Charala

Charala grew on cotton and the hand weaving of it - the region supplied cloth widely in the colonial period, and although industrial textiles ended that as an economy, workshops in the town still spin and weave cotton on wooden looms, producing cloth, hammocks, blankets and clothing, and the tradition is maintained deliberately as heritage as much as trade. Jose Antonio Galan, one of the Comunero leaders executed in 1782, was from here, and the town remembers the rising and the fighting at Pienta in 1819 during the independence campaign, where local militia held a Spanish force. The plaza is colonial with a stone church. The Cascadas del Caney and other waterfalls are in the surrounding hills.

History

Before the Spanish, Charalá stood on the border between the Guane and the Muisca Confederation, and its name honours the Guane chief of the village, Chalala. The modern town was founded on 23 July 1540 by Martín Galeano, one of the conquistadors of the Muisca (Wikipedia, Charalá).

What's there

• Hand cotton weaving on wooden looms - in workshops through the town.
• A colonial plaza and stone church - at the centre.
• The Comunero and Pienta history - remembered in monuments.
• Waterfalls in the hills - around the town.

When to go

December to March. Half a day.

Before you go

Workshops are small businesses with irregular hours - ask locally. The town is off the main tourist route and services are limited. Roads are winding. Waterfall access involves rough tracks.

Nearby

San Gil is north-west; the Paramo de la Rusia is south.