Boyacá y Otra

One day we spent visiting purely tourist destinations. One of which was the Salt Cathedral. I thought the dome in the above picture was really pretty, but Leo and I were both more impressed with being underground than with the cathedral. Here's the factoid about it:

The Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá (Spanish: Catedral de Sal de Zipaquirá) is an underground Roman Catholic church built within the tunnels of a salt mine 200 metres underground in a Halite mountain near the town of Zipaquirá, in Cundinamarca, Colombia. It is a very popular tourist destination and place of pilgrimage in the country.^[2] The name "Salt Cathedral" is mostly to attract tourists - while a functioning church that receives as many as 3,000 visitors on Sundays, it has no bishop and therefore no official status as a cathedral in Catholicism.

The temple at the bottom has three sections, representing the birth, life, and death of Jesus. The icons, ornaments and architectural details are hand carved in the halite rock. Some marble sculptures are included.

Here's a nativity scene from it, I just stole these pictures from the web, but I thought this one appropriate for the Christmas season.

Ahh!!! I just deleted the really cool picture I had of the guy roasting meat over an open fire. But you can see the results above. That was one of the best meals I ate in Colombia. SOOO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I really like meat.) I'll have to post that other photo someday when I have the chance--it's on a different computer.

After the fabulous lunch we drove through this area of Colombia. I don't really know where we were, but it was pretty. It was also interesting because it was a section of Colombia that makes a lot of leather. Along the hillsides you'd see big hides staked out on the ground drying. It was like stepping back in time.

Then an hour or so down the road, we hit a totally different type of countryside, it was more rugged and there were natives in ponchos and leading burros everywhere. (Think Juan Valdez). All the hillsides were planted in potatoes.

Then we arrived at our destination. Boyaca. It was where the decisive battle was fought that won the revolutionary war for Colombia from Spain. It had a flame that's always going. Like the one here in the US by the grave of the unknown soldier.

The kids had fun climbing on the rocks. That was some kind of monument too, but I forgot what for.

Then we hiked up the hillside to the monument to Simon Bolivar. Then we ran down the hillside. That was fun. It was a steep hill. Anyway, lots of driving, I was pretty grouchy that afternoon, but it was all worth it. Sorry, I would post more historical notes about Boyaca, but I'm feeling lazy.