ZIPAQUIRA

ZIPAQUIRA

Leaving Bogota we took a bus north to the town of Zipaquira. The bus stopped about a hundred times leaving town and deposited us at a random intersection in Zipaquira. Zipa is the word for chief in the pre-Columbian Muisca language. The Muisca people were enslaved and pretty much worked to death by the Spanish conquistadors. One thing they did was mine salt at Zipaquira. They’re still mining salt. So recently the miners hollowed out some underground galleries and installed a cathedral, the Catedral de Sal. So being tourists we had to have a look. We dropped bags at Hotel Estacion Sabana and trudged up the hill to the mine. The place is a mix of religion, the fantastic, and incredulity. Like why would anyone do this? In the mine you will find: the stations of the cross, multiple huge crosses, the cathedral, a reflecting pond, and a cheesy tourist shop all 180 meters (600 ft) underground.

Entry to the salt mine

Salt Mine tunnels

The ticket guy asked if we were over 60! Turns out we should have said yes and saved four bucks each.

Salt cross in front of a gallery

Carved salt relief

The Cathedral

60 foot high cross at the end of the Cathedral

Looking back from the alter

The cross is a carved out void lit from behind

24 foot diameter carved salt columns support the roof of the Cathedral

Reflecting pool

Colombians love this place

Outside the mine is a statue of a one legged Colombian solder made from junk (basura)

Zipaquira town is more than 400 years old and is a nice colonial town. We stopped by the upper town square and sat out and had an Aguila beer (the bald eagle is the logo on the label). The town folks were passing by and chatting and cars were cruising the square on a Friday night.

Cathedral on the main square in Zipaquira

Masonry interior of the Cathedral

Hotel Estacion Sabana, with folks about campaigning for the elections in March

After a hard day in the salt mine

Next day we had to track down a place to change money. The guard at the bank said there was a Casa de Cambio in the mall with the “Exito” store. We trudged down there and found the place. We struck up a conversation with the guy behind the window. Eduardo wanted to practice English and actually shut down the business for a little while and bought us coffee at a kiosk. He didn’t speak much English. He is an amateur matador and said he had killed four bulls. He knows the guy in charge of security at the American embassy and gave us his number in case we had questions. He tweaked our exchange rate and gave us a half a percent more. Very friendly and didn’t expect anything back. People in Colombia are happy tourists are coming and tend to go out of their way to be helpful. 

Sheri and Eduardo