Once again I didn't make it very far today but I did manage to escape Bogota. Lisa, Micha and I went to the Seguros office and were admitted right away but it still took more than three hours to process the bikes. OMG! At one point the process came to a halt because my motorcycle title did not show the engine displacement (800cc). I told them that the VIN number specifically identifies the vehicle and that we could easily look it up on the web (which I did). Several phone calls were made to see if they could accept this documentation. When they finally decided that they would accept my word for the fact the bike was indeed 800cc... they discovered that I only had a VIN number on the chassis of the bike and not one on the engine. This is the case for all motorcycles. Lisa and Micha's bikes as well. Many more phone calls and discussion. Wow! I was doing my best to be patient but this was very trying. Eventually we were given receipts in which we had to take to a bank to pay the fee. The bank was about five blocks away and of course we had to wait in line for a bit. The fee was only $33, we got a receipt from the bank and walked back to the Seguros office to finish the process. Success!

We all went to lunch to celebrate before heading in our separate directions. Lisa and Micha are headed to Cartagena to load their bikes on a ship heading back to Europe. They have plans to start an overlanders hostel near the town they are from in Germany. They showed me photos of a beautiful old train station that they are going to renovate. I look forward to staying there someday.

I was itching to get on the road but it was already well past 1PM. I decided to ride just a short distance to the town of Zipaquirá. I read about this underground cathedral that was there and I was very curious to see it. I found a hostel and almost dump the bike riding thought their very narrow front doors and down a plank of wood. My panniers clipped the door and I hit a post on the entry way. If that wasn't enough, I then had to make a 90º turn and drop down another step. I made it in but I'm a little skeptical about how I'm going to get out. I guess I'll worry about that tomorrow. The cathedral was definitely worth the stop. In all of my travels I have seen many different places of worship. I've visited monasteries, mosques, cathedrals, churches, shrines and synagogues but I have never seen anything like this. The Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá is an underground Roman Catholic church built within the tunnels of a salt mine 200 metres (660 ft) underground. I can't even imagine who dreamed this up but it is considered one of the wonders of Colombia. The underground chambers were mammoth and were very difficult to describe and photograph. It was both beautiful and eerie. It took almost two hours to walk through the entire complex as there were so many tunnels and exhibits. There were even underground cafes, meeting halls and souvenir shops. Returning to the surface I used the remaining daylight to explore the town square and had some dinner.