BOGOTA 9 - 14 January 2005

Picture of Bogota

We have just come back from about 11 days of traveling around a few focal Colombia areas. We went to Bogota the capital first so I could meet paulos dads side of the family as they are almost all there, all of the family here in CALI is Paulo`s mums side of the family, so in Bogota I got to meet the other half of the Colombian family. They had a family dinner the second day we were there so I got to meet them all there and then after we did some other things with some of Paulos uncles and aunties so I got to get to know them better.

In BOGOTA there is the Gold Museum. You know the the El Dorado Legend – well that took place near Bogota in Colombia. As if it wasn’t enough that the Spaniards of the time loaded their ships with gold from the Colombian Indians (swapping their gold jewelery and body wear for mirrors and things), but they found a lake where the local Chibcha Indians used to make offerings of gold to their gods, going on a boat to the middle of the pond and for decades or centuries throwing their golden ornaments into the lake. The Lake is a crater and supposedly where a volcano had been thousands of years ago but they are not sure. So the Spaniards and many years later till now other Colombians have been searching the lake to try and find the gold that had been thrown there by the Indians but can never find it! They have not been able to find the bottom of the lake!

Well, I didn’t go there but the point is that Colombia is enriched with gold and more so, the gold culture of the pre-colombinas – the Indians of the pre-Colombian area. So, in Bogota they have a Gold Museum dedicated to preserving the pre-colombina culture (the Indians before Spanish colonisation). I`m not sure how I feel about the preservation side of ot as they have dug up whole burial tombs for displays and taken the gold from Indian sites and I am not clear on exactly how they are contributing to the Indians – whether the Indians benefit from the museum showing off their gold, but in any state it is impossible not to appreciate all the gold artifacts on display there and the intricacy of the details of the animals and utensils they crafted thousands of years ago till Spanish arrival. They have crafted things as small as a couple of centremetres with the smallest details, and this was way before machines etc. beautiful beautiful beautiful BEAUTIFUL. They have millions of things made from gold, from head wear to what would be classed as a bra in that time (like a breast plate) to toilet pots and everything in 18 carat gold! Their tombs are amazing as well, small tunnels 30 meters deep to the tomb room.

In our time in Bogota we also vistied other local visitable places such as the science museum in town, Monserrat, a church on top of one of the mountains behind Bogota and just in and around the city. And, the feature food for Bogota, Ahiaco (garlicy soup).

Also near Bogota we went to the Catedral de Sal or Salt Mine Cathedral. In the town of Zipaquira, about 1 ½ hrs from Bogota city there is an old salt mine formed from a salt deposit in the land where millions of years ago it was actually part of the ocean. When the ocean retreated to reveal land in a large hole that was left (pardon my non scientific explanation) the salt from the ocean remained deposited there until exploited by humans. Firstly the Indians collected pans of salt to trade with the navigators and tradesman for hundreds of years, but actual excavation by modern population around the 1850s. in the mid 1900s they built a cathedral in what was the old excavation tunnels and holes and made crosses and images (angels etc) carved out of the salt rock. That was the OLD SALT CATHEDRAL. In 1991 they opened the new Salt Catherdral and soon after closed the old one as a fault in the place the original one was constructed has now made it dangerous to go there. Anyway the new Cathedral is spectaculat in itself. Along the way to the actual Cathedral they have crosses also made from the salt rock representing Jesus Journey to his crucifiction with the cross in his arms (when he fell etc).

The Cathedral is not just a monument for tourist consumption, they have mass every Sunday there, they have a baptism basin (all carved from the salt rock), the pews are actual wooden pews but the walls and everything is all made from the old mine tunnels etc. underneath where the cathedral is the mine is still in action where they have tunneled new holes to mine the salt. They also have a museum there educating people how the salt mine works and the tools used etc.

Just an end note to the Bogota chapter we also went out in Bogota to a place called Aguapanelas
in the north of the city which is an excellent place to go out. If any of you find yourself Bogota I thoroughly recommend you go out to that bar. Live (Colombian) music of Colombia and a very nice place to enjoy the night away.

after about 5 days in BOGOTA we then spent a week on Colombia's ATLANTIC COAST in Cartagena and San Andres Island but í´ll send that next time so you are all not sick of writing !!!