Some of the e-mail chatter indicated that the U.S. side of the motorcycle shipping issue believed nobody was here to receive the bikes. Yeah, we normally ship several thousand dollars worth of motorcycles into oblivion. Sunrise wanted proof that we’re in country, and ready to receive or bikes. So, before our day-trip at 10am, we had to run off to an ATM near the Gold Museum, find a place to send a fax, and find the Platypus Hostel to make reservations for a room at Columbian Highlands Hostel for the weekend. We managed to do all our errands before 10am. Our hired driver had arrived at about 7am, yet he patiently waited.
At 10am we were weaving our way through the streets of Bogota with Carlos (Charlie) our taxi driver. Carlos, er, Charlie didn’t know English, so he and Kathleen struck up conversations where I caught the gist of each topic. Charlie had 23 years of driving experience as a cabby. He specialized in taking day trips. Another neat thing, his car was powered by natural gas.We drove through north Bogota where the rich lived and worked. Charlie conveyed the apartments and condominiums were very expensive. Converting to U.S. dollars, several hundred thousand for a condo, and a couple thousand/month for an apartment.
Bogota in general, has a very high cost of living relative to the rest of Columbia. Sixteen percent tax on everything. That would explain why the town is crawling with police.We were only going to be traveling 25km outside Bogota, however, few freeways exist in South American cities so, gettin’ around is done on narrow streets choked with cars, trucks, and motorcyclist with pedestrians wading through these torrents.
Eventually, we were out in the country side and arriving at Nemecoń. Here, we took a tour of an old (1850’s) salt mine that reached deep into a mountain. The tunnels were huge 600-700 foot caverns with ceilings 70-feet above our heads and walls 50-feet apart. The salt was mined by hand and pushed out on tracks, by hand, in 2-3 ton cart loads, and eventually truck loads until the 1960’s. Since then, the salt is extracted by pumping fresh water into borings and later pumping out the salt laden water. Remember that whole osmosis thingy back in 7th grade science?Today, this mine is used for school groups, tourist attraction, and chapel. Inside were carvings the miners had made from blocks of salt such as a 2-ton heart.
Natural wonders could be seen, too such as salt crystal chandeliers. Additionally, due to the acoustics, the caverns are used as concert halls. What we found truly amazing were these elongated ponds, originally used to capture and store water, which acted as reflecting pools deceptively making us think we were looking into a deep pit. 
When, actually, we’re looking at the ceiling. Does, however, give one pause knowing you’re in a deep dark hole in the ground.We came top side and headed off to Zipaquirá which was essentially just across a valley from Nemecoń. Arriving at Catedral de Sal (Cathedral of Salt), Zipaquirá, we entered a monstrous labyrinth of caverns where miners had carved crosses and depictions of Jesus’ birth and crucifixion out of salt.
We wandered through caverns and eventually entered the cathedral area complete with the world’s largest cross carved into salt (note the size of the people under the cross), and gigantic pillars 30-feet across. 
By 3:30pm we we’re once again using Charlie’s driving prowess to haul us back to the Casa Deco Hotel. However, we got caught in rush hour traffic which now meant that we went from maneuvering at 10-15mph among other cars that were 15-20 feet apart, to travelling 2-5mph and play hand of cards with the folks in other cars. Eventually, we arrived safe ‘n sound by 5:30pm and handed Charlie the equivalent of $100 in Columbian pesos.
Kathleen and I were directed by John-Palo, the proprietor of Casa Deco, to a nice restaurant where we dined on minestrone soup, a delicious prosciutto pizza, and a strawberry/pistachio ice cream concoction. Hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving!!
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