La Laguna de Guatavita

A week or so ago, we went to a fascinating place. Northeast of Bogotá is an unbelievable little lake that is the source of the El Dorado or city of gold legend. This legend is one of the reasons that Bogotá is located where it is today. Jimenez de Quesada founded the city of Bogotá because of its proximity to Lake Guatavita. La Laguna de Guatavita was one of sacred lakes of the Muiscas, the indigenous group around Bogotá. During sacred ceremonies the Zipa, or king, would be covered in gold dust and throw himself into the lake. There is evidence that the Zipa went out onto the lake on a gold raft. There is a miniature version of the raft on display at the Gold Museum. It is a beautiful circular lake that is a nice sage green color. There are different ideas about how the lake was formed. Some believe it was formed by a meteor, others think it was due to shifting continental plates and still others think it a crater of an inactive volcano. No one knows for sure but most are partial to the meteor theory. The lake is incredibly deep. In fact, no one is exactly sure how deep it is since no one has found the bottom yet. The area around the lake is called the black valley since the soil is a rich dark almost black color. The road to Guatavita is partially paved with incredible hairpin turns. We were not actually able to get very close to the lake since there is a threat of mudslides. It actually sprinkled while we were there. Of course, we left our rain gear in the car. The kids were great. Especially AJP since he had to hike the whole way. It was a wonderful example of Colombia’s natural beauty.