Zipaquira (Colombia) - salt and the lord

In a small town, only 30 minutes north of Bogota, lies the self-proclaimed 'number one marvel' in Colombia: the salt cathedral of Zipaquira. Not wanting to miss out, I took a weekend trip there and stayed one night, although it could easily be done as a day trip.

The cathedral itself is built in the already worked section of a collosal salt mine, the fourth biggest in the world if my understanding of the Spanish speaking guide was correct. After an hour queue to get in and wait for the tour (it was Sunday afterall), we walked along a dark tunnel down into the depths of the old mine. Religious statues and sculptures adorned the walls and eventually you arrive at the bottom on the mine where there are a serious of huge cathedral style caverns and seating for religious services. It was all pretty impressive stuff and it is a revered site for locals. But overall I was more interested in the engineering feat than the catholic iconography.

What else is there to see in Zipaquira? Well, not a lot. The usual Parque Central complete with a regular cathedral - though not one of the best examples - and a string of little shops. Otherwise, the big successes of the weekend were finding an excellent bbq meat restaurant and managing to teach my totally non-English speaking companion to play canasta. Not an easy feat.

Bogota (Colombia) - halloween, tango and risk

Make no mistake, Halloween is huge in Colombia and 31st October means only one thing... 'disfraz' (costume) time! The streets are absolutely jam packed full of people dressed up, drinking, dancing and generally being nuts. Plenty of vampires, cheerleaders, brides, angels, witches and pirates... but that is just the tip of the iceberg. I went for the surgeon option, largely because scrubs are deliberately low maintenance and easy to move around in - not to mention the natural excuse to talk to the many 'nurses' around town.

It is also a long weekend - one of around 18 per year in this party country - so Sunday was another opportunity to have a beer or ten and explore. I visited a couple of towns to the north of Bogota amidst beautiful scenery, with one of my students (in his bullet proof car, with driver and bodyguard). In the small quaint village of Tabio, amongst the artesan stores and organic food shops, is a little gem of a bar/restaurant, built around the theme of tango dancing. The venue is even decorated to mimmick the dockland brothel district of Buenos Airies, the birthplace of tango, with various couples performing for the crowd. Apparently sailors who couldn't master the key moves were denied the chance to, ahem, use the services of the local ladies of the night.

To top off a great day, I went back to my student's family home for a lengthy game of Risk with his cousins, nephews and brothers. Beer and pizza was in good supply. By 3am I was pretty done for, but managed to lead the green armies to a triumphant victory. The British always had a knack for conquering the world.