Minh and I spent a Friday afternoon visiting the Catedral de Sal de Zipaquirá, an underground Cathedral built within the tunnels of a salt mine in the town of Zipaquirá, about an hour drive from Bogota. The Cathedral has 14 small chapels representing the Stations of the Cross each with a cross carved out of salt rock, a sculpture replica of Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam, and a large nave with an enormous, illuminated cross carved into the wall. Religious services, concerts, baptisms and weddings are held in the Cathedral. Our guide told us that the bride gets to ride into the Cathedral in a car, but the groom has to walk in with the rest of the guests. We really enjoyed our tour of the Salt Cathedral - It is a unique and beautiful place!
Lake Guatavita
The Laguna de Guatavita is a sacred lake for the Muisca indigenous tribe and is the source of the legend of El Dorado. Once a year, a Muisca chief was coated in gold dust and taken out on the lake in a ceremonial raft. The chief would plunge into the lake and emerge with the gold washed off. The Muisca also made religious offerings of gold, quartz and emeralds into the lake. The lake is located in a crater amidst beautiful lush green mountains near the towns of Guatavita Nueva and Sequilé, about 90 minutes north of Bogota. The lake is part of a Colombian National Park and can only be visited with a guide. Our guide led us to three different lookout points along the rim of the crater where we could view the lake. She also told us about Muisca religious rituals, the debate over the origin of the crater (opinions differ as to whether the crater is volcanic or due to the impact of a meteor), and attempts by the Spanish to drain the lake in order to take all the gold. The lake is very pretty, but for us the highlight of the hike was getting to see the gorgeous surrounding countryside.
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