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The South American OdysseyThe South American Odyssey
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September 2017 - February 2018
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  • 147days
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  • The Craze for Travelling
    Day147

    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

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  • The Craze for Travelling
    Day146

    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

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  • The Craze for Travelling
    Day146

    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.

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  • The Craze for Travelling
    Day146

    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

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  • The Craze for Travelling
    Day146

    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

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  • The Craze for Travelling
    Day146

    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

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