Colombia – Gods and Gold – Beyonder

Colombia is all about Gold, Gods, and a Cathedral Carved Out of Silence… And maybe a pinch of crime and scandal…

Colombia is not a place that impresses you. It is one that sits you down, pours you a strong cup of coffee, and begins telling you stories you didn’t know you were ready to hear. What I mean is, it doesn’t dazzle immediately. It unfolds. Slowly. Quietly. And then, somewhere between a lake, a mountain, and a cave lit in impossible colors, it gets under your skin.

It begins, as many things here do, with gold…

Golden Muisca raft artifact

Golden Muisca Raft

This little piece of gold, delicate, almost fragile, carries the weight of an entire myth. The Muisca people of Colombia believed their ruler, covered in gold dust, would step onto a raft and sail into a sacred lake, offering treasures to the Gods. Gold wasn’t currency. It was communication.

The Spanish heard this story and, predictably, misunderstood everything. They came looking for El Dorado, a city of gold. What they found instead… was a country.

Bogota greets you not with elegance, but with honesty. It’s a city that doesn’t try to hide its contradictions.

Exterior of old church

A colonial church, weathered but standing. Graffiti that speaks louder than any museum label. A modern building rising behind it, as if trying to move on faster than history allows… Bogota of Colombia is not a postcard city. This is a lived-in city. And it makes you work a little for its affection.

Then you climb…

Monserrate of Colombia

Monserrate isn’t just a viewpoint. It’s a ritual. Whether you take the cable car or walk up (and question your life choices halfway through), the ascent feels deliberate. At the top, Bogota spreads out below you like a restless thought. Inside, things change.

 

Gold returns. But this time, it’s quieter. Reverent. The kind that doesn’t shout wealth, but whispers devotion. You realize something here… Colombia doesn’t just display its history. It layers it…

And then, you go looking for the lake.

Laguna de Guatavita of Colombia

The Laguna de Guatavita sits there, almost unassuming. Green. Still. Like it knows something you don’t… This is where the golden king stepped into the water. Where offerings were made. Where a myth took shape… Stand there long enough, and the silence begins to feel… deliberate. Like the lake is holding on to its secrets. And perhaps it always will.

By the way, the path to the lake deserves its own moment.

No drama. No theatrics. Just a trail cutting through dense green. But there’s something about walking here… You slow down. Not because you have to. But because it feels wrong not to… Travel, at its best, does that. It resets your rhythm. In cas eyou wish to read up a bit more on the myths around the Laguna de Guatavita and it link with the famed El Dorado, check this out.

And then, just when you’re lost in your own thoughts, Colombia throws you a small surprise.

A flower. Bright, almost impossibly sculpted. No grand story. No historical weight. Just beauty. Existing for its own sake… Not everything here needs meaning. Some things just need noticing.

Back in Bogota, gold returns again.

This time louder. More elaborate. Almost theatrical. Every inch carved, painted, gilded. You start to wonder if the people who built this were trying to reach heaven… Or recreate it.

And then Colombia changes the script entirely… (By the way, in case you wish to read more about my time in Bogota, check this out)

It takes you underground. Deep underground. Into a salt mine. And somewhere inside that, it builds a cathedral. Because of course it does.

Salt Cathedral of Colombia

Blue-lit carved scene in salt cathedral

The moment you enter, something shifts. The air thickens. Sound softens. Light becomes intentional. It doesn’t feel like architecture. It feels like atmosphere. Then you see it…

A cross, carved into rock, illuminated in blue. Not placed. Not installed. Carved. There’s something about that which hits differently… Faith, here, isn’t built on top of the earth. It is carved out of it. And deeper inside…

The colors change. Blue gives way to red. The space opens up. It feels less like a church now and more like a dream someone had… and then decided to build.

By now, Colombia has done what it does best… It hasn’t overwhelmed you. It has layered itself onto you…

• A golden raft
• A restless city
• A quiet lake
• A watchful forest
• A flower that didn’t need to exist
• A cathedral carved out of salt

So what is Colombia? It’s not one thing. It’s tension… Between indigenous belief and colonial history… Between chaos and calm… Or maybe between surface and depth.

It doesn’t give you answers… It gives you fragments. And somewhere between them, you begin to assemble your own version of the story.

The Spanish never found El Dorado… They were looking for a city. What they missed… was the idea.

Because here, gold was never the destination… It was just the beginning.

Oh, and on the other side of it all, is Medellin… A city that didn’t reinvent itself… It rebuilt itself… slowly, painfully… on top of memory, violence, and a very conscious refusal to be defined by one man. To read about my time in Medellin, check this out.

Epilogue

Somewhere on that walk down from Guatavita, or deep inside that salt cathedral, you realize this isn’t a place you “tick off.” It’s a place that lingers… The kind that deserves a soundtrack.

And if Colombia had one playing in the background as you walked through it, it would probably be Stairway to Heaven. A slow build… Layer upon layer… Quiet… until it isn’t.

And just when you think you’ve understood it… It climbs again.

And just in case you want to visit Colombia, contact Beyonder Travel. Oh, and feel free to check out the other experiences across the world that are put up there…