We spent more than a week in Bogota. Mario and his girlfriend Liliana let us crash at their place, so we had a nice home base to do several trips in and around Bogota. As they both had to work the first couple of days Marios parents where so nice and took us to the salt mines at Nemocon. The mines have been abandoned but the canals in which they washed out the salt are still present. These reflect the colourful light and paint the caverns in amazing hues. The last time I was in Bogota we went to visit the Cathedral of Salt, another abandoned salt mine which is more famous. But the mines at Nemocon are much prettier in my opinion.
Of course we had to visit Montserrate and have a look over the city. The stalls still sell the same kitsch as the last time I visited Bogota six years ago ;)
Also a must see is the museum/gallery displaying the work of
Fernando Botero, sadly the famous
Gold Museum was already closed when we showed up.
We did numerous trips to the countryside, which remembered us a lot of Switzerland. Climbing the crater of
lake Guatavita was also interesting, hearing the tales of El Dorado and how they tried to get to the gold the pre-colombian tribes threw into the lake in their ceremonies.
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| Funicular descending Montserrate |