A Grain of Salt. . .

About 50 km from Bogota (just two 1 hour buses) is the small town of Zipaquira. The town is one of the oldest settlements in South America. It’s a charming town with cobblestone streets -- a great place to visit in its own rite. But, the real draw here is the halite mine (rock salt).

This area was once covered by an ocean. When the ocean evaporated, it left huge salt deposits which were eventually covered with sediment. Then, 250 million years ago, when the plates shifted to form the Andes, these salt deposits were pushed up to create a dome close to the surface of the ground.

This salt dome was discovered by the local Muisca people who began mining the salt in the 5^th century. Later, when the Spanish came to South America, they improved upon the mining techniques and continued to remove salt. Over the centuries, three different levels of mines have been created and active mining continues today.

About 200 meters below the ground, in one of the abandoned mines, they have created a salt mine museum and tour for tourists to see how mining used to work and learn about the techniques used today -- they’ll even let a novice give it a go!

Back when actual miners were working in the mines, the job was very dangerous. Especially years ago before all of today’s modern safety advances.  In response, the miners built altars in the mines at which to pray before going off to a dangerous day on the job. Over time, the altars grew in size and importance, and eventually, the salt cathedral was born. 

The Salt Cathedral of Zipaquira is the big draw for Colombians. The current cathedral was built in 4 years and required the removal of 250,000 tons of salt. The cathedral holds 8400 people and about 3000 attend services underground every week.

The showpiece of the cathedral is the 150ft cross that is carved into the wall, yet looks to be suspended from the ceiling. Truly impressive!

The amount of work that went into the cathedral and the associated areas of the mine is humbling. Regardless of one’s religious beliefs, you have to admire the human spirit and what it can accomplish. . . one grain at a time!

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