Zipaquirá, Colombia 🇨🇴 

Today Liam, Nicki and I head to the Salt Cathedral in Zipaquirá. This involves catching the transmillennial city network to the Portal del Norte bus station at the edge of the city and then a bus to Zipaquirá which is about an hour and a half or maybe two by the time we have figured out the right buses and where they leave from.

We arrive in Zipaquirá to discover a small town with a really pretty historic plaza. Continuing up the hill we find the entrance to the Salt Cathedral. This Cathedral is built inside a old salt mine and is only 12years old, built after a previous one collapsed. They have 13 stations of the cross, each featuring a different salt sculpted cross in a chamber. They look more like works of art rather than a religious offering. The mine works it’s way down to a huge cavern that has the main alter, all lit really atmospherically. It is a magical place and on the way out we watch a film about this layer and how they currently mine. This layer was mined using dynamite, whereas the current mining is done using water pressure. They currently mine the salt in brine form, extracting the brine water from well chambers that are bigger than the Eiffel Tower!

Our return back to the city is blighted by loads of traffic and it takes us twice as long. We have a quick bite to eat and then relax, exhausted after our adventures.