Valle de Tenza

The valley drops east from the Andean plateau towards the Llanos through a series of small towns - Tenza, Guateque, Sutatenza, Garagoa, La Capilla and others - at altitudes low enough to be warm and green, growing coffee, citrus and sugarcane on steep ground. Basketry is the craft the valley is known for: chin, a plant fibre, along with reed and vine, worked into baskets, mats and containers largely in households rather than workshops, and sold in the town markets. Sutatenza has a particular history - Radio Sutatenza broadcast from here from 1947 as the first large radio education project of its kind, teaching literacy and farming to rural Colombia, and it ran for decades and was copied internationally.

What you actually see

• Small farm towns down a green valley - coffee, citrus and cane.
• Household basketry in chin fibre - sold in the town markets.
• Sutatenza - where Radio Sutatenza broadcast from 1947.
• A drop towards the Llanos - warm and green, unlike the plateau.

When to go

Year round; market days vary by town. A full day.

Honest expectations

There is no single site - this is a valley of small towns needing a car. Craft is sold in markets rather than shops and market days matter. Roads are winding. There is little tourist infrastructure.

Nearby

Chivor is north-east; Bogota is west over the plateau.