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The Craze for Travelling
The Craze for Travelling

The Craze for Travelling

Travelling is a passion, and I've been on it since my childhood (courtesy my dad). My passion has led me all around the globe from high altitude deserts, to rain forests, to back waters, to snow covered peaks. You name it!! Read more🇸🇪Stockholm
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  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling

    The end of the trip

    February 23, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    23rd Feb was the last day of the trip for me. I took a taxi to the international airport in Bogota. From here, I flew to Quito in Ecuador. From Quito, I took the evening flight to Madrid, Spain. After an overnight stay in Madrid, I took the early morning flight to Stockholm where Shuchi, Ranu and Ashwani were there to receive me at the airport. It was good to be back and great to see my closest people waiting eagerly at the airport.
    What a trip it had been!! A once in a lifetime experience, an unprecedented length of journey, amazing sights, a humbling experience but overall, a huge learning experience.

    Thus ended the most amazing odyssey of my life. Till the next time... keep traveling and enjoying your lives. Ciao !!!    Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    Flea market in ZipaquiraThe jam packed Portal NorteSkyscrapers in BogotaArmy parading in Bogota

    Back to Bogota

    February 22, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    We were out of the mine around 4 pm then we started our walk back to the road where we had been dropped by the bus. On the way, we passed through a local market selling nicks and knacks. We managed to find the bus back s soon as we reached the main road. The mini bus left us at the Portal Norte at around 5:30 pm. This time of the day, the TransMelinio station was jam packed with the daily commuters. Back in the city, we saw the tall skyscrapers of Bogota lit up beautifully. We saw another group of people, fully equipped and in army fatigues, parading around the city. There certainly were undercurrents reminding of the not so distant past that had not been that peaceful.
    Back at the hostel, Hristo was feeling a bit better but Maria was still feeling bad. Neither of them wanted to go out for dinner as they'd had a late lunch, so Karin and I went back to the Chibchombia restaurant and had exactly the same stuff I had had the previous night :)    Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    2

    Back at the mine's exit

    February 22, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    We passed the Stations of the Cross and reached back at the entrance of the mine.

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling

    The Stations of the Cross

    February 22, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    At the entrance of the church, there are 14 small chapels, representing the stations of the cross, which illustrate the events of Jesus' last journey. Each station has a cross and several kneeling platforms carved into the halite structure.Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    Rooftop light show
    Salt carvings4

    The rooftop light show

    February 22, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Near the end of the cave, the was a room where there were colorful images being projected on the barrel shaped roof. The chairs were in the shape of lounge chairs pushed back in such a way that one could lie down and look up towards the roof where the various cultural things from Colombia were being projected. The show was for about 15 min. After that we went to the auditorium where a film ‘Guaza’ was being projected in 3D. The movie recreates the history of the salt dome formation and operating methods that lead to the construction of this majestic cathedral of salt, which is entirely man-made.
    From here, we retraced our steps all the way back towards the entrance of the cave.    Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    Baby Jesus with a six pack :D
    Genesis in a marble slabThe salt cathedralEspejo de Agua (mirror of water)

    End of the salt mine tour

    February 22, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Years before the underground church was built (around 1932), the miners had carved a sanctuary, as a place for their daily prayers asking for protection to the saints before starting to work. In 1950, the construction of a bigger project had begun: the Salt Cathedral which was inaugurated on August 15, 1954 and dedicated to Our Lady of Rosary, Patron saint of miners. It was compound of three naves and a monumental cross. Part of the galleries were actually carved by the ancient Muisca. However, as the church was carved inside an active mine, structural problems and safety concerns led the authorities to shut it in September 1992. The building had 120m length and 22m height. It had six main columns, and a maximum capacity of 8000 people. The main nave included the monumental cross, which was illuminated from the base up, projecting a large cross-shaped shadow in the ceiling.
    In 1991 the construction of a new cathedral was undertaken, 200 feet under the older one. This new Cathedral was inaugurated on December 16, 1995. Its various corridors and sanctuaries were achieved by making small but significant additions to the caves left behind by previous mining operations.
    The tour actually lasted almost 45 min. Our guide left us at the end of the salt mine. There were many souvenir shops there. In fact, I have never seen that many souvenir shops in one place before. There were counters for salt figurines, salt jewelry, salt based bathing soaps, salt based body products etc. There were even emerald counters since Colombia is famous for its emeralds.    Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    Path to the entrance of the salt cathedral
    Entrance to the mineThe main cross of the cathedralSalt deposits in the form of a salt waterfallRivers of salt in the roof of the cathedral2Nativity scene

    Inside the Salt Mine

    February 22, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    We climbed onto the halite hill. The path leading up is through some nicely manicured lawns and the entrance is at the top. The ticket price of 55,000 COP for adult foreigners is extremely steep. Its not cheap for locals as well. One would need an id for entry as a local and still costs 35,000 COP. An honest opinion would be, its not really worth the money, but if one is in Bogota it is definitely worth a visit once. Included in the ticket is a tour guide. There are tours in Spanish and English, but the frequency of the English tours is quite less. We were lucky that the next English tour was at 1 pm. That gave us enough time to eat some quick food as lunch at the expensive restaurants near the entrance of the cave. The tour started promptly at 1 pm and our guide told us not to take pictures while we were with him as he wanted to do the tour in the given 30 min and that after the tour we would have time till 7 pm in the evening to go around wherever we pleased and take as many pictures as we liked. This was a good idea, as we could focus on listening about the history of the cave etc. and later there was no one pushing us to run while we took the pictures.
    Salt deposits in Zipaquira were formed around 250 million years ago, and were raised above sea level during the late Tertiary period, when the Andes were formed.

    The halite mines were exploited already by the pre-Columbian Muisca culture since the 5th century BC. According to records from the 1800s, Zipaquira had deposit bigger than the main halite mines of the time, such as those in Spain, Switzerland, Poland and the County of Tyrol with a calculated resource estimation of one million cubic meters.    Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling

    The Salt Cathedral, Zipaquira

    February 22, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    From the main square, we walked Westwards to the Salt Cathedral. By the time we reached the entrance, it was almost 12 pm.
    The Salt Cathedral is an underground Roman Catholic church built within the tunnels of a salt mine 200 metres below the ground in a halite (rock salt) mountain near Zipaquira. It is a very popular tourist destination and place of pilgrimage in the country. 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 also there.Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling

    Iglesia Zipaquira

    February 22, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Also known as the Diocese Cathedral was inaugurated and consecrated on November 9th, 1870. Its interior paintings were finished in 1916 and it was finally exalted as a Cathedral in 1952, the year the Zipaquira diocese was created.Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    2

    Parque Principal Zipaquirá

    February 22, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    The bus dropped us on the South side of the small town of Zipaquira. From here, the main square of the Parque Principal is about 2 kms and the Underground Salt Cathedral is about 1.5 kms West of the town, just outside the limits of the town. Zipaquira is a beautiful town. The cobbled streets and the wooden balconies and brightly painted facades reminded us of Cusco. The feeling was much more reinforced when we reached the Parque Principal. That place looked exactly like the main square in Cusco. A wide open space with cobbled flooring, beautiful Spanish colonial buildings all around and a lovely church.Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    Army men outside the park
    1TransMilenio station in the middle of the roadIn the TransMelinio1With KarinMini bus to ZipaquiraMe and Karin going to Zipaquira

    Off to Zipaquira Salt Cathedral

    February 22, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    This was the second last day of the trip for me. My flight to Quito and then onward to Europe was the next day. To make the best of the time, we had planned to visit the Zipaquira Salt Cathedral some 60 kms from Bogota.
    I woke up around 7:30 in the morning. Hristo and Maria too were up but both were feeling a bit weak and not fully fit. It had been a bad round of food poisoning for Hristo and he had woken up a couple of times in the night. Maria too was having a very severe throat pain and cough. They told me to carry on to Zipaquira as I didn't have any more day left while they would go there some day after I had left as they had their return tickets a few days later. I checked with Karin. She decided to join me. Her earlier plan had been to go to the Monseratte hill just next to our hostel. The views of Bogota from up there are amazing, but since it was a cloudy day, she decided to do it some other day when it was clearer.
    We had done some research and had figured that the buses to Zipaquira leave from the bus terminal at the North end of Bogota called Portal Norte. To reach Portal Norte, we could either take the taxi or use the local transport. We checked with the guy at the reception and realized that the taxi to Portal Norte was quite expensive and that the local bus route was very straightforward. We needed to catch the TransMelinio bus service from near the hostel and from there it was one straight road for almost 20 kms to the North.
    We finished our breakfast and headed to find the TransMelinio station. Just outside the hostel, we saw some 5-6 men dressed up in full army fatigues running outside the park nearby. It looked like some operation going on; most probably against drug dealers in the park. We walked around the area, but couldn't find the TransMelinio station. It took us 30 min to finally find the station. Here, at the entrance, we bought the tickets and also found out which number bus to take. The bus took 40 min to reach Portal Norte. The mini bus to Zipaquira was leaving in 5 min, this, which we managed to catch. The tickets are available on the bus only. In fact, there are no tickets. Everyone knows the fare and its the same all the way irrespective of where one gets on or off. After the bus leaves the terminal, the helper for the bus driver goes around collecting cash from everyone.    Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling

    Chibchombia dinner

    February 21, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    When I woke up, it was almost 9:30 pm. It was time to have some dinner before the restaurants closed. Maria too woke up and told that Hristo was not well. He seemed to have a bout of food poisoning or something and had been puking and feeling feverish. Hristo too woke up on hearing us but was feeling too weak. I offered to get some food from outside but he didn't feel like eating and Maria too didn't want to go out as she too wasn't feeling 100% fine. I decided to go somewhere nearby and have some food. Outside, it was raining quite a bit and it was quite dark. I ran to the Chibchombia restaurant just opposite the hostel. They didn't have anything vegetarian but the waitress was creative enough and offered to get rice, red beans and fried plantain which was perfect for me. After the dinner, I came back and slept off again.Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling

    Back to the hostel

    February 21, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ 🌬 18 °C

    We walked our way back the 3 kms through some lovely streets with beautiful graffiti. We reached back around 3:30 pm. Hristo and Maria had got the room and were sleeping. I too slept off to get over the lack of sleep from the previous night.Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    La Bruja (The Witch) restaurant with its motto "Here the magic begins with you"
    The fantastic lunch

    Restaurants & graffiti

    February 21, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ 🌬 18 °C

    The tour dispersed at 1 pm. It was lunch time so we decided to have some food before heading back to the hostel. Karin turned out to be a vegetarian too so we asked the tour guide for suggestions of good vegetarian place nearby. He recommended Nativo Arte. It was on our way back so we walked over. The price and the food quality was definitely worthy of the recommendation. After food, we walked back to the hostel via a different route. There were many more beautiful graffiti on the walls.Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling

    García Marquez Cultural Center

    February 21, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Around 1 pm, we reached the last stop the García Marquez Cultural Center. There were a variety of beautiful graffiti on the walls around this area.

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    Tile with the Lisbon harbor
    Window from where Simon Bolivar escapedColonial MuseumPalacio LievanoCapitolio NacionalCapilla Del Sagrario - the Primary Cathedral of Bogota

    Plaza de Bolivar, Bogota

    February 21, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    The next main showcase of the free tour was the beautiful tile-work painting of the Lisbon harbor outside the office of Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The building had been Palacio de San Carlos when under the Spanish rule and had been a constant reminder of the Spanish dominance over the locals for many a century, so when the Spanish were thrown out of the country, Portugal didn't waste time to stick a thumb at Spain. They presented this painting to Colombia who got it engraved in the walls outside the Palacio de San Carlos.
    The palace was also the scene of an assassination attempt on Simon Bolivar in 1828. He was attacked when a group of conspirators attempted to assassinate him while he was taking a bath and he escaped through the window with soap still covering his body. His mistress, Manuela, who tipped him off and saved him came to be known among Bogotans as "the liberator of the liberator". The event became known as the Noche Septembrina (September's Night) and is referenced in Latin in a plaque conspicuously fixed on the wall next to the window through which he escaped.
    From here we walked 15 mts to the Plaza de Bolivar. The Bolivar Square is the main square of the Colombian capital Bogota. During the Spanish colonial period, Bolivar Square was the stage for circus acts, public markets and bullfights. The square is surrounded by historical buildings; the Palace of Justice is located on the northern edge and the National Capitol borders the square in the south. The Primary Cathedral of Bogota and the Lievano Palace, seat of the mayor of Bogota, are situated on the eastern and western side respectively.    Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    Graffiti in the Calle del Embudo
    Plazoleta Chorro de QuevedoErmita de San Miguel del Principe

    Plazoleta Chorro de Quevedo

    February 21, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    The walk through La Candelaria is via the very old and narrow cobblestone street called Calle del Embudo (Funnel Street). It ended at the Plazoleta Chorro de Quevedo or Plaza Chorro for short. There is a very old church Ermita de San Miguel del Principe in the plaza. The square is popular with street performers and a meeting place for college students. It is believed that Bogotá was founded in Chorro de Quevedo Plaza on August 6, 1538.Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling

    Fancy neighborhood of La Candelaria

    February 21, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    As part of the Bogota free tour, we visited the fancy neighborhood of La Candelaria. There were some interesting mural paintings and graffiti on the walls of the houses and cafes there.

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    2

    Bogota free tour

    February 21, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Our overnight bus reached Bogota at 5:30 in the morning. We didn't have a place booked for the day. We had planned to go out of the terminal and hopefully find a place to stay somewhere nearby. As with the other cities in Colombia, Bogota too had quite many bus terminals and the one where we ended up didn't have any hotels or hostels marked anywhere nearby on our offline maps. After discussing a bit, we decided to book a place via booking.com and then take a taxi till there. The issue with that plan was that most places listed on booking.com generally have a check in time after 11 am, so even if we go to the place, we may not be able to check-in for another 5 hours. We decided to take a chance and booked a place (Ole Mi Casa). It was about 6:30 am by now. We decided to have our breakfast at the bus terminal only. That way, we hoped that by the time we reached the hostel, there would be someone at the reception and hopefully a room too would be available. We used the restroom at the bus terminal and then had our breakfast at one of the many small restaurants inside the terminal.
    After the food, we took a pre-paid taxi and went straight to the hostel. The numbering on the street with the hostel was quite weird. We followed the numbers and also on the maps but just one number before the required one, the street ended and there were no more buildings. Hristo was not feeling well, so I went out and walked around and finally found the hostel one block before. We got our bags off the taxi and tried ringing the bell. There was no response. There was even an intercom which we rang, but there was no response initially. Eventually, somebody picked up the receiver on the other end and told us that he will come down to open. It turned out that the person who came to open the door was also one of the customers at the hostel and had been up due to jet lag. He had arrived from Germany a day before and had woken up early. He informed that the person at the reception and the breakfast cook normally came around 8 am. It was almost 7:15 am so we decided to sit and wait at the common dining area.
    Around 8 am, the receptionist and the cook came. The receptionist told us that none of the rooms were available and that the check-out time was 11 am. He told us that he would need an hour after the check-out to do all the cleaning and changing the linen. We were quite tired and sleepy and Hristo was not feeling all that good, which at that moment, I thought was due to the lack of sleep. We asked if we could sit and wait in the dining area. That was not a problem with him.
    Within another 15-20 min people staying there started coming to the dining room for the breakfast. Hristo wasn't comfortable sitting there with everyone around sitting and having breakfast. He decided to go and lie down in one of the big parks nearby. Maria followed him but I decided to stay back and try and make friends with the people staying there. While sitting and chatting with everyone I realized the different activities and tours they had been with. I started thinking of what all we could do during the rest of the day after we check-in. I started searching on the net and decided that doing the 3 hours free tour of Bogota would be a nice thing to do. There were 2 tours per day and one of them started at 10 am. This would be perfect, as we could use half a day with the tour and then rest and sleep the rest of the day. It was about 9 am by now and most people had started finishing their breakfasts. I messaged Hristo and asked him if he wanted to join. He replied back that he was feeling sleepy and would like to lie in the park for a while more. He told me to carry on. I asked around at the table if anyone else wanted to come along. One of the girls, Karin, from Switzerland had planned to do just that in the morning and agreed to come along. She too had arrived the evening before from Switzerland and had still not sized up Bogota just yet, so she was more than happy to have company while she got familiar with the surroundings. We walked the 2 kms to the starting point and were there 5 min before the starting point. The tour started at 10:10 am.    Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    Sculpture at the main square Barichara
    Main square BaricharaHormiga Culona in comparison with my little fingerChurch at San Gil2San Gil at night

    Hormiga Culona (Big assed ants)

    February 20, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    While waiting for the 7 pm bus, we went to the bakery "Central" right on the main square. They had some fantastic cakes. We bought some and came out and sat in the main square to eat them. After that we went to a nearby souvenir shop and bought some very unique souvenirs from this area. These included an actual ant of about 2.5 cms "Hormiga Culona" encased in a plastic cover as a key-chain. These are a species of leaf cutter ants that are found in this region of Colombia besides a few other places in Venezuela to Paraguay.
    Atta laevigata is known in northern South America as hormiga culona (literally translated as "big-assed ant") or as bachaco. The hormiga culona has been eaten for hundreds of years, as a tradition inherited from pre-Columbian cultures as the Guanes. The ants are harvested for about nine weeks every year, at the time of the rainy season, which is when they make the nuptial flight. There are local beliefs that the ants are aphrodisiacs. The harvesting is done by local peasants who are often wounded by the ants, since the ants have strong mandibles. Only the queens are collected, because the other ants are not considered edible. The legs and wings are removed; after that, the ants are soaked in salty water and roasted in ceramic pans. They are supposed to have a high level of protein and very low levels of saturated fat and an overall high nutritional value. Hristo even bought chocolate covered ants packaged as candy.
    At 7 pm, we caught the last bus to San Gil. There we went to the main square again to one last time have our dinner in one of the fantastic restaurants with their balconies overlooking the square. After the dinner, we picked our bags from the hostel and took a taxi to the inter city bus terminal. Here, we booked ourselves in the bus leaving San Gil to Bogota at 10 pm. The lady at the counter promised us personal entertainment systems and comfortable semi-cama (semi-sleeper) seats. The bus didn't turn up at 10 pm. The lady told us that it was bit late and would reach in about 5 min. Around 10:20 pm, there was still no sign of the bus. We went back to the counter and were told it was reaching in 5 min. At 10:45 pm, the bus did show up and sure enough each seat had a personal entertainment system but the driver had picked up extra passengers on the way, so there was no place for us. We were asked to get off the bus, we were extremely pissed and went to the lady at the counter. She expressed her helplessness as she wasn't aware that the driver had picked up extra passengers. But she promised to put us on the next bus that would be there in.... guess what... yessss 5 min :))
    The bus did turn up in 10 min and we managed to get our seats but there was no personal entertainment system. We were pretty darn pissed at the lady at the ticket counter. First of all, we didn't get the amenities we were supposed to get, then we were starting an hour late and on top of it all, she had given only one receipt of our three tickets. The rest we guessed was going to her pocket. We went back to the counter and demanded the 3 receipts for our tickets. She reluctantly printed out our tickets. We took them and then were off towards Bogota.    Read more

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