Laguna de la Cocha

La Cocha lies at about two thousand eight hundred metres in a bowl of hills east of Pasto, and the settlement of El Puerto on its shore looks unlike anywhere else in Colombia: steep-roofed wooden houses painted in strong colours, built along a canal where boats tie up, in permanent damp and cloud. Wooden launches run across the lake to Isla La Corota, a small island reserve of dense Andean forest with a boardwalk loop through moss, bromeliads and dripping trees. Trout is the food of the area, farmed and served everywhere, and the wetlands around the shore are protected for their peat and paramo vegetation.

What you actually see

• El Puerto - painted wooden houses along a boat canal on the shore.
• Isla La Corota - a forested island reserve with a boardwalk through mossy trees.
• The lake crossing - open wooden launches across cold, often misty water.
• Trout kitchens - the lake fish that dominates every table in the village.

When to go

Drier and clearer around December to February and again in July and August, though mist and drizzle are possible in any month at this altitude. Mornings are usually calmer on the water and the crossing is less rough. Weekends fill El Puerto with visitors from Pasto and boat prices rise accordingly, so come midweek if you can.

Honest expectations

It is cold, grey and damp far more often than it is bright, and the postcard photographs are taken on the rare clear days. The boat crossing is in an open launch on choppy water with basic life jackets. La Corota is small and a slow loop takes half an hour. El Puerto is heavily geared to weekend visitors, with a row of near-identical trout restaurants.

Nearby

Pasto and the Galeras volcano lie west; Ipiales and the Ecuadorian border are south.