Laguna de Fuquene

Fuquene lies at around 2,540 metres and is shallow, with large beds of junco reed growing through it - the reed is cut, dried and woven into mats, baskets and furniture by families along the shore, a craft that has continued for a long time and is one of the lake's remaining economies. The Muisca held the lake sacred and its name comes from their language. The lake has been in serious ecological trouble for decades: agricultural runoff, cattle and dairy waste from the surrounding valley and the spread of introduced water hyacinth have reduced its area substantially and driven oxygen levels down, with recovery programmes running and progress slow. Boats go out from the shore, and Isla del Santuario in the lake has a small chapel.

History

Lake Fúquene was a ritual lake of the Muisca and the link between the lands of the zipa to the south and the zaque to the north, crossed by merchants travelling between the two halves of the Muisca Confederation; its Chibcha name is read as place of swamps covered with fog, bed of the fox or holy people. When Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada and his men reached it in 1537 the water stood 10 to 15 metres higher than today, and since 1934 drainage for farming and dairying has shrunk it by about 70 per cent, from 100 to 30 square kilometres (Wikipedia, Lake Fúquene).

The landscape

• Junco reed cut and woven - mats, baskets and furniture on the shore.
• A lake sacred to the Muisca - whose name it keeps.
• A shrinking, polluted water body - from farm runoff and hyacinth.
• Isla del Santuario - with a chapel, reached by boat.

When to go

December to March. Half a day.

What to expect

The lake is ecologically degraded and looks it in places - hyacinth mats cover parts of the surface. Boat arrangements are informal. There is little tourist infrastructure. Nights are cold at this altitude.

Nearby

Ubate is south; Chiquinquira is to the north.

Key facts