Hotel Del Salto (Colombia, El Hotel delSalto) is one of the most amazing and mysterious sights of South America, causing conflicting feelings. On the one hand, the building, built in the French style, enchants with the grace and grace of its lines, on the other hand, the devastation and dilapidation inherent in the abandoned structure gives it a gloomy and eerie shade. The hotel is located several dozen kilometers to the south-west from the Colombian capital of Bogota. The building is built in a fantastically beautiful place - on the edge of a steep cliff, surrounded by mountains covered with hazy haze, opposite the rumbling waterfall of Tequendama.
Construction of the hotel began in the early XX century, in1920, the then famous architect Carlos Arturo Tapia. The location for the building is very picturesque - not far from the tempestuous waterfall of Taequiendam, located in the municipality of San Antonio del Tequiendama (in the Colombian department of Kundinomarco). Originally, the building was built as the country residence of Colombian President Pedro Nel Ospina Vaskisa, who ruled from 1922 to 1926. In 1923, the construction of the mansion was completed, and its opening took place only in 1927.
In the early 50-ies of the XX century, the building graduallyrebuilt for a hotel that is known today as the Del Salto Hotel (Colombia), experts from Bogota Gabriel Largach and Dominique Parmo. The renovated building had 6 floors: 4 floors were above the ground, and 2 floors were located under the ground. In the basement there were laundry, utility and storage rooms. The hotel was equipped with 18 luxurious rooms, each of which had a private bathroom and a fireplace, the building also had a restaurant with a cozy terrace, from which a magnificent panorama of the waterfall and mountains opened. The guests of the hotel who stayed here celebrated the special spiritual atmosphere of this unique place, excellent living conditions and excellent service.
This place enjoyed immense popularity among local rich men and wealthy foreigners.
Flourished the hotel until the 70's.Hotel "Del Salto" (Colombia) rating at that time was quite high. According to tourists' reviews, everyone was attracted by his mysterious and mysterious look, the luxury that reigned in him. But in the following decade, as the travelers note, the hotel gradually began to decline. The official version explaining this fact was that industrial sewage and sewage began to drain into local rivers. Because of this, Taequiandama began to grow scarlet and make unpleasant smells. Naturally, as tourists say, it could not be liked. The flow of those who wish to relax in this hotel has come to nothing.
In the late 70's Roberto Arias became the new owner of the mansion. He converted the hotel into a restaurant, which he had worked for about 7 years. After that, Arias left Colombia and the restaurant was closed.
The 140-meter waterfall of Taequiendam and itsneighborhoods since ancient times were considered a strange and mysterious place. Translated from the ancient Indian language, its name means "open door". Living here in the XII-XVI centuries, the Indians of Muyska (or, as they were called Chibcha) believed that there is a door to the other world, near which live the spirits accompanying the dead on their way to the eternal retreat. For this reason, they preferred to bypass Tequivendam tenth road.
According to one of the legends, the waterfall was created by the mummy god Bochika, breaking his staff with a huge stone that blocked the water on the way to the savannah.
Another myth says that when Spanishconquistadors came to the South American lands, local freedom-loving inhabitants did not wish to submit to the conquerors and rushed down the cliff, and their souls turned into eagles, fiercely defending their homeland.
In the 90's, when the hotel "Del Salto"(Colombia), the photo of which you see in the article, was abandoned and uninhabited, this place mysteriously attracted those who want to settle scores with life. The mystical atmosphere literally drove people mad, and they jumped down from the cliff. The local population believes that the souls of suicides are taken to the other world by the spirits living at the waterfall and guarding the "open door" from unnecessarily noisy and curious onlookers. There are also rumors of the numerous ghosts that live in the building of the former hotel.
At the beginning of this century, an abandoned hotel"Del Salto" (Colombia), whose address to date: Santa Marta, r. Bogota, drew the attention of the Colombian government, the building was given the status of the architectural heritage of the country and allocated considerable money for restoration and restoration work. In 2011, the former hotel became the property of the Institute of Natural Sciences, the foundation responsible for the environment, and the National Columbia University. These organizations rebuilt the hotel and made here the Museum of the Biological Diversity and Culture of the Taequiendam Falls (Musee de la biodiversite et de la culture des chutes de Tequendama). The European Union has allocated about 310 thousand euros (more than 400 thousand American dollars) for the restoration and improvement of the structure and its surrounding area.
The Institute of Natural Sciences, with the support of the National Colombian University, has done a tremendous job cleaning water in the rivers feeding the ill-fated waterfall.
At the end of 2009 in the renovated monumentarchitecture, which became a museum, was the first exposition, telling about the numerous inhabitants of ecological systems that are underground. In the summer of 2013, an anatomical exhibition was held, at which sketches and sketches by Dr. Franzois Antomarka were exhibited, and in the autumn of the same year - a museum exposition devoted to the biological diversity of the Tataqoa desert.
Local authorities are actively encouraging tourists not toto be afraid of the bad glory that was inherent in the hotel "Del Salto" for a long time, and boldly visit these amazing places to leave an unforgettable experience for the rest of your life.
To the museum complex and the Taequiendam waterfall,located in the municipality of San Antonio del Tequiendama, you can get from the Colombian capital of Bogota either independently - by bus or by private transport, and as part of an excursion group.
