Colombia (Lonely Planet, 5th Edition) - Jens Porup [70]
GETTING THERE & AWAY
One way to Zipaquirá is hopping on one of the frequent buses from the Portal del Norte TransMilenio station at Calle 170, about a 45-minute ride from the center. From here, buses to Zipaquirá (COP$2600, 1½ to 2½ hours) are marked and go every 15 minutes or so. From Zipaquirá it’s possible to catch a few daily buses on to Villa de Leyva.
The alternative is to take the Turistren (www.turistren.com.co, in Spanish), which runs Saturday and Sunday from Bogotá to Zipaquirá (return COP$30,000). The train departs Bogotá’s Sabana Station ( 375 0556-8; Calle 13 No 18-24) at 8:30am, stops briefly at Usaquén Station ( 629 7407; Calle 100 & Carrera 9A) at 9:20am and reaches Zipaquirá at 11:30am. (At research time, curiously, it returned from nearby Cajicá, 15km south!)
A return taxi from Bogotá should run about COP$75,000 including time to see the mine.
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Suesca
1 / pop 14,000 / elev 2584m
One of Colombia’s most popular rock-climbing destinations lurks just south of this colonial town, 65km north of Bogotá. Arriving by car or bus, you’ll pass the 2km long sandstone Guadalupe formations standing up to 370m high along the Río Bogotá, and home to 400 (and counting) routes.
Many visitors come for day trips from Bogotá, particularly on weekends, when the half a dozen (or so) outfitters open their doors to greet a couple of hundred climbers daily. There are also rafting options, but the water is much warmer in Tobía.
A Spanish-language guide for Suesca climbs (COP$18,000) can be found at Gran Pared in Bogotá Click here.
English-speaking guide Hugo Rocha ( 315 826 2051, 314 276 6485; hugoirocha@hotmail.com) has been here for over a decade, offering day/overnight trips and lessons. Hugo also works with Campo Base (deaventuraporcolombia@yahoo.com), a climbing school, which offers a five-day course for COP$400,000, a day climb (including equipment) for COP$100,000, and two rooms offering B&B accommodations for COP$20,000.
El Vivac Hostel ( 311 284 5313; tent/dm/r COP$20,000/20,000/55,000) is a farm-turned-hostel run by a local woman climber pioneer who arranges climbs and rents bikes (COP$10,000).
There are also many camping options, or you can rent a full cabaña from Amarelo ( in Bogotá 1 217 8082) for COP$45,000 per person.
To get to Suesca, take the TransMilenio to its northern terminus at Portal del Norte, and catch a frequent direct ‘Alianza’ bus (COP$5000, 40 minutes).
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Laguna de Guatavita
elev 3000m
Many hopes of finding El Dorado, it was once believed, converged on this small, circular lake about 50km northeast of Bogotá. Rimmed by mountains, lovely Guatavita was the sacred lake and ritual center of the Muisca people, where – half a millennium ago – the gold-dust-coated Zipa, the Muisca cacique, would throw precious offerings into the lake from his ceremonial raft and then plunge into the waters to obtain godlike power.
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LAKE OF (FOOLS’) GOLD
Traditionally, the Muisca felt that Laguna de Guatavita – once set in a perfectly round crater rimmed by green mountains – was created by a crashing meteor that transported a golden god who resided in the lake’s floor. (Turns out, it’s now believed, boring ol’ volcanoes may be more likely the lake’s creator.) The Muisca paid tribute to the the god by crafting elaborate tunjos (ornate gold pendants and idols), inscribed with wishes, and tossing them to into the lake. (You can see many such pieces at Bogotá’s Museo del Oro; Click here.)
This led to a frenzy for gold for the Spaniards, and many other outsiders, who naturally felt they reached a watery El Dorado. Over the years many painstaking, fruitless efforts were made to uncover the treasures lurking below.
In the 1560s, a wealthy merchant Antonio de Sepúlveda cut a gap on one side – still visible today – to drain the lake, yielding a mere 232 pesos of gold.