An ideal place to relax - virgin forests, a picturesque river, accessibility for tourists. But this hotel has become not a haven for vacationers, but a mecca for lovers of everything mystical and scary.
Ancient waterfall
Not far from the capital of Colombia - Bogota - there is Tequendama waterfall. It is located in the mountains at an altitude of almost two kilometers and falls down one hundred and thirty-nine meters. Translated "tequendama" - "one who is overthrown down." There are steel cliffs and forests around the waterfall, but the flat mountain plateaus do not make it difficult to access. These mountains are the oldest on the planet, one of the ancient centers of life, as archaeological excavations show: a huge number of sites of ancient people of different eras have been found in the Tequendama mountains. It was in this beautiful place that it was decided to build a new hotel with a panoramic view of the waterfall from the rooms.
The history of El Hotel del Salto
The place on the very edge of the cliff overlooking the waterfall is the perfect place for the mysterious castle. In this style, the house was designed by the architect Carlos Arturo Tapia - first as a presidential villa. In the fifties, the mountain castle was rebuilt into a hotel, several floors of which were located underground, in the rocks.
It would seem that the prosperity of such a hotel is guaranteed for many years to come - after all, the location is truly unique. But in the nineties the hotel was closed forever. The reason was the constant pollution of water in the river and groundwater - upstream there are industrial facilities in which unauthorized emissions occur. But the local population reacted with skepticism to the statement of the hotel management. According to people, the hotel was closed for a completely different reason.
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The hotel's gloomy exterior is reminiscent of a classic haunted house, and this is precisely the fame it has earned among the locals. Some said that wealthy Colombians stopped staying at the hotel for fear of ghosts roaming around, others argued that the place was called cursed because of the huge number of suicides - many were thrown here from the cliff and from the hotel windows.
What now?
While the incredibly beautiful building above the abyss is empty, the Colombian authorities decided to give it to scientists in the future. El Hotel del Salto will host a museum dedicated to the biosphere and culture of the waterfall. Since 2011, the ghost house has been administered by the Institute of Natural Sciences and the National Institute of Colombia. The building was restored by the state, and now it hosts various exhibitions - as a rule, related to the culture, history, flora and fauna of the country.
RUMYANTSEVA ANNA