Salt Mine Cathedral, One of Colombia's Top Tour Sites!

Zipaquira draws visitors from all over the world to tour the Cathedral built deep underground in a salt mine. The Indigenous Peoples were the first to mine salt for commercial gain in the 5th century BC. The mines today are still active and the Cathedral we saw is the second of its kind. This version has been receiving visitors for only fifteen years, the chapel itself can hold 8000 people for mass.

The walk to the chapels includes passing The Stations of the Cross, all stark crosses carved from salt rock backlit in various colors. The large caverns housing each Station has carved kneeling benches. It's impressive but dark and damp. The sounds of blasting in other areas made me uneasy, but Keith wondered how it would feel in the night when no one else was there.





We had a taste of the total darkness on the Route of the Miners part of our experience. We donned hardhats with headlights and followed a miner down a tunnel that was completely black. I closed my eyes and held on to the back of Keith with one hand as my other rubbed the side of the rock wall. It was claustrophobic to the max! Keith took a turn mining with the heavy pick...he was a natural.

These smiles came at the END of that part of the tour.

There is something for everyone at the Salt Mine Park~ a 3-D movie that explained the formation and history of the mine, as well as demonstration of the processes using to extract the salt mineral from the rock.

Some brave souls enjoyed the climbing wall...

And other tamer-types, the two of us were in this group, took a train ride around the town of Zipaquira.


A miner handed me a great sample of pure salt as he left the mine for lunch. I put the palm-sized piece in my pocket for safe keeping. After we returned home and were taking a break during the afternoon rainstorm we heard a little BOOM! I pulled out the rock salt and it was warm and smell of sulphur filled our room. Some chemical reaction happened in my jeans, the piece is now crumbling in bits, interesting, huh?!

When the light storm passed we headed out into this fine colonial town to return the maps we had borrowed yesterday and look for some Mexican food. We both saw a Mexican restaurant on our train ride (really just a fake choo-choo) but after walking for about an hour we concluded it must have been a mirage. As a last resort we stopped for 'hamburgers'. We have had wierd hamburgers on this trip, but this is the first time I have ever been served pineapple topping with my burger. It was sweet and good, but I'm still trying to decide what the mystery meat was.

It's colder here at 8700 feet above sea level, what a difference in temperature we have experienced in the past week! From spring to HOT summer to a cool early spring rainy season. WOW, Colombia has it all!

Valledupar, Home To Vallenato Music

The four hour bus ride from Santa Marta through the Sierra Nevada mountain to the valley town of Valledupar was lovely. We passed through many dusty, humble small towns and farms of all types from tall palms to various fruit trees planted in straight rows. It was dairy cow country as well, our bus passed many milk trucks and any other vehicle it could with a total disregard for double yellow no passing zone lines. 'Gracias a Dios' we arrived safely in Valledupar before the sun set, with plenty of time to get groceries and settle in to the Providencia Hostel.



Miguel and Cristina take great care of their guests in their small hostel. Many walls are brightly painted with murals including a giant map of the city itself with many points of interest and another tempting brave drivers to test the waters of the big river nearby.


Tuesday morning we borrowed a couple of bikes and rode to the riverside where we watched large schools of fish darken the waters and fishermen with poles and bare hands try to catch their lunch. Several young men were diving off boulders into the deep waters, we just let the fish tickle our bare feet. We spent a long while watching birds dive for fish before we walked the riverbank before sitting down to chat with CD peddlers.

Cristina suggested we visit the Sede De SAYCO, the organization for preservation of the native music form, Vallenato. Here we treated to a tour of the small museum by the director, Alberto "Beto" Murgas, himself a well-known composer & Vallenato artist. He explained the origins of the music, a 500 year-old cultural mix of Indigenous, Spanish & African influences. The accordion is the main instrument involved, young children in this area begin to learn to play at an early age.

Valledupar is home to a five day Vallenato Music Festival. The following video is a sample of this event.

As we finished the tour, the sky opened up the dark threatening clouds that Keith was worried about as we walked the short way to the museum. In less that fifteen minutes all the roads had turned to mini-rivers and we were lucky to find a taxi that doubled as a boat to take us back to the hostel where we waited out the storm talking with Cristina about the change of her hometown of Medellin in the past 15 years.

Cristina explained that every person there had lost loved ones due to the violence that ruled the city for many years. She lost four people in her family during her teenaged years when she was practically held prisoner in her home because one never knew when or where a shooting or bombing would take place. Valledupar was nearly as bad in those times, but now it is very safe and tourism is starting, though it still isn't mentioned in the travel guides. We found it comfortable there but had to leave a day earlier than hoped because the plane fares were so much better.
It's almost as cheap to fly nationally as take a bus, so if the route isn't beautiful that's our plan.
Today we flew to Bogota midday. We immediately left the huge, polluted city via several buses for a very nice small town in the mountains about 30 minutes north, Zipaquira. Keith fell in love with town right away. We had our best Menu del Dia to date along with a nice talk with the restaurant owner who sent us home with maps to study and plan from this evening.




One last word for today... This trip could not be done without a good working knowledge of Spanish! At least I wouldn't want to even try using English only, it's a challenge speaking the language though we are doing quite well!

To leave you a little modern taste of Vallenato, here's Carlos Vives!

Our Santa Marta Stay

Santa Marta is a nice town on the Pacific coastline of Colombia. Founded in 1525 there are many colonial buildings in the center and one of the oldest cathedrals in South America.





We have enjoyed four nights here at Aluna Hostel where we met some great traveling buddies, Mark & Lori, who are from Vancouver, BC. The small hostel is quite comfortable, run by an Irishman whose Chieftains CD competes with the Colombia music blasting from many homes nearby. I have become accustomed to showering in cold water here, actually choosing to rinse off often to lower my body temperature!



Yesterday we followed Mark & Lori again, this time away from the beach up high into the nearby Sierra Nevada mountains. Our transport vehicle was perfect for the rough dirt road that winded up a curving one-lane mountain road. The ancient, but still running. Land Rover was without its back window so the four of us received quite a dusting as we gained the altitude. The temperature dropped a bit from the oppressive afternoon heat of Santa Marta though we seemed to loss the sea breeze so it was still very warm.



Once we reached the small town we took an hour hike to a swimming hole and waterfall. The water was freezing cold and the bugs were biting so we soon left the cool wooded forest for the trail back down to town. Stopping for a cold drink we decided to eat lunch there in Minca. The Menu of the Day included chicken breast, rice, beans,soup and a spicy green sauce; it was enjoyed by all.



Keith and I loved listening to the tales of these very seasoned travelers and when we returned to Aluna, we enjoyed looking at great photos of Panama and Sri Lanka, two places we plan to visit very soon! What wonderful new friends we have met on the Gringo Trail in South America! For dinner Keith & Lori went to the corner and bought kebobs from the vendor who grills right out on the street. They were yummy.

This morning we said goodbye to Lori & Mark after they kindly shared their Colombia Lonely Planet guide one last time before heading off to Medellin. We spent our last full day here in Santa Marta relaxing and reading though we did get out to see the sun go down over the water at the well-used beach in town. Families were out in full force playing in the sand and swimming in the ocean this evening.





Tomorrow we plan to move on, east via bus to Valledupar.

Cartagena de los Indios

We had a funny thing happen while relaxing on the Bocagrande Beach on Wednesday. We had been politely and successfully refusing goods and services from the countless vendors when two older women approached us. They asked us if we would like a massage, we responded that we would not.
The older of the two women took my hand and the other took Keith's. As we protested they started to rub green lotion on our hands kneading our fingers and palms. Soon they are moving up the arm, we are still insisting that we don't want or need a massage. By the time they hit our shoulders and a third woman started removing Keith's shoes, we were done for. It felt great! Soon Keith's shirt was off and he was moaning with pleasure. These three women had magic fingers!
When they just happened to drop the cost of these massages in our conversation, $10,000. Colombian pesos ($50.00 US) I immediately told them to stop. We had not brought but $15.00 US or so with us to the beach, nor any credit cards. We gave them about 13.50 US, which was really fair for the time spent. They proceeded to fight among themselves when arguing with us was getting them nowhere.
The tension they worked out of us returned for a moment, but when they moved on we had a nice chat with the woman sitting on the log under the tree beside us. As we gazed out over the sea she told us about her immigration to Quebec twelve years ago after her husband was killed in the drug wars here and son also died in an accident in a well. She was visiting family in Colombia and gave us her family's phone # to call for a possible family stay in Santa Marta where we are now.



We took a four hour bus ride here yesterday, Thursday. It's a much smaller town than Cartagena, it has a tourist presence but is not a tourist trap like Cartagena. This is a good spot to stay as you take day trips to different beautiful beaches, a farming community in the high mountains to the east and also a nearby national park, Tayrona. We plan to do all of the above. Today we traveled with a Canadian couple, Mark & Lori to Taganga, a small fishing village only 15 minutes to the north.
This young man with his floating ice cream 'barge' was working hard for his day's wages OR maybe just keeping the ice cream frozen in the heat of the afternoon?



We took a boat ride around to another bay and sat in the shade of palm trees all afternoon talking with these world travelers. Mark started touring the world for months at a time in the mid 70s so he had many tales to share when probed. They have just been in Panama so he sat down with me when we returned to the Hotel Aluna to give specific recommendations.


There is a third floor open kitchen here which we have used for meals tonight and last night as well as breakfast. We shared our beef fajitas last night with a german and eggs mexican style this morning with a woman from North Carolina who teaches other senior citizens how to backpack around the world. Interesting people all! Last night as we cooked and Keith chopped veggies for a big batch of Pico de Gallo, we enjoyed conversation with a young couple from London. They were working via internet this morning when Keith snapped this cute picture.

Tomorrow and Sunday we will take other day trips. We tentatively plan to move on this next Monday, but we'll see how the wind blows. And blow it does, with force each night here in Santa Marta.
Enjoy this video of 'dancing in the streets' Cartagena style.

Ahhhh, Medellin, How We Hated To Leave!

It was a beautiful drive to the airport this morning. As the sun came up our taxi seemed to drive up to the sky pass manicured fields and grand estates that fill the mountainsides and valleys surround Medellin.



Yesterday we took one last trip on the Metro to the center of this huge, but lovely city, to see the large dove sculptures created by Botero in Plaza San Antonio. In 1995, during Medellin's very tragic violent drug wars, a bomb went off in the square killing thirty people of all ages. One of the birds still on display was severely damaged in that blast, the names of the fallen are printed on its base as a memorial of times past. Botero donated a replacement bird which stands next to the injured statue, a stark reminder of then and now. It seems truly amazing the change that this city, the center of the Medellin Drug Cartel, could undergo such a dramatic change in such as short time. It is safe, clean, art-filled working community that is quickly becoming the tourist destination it should be!



Our last activity in our neighborhood was a visit to GozArte, an art studio that offers painting, dancing, spanish and literature classes. Marleny had invited us for coffee and so we stopped by to see her. Luckily Carmen was also there teaching a young Paisa to paint. Carmen called her twin sister, Lina, and soon the whole family made the 20 minute taxi ride to meet us. The girls' parents and brother were as welcoming as their aunt, Marleny, and the twins themselves. We had a nice chat and Marleny even insisted I try to dance with her dancing student, also a Colombian from the coast. It was a great way to end such a delightful time in Antioquia meeting more new friends.




After two quick plane rides, first to Bogota and then on to Cartagena, we find ourselves in much warmer climate. But after checking the temperature at home and in Randolph, where the high today was expected to be 12 below zero with wind chill factor of much colder, we are tickled pink to be on the Caribbean coastline of Colombia for a while! Much sunscreen will be required to keep the pink/red skin tones temporary!

Our initial tour around town was disappointing at first, though looking back at the photos we took I can see it is very charming and interesting. The street vendors are pretty intense here, we need to constantly remind ourselves that they are just earning their living, and what a tough way to do it! As the sun went down the colors intensified. Having forgotten my regular glasses and because we were carry some cash, we headed in for the night early. But tomorrow night we will definitely stay out after dark when the lights shine on the colonial treasures in the old town surround by a wall made in part by coral remains.