Bogota/Zipaquira



Bolivar Square.  What you don´t see is thousands of pigeons.


Blending the old and the new in colorful latin fashion, Bogota is a city where you better pay attention or you´ll get run over..literally.  We stayed in the oldest hostel in the old part of the city, La Candelaria, a charming bright neighborhood with cobblestone streets where you are just as likely to see a man in a suit as in a poncho.  Our first day was spent wandering the city, getting lost, trying to find a bank, sampling the food and generally getting acquainted with our temporary home. We toured the Museo del Oro, one of the most important gold museums in the world. Besides viewing exquisite pre-Columbian pieces, we also got to meet some children on a field trip who were more interested in the gringos than the actual gold.  Our second day we were more adventurous and took the local transportation to Zipaquira, a sleepy little town north of Bogota, and home of the famous Catedral del Sal, an underground cathedral built from an ancient salt mine. Though the entire tour was in Spanish, the beauty of the cathedral spoke for itself. However, we paid a bit extra for the miner´s tour, where we donned hard hats and headlamps and descended into the dark depths of the mine.  This tour was also in Spanish, a fact that made us a little worried when during the introduction the only words we could pick out were ´very important´and ´dont do this.´ Luckily, a couple people in our group translated for us.  During this part, we were forced to dig for salt and Laura even got to light some ´dynamite.´ One of our translators, Rodrigo, took the bus home with us, which turned out to be a huge help because all the buses were shut down due to a massive student protest.

The next day we boarded a bus to Salento where we learned 10 things about Colombian buses:

1. ´Direct non-stop´buses does not include stops for locals, driver lunch stops, and food vendors(though the latter can come in handy, see #7)
2. Sometimes they break down.  Ours died after a few hours.  Fortunately, they will try to squeeze you in on the next one.  We got to sit on the floor.
3. Expect delays.  Traffic jams, accidents, and landslides are common.  We watched a crew use dynamite to clear boulders off the highway from a mere 5 bus lengths away.
4. Don´t watch the road.  Unless, of course, you enjoy giving yourself panic attacks as you watch the driver narrowly miss everything in sight, including on-coming traffic.
5. The views are absolutely spectacular.  Lush valleys, steep peeks, cloud forests, coffee farms, men pushing donkeys, the list goes on.
6. The views are absolutely terrifying.  Often the only thing between you, your crazy driver, and plummeting to your death is barbed wire.
7. Bring food.  Problems seem much worse when you haven´t eaten in 6 hours and your blood sugar is nada.
8. Bring headphones or earplugs.  Unless you enjoy Colombian music blaring for hours on end.
9. Distances are relative.  It took us an hour to go 15 km.
10. Go with the flow and enjoy yourself.  You´ll look pretty stupid if you huff and puff over delays while the 5 year old sits on quietly on his mother´s lap.  Besides, we never would have enjoyed that beautiful Andean sunset if our bus had actually been on time.  Remember, you´ll get there...eventually.

More on beautiful Salento in the next day or two.  In the meantime enjoy these pictures of Bogota and Zipaquira.



Our very first hostel in South America, Platypus Hostel in Bogota.



One of the most important gold pieces ever discovered, it describes the ancient practice of a chief sacrificing gold, emeralds, and silver by throwing them into a lake.

Graffiti like this is everywhere in Bogota and Colombia, a testament to the ongoing struggle between the FARC and the para-military.

Friendly, and seemingly owner-less, dogs are everywhere in Colombia.  This one showed us the way to the salt cathedral.

One of many vaulted rooms in the salt cathedral, which stretches over 2 km.

Preparing to head into the mine.

Laura hard at work.  We had to mine 1 kilo of salt before they let us out.