A trip that took nearly half a year to organize finally happened. What started off as a birthday gift for Elena - an idea to go to Colombia to visit the Emerald mines - was very exciting, but turned out to be slightly challenging to arrange. Us being in the mineral business for over 30 years, we had a few contacts in Colombia who specialized in Emeralds, but everyone I spoke with seemed to be hesitant to bring foreigners to the jungle and visit the mines, using all kinds of excuses like its dangerous, the roads are tricky, the mines are impossible to access, etc. etc. I think the real reason was nobody wants to share their honey hole. As a fisherman, I can understand that - I don't want to show anyone the spots where the fish are, well mineral people are very similar. Finally after few months of talking to many people, I found a son of a miner owner who was willing to take us to visit Muzo - the most important historical Emerald town, and Coscuez - the source of almost all the Emeralds found today. And towards the end of winter, things started to become more and more real. We finally booked the trip to take place in March - and the birthday gift was more then just a pleasant thought - it was about to become real!

Elena, Valeri, Veronika and myself finally booked our flight to Bogota - a very pleasant 6.5 hour flight and our adventure was on its way. As always enjoy the picture stories below about our adventure.

You would think being near the equator it would be really hot - but Bogota being high in the mountains meant mild weather and lots of lots of rain. 

After the flight, checking into the first hotel in Bogota, nothing like a couple cold local beers to start it off

Before heading into the jungle, spending a half day in Bogota and exploring this magical city

Of course, had to buy a whole bunch of exotic fruits. Only have this picture with avocados which is not exotic at all but we tried about 12-15 different kinds of fruits half of which I've never heard of. Of course some were delicious, and some ... well not so much

The gang!

Colombians are strong and very hard working people

On the way to the mines, we had 2 touristy spots first. This is a tunnel of a former salt mine called the Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá. This was a massive salt mine about 100 years ago, that is not in production anymore, so they turned it into a big underground church. 180 meters underground, its a whole city with art displays, cafes and washrooms. Hard to describe in words, but an incredible place to visit if you ever find yourself there. 

Beautiful town of Guatavita

So this is lake Guatavita, which is the origin of the whole El Dorado story. Local people used to find a lot of gold in the area, and they would wear it and drop it in the lake as a gift to the gods. When Europeans found out about this lake of gold, they did everything to find it but took years to find it as the local refused to share its location. When they finally found it - no one knows where this gold ended up with many theories around its mystical disappearance. 

Views from the drive

Into the mountains we go!

What seemed like only a 300km drive ended up taking us over 10 hours to go through serpentine roads, crossing rivers, very very difficult and bumpy drive. We arrived in the town of Otanche middle of the night and just crashed. After a good night sleep, we were on our way to Coscuez!

Colombian emeralds are formed through a hydrothermal-sedimentary process, rpimarily within black shale and limestone formations.These emeralds are a variety of the mineral beryl, with their characteristic green color attributed to trace amounts of chromium and vanadium. The formation process involves the interaction of hydrothermal fluids with the surrounding sedimentary rocks, leading to the precipitation of beryl and other minerals in fractures and cavities. 

And there she is, this mountainside here has produced the most amount of Emeralds that are scattered worldwide in the last several decades, and we are standing just beside it.

The formation of Colombian emeralds is linked to the tectonic history of the Andes Mountains, specifically the Eastern Cordillera. During periods of compression and faulting, hydrothermal fluids, believed to be "basinal brines," were mobilized and circulated through the rock.  

But why stand beside it when we can go into it!! Elena here with the trolleys that are used to take out rock from inside the tunnel.

Entrance to a tunnel that is over 500 meters deep going inside the mountain.

Unlike many other emerald deposits, Colombian emeralds are found within sedimentary rocks, not igneous rocks. This unique geological setting contributes to the exceptional color and clarity of Colombian emeralds. 

Here I am drilling at the end of the tunnel. Over 50 degrees celcius inside, its extremely hard work

The rough is taken out and then washed, to see if any green treasures were missed while digging inside

Wasappppp

Happy picture with our new miner friends

After the digging we went to the town market, where locals were offering us everything they had on them, this is where the deals were made. Valeri here admiring a pretty Emerald

Left or right? Or maybe both?

Specialist at work

The next day we had a 4 hour drive to Muzo, the capital of Emeralds - where mining has been ongoing for over 400 years. 

A big sign over the town that says "God sees all". We were told that this was put in order to help control the crime, which was on a next level the second half of 20th century. People killed for Emeralds - literally, and this was one of the most dangerous places in the world for many years. With a couple family cartels running the Emerald trade, this business was very difficult. The last 20 years things got cleaned up a little bit with strict policing and army helping out. 

A 5km stretch along this river is where 90+% of all Emeralds were found. These days everything pretty much has been dug through, but we had to try out luck anyways.

Veronika digging in the river to see if any green treasures pop out.

Town of Muzo

Valeri beside a nice mural with a local native person holding an Emerald

One of maybe a million coffee breaks - can't bein Colombia and not have coffee 10 times a day

Beautiful, just beautiful

Cocoa plantations

Mangoes? yes please

Veronika holding a massive Guanabana - this thing was absolutely delicious

Us with a sugarcane farmer, cutting up some branches to suck the sweet juices

Finally back to Bogota. We had a day to explore the city. This is us up in Monseratte, a viewpoint of the city from 4100 meters about sea level - our heads were definitely spinning from the altitude

And we had to visit the Emerald trade center. Dozens of companies are based here, and of course our favorite type of shopping

Buying some specimens - prices were definitely better at the mines, but we added more pieces here - you can see them on our website and in store

Is there a more beautiful color? Personally I don't think so - Emerald is so beautiful and has been the stone of kings and queens for centuries, deservingly so. 

And we have now visited the most famous source of this beautiful gemstone.

Thank you for reading about our adventure, and thank you Colombia - until we meet again!