Worshipping Deep Underground in ZIpaquira's Salt Cathedral

In an old salt mine in Colombia's countryside about one hour from Bogota, lies a full Roman Catholic Cathedral. Zipaquira's Salt Cathedral was created by clearing out 250,000 tons of salt and building an entire cathedral that can hold 8500 people.

For a sense of perspective, the cross is the world's largest in an underground church.

Shadowy figure in the lower foreground is a person photographing the giant cross

To get to the cathedral, a wide, well-ventilated path slowly ramps downward, until the base level of 200 meters (656 feet) is reached. Along the way, there are side chapels carved into the walls, each signifying one of the twelve stations of the cross.

And naturally, there is a gift shop (practically a shopping center - offering souvenirs along with jewelry and more) and food.

Palm Trees and Willys Jeeps in Colombia's Cocora Valley

Colombia's Corcora Valley is a startling sight. Its green rolling hills make you feel like you are in Switzerland except for one thing. There are palm trees popped up all over the hillsides. The exceptionally tall species of palm (the largest palm in the world) is known as Wax Palm and is unique in its presence so far above sea level and  cooler climate. Corcora Valley (in Spanish, Valle de Cocora) is situated in Colombia's Coffee Country region. UNESCO has designated Colombia's entire coffee region as a World Heritage site. It is gorgeous. 

Coffee Beans

The Corcora Valley looks much like the surrounding area but for its palms. The majestic trees and the hills around them were granted government protection by being designated as a national park in 1985. The country named the Wax Palm as the national tree, in the hopes of preserving it from total destruction.  Until that measure in 1985, it had been the practice of thousands of Colombians to descend on the area just before Palm Sunday to rip at the trees for their leaves. The tree trunks are scarred and weakened, and many have fallen to the ground. 

Now a protected area, the park has been developed for hiking and horse trails. 

A popular way of traveling by road through the park is on Willys Jeeps. Originally brought to the area in the 1950s as World War II surplus, they were used to transport coffee crops, pigs, people, whatever, through the tough terrain of the coffee country. They still are. But as tourism grows and better roads are built, the Jeeps are also used to shuttle tourists from Valle de Cocora trailheads to the nearby town of Salento. 

Unlikely you'd see this in the USA, but people freely ride on the Jeep's back platform, hanging onto the roof as the Jeep winds through the gorgeous road. 

How to Do the New Year in Colombia

There is a tradition in Colombia to welcome January first by burning up the bad things that happened in the year that is ending. The Bad Things are symbolized by big puppets - larger than life, stuffed, and ready to be hung and lit on fire in effigy.  As you drive around the country of Colombia just before December 31, you can occasionally spot some puppets on the roadside, getting ready to be crisped.

And in restaurants and bars on New Year's Eve, Colombians engage in special rituals to welcome the new year.  My family and I were in Bogota, at a festive, high energy bar/restaurant called Andre Carnes des Res. Having been advised to buy tickets well in advance of December 31, as soon as they went on sale, we secured our spots.

One of the women at the table next to ours came over, asked me to put out our hands and she poured into them some dried lentil beans, which are to be in your right pocket when the new year begins.

Waiting for us at our table was a cardboard box of women's underwear and wheat sheafs. The women's underwear ended up on the heads of some men (such as my husband). But more traditionally, the wheat sheafs are procured by Colombians as a symbol of plenty.  As New Year's Eve approaches, wheat sheafs are seen for sales in the streets. Vendors walk between cars, selling them.

At the restaurant, small wheat sheafs are placed on the table in front of each person, along with some currency and 12 grapes.

As you place each grape, you think of a wish. When the clock strikes midnight, you eat all twelve grapes in the hope that your wishes will come true.

Magical Medellin Christmas Lights

Medellin goes all out with Christmas lights. The public utility, Grupo EPM, sponsors a huge installation taking over an amusement park, called Parque Norte. You can make a whole evening out of strolling in and out of the exhibits, down the lanes, and alongside the lake. 

It's hard to know where to look first, because of the magnitude of the displays.  

Before you even enter the main gates of the park, you pass along a corridor of outside food vendor stands, hawking cotton candy and all types of fried sweet things. The locals call it "cholesterol palace". 

Parque Norte is just outside of downtown Medellin. There is another option to view dense spectacles of Christmas lights, covering a central artery. The street known as Carabobo is thickly covered with a canopy of lights which flash, rotating into different designs. The blocks that are decorated are closed to traffic to allow people to stroll underneath. 

Triumph Over Drug Violence

Medellin was the Colombian city that suffered the most from terrifying violence while Pablo Escobar was alive, running his drug cartel.  Although the violence began to subside nearly 25 years ago, it is still fresh in the minds of visitors (like me), wondering if the streets of Medellin are safe now. The drug dealers' soldiers routinely killed innocent people on the street, in their homes, and detonated lethal bombs in public places.  Although most of the rubble and damaged buildings have been cleaned up and repaired, the emotional scars are still healing. My Medellin guide was a teenager during Escobar's reign. Social life during her high school years was mostly spent inside. Her parents, like those of her friends, would not let their children go to outdoor concerts or other gatherings, for fear that yet another bomb would explode, pointlessly slaughtering innocent people -- as a reminder of the drug dealers' power.

There is a poignant visual portrayal of the violence in the form of sculpture created by world-famous sculptor Fernando Botero, whose hometown is Medellin.  In the downtown area, there is a park called Parque San Antonio. Actually, less of a tree sanctuary and more like a large concrete, block-wide expanse, the park is a platform surrounded by stores, an amphitheater and transportation terminals. Fernando Botero had installed a large bronze sculpture of a pigeon.

In 1995, during an outdoor concert performance, a bomb was placed in the structure. Its explosion killed 25 people, some of whom were children. In the aftermath, as the authorities began to curtail the drug dealers' violence, the city decided to leave the ripped-apart metal wreck as a reminder and memorial.

Fernando Botero provided a new, replacement pigeon, insisting that it be placed alongside the destroyed version, as a visual symbol of triumph for peace.

We (actually, my husband) noticed another interesting signal that the drug lords have lost their grip. That is, when driving along the high speed freeway out of Medellin, it is curious to see soldiers standing on the roadside just before an exit ramp. The soldiers are fully dressed in military camouflage uniforms, hold machine guns across their bodies, have one fist up in the air, with the thumb extended upward. It looks like they are trying to hitch a ride. Actually, as our local guide explained, no. The "thumb's up" is a signal that it is safe to get off the highway at that exit ramp. Without that reassurance, drivers would not know whether they might be ambushed if they left the freeway for a local road.

La Posada, abandoned estate of Carlos Lehder, a former billionaire drug lord in Coffee Country, near Armenia, Colombia. He was extradited and is in jail in the United States.

No-Shop Pawn Shop

In Medellin, Colombia, if you want to trade in your wristwatch for some cash and a less expensive model, you can do that right on the street. A bunch of men congregate outside the Botero Sculpture Park, shaded by the steps of the elevated metro station.

Their arms are lined with their inventory of used watches. The deal is that if you want a different watch, and perhaps want some cash from the one you are wearing, you trade with the guy on the street. Until the expiration of an agreed-upon number of days, you can trade back. After that, the deal is sealed.

The local guide I was with told me that to her disappointment, her dad traded his expensive watch for a cheaper knock-off plus some cash. He came out short on the transaction.

Watch Trader

Barefoot in a Medellin Park

Right smack in the commercial center of Medellin is a park which, translated into English means "The Barefoot Park". Its Spanish name is Parc de Los Pies Descalzos and its entrance is located across the street from the headquarters of its sponsor, Groupo EPM, the public utility company. 

The Parc was originally built for the exclusive use of EPM employees, locked in as a fenced oasis for recharging, meditating and eating in the restaurant situated in the space.  But, after time, the novelty wore off and as employee usage dwindled, the company opened the Parc to the public. We were led through the Parc by a local who instructed us on the four stations. 

First, enter the oval shaped grove of tall bamboo trees, of the local Guadua variety. Their unusually tall and thin profiles form an opening to the sky, where the blue void is intended to create an empty space in your mind. Sit on a bench and remove your shoes while gazing up into the oval space. Walk on the stony path toward the grassy area, noting the discomfort of the sharp edges of the pebbles, focusing your attention toward your feet. 

Second, step onto the grassy field. Enjoy the cool relief and soft pleasure of the grass and forgiving ground in contrast to the pebbles. Draw circles on the grass with your feet.

Third, enter the sand area in the Zen rock garden. Pass around the large boulders symbolic of challenges presented in life and into the labyrinth. Still walking on sand, close your eyes and feel your way through the field of rectangular waist-high columns.

 

Trust yourself and your judgment to take the risks to get you through.  Fourth and finally, the water area cleanses your feet and massages with pulsing water. 

As to Grupo EPM, by contrast to the way utilities are operated in most places in the United States, EPM delivers a bundle of the public services: electricity, water, and natural gas.  EPM's office tower is a smart building and its outdoor terraces facing the Parc are draped with green vines.