Pura Rumba

Following a few speeches, the music began with the all-female band Orquesta D'Caché. Yes, indeed. In case you didn't know, Cali has its share of pretty, fantastic, all-girl salsa bands. Orquesta D'Caché was a pleasant surprise; sexy but musically nimble, with the right touch of humph to get people dancing. A better-known girl band, the veteran Orquesta Canela (it's been around since 1992), followed with a well-oiled performance.

The next day brought fifteen acts, among them Victor Manuelle, El Binomio de Oro, and Son de Cali, to the Superconcierto, where 50,000 crowded into Pascual Guerrero stadium for eight straight hours of music. Elsewhere around Cali, countless other bands -- from Jorge Celedón and Gilberto Santa Rosa to Don Omar and La Gran Banda Caleña -- played multiple parties every single night.

Elena Arizmendi for www.calibuenanota.com

At La Feria de Cali, the cabalgata drew girls, girls, and more girls

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More About

• Feria de Cali
• Cali
• Orquesta D'Cache
• Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela
• Latin Music

There were daily bullfights that cost as much as $100 a seat and unlimited beer for as little as $5; that was the amount needed to get into El Distrito de la Rumba (Rumba District), a strip of five blocks with live music (Cheo Feliciano played there) and free drinks. It brought a beauty contest, parades, and skateboarding competitions down Cali's steep hills.

But nothing came close to the first half of a national dance contest at Parque Panamericano on the second day of Feria. Here, pintsize couples, some as young as six years old, made that floor shine like few adult dancers can. They wore their best salsa outfits: tiny, sequined skirts and pantyhose for the girls, wide-legged pants for the boys, colorful caps, ruffled blouses, silk vests, strappy sandals, and shiny patent shoes. They danced salsa, mambo, and boogaloo -- the same steps no doubt danced by their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents -- with the effortless ease of those who don't learn the music but are born into it.