Freeday Friday

You have to buy toilet paper

Most public toilets don't have seats

It wouldn't be Colombia without random stray dogs

42 steps

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Sarah and Majo

Colombians don't believe in waiting their turn for pictures

Listening intently to the music

Entrance to Parque Jaime Duque

The closest we will get to seeing the Taj Mahal

Crane

yellow bird

One of many crosses in the Salt Cathedral

The Salt Cathedral from up top

Don't close your eyes

10 meter drop we had to walk over

Nativity scene

salt

statue of Mary, Joseph and Jesus after He was crucified

A perfectly clear and still pool of water

the creation of Adam

My treasure

Our kids always refer to Friday as Freeday, especially during the school year.  Fridays after school were free for the kids to do what they want and for us to have fun as a family.  Today was a free day for us, we didn't have any appointments or any places we had to be.  Our friend Sarah suggested taking a day trip to Zipaquira.  Soraya arranged for a driver and we were picked up this morning around 9.  Our driver was very good, and very nice.  He spoke pretty good Spanglish, at least good enough that we could understand most of what he said.  We drove out of Bogota and headed into what seemed like the country.  It was beautiful with lots of green everywhere and farms with cows.  We saw lots of green houses where they grow roses.  Fun fact: Colombia is the second largest exporter of fresh flowers in the world, they specialize in roses.  The kids slept in the car while we traveled to Zipaquira.  Our first stop was the Salt Cathedral.  It was a pretty amazing tourist trap.  The Salt Cathedral is located in an old salt mine.  The miners of long ago carved a sanctuary to say their daily prayers for safety before beginning their shift.  Eventually a cathedral was carved into the active mine, but due to safety issues it was closed.  In the 1990's it was rebuilt and turned into a very big cathedral.  As you walk in, there are the 14 stations of the cross, or the different stages of the atonement.  As you walk along, there are 14 different mini chapels with huge carved crosses.  After the 14 crosses, there is a large dome that was really cool to look at, then we continued down to where the other chapels were.  The largest one was huge with statues of angels and a enormous cross.  There was lots of symbolism within the cathedral relating to the Bible and other parts of the atonement.  It was very interesting and we had a very good tour guide who spoke English.  With a busy three year old, we missed a lot of the tour information.  The tour ended in a shopping area with lots of souvenir counters and a few other interesting things.  Ben bought Diego some popcorn which oddly enough didn't have salt on it.  I checked out the emeralds.  As mentioned in an earlier post, my birthstone is the emerald and I have always wanted an emerald ring.  Well, I looked and searched and looked some more.  I finally found a loose emerald that was exactly what I have always wanted.  Ben haggled with the lady and I now have a beautiful, certified emerald.  Hopefully one day we will have enough money to have it set in a ring.  I hated to spend that much money on something for myself, but I decided that it's a once in a lifetime opportunity.  Ben teased me about buying an emerald in a salt mine which was kind of funny.  After a much needed diaper change, we headed back out.  The way out of the mine was up 42 steep steps, which felt like about 142 steps.  We exited the mine huffing and puffing and starting to sweat.  After a few photo ops and funny things happening, we met our driver and he drove us into town for lunch.  He took us to a restaurant that served traditional Colombian foods with smoked meats.  We ordered a meal that all five of us shared.  They brought us Ajiaco soup which I really like, and a huge platter that was piled with three different meats, plantains, tamales, arepas, and potatoes.  Then they brought out a platter of chicken and yucca with some kind of sauce all over it.  It was very impressive.  We all ate until we were stuffed, even the kids ate great.  While we were eating, a local music group came in and performed some traditional Colombian music.  Diego was enthralled.  He loves music and he sat so still and kept pushing my face to look at the musicians.  The look on his face was pure joy.  After they played a song, they showed us their music CD's and we bought one for Diego.  Diego was one happy boy.  After lunch, we drug our stuffed selves back to the van.  Our final stop on our adventure was the Parque Jaime Duque.  The park was awesome.  It has life size replicas of historical buildings, sculptures and statues, along with some smaller amusement park rides.  They have a replica of the Taj Mahal and many other famous landmarks.  Diego and Majo slept through most of it, but they woke up enough for a few rides.  We didn't have much time to explore before the park would close.  We walked around the main fare and then we found a little boat ride for the kids.  It was the lamest ride I think I have ever been on.  There was no music, and there were some scenes from fairy tales with some totally cheap scenery.  We had to push our boat along by touching the walls because it got stuck a few times and was really slow.  The kids weren't too impressed either, so we headed over to the teacups, or should I say coffee cups, we are in coffee country.  We got spinning real good and Diego freaked out.  I held his hands and he was able to calm down and even enjoy the ride, a little.  When we left the ride, we had four minutes until the park closed, so we made our way back to the entrance.  My descriptions can't do this place justice, the pictures will have to speak for me.  After a long, fun filled day, we headed back to the van and our driver took us home.  Diego did really good today until the last 15 minutes of the ride home, then he lost it and cried the rest of the way home.  I am so proud of him, he was so good today.  That is until we got home.  I sat him on the sidewalk while we unloaded our things from the van.  We let Diego play outside for a few minutes to get some wiggles out. We met our new neighbors and then Diego and Majo got into it.  Majo was playing with a car that Diego wanted and so he reached out and pulled on a big chunk of her hair.  I got his hand out of her hair and after some apologies, we headed upstairs for pajamas.  Diego settled down and we played for a little while while Ben worked and then it was time for bed.  We Skyped with the kids, we talked more with the adults than the kids.  I think Skype is old news with them.  They say hi and then they take off to do their own thing.  Hopefully they will still want to see me in a few days.  3 more days!