Its the start of the 5th week of internship program, and my 6th week in Colombia. Needlessly to say, I have been counting down, not because I have not enjoyed my time here so far. In fact its the contrary, that there is so much relaxation and enjoyment that I am worried that I will not get used to the lifestyle when I'm back in Singapore. Thank God for His means and ways, the easy way out and I'm proud to take it because while it is definitely easy for me, no one shall say that it is an easy route ultimately. My Lord gave His life to so that I could have what He had, and more abundantly.

What's new for this week probably would be some updates on my last weekend trip to Bogotá. It was kind of daunting, honestly because I had not expected anyone along my journey to speak English. True enough, I had to converse in Spanish throughout my trip which, thankfully with the blessings of my Lord was not too bad! Struck up a short conversation with someone on the night bus ride to Bogotá, managed to traverse around Bogotá and got back safely in one piece! Not to mention that I also got to make a new friend called Mario, a fellow traveller who was from Argentina, grew up in Spain, worked in Singapore and now working in Germany. Certainly made me feel less lonely on a Saturday night! :)

Made some observations as well, and I do not know whether it is true. The larger cities in Colombia seemed to be more modern, developed and possibly less touristy. In a sense, the sights and sounds to visit and to impress is kind of dampened. I have the same feeling as I had in Medellín when I was in Bogotá. Well, at least Bogotá still had a historic quarter. But perhaps it was under this impression that I felt necessary to go on a day trip equivalent near Bogotá. It turned out not to be a day trip technically since the moment I reached Bogotá, I was on my way in another bus to a town 2 hours away called Zipaquirá. I did not have much expectations on this town; there was only one attraction that I was interested. And even so it did not pique my interest that much.

How pleasantly surprised I was! While traffic was bad, much of the town was quaint and peaceful, and I had a long stroll to the Catedral de Sal, otherwise known as the Salt Cathedral. In the end, I would have rated my trip to Zipaquirá as the week's highlight more than my visit in Bogotá! Well, that's just me I was just awestruck when I got to witness the magnificence of the cathedral that was built underground in a salt mine. All the sculptures were hewn out of the salts and the rocks surrounding it. In fact the salt mine was constructed, or should I say dug in three different levels. The initial church had actually collapsed and the current one was built to replace that. I'm just glad that God had led me to it! Could have been at other places at that time but I was directed there so... :) 

Another highlight was the visit to Cerro Montserrat, which was a mountain peak that overlooked the entire Bogotá. The trip was the most memorable, because I woke up at 0430 HRS to walk to the foot of the mountain. Along the way I had to cut through many dodgy alleys, deserted roads in the middle of the night, and even had someone approached me to tell me "el peligro de ser robaron" (be careful of robber). In the end I spent half of the second day exploring the historic quarter and tried to find a bus to another day trip town. But I guess everything is kind of divinely arranged, since I was worried that I might be late for class on Monday morning and it panned out at the end that I would change my bus ticket to an earlier one and got back home midnight of Monday! Haha. Actually the historic center (otherwise known as La Candeleria) is pretty beautiful and magnificent. The Iglesia Museo de Santa Clara was indeed one of its kind; I have never seen such a densely furnished church in my life until I been into that. Oh well, after all it was supposed to be a church museum. :p

Tell me about bus riding in South America! Hahaha. Everyone told me it was going to be really rough and all, but I slept pretty well on my night bus! Just as I got complacent and thought that it was not so bad, my trip home helped me discover the truth. The night bus was contending traffic with many trucks on the road to Bogotá and so drove much slower than the day bus, which was zooming at corners around 80km/h, approximately 2000m above sea level. Try that again and tell me what was going on in your mind when you take the front seat of the bus. Yes, I was given the front seat. LOL!