Thewesternprovinceblog

Hola todos! Today was an exciting one as today’s wanderings took us deep into the depths of Zipaquirá, Colombia’s Very own mines of Moria! What is this place exactly? 

Buried 180 meters into the mountain within an ancient salt mine, the Catedral de Sal de Zipaquirá is hailed as the “First Wonder of Colombia.” It is both an underground cathedral and a salt mine and is still a working mine in various parts of it. 

The halite deposits ere have been mined for hundreds of years before the Spanish arrived by the Muisca peoples; those who inhabited the region before the Spanish conquest. The mine was said to have a larger deposit of salt than any salt mine back in Europe and has been mined for many years though the current salt cathedral is a more recent construction being opened in 1995. However before that miners constructed shrines and chapels down here and prayed at them for gods protection before going about their shifts.

Today the salt cathedral stands as a testament to Colombia’s mining heritage and a masterpiece of colonial engineering.

With that out of the way onto the visit itself. First up was actually getting over here since it’s about 40 miles out of Bogotá itself. Now there are two ways to get here; first you can go by bus out of Terminal Norte, or there’s also actually a dedicated train which runs between Bogotá and Zipaquirá – unfortunately information on the tren was sketchy and hours inconsistent and often it doesn’t run at all. So I opted for the bus option. I get an Uber from the hotel and it takes nearly an hour to get to Terminal Norte. Once there I ask a man at a counter how to get to Zipaquirá, he points me to the desk I need to go to, buy my ticket for £3 and off I go to wait for it. 20 minutes later the bus shows up and off we go.

During the wait for the bus I get to chatting to another traveller, an Italian woman from the German speaking northern alpine region of Südtirol. This chica by the name Laura ends up being my travel companion for the day. It was her last day before flying back to europe and at some point we lose each other down in the mines so never exchanged details.

The ride over to Zipaquirá Town is uneventful but soon we are there. First we grab some lunch then begin the hike to the cathedral. Walking through the town it is a very colourful place much like Guatapé Town was. After a brief stop for photos in the centre we head up towards the cathedral. It is a 20 minute uphill hike but we soon get there. 

Once you buy your ticket (it is quite dear at £20) you begin your descent into the mines. Despite the steep cost of the ticket this place really does have a lord of the rings vibe once your inside. The tunnels go on and on and at various points you can stop and look out into deep chasms. These days much of this level of the mine has been turned into a salt cathedral and the way down to the main nave  is dotted with different shrines each depicting a different stage in the story of Jesus Christ before he was crucified. I didn’t stop to listen to everything on the audio guide but you get the point.

Working your way through the tunnels you eventually enter the main nave of the cathedral which is quite spectacular with all of the lighting changing colour every few seconds in the vast open hall. It really does look like a scene from LOTR or The Hobbit down here.

One downside in my opinion is how much this place has been commercialised. Outside the Nave and chapel several other tunnels have been used to set up different cafes, gift shops selling different random things at inflated prices. Okay I get they need to make their money somehow but let’s not forget this is still a working mine outside the cathedral area and there even is a guided tour where you can don a helmet and a hi Viz, grab a pickaxe and pick some salt deposits yourself – must be a great little money maker for them – make you the tourist free labour for an hour or so and you get to pay for the privilege of it!

After going past the commercial bits and a few bizarro art exhibitions you come to the tunnel for the ‘train’ out and down the hill – the train is just a truck towing a trailer kitted out to look like a train carriage. I got on this and was out of there after a 10 minute ride. 10 minutes later I walk back to town and manage to jump on a collectivo heading back to Bogotá. I soon get back and get an Uber back to the hotel and have a fairly uneventful evening. I think in total I was out for about 6-8 hours.

Tomorrow is the last day in Bogotá before continuing our journey south.