Laguna de Guatavita

Guatavita is a small, almost perfectly round lake sitting in a bowl of grass and low forest at around three thousand metres north of Bogota. It was a sacred site of the Muisca, who made offerings of gold into the water in a ceremony in which a new ruler was covered in gold dust and rowed to the centre, and that account is the origin of the El Dorado legend that sent Europeans looking for a golden city. A great notch cut into the rim is the scar of a colonial attempt to drain it. Visits are on foot with a guide, on a fixed circuit around the rim.

History

The Spanish knew of a sacred lake in the Eastern Ranges possibly as early as 1531, but the first conquistador to reach it was Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, possibly in June 1537, on an expedition into the highlands in search of gold that brought the Spanish into first contact with the Muisca. For the Muisca it was one of their sacred lakes, and a ritual held here, in which the zipa was covered in gold dust, went out on a raft of rushes and washed the gold off in the water while worshippers threw jewellery and other offerings in, is widely thought to be the origin of the legend of El Dorado; attempts to drain the lake and salvage the gold have found only a few objects of gold and silver (Wikipedia, Lake Guatavita).

Highlights

• The lake itself - a near-circular green lake in a steep bowl.
• The cut in the rim - the notch left by an attempt to drain the water.
• The rim path - a guided loop with viewpoints down onto the surface.
• The paramo vegetation - frailejones and high grassland on the slopes.

When to go

December to March is driest and the visibility best; in the wet season cloud can fill the bowl entirely. The site opens late morning and closes mid afternoon, is shut one day a week, and visits leave in guided groups at set times, so arrive early enough to join one. Weekends bring large groups up from Bogota.

Practical notes

There is no swimming, no boats and no going down to the water, and the visit is a guided walk around the rim on a fixed route, which disappoints people expecting a lakeside afternoon. The talk is usually in Spanish only. It sits at three thousand metres and the climb from the car park is steeper than it looks. Opening hours are short and inflexible.

Nearby

Sesquile, the Tomine reservoir and the salt cathedral at Zipaquira are within an hour.

Key facts