El Infiernito

The site holds around thirty standing stones in two parallel rows, set up by the Muisca and used, on the reading generally accepted, to track the sun through the year by the shadows the columns cast - the alignments correspond to solstices and equinoxes, marking the agricultural calendar. A separate group of about twenty carved cylindrical monoliths stands nearby, phallic in form, associated with fertility rites. The Spanish name means little hell, given by colonial priests who took the site for a place of devil worship and wanted it avoided; the Muisca name is not recorded. The setting is dry open valley with the hills behind, and the site is fenced with a short interpretive path.

What you actually see

• Around thirty standing stones - in two rows, aligned to the sun.
• Carved cylindrical monoliths - about twenty, linked to fertility rites.
• A name given by disapproving priests - the Muisca one is lost.
• Open dry valley - with the hills behind.

When to go

Year round; solstice dates draw local interest. An hour.

Honest expectations

The stones are modest in size - this is a subtle site, not a monumental one. There is little shade. Interpretation is limited and in Spanish. The access road is unpaved.

Nearby

Villa de Leyva is east; the fossil museum is between.