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Published: June 25th 2017
Geo: 4.60987, -74.082
In Latin America, it would seem that every city & town has at least one central square/plaza, and there is at least one church overlooking all of those squares. These houses of worship certainly don't rival the great churches of Europe and after weeks of travel in South America, there was a 'sameness' to them that saw us zipping through a number of them. It was somewhat surprising then that the primary reason we were visiting Bogota was to see yet another church. Granted, DH has had something of a colorful past that may require many more church visits to completely cleanse (her mud massage with the two dudes in Cartegna probably requires a dedicated confessional visit and a few "Hail Marys" all on its own!!), but the Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá near Bogota is very unique and well worth exploring.
We decided to leave the Cathedral to our last day in Bogota. A few dire warnings from fellow travelers had us a little wary and given that the city already suffers from various Hollywood portrayals as a safe harbour for thieves and drug barons, it's easy to see how some folks take refuge in their hotel rooms (to be
fair the murder rate has dropped from 81 per 100,000 people in 1993 to about 17 per 100,000 today- not great if you're one of the 17 but a big improvement nonetheless). As cities go, it will certainly never be mistaken for glamorous but we found it to be well set up for bringing history alive while wandering the streets in the older city centre.
This was another South American city that seems to have been overwhelmed by the graffiti dudes- it may have been the most spray painted city we've seen yet, so when one of the local graffiti 'artists' offered up a walking tour to explain his perspective, we jumped at the opportunity. It turns out that he was ex of Australia straight from the graffiti ghettos of Melbourne- he had married a local girl, saw nothing wrong with decorating historic buildings in a foreign country with stylized monsters and space aliens, and was recently stabbed (apparently the art critics of Bogota are a tough crowd). He did walk us through the subculture, the differing art mediums, and even detailed the techniques and skills required to be a good spray painter (grip, nozzle type, speed, etc. are the
keys to success… and in Bogota, the ability to avoid getting stabbed was apparently a critical part of this art form). He did attempt to convince us of the social commentary represented by some of the murals without teeth and big eyes, but outside of idolizing Eric Snowdon most of the messaging was quite tame given the less-than-understanding perspectives of local authorities (not sure a Columbian jail is where you want to earn your street paint cred). He really came at us with enthusiasm and his belief that he was bringing art to the masses, but it was hard not to see this as vandalism pure and simple- the deeper conversation might be around whether or not graffiti is a cause or symptom of decay. Setting aside a few back alley streets for this ‘art' as Toronto has done is an interesting experiment but allowing it everywhere seems to be a sign of societal surrender.
Before graffiti, Bogota was a jump off point for the many Spanish mercenaries searching for El Dorado - this was the term used by Europeans to describe a legendary tribal chief of the Muisca native people of Colombia, who as an initiation rite, covered himself
with gold dust and dove from a golden raft into Lake Guatavita while his attendants threw trinkets made of gold, emeralds and precious stones into the lake. The goal of the greedy was to find this lake and pilfer it without shame. Unfortunately the lake was indeed found and many of the treasures were melted down in the name of the Spanish Empire. On the other hand, despite attempts to completely drain the lake, many of the treasures were not found and today you can view many of them in Bogotas' famous Gold Museum. The Gold Museum, with 35 thousand pieces of tumbaga gold, along with 30 thousand objects in ceramic, stone and textiles, represents the largest collection of pre-Columbian gold in the world. It was a great walk through history and set us up well for our visit to Lake Guatavita.
While searching throughout the New World, the concept of El Dorado underwent several transformations, and eventually the myth was combined with those of a legendary lost city. Legend met reality at Lake Guatavita and it was magical to be standing alongside the very lake that was the goal of so many of those ancient treasure hunters. It was also
one of the few times that I've seen DH so eager to go scuba diving (not allowed).
With this new sin of coveting thy neighbours gold on her conscious, it was now time to drop in on the amazing underground Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá. Around 1932, salt miners had carved a sanctuary, as a place for their daily prayers asking for the protection of the saints before starting their dangerous work. Later the construction of a bigger project was begun: the Salt Cathedral which was inaugurated in 1954 and dedicated to Our Lady of Rosary, the Patron Saint of miners. It was composed of three naves and a monumental cross but, as the church was carved inside an active mine, structural problems and safety concerns led the authorities to shut it in 1990. A new Cathedral, 200 feet below the old one, was inaugurated in 1995 complete with 14 stations of the cross, and 3 huge naves. While it's 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. That didn't stop DH from using the salt church confessional and even when she figured out
she was talking to the security guard, she came away satisfied that her questionable behaviour in the mud volcano of Cartegna was suitably forgiven.
It was now time to temporarily wrap up our travel in South America. Apparently when your mother is getting married, it's considered socially inappropriate to simply send a congratulatory card and continue travelling, so we are on our way back to the crown jewel of Canadian cities- Winnipeg, Manitoba for a wedding.
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Marlene S.
non-member comment
Wow! Pretty tough health Regulations eh? LOL!!