Where we got cold in Colombia

As the little town of Villa de Leyva was getting busier and busier we left it to find another little town situated by a lake, this one even littler. We drove against traffic of endless cars and motorbikes, which we were quite happy not to be stuck in!

Guatavita is a very small town that originates from the same times as Zipaquirá, although their chief was called Cacique and they focused on gold work. At that time they were in contact especially for the salt coming from Zipaquira. Similar story as Zipaquira, the Spanish arrived and a new town was constructed. The difference was the creation of the big reservoir that flooded the old town of Guatavita and the new town was created in the 1950s above the lake. The town's architecture is all low, white buildings with brick roofs and it is quaint. One thing we didn't realise is that we are at almost 2700m and it is cold!! Luckily we have big blankets, but again we were not prepared for temperatures below 10°c 🥶

The main attraction of the town, is the lagoon of Guatavita, situated 10km northwest of the town. This lagoon was used for Muisca rituals, and in particular a ceremony where the Zipa, covered with gold 'El dorado' would jump in the water as an offering to the goddess of the lake. There is a lot of legends created around this lake and its emerald water. This was all explained by a guide during the hour and a half walk up to the lake viewpoint. This is not a very international tourist walk thus, the guide spoke in fast Colombian Spanish. Needless to say that Armelle's translation to James was not that accurate and we put all the pieces of information together later thanks to the Internet!

The other attraction of the town, a lot more recent, is the construction of an upside down house. Surprisingly, this is a lot more touristy than the lake!! We didn't want to wait an hour and a half just be able to enter the house and take a few pictures so instead we went back to the town and did some shopping in the many little stores filled with ponchos and other souvenirs.Read more