Catedral de Sal

I'm headed for what's called the Cathedral of Salt. It's in a small town called Zipaquira about an hour from Bogotá. There is a line for the buses to Zipaquira. Loads of people are traveling for Semana Santa. I'm not sure if they're headed to the cathedral of if they have family nearby, but the line is long! Lina, the daughter of the family, is accompanying me. She has never been to the cathedral either. Today is an adventure for girls! It rained most of the morning but my fingers are crossed for a break in the clouds.

In this part of Colombia, cows look like dalmations--the spots just a touch bigger than dalmations. And who knew? Firefighters here have dalmations as mascots too--guess that's international. We just passed a message spray-painted on a wall: ¨Go home Bush! Yankee go home!¨ It was signed by the Colombian anti-imperialists. It's funny that all North Americans are called yankees. Lord knows neither Bush, nor any self-respecting southerner would call himself that! Once in Zipaquira, Lina and I checked out a cathedral in the main square, unsure if it was the Cathedral of Salt. It couldn't be. It was made of brick. So we walked a touch more and up on the hill saw the entrance.

The Cathedral of Salt was built in a mine that dates back 500 years. Indigenous cultures here used the salt to trade goods. The history, the connections of the people to the land & salt and in honor of those who perished in the mine throughout the years, the miners decided to construct a cathedral inside the mine in the 90s. The cathedral was built in 3 years & 4 miners live in the mine full-time. Living and working in a salt mine? I don't think I could handle that one. It's a cave, a mine, dark, damp, with special windows cut into the mountain for ventilation. No smoking. No drinking. It also has 10 chapels and a huge cross, the largest subterranean cross in the world. Here´s a view from the very bottom looking up at the cross. And it's carved of salt! There are monuments, sculptures, it's incredible. When you enter, you smell salt. Up the walls, it looks like ice, only it's salt. And you can lick the walls. There is one part near the cross where there are no longer crystals, the salt having been licked so often. No, I didn't lick the wall.