Arizala, Colombia.

What do you think when I say “sassy”?

Full lipsticked lips, as part of a mouth that is shaped in a confident grin, connected to sensual eyes that tell you she knows how to get what she wants. Depending on the moment of the day: a green tea with lemon, a deep red wine or a porn star martini waiting for her touch on the table in front of her.

Big colourful nails, connected to fingers making butterfly movements, connected to hands that are used as an amplifier to give power to the wisdom she speaks.

Shoulders that make little movements back on forward whenever she’s proven right. A chest that unapologetically flaunts her sexuality, inviting but never over-revealing. Black can give a sadful impression, but not when you know how to make it elegant, by showing some of the skin of your best features, touching it off with a little pearl here and there.

She is more than many women are lucky enough to become, and more than many man are lucky enough to be able to get. That’s Arizala.

Cali girl

She grew up in Cali, Colombia. She glows up when she talks about her hometown, which also counts as the hometown of salsa. She grows up with her two brothers, in a big house that she shares with multiple other family members, like her aunt and cousins. Her grandmom lives close by. Everybody does their part for maintaining the household. Ari is mostly found doing the laundry. She enjoys the fresh breeze while she hangs the fresh linen out on the balcony on the fourth floor.

On the weekends they all gather around the breakfast table. It’s a family ritual that Arizala and her cousins need to honour, even though they would prefer more sleep as a cure for their hangover. In most cases, they came home just a few hours before.

She loves life. She loves the excitement of what a day can bring her. She rarely plans something. ‘When somebody asks me to join, I just go. I don’t ask anything, I like to see where the night takes me.’ Most often, it took her to parties that ended at the restaurant that offered her favourite sancocho, a thick soup, close to a stew, that contains three kinds of meat surrounded by several vegetables. She licks her lips when she thinks about it. ‘After a bowl of sancocho, I could again go party for a couple more hours!’

Salsa

Arizala was born to dance. With music on every corner of the street, and a lovely community that is focussed on getting the best out of moment, it is no wonder that salsa runs through her veins. She participates as a dancer in several of the many festivals. Feira de Cali holds a special place in her heart: she loves how diversity is celebrated during this 6-day festival where people enjoy outdoor concerts, light up fireworks and honour the salsa legacy. Together with her school, Arizala has been part of the big Salsódromo parade for multiple times.

The times when she does not dance on stage, she is found in the crowds. She is a “good vibes only”-kinda girl. ‘Keep me away from the drama. Life is short and I am here to enjoy!’

Learning abroad

It is this mindset of living life to the fullest that brought her to countries like Turkey, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia, where she worked as a salsa teacher. ‘These places offered me a place to learn. More movements, more vocabulary, working with different kinds of people. I loved it!’

She lives the dream of never losing a minute of heat, by spending the Colombian winter times in the Middle East, and coming back for the summers to be part of the celebrations, enjoying her favourite drinks like champús and aquapanela, and eating limitless cholado or the special lechona.

Deja-vu’s

For a little holiday break she chose Amsterdam as her destination. Where she is normally always on the move, moving her feet either on polished dance floors or the street pavements, stepping out of Central Station made her pause for the first time since she set foot on Dutch grounds. ‘It felt like I lived in this city in a former life,’ she shares with sparkling excitement in her eyes.

A year later, she made Amsterdam her new home. She quickly builds up a friend group, that she considers as being her family. ‘People are super friendly. They walk up to talk to me, complimenting me about how I look. I feel that I can be myself here.’ She acknowledges that it can be hard to make friends in a new city. She suggests we can learn something from one of her favourite parts of Colombian culture, that she also found in Turkey: the one where you offer your neighbours something to eat from time to time, especially when they are new to the building. ‘When you know each other, it is more likely you will friendly greet each other and help out when the other person needs something. It helps to feel connected.’

On the other hand, when it comes to meeting new people, she also believes that you should take faith in your own hands. ‘You have to show them you are a friendly person. Go out, dance, smile, salud the people around you. Don’t go sit in a corner, waiting for them to approach you. Show yourself!’

Finding love

It is hard not to love her. I am not one second surprised that her husband proposed to her only four months after they started dating. They are now married for one year. She blushes a bit when she talks about him and I can tell she knows that she met her person by the smile that does not leave her face. It sounds like they balance each other out: she invites him to be more outgoing, be more openminded to life, showing him the beauties that life can offer. He calms down her fire by arranging fancy candlelight dinners and cozy nights on the couch.

In the meantime he teaches her how to be more organized. She learned that this is an important skill when you live in The Netherlands. ‘In Colombia, when I plan to meet you at 11.30, I’ll start preparing myself at 11.50.’ Her joyful contagious laughter fills up the bar. ‘But in here, I need to take two trains earlier to make sure that I am on time, also in case one of the trains is running late or not running at all!’

In a couple of months, she will introduce her husband to Colombia. She is planning to show him the most beautiful parts of Cali, like the lakes where she always went swimming with her family and friends. And she has a long list of things she needs him to try. ‘Tamales, arepas, the special Colombian breads, fresh from the bakery...’ She starts clapping her hands with full excitement. ‘It is gonna be amazing!’

I might just gonna try to squeeze myself into her suitcase…

The impact we have on others

Sometimes you meet somebody that just lights up a fire in you. The full joy with how she described the friendly vibe of the people from Cali, the closeness within Colombian families, and the music that gets even the most shy person on his feet, made me check for a Spanish course as part of my new year resolutions. Colombia had been on my travel list since I became a fan of J. Balvin, but the way she talked about how people hold no restrictions for playing music until the nightly hours that are more close to the morning, made me save up some extra money for a road trip next winter. No way that I will leave this life without being part of the Salsódromo. Ari, I’m gonna need you to teach me some moves!

Most of all, I feel inspired by the confidence that comes with her owning her sassiness. She is not just living life, she embodies life. No bullshit, no drama, just live it. After she and her husband come back, she plans to start modelling. It is the first time during our conversation where her eyes reveal a little insecurity about how this new step of her journey will look like. But just like with everything in her life, she does not asks questions, she just goes for it. She wants to live and she reminds me to do the same. And even though there will never come a day where I meet her level of sass, there is one thing that I’m taking from her:

‘Live is too short. Show yourself!’

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