Lago de Tota

Tota is the biggest lake in the country and sits at just over three thousand metres in the Boyaca highlands, ringed by onion and spring onion fields that give the whole basin a distinctive smell. On its southern shore is Playa Blanca, a genuine white sand beach with clear water that looks tropical in photographs and is bitterly cold in practice. The lake is stocked with trout, which appears on every menu around it, and small boats run out to Isla San Pedro. The light on the water in the late afternoon, with the bare hills behind, is reason enough to stay overnight rather than pass through.

History

Lake Tota was an important religious centre of the Muisca, and the linguist Mariana Escribano reads its Chibcha name as astronomical observatory, after its sacred uses, though it is also given as farm fields of the river; legends tell that ancestors formed the lake with their own hands. Its water, averaging 13 °C, allowed rainbow trout to be introduced, and the land around it became one of Colombia's main onion-growing regions, with Aquitania on its eastern side the largest town on the shore (Wikipedia, Lake Tota).

The landscape

• Playa Blanca - a white sand beach on a cold high-altitude lake.
• The onion terraces - the fields that cover the slopes around the basin.
• Isla San Pedro - a small island reached by boat from the shore.
• The trout - the lake fish that fills every kitchen around it.

When to go

December to March is driest and brightest, though the wind picks up in the afternoon on most days. Colombian long weekends fill the lakeside hotels and Playa Blanca; midweek it is close to empty. Mornings are calm and clear, afternoons cloud over. Bring warm clothes whatever the season, since nights fall close to freezing.

Practical notes

It looks Caribbean and feels like the North Sea: the water is cold enough that few people last more than a couple of minutes. Wind on the beach is constant. Playa Blanca charges for entry and parking, and facilities are basic. Intensive onion farming around the shore has caused water quality problems, and there are stretches you would not swim in.

Nearby

Sogamoso, Mongui, Iza and the Boyaca highland towns are within an hour.

Key facts