Saturday 9th December

 After breakfast we drove to the small town of Zipaquira which is the home of the salt mine and the Salt Cathedral. Again, Armando's early arrival meant that we were first through the turnstiles and had a relatively quiet trip through the mine. When we exited at the end of the tour, a large crowd had built up at the entrance.

Courtesy Wikipedia:

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 (660 ft) underground in a halite mountain near the city of Zipaquirá, in Cundinamarca, Colombia. It is a 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 included. The cathedral is considered one of the most notable achievements of Colombian architecture, being described as a "Jewel of Modern Architecture". The cathedral represents a valuable cultural, environmental and religious patrimony for the Colombian people.

The cathedral is a functioning church that receives as many as 3,000 visitors on Sundays, but it has no bishop and therefore no official status as a cathedral in Catholicism.

Salt deposits in Zipaquirá were formed around 250 million years ago, and were raised above sea level during the late Tertiary period, when the Andes were formed.

The complex is located in Zipaquirá, in Cundinamarca Department, 49 kilometres (30 mi) north of Bogota, at 2,652 metres (8,701 ft) altitude. National highway 45A connects Bogotá and Zipaquirá, as does the Tren Turistico De La Sabana (Savanna tourist train). The city is recognized, not only for the cathedral, but for being near one of the oldest human settlements in the Americas, El Abra archaeological site.

The halite mines were exploited already by the pre-Columbian Muisca culture since the 5th century BC.  being one of their most important economic activities. The traditional halite mining was described by Alexander von Humboldt during his visit to Zipaquira in 1801. He depicts this deposit as 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. Von Humboldt also criticized the excavation techniques as being unpractical for future exploitation, recommending drift mining instead, since the halite tunnels don't require beams, lowering the costs.

Main altar of the old cathedral, with cross

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 the 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. This construction cost of the original church was over 285 million U.S. dollars. The building had 120 m  length, 5.500 m² surface and 22 m  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. The right nave included the Stations of the Cross icons and the Rosary chapel, with the Virgin of Rosary Icon (sculpted by Daniel Rodriguez Moreno and later transported to the new cathedral). The left nave included the icons of the birth of Jesus and the baptism of Jesus, with a waterfall symbolizing the Jordan River.

Walking through the old mine with the 14 Stations of the Cross statues and eventually arriving at the vast cathedral was very impressive. At the cathedral we saw an audio-visual presentation of a quasi-religious nature.

On leaving the Salt Cathedral, we drove to Bogota Airport our short and uneventful flight to Pereira.

On arrival at Pereira, we met our new guide Jorge and checked in to the Sonesta Hotel. The hotel is expansive and has a large pool and garden area. We had dinner in the hotel with Armando and retired to bed.