When people think of Colombia, they tend to think of cities like Medellin, Bogota or Cartagena perhaps.
Sometimes other cities like Cali get mentioned as well.
However, Barranquilla doesn’t always get all the attention that it deserves in my opinion.
While it is not the nicest city of Colombia in terms of appearance…
It can be a fun place.
Plenty of nice beaches nearby all along the coast.
Relatively cheaper than Cartagena from what I remember.
But close to Cartagena and also another city called Santa Maria that has plenty to offer as well.
Along with nice people and plenty of cute chicks as well.
And also one of the biggest carnivals of Latin America during Spring – the Barranquilla Carnival.
Being one of Colombia’s biggest cities as well, this city certainly has something to offer for those thinking of branching out of Medellin and checking out other cities in Colombia.
Years ago, back when I lived in Colombia for about 7 months…
I ended up setting myself up in Barranquilla actually while visiting other parts of Colombia on the side whenever I had the free time to do so.
So out of all of the cities in Colombia, I definitely am more familiar with Barranquilla (Quilla) and it is a place in Colombia that I plan on returning to.
For all of the reasons above…
Decent location between two other nice cities, warm weather, plenty of beaches all around, a huge festival, plenty of hot Latina chicks….
And, to a degree, the nightlife as well!
There are four bars in Colombia that I remember particularly well as places I would go to often.
First, there is a bar called 4B – a small rock bar basically that wasn’t bad.
Then there is a place called Bar del Moe – was an alright spot to take chicks to for cheap drinks with some privacy before going back to my place.
La Cueva is another one – a bar with some historical importance given it was a place where the famous Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez used to visit.
And, finally, there is La Troja.
Arguably the most recognizable nightclub spot in all of Barranquilla in my opinion.
And from my memory – definitely one of the most popular spots as well.
But what is La Troja?
La Troja
Founded on February 26, 1966, La Troja is a nightlife venue in Quilla that often plays salsa music from a variety of artists.
It is located on the streets of Carrera 44 and Calle 74 and often brings in a wide variety of locals and tourists to visit.
On any weekend, you will typically see hundreds of people in the area from my memory of visiting this place often.
In short, it is by far the most popular salsa venue that I remember in Quilla.
It has plenty of people drinking at this establishment every weekend with lots of people dancing out in the open street area surrounding the venue at the same time.
In short, this place is full of life and was my favorite venue that I had visited anywhere in Colombia.
It can be a great place to sit down and watch some soccer games with friends and a girl as you can read about my time doing that here.
To being a great place to dance away in the night with some beer and maybe even meeting a cute chick or two.
Here’s a quick story of one of my times visiting La Troja.
And for those curious, here is a video of what La Troja looks like with the large crowd it attracts.
Salsa, Beer & Hot Chicks
On another night in Barranquilla…
I had a friend of mine named Andres who was Colombian and happened to live just a few streets away from me.
He was one of those Latinos who really wanted to practice his English always.
And living in Barranquilla, like in other less touristy cities of Latin America….
You will sometimes encounter folks who want to talk to you and randomly strike up a conversation with you just because you are a foreigner and perhaps they haven’t seen too many in a while.
Just curiosity really.
Andres was like that – he noticed I was a foreigner when I was walking along some street.
We got talking about whatever and he ended up being a decent person for drinking some beer with and hanging out.
Like in this story here – we often went to little tiendas (stores) on the street nearby and had cheep beer outside of them.
Anyway, this night we are at one of those tiendas after he texted me on Whatsapp asking to get some drinks.
It was probably around midnight more or less as it usually was when we went to get some beer.
On this night, we decided to leave the tienda and take a taxi to one of the bars mentioned above – 4B.
A rock bar that was very close to La Troja.
So we go there and have some beer listening to the music.
If I remember right, Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy” was playing on the TV.
Anyway, Andres tells me he has to go take a piss and will be right back.
Once that happens, this random chick taps me on the shoulder and wants to talk with me.
She was dressed pretty casually – a bit too much.
In my experience in Colombia, when a chick who looks easy wants to talk with you at a bar – I’ve often found them to be prostitutes.
Or that’s how I remember it.
Anyway, she wasn’t a prostitute but she was quite drunk from the look of it.
Very friendly though and she seemed very flirtatious with me.
Anyway, I had a girlfriend at the time so I didn’t want to give her much of my attention.
Which, funny enough, I think made her even more interested in me.
Like my time with this Bolivian chick named Lizeth that you can read here….
Anyway, Andres comes back out and I pass her off to him since it is clear she is just looking for some dude to dick her down.
And they get along very well!
Well, granted, how could they not…
She seemed desperate for any dude with a pulse to fuck her and so as long as you don’t fuck it up…
Anyway, some minutes go by and we all decide to go to La Troja.
Literally just a minute walk away outside of 4B.
Off we went!
To La Troja
Once there, we get a table from what I remember…
And, like I said before, there were hundreds of people there.
People all sitting down and many more dancing into the streets.
We probably stayed there until maybe 2 or 3 AM more or less if my memory is right.
And like always – it was full of energy.
One of the reasons for why I like La Troja so much is because of the energy of the place.
It’s not some upper class bar full of pretension and the like…
No Colombian fresas there.
Just a place full of people from all walks of life enjoying life and dancing into the street with good music and beer.
And plenty of nice women dancing all around too – many of them, like the chick we met, available to fuck.
Can be a very fun place from how I remember it.
Good music, beer and nice women.
And no pretension.
What more do you want?
Anyway, we are chilling to the music at our table drinking our beer and hanging out…
And then Andres and the chick decide to dance to some salsa.
Andres here trying to get some pussy that night and showing off his salsa skills.
Even if I was single when this happened, there was no way I would try to impress her with my “salsa skills.”
Prefer more a reggaeton bar instead.
At least then we could have some fun without me looking stupid.
Regardless, they get dancing and I’m sitting down having my beer while appreciating the look of all the cute chicks in the area.
Along with the music…
And then I decide to get up and check out the neighborhood around the area.
I was a bit drunk by this point and I figured I might as well see what other bars or clubs are in the area.
Since 4B was nearby and it was a good spot.
So I tell them I will be right back and head off looking for another nightclub preferably.
While walking along, I happen to stumble upon a place that literally had the words “The Nightclub” in English on top of it.
“Well, shit…we hit gold! A nightclub it is.”
So I walk up to it.
It was a relatively small building that was only a minute walk from La Troja.
So, before I can enter, they want my name and to pay a cover fee of like 5 bucks.
The second I pay it to this young looking guy…
This extremely cute chick takes my arm that happened to be standing across from the dude who took my money.
I didn’t even notice her until she took my arm just randomly and didn’t know her obviously.
She said something like “let’s go!” in Spanish and took me inside the building.
At first, I figured she was a cute employee who was going to seat me at a table or something.
An extremely cute employee – to be sure.
Anyway, I had no plans on fucking her obviously since I was taken but I didn’t protest a very nice lady taking my arm to take me to a table….
But, a table we did not go to….
Once inside, it was definitely not a nightclub.
It was dark inside and was a small room with a bunch of tables here and there….
All the tables that were occupied had older looking men with pretty hot young chicks sitting next to them.
Anyway, this chick takes me across the room and up the stairs on the other end…
And, at this point, I’m confused since I thought she was simply taking me to a table and maybe give me a menu for the beer or whatever…
But instead of that…
We go up these steps and she knows on this door to a hallway.
At this point, I’m just curious as to where this is going…
Maybe she will lead me to a secret room where I can snort cocaine off a hooker’s ass?
Maybe she wants to take me to her abuela’s little store in the back where I can support her family and buy some chips and soda?
I don’t fucking know.
And I was too drunk to be putting the dots together.
Anyway, the door opens and this older, fat lady wants me to give her an additional 25 bucks more or less to enter the hallway.
And – like I said – I was just curious as to where this was going to lead but didn’t ask questions.
Eh, fuck it, ok, here’s 25 bucks.
I actually gave her a tiny bit more than 25 and she was supposed to come back to give me change.
Anyway, the cute chick takes my arm into the hallway….
And into the first bedroom.
She immediately sits down and starts taking her shoes off.
At this point, it hits me obviously – oh, she’s a prostitute.
Well, as much as I would have liked to fuck her…
I don’t ever feel like paying for sex and I had a girlfriend at the time…
Either way, out of curiosity…
Uhhhh, research purposes….
I asked her how much she would charge since I never had any personal experience before or after this with a prostitute.
She quoted some price in Colombian pesos that was roughly 50 bucks.
Anyway, I tell her I will be back but “got to get a friend!”
For some dumbass reason, whenever I’m in a weird situation that I want to get out of, that used to be the excuse of the day…
“I got to get a friend!”
So I go down the stairs and up to the bar where the fat chick is with my larger currency bill I gave her.
And I stand next to her and manage to basically just take the bill out of her hands and she looks at me all confused…
And I tell her “I got to get a friend! I’ll be right back!” in Spanish.
Meanwhile, like I said, she looked confused as fuck.
Regardless, I have the bill in hand – maybe like 30 bucks more or less or whatever it was…
And walk out the door and back to where Andres was with his girl at La Troja.
And they were dancing and all…
Andres never looked happier.
He had that “hahahaha, I’m going to get pussy tonight! I can’t believe it!” look on his face.
Well, the extremely cute prostitute chick is now outside the front door of that bar and I see her looking at me with a confused look.
But that’s it with them….
The night goes on.
And Andres still looks happy as ever and it sure does look like he is going to get some pussy….
But then his face changes….
From happy to “the fuck is this?”
When another girl enters our group – the sister of the chick he was dancing with.
Never before had I seen a man’s face change so quickly from very happy to very concerned.
“ah FUCK. She’s going to cockblock me….”
Well, it was probably 2 or 3 AM by this point…
And I figured I might as well go to bed.
We meet the sister and have some more chat about whatever.
And it’s pretty clear Andres is not getting laid anymore that night.
I left first anyway back to my place into a taxi.
With the sight of all the energy and the crowd that La Troja had that night outside my taxi winder.
A place, as I said before, that always has tons of energy, great music, good beer and plenty of decent chicks that you can maybe meet up with…
Unless, of course, you get cockblocked.
Pobrecito Andres – well, maybe he got to fuck her another day but who knows.
Definitely one of the better places to visit though in Quilla for anyone planning on being there for any length of time.
If I had another week in Quilla – and I plan to someday – I would revisit without question.
At any rate, here’s a music video that shows Quilla pretty well and has shots of La Troja in the very end of it.
And here is the website to La Troja here.
Anyway, like I said, definitely worth a visit.
By far, my favorite bar that I came across in Colombia because of all the good memories I had there.
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Thanks.
Best regards,
Matt
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