Clutch Time

We had a full day’s drive through the mountains before reaching Zipaquira. The scenery continued to amaze us, and the steep ascents and windy roads continued to awe us.  We have seen a lot of mountains on this trip, but they pale in comparison.

We pulled into the Salt Cathedral, billed as one of Colombia’s most famous visitor destinations, and heard a snap. Jason immediately diagnosed it was the clutch cable. Not to worry, he had another.

Bode and I bought tickets and headed to over to enjoy the Cathedral while Jason went to work on Red Beard. This particular cathedral was built in an old salt mine 200 meters down, so it was dark, deep and damp and actually a little creepy. At least for a 5 year old. There are 14 small chapels, each representing a station of the cross, and each impossibly hard to get a photo of. After about 11 of them, Bode announced he’d rather go play on the playground outside. Fair enough.

We checked in with Jason and heard that there was another problem. The clutch cable wouldn’t get through the tube that held it. He continued to work another couple hours while we hit the playgrounds.

Of course he was parked illegally, but he security guards were really nice and had lot’s of questions about our trip. The California plates stick out more than they have anywhere else and the Colombians are pleasantly more gregarious than folks we’ve met anywhere else.

The Salt Cathedral closed, everyone left, but we stayed at the bouncy house until dark. By then, Jason had come up with a temporary solution (route the new cable through various holes in the frame) and we quickly found a hotel nearby.