Iza

Iza is very small - a few streets of whitewashed houses with green doors and window frames around a plaza - and its particular custom is the dessert market: at weekends the square fills with stalls selling only sweets, mostly made by the women of the village, including cuajada con melao, arequipe, brevas, flan, custards and dozens of variations, laid out on tables under awnings. It is not a general market with desserts in it; it is entirely desserts. The village also sits on thermal springs, and several complexes take the water in pools nearby. The name is Muisca. It is quiet on weekdays and worth combining with Sogamoso or the Lago de Tota, which is a short drive south-east.

History

Before the Spanish conquest the area was home first to people of the Herrera Period and then to the Muisca of the Muisca Confederation, ruled from neighbouring Sugamuxi, today's Sogamoso. In Muisca myth the messenger god Bochica lived in a cave outside Iza, and in their Chibcha language the name is read as place of healing. Modern Iza was founded on 2 January 1554 and is nicknamed the Green Nest of Boyacá (Wikipedia, Iza, Boyacá).

What you'll find

• A plaza of dessert stalls - weekends only, and nothing else sold.
• Whitewash with green trim - the village's uniform colour scheme.
• Thermal pools nearby - fed by local springs.
• A Muisca name - and a Muisca settlement history.

When to go

Weekends for the dessert market. Half a day.

Before you go

The market is weekends only - midweek the plaza is empty. The village is tiny with little else. Thermal complexes vary in quality. Nights at this altitude are cold.

Nearby

Sogamoso is north-west; Lago de Tota is south-east.

Key facts