Is Salsa dancing popular in Barranquilla?

Hey Art!

     It's Ed. I did go to Barranquilla and spent a month there getting to know my girl better and her family. Everything was perfect. What wonderful people, but I was in south barranquilla (poor side/bad side of town). I'm not sure about Salsa there, but I'mm forward your question on to Keren. I'm sure she'll kmow the answer.

Ed

Hey Art,

     Here's my Fiancees response to  your question about salsa in Barranquilla.

IN COLOMBIA Each territory has its own style YT SHARE WHAT ARE NONE regionalist and prefer Theirs ... for example in Barranquilla is vallenato and CHAMPETA ... IN CALI SALSA IS IN MEDELLIN IS THE MERENGUE AND TRANS. . and so on, obviously every city has a gymn DANCE CLUB OR WHERE YOU TEACH perfecting this art and CAN ENJOY IN DIFFERENT ECENARIO are expensive but popular,,, BOGOTA IS THE CRADLE OF THEM ALL abound in the 5 TA ....

Ed

Hey Ed:

Nice to hear that you went to BARR and enjoyed it. I'm very envious.

Since you're in pretty tight with your gal there, I wonder if you'd ask her a contingent question?

If I was to move there, could she and would she help me find a place to rent? I'd be looking for just something simple, probably an efficiency of some sort, shower, hot water, A/C, availability of internet.  Stove would be nice but I could be happy with just a fridge and a hot plate.

I'm guessing my budget would be in the $300 @ month range.

I'd want to be near whatever constitutes local transportation too.

Regards,
Art

I am considering moving to Colombia and I am thinking of either Cartagena, Barranquilla or Santa Marta. I want to know how your time spent in Barranquilla went. I am also a salsa dancer: LA style. I danced in a few places in Cartagena in the historic district, Donde Fidel and Crazy Salsa. However, I only found one female that danced LA style salsa. Can you tell me how life was or is in Barranquilla through the eyes of an ex-pat.

thanks
Rick

Hi:

Well, Barranquilla is nice in a lot of ways but it is definitely not a dancer's town. I'm accustomed to clubs like in Houston where I could dance with 10+ girls every night. They were there to dance and not sit around and act stupid and/bitchy.

It is VERY rare to even see a real dance floor here (in Barr).

I have found that most Colombians don't even dance at all...let alone very well.

That's OK, up to a point if you're really NOT into all the flashy crap. I'm not. That's why I prefer Bachata, Vallenato, or Cha-cha or Kizomba over Salsa. Salsa is over-rated IMHO.

As for the difference in 'style' mentioned...yes, I know what you mean. The only place where I'm pretty sure they do anything remotely similar to LA style would be Cali. Do a search on YouTube for 'Cali Salsa' and you'll probably reach the same conclusion. But I've not been to Cali yet. AND....I think that real hard-core Cali style has that really quick 'foot flick' style too...their feet look like hummingbird's wings. I think what they are doing is sorta like counting all four beats...somewhat similar to that funky Casino Rueda style (which I tend to do my self.

They do that too in Barranquilla....just not as fast. In Barr, the girls just put their arms around your neck and hang on. That's it.

I'm headed for Medellin in a couple of weeks and, from videos and lots of online reading over the last several days, I'm getting the impression that Medellin might have the most 'international' style Salsa. I think that's because Medellin has the biggest community of international millenials.

I'll tell you where I would go if I could afford it: Lisbon. From what I read, they've got really good Salsa there, PLUS....Kizomba. They have a lot of the African influence you know.

Hope that helps. Keep in touch. BTW... if you're a Christian, check out Steve Sewell's YouTube Channel called "Heavenly Sign 2017". You'll be excited about it.

Regards,
Art

Hi Art,
Putting salsa dancing aside in Barranquilla, what is it like to live in Barranquilla, in general. I am considering moving there with my two dogs. I currently live in Florida and I would be keeping my place in Florida and taking my dogs to Colombia. I have been to Cartagena and to Rodadero. I like Rodadero because it is a small town on the beach and I can take my dogs running on the beach. How do the people treat you in Barranquilla, especially the women? Where would recommend me renting a place in Barranquilla?
thanks,
Rick