Posted 2015-05-06 by AGF

  On my first full day the hotel arranged a private tour guide that would take to some of Bogota’s top tourist destinations, The Catedral de Sal Zipaquirá would be our first stop.  The cathedral is Roman Catholic built within the walls of a salt mine 200 meters underground in a Halite Mountain near the town of Zipaquirá in Cundinamarca.  The bottom of the temple is divided into three sections representing the birth, life and death of Jesus.  Now the section depicting the birth of Christ has a buffalo in it, and as far as I know according to history there was never a buffalo in the room when he was born, who’d want a buffalo in the room when their child is born unless you plan to feast on it.

Once you enter, you’re underneath a ceiling covered in bright lights illuminating the mine and all at once you’re in total darkness the only illumination now are the lights built into the floor of the mine that give off no illumination at all, in fact it only gets darker and darker.  Just about everywhere you turned there was a cross whether it be carved into the mine of stood alone that is all you saw was cross after cross after cross so for those that are deeply religious this is the place for you.  In addition to the three sections depicting the birth of Christ there is also a full-size altar.  It’s about 45 minutes to an hour outside of Bogota and worth the ride.

It is an interesting place, the thought that a salt mine is now a church, for the deeply religious or anyone that wants a place to explore on their own the cathedral is for you.

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