Back to Bogota

Another few hours in the car in traffic – the driving in Bogota is pretty terrifying, so many cars, big lorries, tankers  and motorcyclists on the road, no marked lanes everyone pushing to get one car ahead, motorcycles whipping up behind and in front of you – it’s like the dodgems at the fairground.  Anyway, we finally arrived in the City centre and were  staying the night with some friends. 

What an evening we had……they took us to this restaurant called Andres D C – it was crazy!  Five floors, a live band, dancers and fireworks!!!!  The band were amazing, everyone was dancing and having the most fantastic time – so did we!  Delicious Colombian cuisine and a fabulous atmosphere! 

Back into the car on Sunday morning for a trip to the Salt Cathedral in Zipaquira.  It’s Colombia’s most famous church, located 200 metres underground in a former salt mine.  Built by miners there are three naves representing the birth, life and death of Christ, enormous crosses illuminated by colourful lights, statues and the stations of the cross, all carved out of salt.  The miners had prayed in a small sanctuary built in the 1930’s inside the salt mine to protect them from toxic gases and explosions. 

Eventually structural problems forced it’s closure in 1990 so a  new version of the cathedral was built  by 127 miners and a few sculptors, underneath the original one!   It was a huge undertaking and  just building the Stations of the Cross took 5 years!   It was unreal, so beautiful, each Station of the Cross had a beautifully sculptured – and illuminated – cross.  At the end was an altar where Mass is celebrated each Sunday.

 Another drive to the Airport to catch our flight back to Cartagena – we worked out that Geoff had done about 13 hours driving over the weekend, an excellent feat and we came out of it unscathed – no  dents in the car and no damage from the rocky road!!!