Another great day

Last night was fun. The food was slow to arrive but the good margaritas ensured we didn’t get too impatient. Mine was very tasty though - 2 pieces of lettuce rolled with shredded cabbage and carrot inside encased in a transparent rice noodles. There were also fried courgette strips and crunchy cauliflower. There was a dipping sauce of a thick soy sauce with sesame seeds. It cost less than the margarita.

This morning we were up by 6.30am as we had a long day ahead. First we got the bus to the funicular to go to the summit of Monserrate. The ride up took 5 minutes and we emerged into rain at over 10,000 ft.
Alejandro gave us ponchos. We had a steep walk up to the church at the top. It had a black Madonna and a moderate amount of bling. There was also a manger scene with a large baby Jesus endowed with a 6 pack. We carried on through an avenue of souvenir shops and Colombian fast food outlets. From one Andres bought us some coco tea and a shot of aniseed flavoured alcohol to help it down. We climbed to a viewpoint where we took photos of the cloud cover then headed back.

Our comfortable bus took us to the Zipaquira Salt Cathedral. Apparently the actual working mine is the biggest in the world. We walked down about 1 km following the signs of the cross. Each station was lurid with brightly coloured changing lights. The church part had some sculptures made of salt and 3 salt chandeliers. We sat through an “immersive experience”of the creation then walked through underground salt avenues of shops selling emeralds and salty religious paraphernalia. I couldn’t find a 6 pack holy child so no purchases were made. We got a bus out by another exit but not before we’d worn 3D glasses to watch a film about the extraction of the salt. It was sunny when we came out.

We had lunch in the town. We had local fish which looked large but was mostly head and big bones. A pan piper played thar and a guitar to entertain us loudly. It’s the first time I’ve heard the Beatles played on pan pipes.

The bus drove us through a wooded plain eventually climbing to 12,000 ft. We passed through the fertile region where potatoes and beans are grown and cattle are farmed. Farming seemed to be small enterprise.

After we left the motorway the road climbed steeply, twisting up and over mountains. Despite the altitude crops were still grown. We met many huge trucks carrying coal which is mined in this area. We crossed a river where Bolivar and his freedom fighters won their last battle. A bizarre fact - Hitler came on holiday here. At about 3.30 we stopped at a cafe where we had coffee, served with a huge triangle of plastic cheese which is supposed to be melted into the coffee. We ate some of it with the sweet bread/bun. And decided not to go out to dinner as we didn’t arrive at our simple hotel in Villa de Leyva till it was 7pm and already dark. We’d had another 12 hour day and walked almost 5 miles.

Blip refused my upload last night so hope it works today.