Paipa! not Papaya

We spend our American Thanksgiving in a sweet little Colombian town called Paipa.  It was an easy 3 hour bus ride to this town of about 10,000 people.  It is known for its artisan cheeses and hot springs or aguas termales.  When we first arrived, we took a walk around the lake and discovered a plaza del toro.  We checked first to be sure there weren't any bulls in the ring, then we had our own bull-fighting fun.

Linnea, the patrton saint of bull fighters...

Fruit and veggies.............................. or tasty meats?

Being inconspicuous on the streets of Paipa... 

we got a lot of stares because there doesn't seem to be too many foreign tourists.  

Rotary International seemed to have commissioned for this great crocodile-looking statue to be created from bicycle sprockets, wrenches, random car parts, and other mechanic shop paraphernalia. It was situated along a pedestrian path at Lago Sochagota.  We discovered it on the way to the hot springs, which we will post pictures of soon.

Gardening, Apartment Style

We were getting some tall weeds in our garden... it was time for them to come out.  But this required some climbing out of a window and balancing on the bricks...

Zipaquira Salt Mine

We headed out of the city to Zipaquira, a cute town about 50 km north of Bogota.  We taxied from our house to the nearest TransMilenio station.  From there we went to the northernmost terminal and changed to a much smaller bus for the hour ride to Zipaquira.

When we arrived there, we walked to the main square in town.   

Then we made our way up the mountain to the maze-like tunnels of the salt mines where 2 underground salt cathedrals have been carved out. 

Entrance to the mine

This is how they do it...

We got Salt!

It's snowing salt!

 Yes, we drank espresso 180 meters underground.

 Here is the main cathedral.  There were crazy colored lights that 

changed from blue to white to pink to purple.

                                                       blue..... then..................................pink!                                     

Rainy Day in Usaquen