Not Enough Hours in the Day

July 17, 2012

Loving Colombia, but I’m exhausted! Anyone reading my blog please read without judgment. By the time I sit down at my computer and get my thoughts together it’s late and most nights I don’t have the energy to reread what I wrote. With that said….

Our day began with an hour-long bus ride to the Salt Cathedral in Zipaquira. It is an underground Roman Catholic church built within the tunnels of a salt mine. Inside The temple you can follow the stations of the cross as well sit in the main cathedral. The icons, ornaments and architectural details are hand carved in the halite rock. Some marble sculptures are included. Colombians say it is one of the seven wonders of the world, but many people in my group have researched this and itdoes not seem to be true. We seeem to think it’s one of the “wonders” of Colombia since the Salt Cathedral is considered one of the most notable achievements of Colombian architecture.

 Colored lights illuminate the salt cave and crosses

 Scary looking section of the salt cave.

The angels and cross are made out of salt. 

 * Think they mean Holy Mother 

  

After the Salt Cathedral we took a train car ride into the town to have lunch.

 Sometimes I just look up, see a view like this and still can't believe I'm here... but so happy and lucky to be!

   

As we were driving to the cathedral this restaurant caught my eye. I was able to persuade Leo, our tour guide. to let us stop and eat lunch there. We admired the meat and fish cooking outside the restaurant over hot coals. 

 I enjoyed some delicious grilled chicken, French fries, fried yuca (which I’ve never tasted, but love), rice, salad, a smashed plantain, and coconut juice. The money here in Colombia is very different from the U.S. This lunch costed about 22,000 pesos, which is about $11 American. The trick is take the Colombian amount, cut off 3 zeroes, and chop the number in half and that's ABOUT how much it is in U.S. $. Just when we finally got used to Mexican pesos, we had to start over learning this. It's pretty funny though, like when I went to the deli this morning and my bill was 6,000 pesos for a water and a snack. 

We returned to the Fulbright Commission Offices to hear a lecture about Afro-Latinos in Mexico and Colombia by Renzo Devia – Director of AFROLATINOS a documentary series.

www.AfroLatinos.tv

Mr. Devia’s documentary illustrates the history and celebrates the rich culture of people in Latin America of African descent.  His lecture began with explaining the slave trade in the early 1500’s and also some theories that Africans came to Latin America before Christopher Columbus. Today there are religious connections and distinctions between the Catholic Church and religious practices such as Yoruba and Voodoo. There are also commonalties in foods, languages, music, and dance between African cultures and various countries throughout Latin America. 

By the time we returned to the hotel I was spent. There's just not enough hours in the day! My Fed Ex box never arrived in the U.S. so I had to make some calls and figure it all out. I was tired and cranky so a few of us decided to stay in the hotel tonight and just relax. A glass of red wine, antipasto (it's an Italian restaurant ), French onion soup, and a bite of chocolate cake made me feel a lot better!




The rest of the group boarded the Nocturnal Chiva Tour Bus (a party bus) to tour Bogota, drink, and dance. They stopped outside the hotel while I was having dinner. I jumped on the bus to say hello and seconds later I was handed a shot of aguardiente, the famous Colombian alcoholic beverage, known as "fiery water" "burning water" or "firewater". It tasted like licorice- not my cup of tea!