Is the Lake Half Empty or Half Full?

June 11, 2014

As we continued to make our way south towards Bogota we tried to make an interesting go of it. Based on advice from a few other travelers we skipped the salt cathedral in Zipaquira and headed for the smaller salt mines of Nemacon, which made for a pretty interesting afternoon of licking salt walls and exploring the underground mine.

From there we headed to Guatavita where we were hoping to see a volcano crater that actually had water in it, but as you may recall from here, we weren’t getting our hopes too high. Turns out there was water in the crater and it was pretty stunning seeing more of the mountains of Colombia. Many pre-Colombian cultures also held this place sacred and there were tales of years of continued sacrifices here involving a golden raft and the beheading of many a virgin.

We met a nice lady outside the park that invited us to stay in her yard for the night. She wanted us to join her for a cup of agua panella before we left, during which she sweetly asked for my Patagonia down coat. I had to sweetly tell her that I needed it, to which she sweetly replied, but you can always get another one. We wrapped up our cup of tea, and thanked her for her hospitality and pointed Dolores towards Bogota.