youngsters. I put in my foundation field work early and contributed in other forums until I felt I had nothing more to add and went quiet. For several years now, I’ve been a lurker on the Manosphere sites - they are hugely entertaining reads. I’ve been on the down low doing my own thing for the past several years and this Cali Datasheet is one of the only 2 things I can think of that hasn’t already been said.
The second would be my thoughts on a subject that is starting to gain traction. Bits and pieces are mentioned here and there in the Manosphere, but I don’t recall having read a synthesized and compiled post on a subject I’d like to call “the complete male package.” I’m only writing this because it is information I would have liked to have had when I was younger, for the purpose of planning life goals. It’s always better to have guidance instead of stumbling onto stuff accidentally and having it work out.
After having accomplished some very meaningful life goals, I have come to deeply appreciate the power of CANI - the Japanese management concept of Continuous and Never-ending Improvement - especially when it is applied to many areas of a man’s life simultaneously over a long period of time. As with many things, it is great to have youth on your side when you start your journey of self development. I am almost 30. After having observed many men, it is obvious that something happens around age 40. Compared to 30 and 20 year olds, they have much less energy. The blazing determined energy I had when I first started 6 years ago which drove me to become successful with women and enabled me to push past failure night after night, is still with me. I feel like a super saiyan - only that energy is directed towards different life goals now. I carefully observe men 40+, and although there are definitely super awesome men out there, it is undeniable that they have less of the youthful energy which I still have in abundance. The ones that are awesome at 40 are awesome because they built an awesome life for themselves in their youth, and can coast off the fruits of their labor. I started out as a beta at 23 years old and it was difficult to undo 23 years of social conditioning. I can’t imagine what it must be like for a person who is 40 or 50 to discover red pill wisdom after a lifetime of living as a beta. Not only are they battling many more years of social conditioning and ingrained mental patterns, they are physiologically at a disadvantage and simply have less energy available to expend on whatever areas of self development they choose. With youth, men are able to tackle many more things simultaneously, and have the advantage of time working with them. For example, a person that plants good financial seeds at the age of 20 will likely have a fully grown fruit producing tree by the age of 40 that they will be able to enjoy for the rest of their life with much of their youth intact. A man trying to plan the same seed at 40 will only get to enjoy the full harvest at 60 when he’s old. With this in mind, I would like to encourage anyone reading to start working on becoming “the complete package,” as soon as possible, and not just for getting women. That can be a huge motivating factor but it’s not everything. There’s something magical about a man who has fearlessly lived a full, focused life of your own choosing and making. Contrast this with a man who has worked all his life at a job he hates only to secure a pension that he will be able to utilize only after he is old (municipal city workers come to mind). Their souls have been destroyed. You can see it in their eyes and in the way they carry themselves - they are old, tired, and lifeless. Don’t be these dudes - be the complete package.
So, what is a male with the complete package? For me, it is a male that has maximized his potential in the following 4 areas of life - Health, Wealth, Relationships, and Self-Actualization. A male who starts working on these areas simultaneously while very young (17-18 years), will be superhuman by the time he’s in his 30s compared with the average males in the world.
Maximizing Health - eating right, sleeping enough, not abusing drugs or alcohol - these are baseline standards which need to be maintained throughout life. The development aspect would come from working out, stretching, cardio, and general exercising continuously over a lifetime to develop the physique you want and to minimize the loss of flexibility (by stretching) that comes with age. For me, gaining muscle mass the first time around was very difficult. It has been far easier to maintain or regain previously existing muscle mass than developing it for the first time. I started lifting at 18. It was very nice to have achieved my peak form at 22. Although I haven’t been there for many years, I was able to establish a baseline physique that never goes below a certain level, which is still above average - I’ve been coasting on the work I put in 12 years ago when I had the time to lift almost every day (in college).
Maximizing Wealth - I found the book The Millionaire Fastlane to be very helpful for setting financial goals. I’ll summarize it briefly:
The Sidewalk - people on the sidewalk are going nowhere financially. They are drowning in debt, and will stay that way forever. Financial abundance will forever elude them. They work at a job they don’t like and struggle pay off the debt they obtained from buying things (that won’t make them happy) in an attempt to impress people that don’t care about them. Do not be one of these people.
The Slowlane - people who do not make financially irresponsible decisions the way the Sidewalkers do. They can be middle to upper class and usually work at a job or have their own business. They can usually save money. They cannot stop working for long time without a decrease in their quality of life. They are chained to their work and if the income stops, they are unable to maintain their way of life/spending levels without interruption. People can do quite well at this level. I’m at this level. I can go on vacation for a few weeks and have plenty of money to spend. I cannot however, quit my job and travel indefinitely.
The Fastlane - people on this path are on their way to financial freedom either through passive income or by earning large lump sums of cash (not possible by working at a regular job). The ultimate goal is to have enough money to sustain your way of living without requiring much of your time, which frees you to do everything else.
My boss currently makes $250-$500K/yr. He cannot stop. He has a wife that doesn’t work, 3 kids on their way to college, a mortgage, etc. His income passivity is at 0. Despite the large amount he pulls in every year, he cannot stop and is firmly in the slowlane. If I can manage to net $50K a year with very little of my time, it’ll be enough to free me to accomplish all of my life goals while having enough money to spend. Whatever your financial goals are. you want it to be in the fastlane. Everyone needs fastlane wealth. It does not come easily and can be elusive just like red pill wisdom. Going to college and then getting a 9 to 5 job will not lead you there. It is best to start working on this early while you are young - read the book for more details.
Maximizing Relationships - Develop and maintain good relationships with family and friends of your own choosing. People that genuinely care about you in life are very rare. Even if I had the opportunity to constantly bang the hottest girls on the planet, my life would feel very empty without loving friends and family to share it with. In this area I would also place your relationships with women in whatever form you choose to have them (wife, girlfriend, harem, f-buddies, one night stands). If you’re not satisfied with your love life, freakin go out there and work on it by approaching. Use the Roosh Program - http://www.rooshv.com/the-roosh-program. The importance of getting this aspect of your life handled cannot be understated. As men, we are constantly distracted by the testosterone in our body which causes us to want to get with girls constantly. If you don’t get to a level where your sex life is acceptable to you, it will be a constant distraction as you try to work on other goals. Get this over with, especially if you are young. I started at 23 and peaked at 26. I’ve been coasting since then. I am not at my peak form, but I elevated my game years ago to a level that is satisfactory, and although I may not be super saiyan alpha, I will never fall back into beta mode. Even if I do regress a bit more than I want (while focusing on financial goals for example), I know exactly what to do to get back up to peak form since I’ve put in the work already! The second time around will be a lot easier. You don’t want to be 40 or 50 and running around approaching all night - it’s exhausting mentally and physically. Your ego takes a massive beating. Thank goodness I did it when I was young. The benefits of getting your Game handled are innumerable - inner and outer confidence, social awareness, social calibration, easier to make friends and deal with people, ability to handle male competition, realizing that rejection is nothing, developing an abundance mentality, developing resistance to women gaining power over you, and lest I forget - HOT ASS of your own choosing!
Self Actualization - this would include hobbies, travel, cooking, martial arts, and whatever else you can think of for yourself that you can see yourself doing that would not fall into the categories above. For me, it’s latin dancing, world travel, and learning Spanish. Again, it’s better to start young. I’ve been dancing for 6 years now. I’ve developed a very good and smooth rhythm that only comes with lots of practice. It cannot be faked, and cannot be obtained in a short period of time. I feel bad for people who discover dancing for the first time at 40+. For both men and women, the body is noticeably less fluid and flexible at that age compared to a person in their early 20s. The body motion I have been able to develop is something that will stay with me for life. I look at dancers that started dancing in their youth and who still have the body movement in their 50s. People who start dancing at 40+ however, cannot develop it no matter how hard they try. It is impossible. You can start young and continue to be an amazing salsa dancer all your life. You can’t start at 40 and ever hope to compete with someone who started when they were 20. Dancing is only one example. Whatever you want to do or become, don’t wait - start now so that youth will be on your side.
I was lucky enough to unconsciously be doing all of these things at once throughout my 20s. I’m not trying to toot my own horn here, but I want to give an example of what is possible with CANI (Continuous and never-ending improvement) in all these areas of life. I take a trip to Colombia. I am young, and have done well in the health department - I am in shape and have muscular definition which surpasses most of my male competition here. I feel fantastic having never touched drugs or alcohol. Because I worked out, I wear clothing which flatters my form. Colombianas, which are more direct, give me compliments such as “lindo, guapo, y hermoso”. I caught up on my cardio before my trip so that I would be able to handle dancing furious salsa Calena. My wealth is in check - no debt at all. If I wanted to, I could quit my job and last a long time (though not indefinitely). Money is not a concern at all with a job to go back to. I can afford to buy people beers and be generous (not at stupid da papaya levels), which makes me stand out greatly from broke hippe tourists and relatively poorer Colombian males. If I wanted to, I could take girls out to a nice restaurant every night for weeks on end and bring her back to a nice house which I’ve rented. In a society where survival and material needs are a concern (unlike the USA), provider attraction switches would definitely be flipped. My relationships are not an issue at all. I am happy and fulfilled with the relationship I have with my family and close circle of friends. I did my PUA training long ago and have long since become a sexually confident, aware, non-needy, and socially calibrated man with Charisma, who is not afraid to approach, lead and seal the deal every step of the way from beginning to end with women. Like Roosh, if I happen to come across a culture that is different than what I am used to, I am not afraid. I know how to put in the work necessary to attract the women. Self-actualization - I’ve traveled the world - I count over 2 dozen major cities in a dozen countries. I have a wealth of rich travel experiences and stories to share. I’ve been studying latin dancing for years - it is something that I am genuinely passionate about, and it was not something I did just to impress or meet girls. Over time, I’ve developed the ability to make girls feel very special and look very good on the dance floor - this is something
The nighttime Rumba is fantastic for taking girls out and having a good time. Meeting girls at night is somewhat more difficult due to the 100% mixed sets. From what was explained to me and from the fights I’ve witnessed, Colombian guys are possessive and jealous. I wouldn’t risk AMOG game here and try to steal girls from guys. Remember, life is cheap here - this includes yours. I don’t recall encountering pros or even semi-pros in Cali. If I did encounter them, I didn’t realize it. For that stuff girls go work in brothels. What I did encounter was guys with stunningly hot girls which were paid for. Also, if your Spanish not strong, you won’t be able to understand at clubs when they’re blasting music. I can speak at an low intermediate level but my listening sucks. I cannot understand anything inside clubs.
If you pay attention, you can get a feeling of what kind of clients a club caters to. There are several categories. From Sunday through Thursday, places in Cali close at 1. There’s a neighborhood in the north called Menga which is just outside of Cali which is great for after parties since the places there close at 5 AM every day. The main parties go on during Fridays and Saturdays. Again, everywhere you go, the near 100% mixed sets rule applies.
Mini bars - these places usually do not serve any food. You’ll find them all over Cali. They are little shops with a small bar and a cooler for beer. Outside you will have a few tables with plastic chairs and a TV or 2 playing soccer. These are great for hanging out with friends.
Small indoor bars - these have small dance floors and have no cover charge or a “consumibles” fee of up to 10,000 pesos which go toward drinks. These can get unbelievably packed. There will be no room for fancy dancing. La Topa Tolondra is usually packed and has no cover charge and is just south of Rio Cali. Only locals frequent this place. Tin Tin Deo has a 10K consumibles charge and has more tourists since it’s a famous salsa club - go on Thursday night.
Large Outdoor Bars - these are open air establishments. My favorite ones are Cafe Mi Terra in the Menga neighborhood in the north - my default afterparty spot. Las Brisas en Jamundi is in the far south and is great on Mondays.
Large clubs/discos - there is usually lots of seating in these places for large groups of people. During Friday and Saturday nights, the dance floor usually isn’t big enough since most of the floor area is for tables. Table service is expected everywhere you go, and is not absurdly expensive the way it is in NYC. See Roosh’s book for pricing information. Compared to clubs in NYC, the clubs in Cali are very laid back and more casual. They welcome you. No dress code. There are no dumb lines with dick bouncers when the places are half empty inside. There are a few very large clubs in the Menga district - Jala and Favela are very nice on Saturday. Favela is huge, very modern, has multiple levels with a central atrium. The lighting they have in there is crazy good and the lasers are strong - probably illegally by US standards - otherwise, places like Webster Hall or Pascha would have better.
In places with cover charges of 15,000 pesos, the environment is a lot nicer, and so is the quality of girls you will meet. You will also encounter narcos or drug lords partying in these places too. The most ridiculous sight I’ve seen while out partying so far is 1 man at a table with 7 hot girls - all of them with butt and breast implants. Needless to say I did not approach the gangsta’s girls.
Overall, the nightlife is geared toward groups of people. Everyone can dance Salsa at a basic level. I find going out in Cali to be more fun than going out in NYC. There’s just a friendlier more chill vibe, with a focus on the group and the people that you’re with. Although people here have smartphones, it’s rare to see them out. At any given time, maybe 0-5% of people are staring at their phones. Having had the good fortune of growing up during a time before phones, it really seems pitiful to me when I go to a club in NYC and I see so many people using phones as a social crutch while utterly failing to enjoy the moment and to get outside of their heads.
Music - This topic is something that is very special to me. Learning how to dance salsa changed my life. I’ve danced all over the US, in the Caribbean, and in Colombia. Cali is known as the capital of salsa, and for what it has to offer as an overall package, I agree. It is possibly the only city in the world where Salsa is the undisputed heavyweight champion of music and entertainment. The salsa force here is strong. If the music or dancing (or both) is something you enjoy, I highly recommend Cali. If it’s something that you’re curious about, I recommend taking some classes here and trying it out. Salsa is everywhere and for everyone. The cab drivers blast it in their car, you have nightclubs dedicated entirely to salsa music, there’s a disco called Salsa (I wonder what they play inside), they play it in the supermarkets where occasionally live bands will play (yes, in the supermarket next to the veggies). At crossover bars, they play a mix of latin music and 50% of it will be salsa. For a lover of the music like myself, I think that Cali has the best salsa I’ve heard anywhere in the world. From really old tunes from way back in the day to the newest salsa (from anywhere in the world), you will hear them. The mixes here are incredible and many DJs are lifelong salsa aficionados who really understand the music. I compare them to a disastrous salsa DJ from Shanghai I heard once and it makes me laugh. In the crossover bars, they also play a really good mix of cha cha, cumbia, vallenato, and other Latin music. When I wasn’t dancing, I found myself singing at the top of my lungs to amazing songs I haven’t heard in 15 years, such as Selena’s Amor Prohibido or Shakira’s earlier hits. I also had the opportunity to see one local band play and it was fantastic. In NYC, you will find a crowd mostly 40+ at live salsa performances. In Colombia, it’s a much better mix of young and old.
Dancing - A basic level of dancing is something that I would consider a prerequisite for maximizing the nightlife fun in Cali. Although everyone can dance a basic level of salsa here, the overall level of dancing is very low. You have trained professional dancers which are amazing, and you have the general population. Although most people have danced all their lives, they usually have not taken any classes, and have never progressed beyond a few basic steps. They dance the basic basics every song, every night, week after week, year after year, for their entire lives. This is great for most non-dancing Americans because anyone who takes regular salsa classes for 1 year will be way better than the average person in Cali. There are many styles of salsa. For Cali, it’s best to take Salsa Calena (Cali Style Salsa) - you can look this up on youtube and you will notice the fast and furious footwork, and not much spinning for the girls. General Colombian Style salsa is very similar to Salsa Calena, with less crazy footwork. These two are your best bet if you want to prepare before you come to Cali, which I recommend. Unfortunately, outside of New Jersey and NYC, I can’t think of a place with a large enough Colombian population to sustain it. In NYC, Piel Canela offers it - http://pielcaneladancers.com/classschedu...ton=Search
In New Jersey, I can think of two places - Baila Conmigo Dance Studio in West New York, NJ - Johana vasquez 201-923-4689 6009 Bergenline Ave. W N Y, NJ 07093 [email protected].
She is the girl in this video and she has some serious credentials - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv_f7hsheFE
The other place in NJ is in Linden - http://otto-show.com/
I know Salsa Calena is taught in London as well.
If you cannot find Colombian salsa, your best bet would be Los Angeles/LA/On 1 salsa. The timing and footwork of On 1 salsa is the same as salsa Calena, and girls will be able to follow you. You won’t need more than the first few basic moves you learn in the first few weeks of classes for Cali because the average girls there won’t be able to follow it. There is no limit to how much rhythm you can develop, so if you enjoy it, you might as well keep going. Otherwise, 6 months will be enough to make your trip very enjoyable during the nighttime salsa in Cali. In NYC, we mostly dance On 2, which is on a different timing. For Cali, I wouldn’t recommend it. There are a few other styles I’m aware of - Cuban, Miami Casino, Rueda - I have no experience with these and therefore do not know how the timing works compared to salsa Calena. Keep in mind, getting any dance experience is better than going to Cali cold and learning it there. Learning any style of salsa will force you to learn timing and how to count, and familiarize you with the music.
The professionals here are incredible. They take things very seriously. The schools are geared toward routines and winning competitions. Calena style salsa is focused on fast and furious footwork. I’ve made friends with a few professionals and would love to meet more, but they usually don’t go out to clubs for dancing - it’s boring for them since so few people dance at a high level. At times, I feel the same way. In NYC, we have socials every night of the week where I can find good music and moderate to high level dancers all gathered for the sole purpose of social dancing, practicing, and improving. I haven’t found that in Cali. Sometimes, an incredible song comes on and I want to bust out dancing, but I am by far the highest level salsa dancer in the club, and I wind up doing basics with a girl for the entire song since she can barely do a single turn. So, I listen to the best Salsa music night after night, but unless I go out with professionals, I find myself wishing people danced at a higher level - for me, this is perhaps the only drawback of Cali nightlife.
Safety and Driving - You can find all over the internet information about safety in Colombia. Other information I think would be useful to tourists pertain to buses, taxis, and driving. I already talked a bit about the insane bus driver. I would like to further emphasize how insane it is to take buses in Colombia - especially the overnight buses that go from one town to another while traveling over mountains. I wanted to visit a town close to Medellin called Santa Fe. Since it was so close, the only option was to take a bus. Unfortunately, I missed the stop at Santa Fe, and continued up high into the mountains to lord knows where. It is scary up there - there is no infrastructure. If your bus breaks down, no one will come to help for a long time. The roads are usually only 2 narrow lanes and buses come within inches of each other. Rockslides and mudslides which block roads are common, especially when it rains. There are no guardrails to prevent you from falling off the mountain. The bus drivers think they are starring in an episode of Fast and Furious: Colombia. We were so close to the edge of the mountain that the rocks kicked up by the tires fell over the edge. I was very scared. On top of all this insanity, our bus broke down - buses are not well maintained. http://uk.news.yahoo.com/colombia-bus-cr...54304.html
At night, it’s even more dangerous because there are no lights! If things go wrong, you die.
I drive in NYC and I battle the entire fleet of yellow taxis, messengers on bicycles, and hordes of pedestrians without a problem. I consider myself a skilled driver, but I would never consider driving in Cali, especially at night. I may be repeating myself, but.. it’s insane! Life is cheaper and less valued. There are many many more scooters on the road that you have to contend with. People on scooters and bicycles attempt suicide squeezes all the time and it’s not like in the US where fear of lawsuits will make drivers hold back. In Cali, we get collisions. I saw my first corpse outside of a funeral home in Cali. The guy was lying in a pool of his own blood in the street next to his wrecked motorcycle with a jacket draped over him.
At night, the driving insanity reaches a new level. There are less cars and pedestrians on the road, but traffic lights stop mattering and every intersection becomes a crossroads between life and death. I take cabs at night, and they go fast. When they approach a red light, they do not stop or slow down. They honk twice, and blast right through it at full speed. Cab drivers moving perpendicular to you have the right of way so they do not stop either. The strategy is “I hope I do not collide.” On some roads, there are arrows on the ground which indicate flow of traffic. The first time a cab driver went against these arrows at night, I thought to myself WTF and I asked him what he was doing. He and 10 other cab drivers have tried explaining the system to me, but I still don’t get it fully... something about flecha no importa.. O_o.... From what I am able to understand, the arrows on the ground and one-way streets no longer matter at night anywhere.
If you are a pedestrian, be careful. You do not have the right of way. You will get run over. People will not stop. I haven’t seen anyone dumb enough to cross a street while texting. Doing so will get you killed.
People and Culture - I read some of the threads about DR and how things can be very screwed up with people trying to cheat hustle and steal from you all the time. I haven’t experienced anything like that here in Cali. It probably also has something to do with the people I hang out with - younger, middle-class, early to mid-20’s college educated, english-speaking folks with jobs/careers. I’ve always felt very welcome here and making friends has been very easy. The Caleno culture is just something that I resonate with - I can be my true self without holding back and it’s ok. I found people in general to be very helpful, friendly, curious, and more patient. For example, when I was at a University cafeteria, I was confused about what the server was trying to say to me. I had never encountered “blanquillos” before (white beans). The guy in front of me helped with the translation, and we wound up having an hour lunch together chatting and exchanging information about Colombian and American culture. It’s something that just happened spontaneously without any effort on my part. This is just one example of something that would never happen in NYC without me being being the initiator in my social mode. When it comes to friendliness, NYC is a cold and unwelcoming place. When I first started my PUA/social training, it felt like I was climbing up a mountain. Even after achieving proficiency, going out and being awesome still feels like something I have to flip a switch and turn on, and although it is vastly easier than when I first started out, there is still work involved and I have to exert a degree of mental effort - especially at the start of a night. Despite all my social awareness and understanding, this is something I have not quite been able to grasp yet. In Cali, being friendly, social, and awesome just happens naturally for me. I am always on. I make friends and meet women effortlessly. Despite years of training and practice, in NYC it still feels very subtly like I am doing something against the social grain when I go into awesome mode. I read the reports of other travelers and here and there I get a sense that things are just more easy and natural outside the USA. For me, Cali is one of those places - I just don’t fully understand why yet.
Cali Overall - with the information provided above, I’ve done my best to convey to the Roosh peeps what Cali is really like. It’s information I would have liked to have available before I began my world travels. It would have been a damn shame to have had to travel the entire world while missing this place. Fortunately for me, I found my paradise quite easily. If it wasn’t for family ties, I would move to Cali. For now, I am happy to have my special little city in this big world.
Final Thoughts - The Game by Neil Strauss first came out in late 2005. The cast of characters in the book are what I consider the pioneers or our first generation - I would group Roosh in this same category. Having discovered the game in 2006 and having trained under those cast of characters, I consider myself 2nd generation - and I certainly feel like an old dog compared to today’s youngsters. I put in my foundation field work early and contributed in other forums until I felt I had nothing more to add and went quiet. For several years now, I’ve been a lurker on the Manosphere sites - they are hugely entertaining reads. I’ve been on the down low doing my own thing for the past several years and this Cali Datasheet is one of the only 2 things I can think of that hasn’t already been said.
The second would be my thoughts on a subject that is starting to gain traction. Bits and pieces are mentioned here and there in the Manosphere, but I don’t recall having read a synthesized and compiled post on a subject I’d like to call “the complete male package.” I’m only writing this because it is information I would have liked to have had when I was younger, for the purpose of planning life goals. It’s always better to have guidance instead of stumbling onto stuff accidentally and having it work out.
After having accomplished some very meaningful life goals, I have come to deeply appreciate the power of CANI - the Japanese management concept of Continuous and Never-ending Improvement - especially when it is applied to many areas of a man’s life simultaneously over a long period of time. As with many things, it is great to have youth on your side when you start your journey of self development. I am almost 30. After having observed many men, it is obvious that something happens around age 40. Compared to 30 and 20 year olds, they have much less energy. The blazing determined energy I had when I first started 6 years ago which drove me to become successful with women and enabled me to push past failure night after night, is still with me. I feel like a super saiyan - only that energy is directed towards different life goals now. I carefully observe men 40+, and although there are definitely super awesome men out there, it is undeniable that they have less of the youthful energy which I still have in abundance. The ones that are awesome at 40 are awesome because they built an awesome life for themselves in their youth, and can coast off the fruits of their labor. I started out as a beta at 23 years old and it was difficult to undo 23 years of social conditioning. I can’t imagine what it must be like for a person who is 40 or 50 to discover red pill wisdom after a lifetime of living as a beta. Not only are they battling many more years of social conditioning and ingrained mental patterns, they are physiologically at a disadvantage and simply have less energy available to expend on whatever areas of self development they choose. With youth, men are able to tackle many more things simultaneously, and have the advantage of time working with them. For example, a person that plants good financial seeds at the age of 20 will likely have a fully grown fruit producing tree by the age of 40 that they will be able to enjoy for the rest of their life with much of their youth intact. A man trying to plan the same seed at 40 will only get to enjoy the full harvest at 60 when he’s old. With this in mind, I would like to encourage anyone reading to start working on becoming “the complete package,” as soon as possible, and not just for getting women. That can be a huge motivating factor but it’s not everything. There’s something magical about a man who has fearlessly lived a full, focused life of your own choosing and making. Contrast this with a man who has worked all his life at a job he hates only to secure a pension that he will be able to utilize only after he is old (municipal city workers come to mind). Their souls have been destroyed. You can see it in their eyes and in the way they carry themselves - they are old, tired, and lifeless. Don’t be these dudes - be the complete package.
So, what is a male with the complete package? For me, it is a male that has maximized his potential in the following 4 areas of life - Health, Wealth, Relationships, and Self-Actualization. A male who starts working on these areas simultaneously while very young (17-18 years), will be superhuman by the time he’s in his 30s compared with the average males in the world.
Maximizing Health - eating right, sleeping enough, not abusing drugs or alcohol - these are baseline standards which need to be maintained throughout life. The development aspect would come from working out, stretching, cardio, and general exercising continuously over a lifetime to develop the physique you want and to minimize the loss of flexibility (by stretching) that comes with age. For me, gaining muscle mass the first time around was very difficult. It has been far easier to maintain or regain previously existing muscle mass than developing it for the first time. I started lifting at 18. It was very nice to have achieved my peak form at 22. Although I haven’t been there for many years, I was able to establish a baseline physique that never goes below a certain level, which is still above average - I’ve been coasting on the work I put in 12 years ago when I had the time to lift almost every day (in college).
Maximizing Wealth - I found the book The Millionaire Fastlane to be very helpful for setting financial goals. I’ll summarize it briefly:
The Sidewalk - people on the sidewalk are going nowhere financially. They are drowning in debt, and will stay that way forever. Financial abundance will forever elude them. They work at a job they don’t like and struggle pay off the debt they obtained from buying things (that won’t make them happy) in an attempt to impress people that don’t care about them. Do not be one of these people.
The Slowlane - people who do not make financially irresponsible decisions the way the Sidewalkers do. They can be middle to upper class and usually work at a job or have their own business. They can usually save money. They cannot stop working for long time without a decrease in their quality of life. They are chained to their work and if the income stops, they are unable to maintain their way of life/spending levels without interruption. People can do quite well at this level. I’m at this level. I can go on vacation for a few weeks and have plenty of money to spend. I cannot however, quit my job and travel indefinitely.
The Fastlane - people on this path are on their way to financial freedom either through passive income or by earning large lump sums of cash (not possible by working at a regular job). The ultimate goal is to have enough money to sustain your way of living without requiring much of your time, which frees you to do everything else.
My boss currently makes $250-$500K/yr. He cannot stop. He has a wife that doesn’t work, 3 kids on their way to college, a mortgage, etc. His income passivity is at 0. Despite the large amount he pulls in every year, he cannot stop and is firmly in the slowlane. If I can manage to net $50K a year with very little of my time, it’ll be enough to free me to accomplish all of my life goals while having enough money to spend. Whatever your financial goals are. you want it to be in the fastlane. Everyone needs fastlane wealth. It does not come easily and can be elusive just like red pill wisdom. Going to college and then getting a 9 to 5 job will not lead you there. It is best to start working on this early while you are young - read the book for more details.
Maximizing Relationships - Develop and maintain good relationships with family and friends of your own choosing. People that genuinely care about you in life are very rare. Even if I had the opportunity to constantly bang the hottest girls on the planet, my life would feel very empty without loving friends and family to share it with. In this area I would also place your relationships with women in whatever form you choose to have them (wife, girlfriend, harem, f-buddies, one night stands). If you’re not satisfied with your love life, freakin go out there and work on it by approaching. Use the Roosh Program - http://www.rooshv.com/the-roosh-program. The importance of getting this aspect of your life handled cannot be understated. As men, we are constantly distracted by the testosterone in our body which causes us to want to get with girls constantly. If you don’t get to a level where your sex life is acceptable to you, it will be a constant distraction as you try to work on other goals. Get this over with, especially if you are young. I started at 23 and peaked at 26. I’ve been coasting since then. I am not at my peak form, but I elevated my game years ago to a level that is satisfactory, and although I may not be super saiyan alpha, I will never fall back into beta mode. Even if I do regress a bit more than I want (while focusing on financial goals for example), I know exactly what to do to get back up to peak form since I’ve put in the work already! The second time around will be a lot easier. You don’t want to be 40 or 50 and running around approaching all night - it’s exhausting mentally and physically. Your ego takes a massive beating. Thank goodness I did it when I was young. The benefits of getting your Game handled are innumerable - inner and outer confidence, social awareness, social calibration, easier to make friends and deal with people, ability to handle male competition, realizing that rejection is nothing, developing an abundance mentality, developing resistance to women gaining power over you, and lest I forget - HOT ASS of your own choosing!
Self Actualization - this would include hobbies, travel, cooking, martial arts, and whatever else you can think of for yourself that you can see yourself doing that would not fall into the categories above. For me, it’s latin dancing, world travel, and learning Spanish. Again, it’s better to start young. I’ve been dancing for 6 years now. I’ve developed a very good and smooth rhythm that only comes with lots of practice. It cannot be faked, and cannot be obtained in a short period of time. I feel bad for people who discover dancing for the first time at 40+. For both men and women, the body is noticeably less fluid and flexible at that age compared to a person in their early 20s. The body motion I have been able to develop is something that will stay with me for life. I look at dancers that started dancing in their youth and who still have the body movement in their 50s. People who start dancing at 40+ however, cannot develop it no matter how hard they try. It is impossible. You can start young and continue to be an amazing salsa dancer all your life. You can’t start at 40 and ever hope to compete with someone who started when they were 20. Dancing is only one example. Whatever you want to do or become, don’t wait - start now so that youth will be on your side.
I was lucky enough to unconsciously be doing all of these things at once throughout my 20s. I’m not trying to toot my own horn here, but I want to give an example of what is possible with CANI (Continuous and never-ending improvement) in all these areas of life. I take a trip to Colombia. I am young, and have done well in the health department - I am in shape and have muscular definition which surpasses most of my male competition here. I feel fantastic having never touched drugs or alcohol. Because I worked out, I wear clothing which flatters my form. Colombianas, which are more direct, give me compliments such as “lindo, guapo, y hermoso”. I caught up on my cardio before my trip so that I would be able to handle dancing furious salsa Calena. My wealth is in check - no debt at all. If I wanted to, I could quit my job and last a long time (though not indefinitely). Money is not a concern at all with a job to go back to. I can afford to buy people beers and be generous (not at stupid da papaya levels), which makes me stand out greatly from broke hippe tourists and relatively poorer Colombian males. If I wanted to, I could take girls out to a nice restaurant every night for weeks on end and bring her back to a nice house which I’ve rented. In a society where survival and material needs are a concern (unlike the USA), provider attraction switches would definitely be flipped. My relationships are not an issue at all. I am happy and fulfilled with the relationship I have with my family and close circle of friends. I did my PUA training long ago and have long since become a sexually confident, aware, non-needy, and socially calibrated man with Charisma, who is not afraid to approach, lead and seal the deal every step of the way from beginning to end with women. Like Roosh, if I happen to come across a culture that is different than what I am used to, I am not afraid. I know how to put in the work necessary to attract the women. Self-actualization - I’ve traveled the world - I count over 2 dozen major cities in a dozen countries. I have a wealth of rich travel experiences and stories to share. I’ve been studying latin dancing for years - it is something that I am genuinely passionate about, and it was not something I did just to impress or meet girls. Over time, I’ve developed the ability to make girls feel very special and look very good on the dance floor - this is something