Today's challenge was to figure out how to take the bus from Bogota to Zipaquira to visit the Catedral de Sal. We found the bus directions on the wall of the hostal. We found the Transmilenio bus station, where we bought a round trip to Portal del Norte station. We then had to find the right bus to Zipaquira. After and hour and a half on the buses we made it to Zipaquira. We ate lunch at a local restaurant. Then we found a taxi to take us to the Catedral.
The Catedral is part of a working salt mine, which began with the indigenous people surface mining the salt. The mine continues today, but is adjacent to the Catedral. The Catedral is built in the underground mining tunnels built in the 1930's. It was very spectacular. They have church services on Sunday and special holidays and many people have their wedding there. The mine has enough breathing air for 3,000 visitors a day.
We took a side tour into the mining shafts and we had to wear hard helmets with lights. At times it was totally dark and we had to walk holding on to the person in front of us and one hand on the wall to guide us. We wouldn't have wanted to be there without our guide.
We were in the mine for three hours looking at the various mine exhibits.
We headed home but had a slight problem at the bus terminal. We didn't know which bus to take and asked a man for help. He gave us directions and we headed for the bus. The man came after us and said we were going the wrong way and he took us to the stop where we could get the bus. We made it back to Bogota, only one bus stop short of our destination. We walked the rest of the way to our casa.
The people here are very friendly and helpful. Pictures from today's trip.
2 comments:
I love Salt! Charlie, looks like this is your calling, Jane I don't think you've got what it takes to be a miner...not serious enough
Charlie, always thought you looked like your mom, but in this picture, you look so much like your dad.
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