Swivel Your Hips at Some of Cartagena’s Best Salsatecas
Photo Credit: La Guia Cartagenera
Salsa’s rhythmic sound awakens a side of Cartagena you just have to see and experience for yourself. Try and stop your hips from moving once the salsa starts playing. I dare you.
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Salsa courses through the veins of Cartagena locals. Head to any salsateca in the city on a Friday or Saturday night and you’ll spy couples intimately glued together in rhythmic step, eyes closed and moved by the music. It’s mesmerizing to watch and easy enough to learn. Once that irresistible salsa sound fills the air, your body will beg you to do something anyway .
The Story Behind Salsa in Colombia
While salsa’s true origins trace back to New York, legend has it that the dance first arrived on Colombian shores by way of record-toting Navy sailors docked at the port of Buenaventura in the 70’s. Sharing what they’d learned in the dance halls of New York, the rhythms spread from there, with some of the poorer and mainly Afro-descendant barrios of nearby Cali taking a particular liking to it and infusing their own ancestral African influences into the dance and rhythm. A new sub-genre of salsa was birthed and then amplified by way of Cali’s annual Carnavales (often bankrolled by some of Cali’s cartel capitans) and the DJs spinning salsa at nearly twice the original record’s speed. You might know it as Cali-style salsa, a version characterized by its intricate footwork, tight spins, athletic lifts, and a frighteningly fast tempo.
Make no mistake; Cali is the salsa capital of Colombia, but Cartageneros are no stranger to the sound or movement either, producing a few salsa stars themselves over the years. Have you heard of Joe Arroyo?
How To Experience Cartagena’s Salsa Scene
Go on a Salsa Crawl
Bounce from bar to bar to get a taste of the salsa scene in Cartagena and watch your moves improve from bar one to bar four. La Guia Cartagenera‘s salsa crawl experience is led by a Cartagena local who knows exactly where to find the best salsa-only clubs in the city center and further afield. Learn the steps from your trusted guide and then practice them all night long with locals and other first-timers, moving locations on the hour and being handed a fresh beer each time. Not that you’ll need the liquid courage anyway…
TOUR DETAILS
Recommended Local Tour Operator: La Guia Cartagenera
Duration: 4 hours, night starts at 8:30pm
What's Included?:
- Local and bilingual guide
- Dance lessons to learn the basic salsa steps
- A beer at each of the four salsatecas
The Do-It-Yourself-Option
Piece together a salsa crawl of your own by asking a few different locals their favorite spots. To get you started Donde Fidel, Vueltabajeros, and Crazy Salsa are all great options.
What to Read Next
For a satisfying sampling of street art and stop-you-in-your-tracks graffiti, beeline it for Getsemaní, a colorful neighborhood on the fringes of Cartagena’s walled city.