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Read Previous Episode: Popoyan
January 27-29 2016
It was supposed to be an easy, quick flight from Popoyan to Bogota. That is until the birds got into the act. We were in the airport in plenty of time for our flight. The flight from Bogota, for which were had the return flight, Arrived just a bit late and the passengers deplaned. Then there seemed to a rather long wait for us to board. Ray looked out the window to see airport crew haul a big hose out on the tarmac and water aimed at one of the two engines. Just a dribble of water came out of the nozzle . Most of the water was gushing out of hole in the hose farther from the plane. What was going on? A bird had been sucked into the engine as the plane landed and the engine needed to be flushed out before flying again. There was another delay while a second hose was located. This one was intact and the chore of cleaning out the engine was started. There was talk that the plane might have to have a test takeoff, fly around the airport and land before it was deemed safe enough to go to Bogota. Luckily it didn't come to that. The engine was flushed out and started up. Everyone in the waiting room continued to sit calmly, nobody seemed panicked. The engine reached top speed and ran for several minutes. At last we got the call to board the plane. Everyone got on and enjoyed the flight to Bogota, almost 1 1/2 hours late, but safe. The Captain was standing at the door of the plane as we disembarked and we all thanked him for a smooth recovery.
We got a taxi and gave him instructions for B&B Chorro de Quevado, in the historic area. We had never been there before, and obviously, neither had the taxi driver. We at least knew the area where the B&B was located, so when the driver started to get stuck in the many narrow, one-way streets, we paid him and got out to walk, hauling our rolly suitcases over the cobble-stoned streets. We had the address, but we couldn't find the street. We asked directions from s few people and got conflicting advice. Finally, a man said he knew where the B&B was and walked us over. Paris numbers on some of the apartments with a 'bis' after the number, probably when a building was divided and didn't deserve a new number. The B&B street name was Calle (street) 12 'bis' B! We later decided the triple name was because a small side street was added in between two existing streets and the city wanted to avoid having a bad luck Calle 13. We did enjoy our stay at the small funky, quiet hotel. It was just around the corner from Plazoleto de la Chorro de Quevado, a popular gathering place for both local and foreign teenagers. There was also a new favourite restaurant, El Garden, around the corner, where the chef was the fellow who walked us to our B&B. It was brand new and the food was beautifully presented and delicious.
My notes on Bogota elicited two recommendations to visit the Salt Cathedral in Zipaquira, just 50 km north of Bogota. It sounded interesting so we arranged a visit for our last day in Colombia. The salt mines were known and worked by the Muisca people who lived in the area before the Spanish arrived. They even hollowed out small temples area in the underground tunnels they used to extricate the salt. Later miners continued the tradition of building a sanctuary inside the mine as a place for daily prayers to ensure the miners safety. In 1950 a project was started to construct a large Salt Cathedral, dedicated Our Lady of Rosary, Patron Saint of miners. The Cathedral was opened to the public in 1954 but closed in 1992 for safety reasons. A contest was held to choose the best architecture for an expanded Salt Cathedral, which opened three years later. That was the Salt Cathedral, now a museum, and not a salt mining operation, that we visited. Nevertheless, salt is till mined in the area and produces 40% of Colombia’s salt.
Zipaquira itself is a pretty
town with all the usual well preserved Colonial houses and churches. We had an
hour to walk around the town of Zipaquira before the next English tour of the
complex started at 11 AM. Our driver and guide pointed out the wooden balconies
that graced many of the houses surrounding the main squares. They were all
painted red and blue. He said that political wars in the 1930's had pitted the
two main parties, one represented by blue the other represented by red. It got
violent enough to cause several deaths before being resolved. Now the balconies
display both colours, signifying it doesn't matter what political party the
residents support.
A tour of the Zipaquira Salt Cathedral is popular with
both tourists and pilgrims. To get to the main Cathedral, 200 m underground you
walk through long tunnels, illuminated by coloured lights, past 14 small
chapels, each carved out of the salt rock, with a cross and kneeling stones,
representing the stations of the cross. If you are a pilgrim, you pray at each
station. If you are a non-religious tourist like us, you just admire the
workmanship. The main Cathedral is immense, containing a cross of salt and
several sculptures of salt and marble. Our guide hurried her large group along,
all the while giving us fact after fact, but we had lots of time on the return
walk to explore all the areas.
Our guide was waiting for us at the entrance, ready
to take us to a local restaurant catering to tourists and groups, for lunch.
There were flags of the customer's country on each table and live music to
entertain us. Ray and I had a tasty Menu del Dia, washed down with freshly
squeezed limonada, our favourite drink.
And so ended our visit to
Colombia. We enjoyed the friendliness of the people, the ease of travel and the
safety of all the areas we visited. We manged to see all the main cities but
there are still many areas we could not fit into our schedule. There will be
many more places to visit on a future trip, whenever that may be.
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