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.

History

Before the Spanish conquest the Muisca lived in the higher parts of the valley and the Tegua in the lower lands to the east, under a cacique loyal to the zaque of Hunza, today's Tunja; they farmed its fertile land, and the emerald deposits of Chivor and Somondoco made it important to the Muisca economy. The archaeologist Juanita Sáenz Samper has found three farming terraces and five cemeteries from pre-Columbian times, and the grey pottery typical of the area is known as Valle de Tenza Gris. The valley takes its name from Tenza, read in Chibcha as behind the mouth or going down at night, and today the Chivor reservoir in the valley produces 8 per cent of Colombia's hydroelectric power (Wikipedia, Tenza Valley).

What to look for

• 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.

Practical notes

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 south-east; Bogota is west over the plateau.

Key facts