We have been back on track and traveling south again for a week now. It took us a few days to get our bearings again (there was some awkward conversation there at the beginning (there was no one there to buffer our discussions), some eye rolling, and a little I’m-sick-of-you-and/or-the-way-you-are-talking-to-me-right-now-but-have-no-choice-but-to-spend-every-minute-together) and stop feeling the just-left-our-awesome-family blues. Bogotá had been a tough transition for us for not only the post-family blues, but especially the drastic elevation change and the fact that it is cold here. Like wear long pants and sweaters cold. Best solution we could come up with? Day trip!
We were both ready to stretch our legs a little in the country, and I decided that we would visit a church in a salt mine. I’m not sure how, but it did not immediately dawn on me that this mine would be, in fact, underground in a cave. I guess I was more in the “let’s get back to liking one another” and “they say this is a very important site for Colombians” thought patterns. So I got the two of us (with our awkward conversation and general unease around each other) onto a bus out to the mountains and put us in a cave.
For those of you who may not know, H and I had a small run-in with a cave in Malaysia in 2008 that did not turn out well (or any variety of acceptably ok for that matter). There was panic, squeezing through tiny holes in a deluge, and discussions of if we would be able to break a few of our companion’s bones in order to get her to fit through the tiny flooded exit. It was not a good scene. There have been may discussions about H’s crushing claustrophobia and avoiding such places at all cost in the future… Oops!
The good news is that the town of Zipaquirá is absolutely adorable! It’s nestled right up against a hill (mountain?) covered in pine and eucalyptus (weird, right?), so the air smells wonderfully fresh and the views are unique. We strolled through town, taking in the colonial houses and took a peek into the local cathedral.
Turns out Zipaquirá has a quite impressive above-ground church in town as well, but as soon as I was getting out the iPhone for a few pictures mass started. Being unsure what the proper photo-while-mass-is-happening etiquette would be, we slipped out the back and headed up to the underground church.
If you are thinking, a catholic church underground? That sounds a bit odd. That’s because it is. It was also a bit expensive for our budget (which I had failed to research before we arrived in town… Oops!) but at $20,000 COP a piece we were also guaranteed a tour guide, a light show, and some sort of water works (the lady was a little vague). So down we went, and it wasn’t until we were passing into the darkness that I turned to H and said holy shit! This is a cave!. She just looked at me and said this is a mine and moved deeper into the darkness.
She was right, the Salt Church is large and airy, well excavated and well lit. The path in has the 14 stations of the cross designed by different artists using the previous excavation tunnels, carvings, and well placed lights. Our tour was in Spanish and largely about the stone and mining procedures, so I can’t speak of much more detail than it was a unique and pretty way to enter the church.
The photos captured the stark and intense nature of the underground church, but there was some beautiful patterns in the stone and fragile carvings that complimented the sober feeling of being in a cave. The immense rooms were all strange and well planned, where we could see layer upon layer of rooms peeking through a cross or by cutting through cracks and into hidden chambers in the massive walls.
The use of lights and sound in the cave ranged from well placed to overly (think Vegas) dramatic, but overall the impression was very aesthetically pleasing. At the end of our tour our guide left us at el espejo del agua, a shallow pool of water that reflected a perfect ghost image of the ceiling and surroundings. It was an eerie experience that left us both standing and staring for at least 10 minutes. Until we found this room:
Where they put on the trippiest light show I have ever experienced (and I have been to a few electronic dance parties in my day, especially in San Francisco). I was beyond grateful that I was sober for the experience, but it did make us think the cavern would make a wonderful giant rave location. Although, I would absolutely recommend sobriety… If that place made me loose my mind without any help I could only guess what it would otherwise.
Upon returning to the open air we strolled back through town and got a little ice cream treat to enjoy in the plaza (being all local now and such). This is where we were approached (again) by a group of students working on some project to do with tourism. I am not sure if there actually is this many teachers in Colombia asking their students to harass tourists, or if there just aren’t that many other tourists around to answer their questions and be in their pictures. I am starting to wonder if it is just a good excuse to take a picture and have a new “gringa friend” to show the other kids at school.
But taking pictures for school projects is kind of what we do now. And by we, I mean H. I am in support of us asking for $1,000 COP per person, per picture now. That’s a reasonable request, right?
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Rule #2: Don't Die. 