The legendary Lake Guatavita in Colombia 🇨🇴
Meet Lake Guatavita 🥰
You've probably heard of the mythical city of El Dorado and its many treasures. Well, the legend of El Dorado originated right here, on Lake Guatavita!
Let me start by saying that this territory was once inhabited by the Muisca, one of the most highly developed civilizations in South America. The name Guatavita, meaning "beginning of the mountain range," comes from the Muisca language. The Muisca considered this lake sacred and symbolized the feminine principle, the mother of all life, the keeper of balance, and the protector of the territory.
The Muisca had an interesting ceremony for the inauguration of a new chief. The person destined for the title would undress, be completely covered in a sticky substance, and then, using tubes, several assistants would cover their body with golden sand. Like a dazzling golden deity, he stood motionless on the raft while his subjects piled gold and jewels at his feet as offerings to the gods. Then, several more nobles joined the "golden man," and the raft floated away on the waters of the sacred lake. When the raft reached the middle, the future leader and his entourage threw the precious gifts into the water, then jumped in and swam to shore.
The Spaniards, who first came to South America in the 16th century, were simply astonished by the stories of this ceremony! With each retelling, the truth became increasingly embellished and adorned with ever more incredible details. The very existence of a people so rich that they covered themselves in gold seemed like something out of a fairy tale to Europeans. Driven by a thirst for profit, the Spanish conquistadors soon distorted the original story so completely that "El Hombre Dorado" ("The Golden Man") became simply "El Dorado," a valley strewn with gold, lying somewhere beyond an impassable mountain range or river.
Since then, countless attempts have been made to extract the untold riches from the bottom of Lake Guatavita. But, oddly enough, for various reasons, they have all failed! And in 1965, to stop further attempts to barbarically drain the lake or damage its ecosystem, the Colombian government declared Lake Guatavita a national treasure and banned all treasure hunting in the area.
Thus, the legend of El Dorado has inspired numerous works of literature, music, and cinema, but in real life, the treasure has never been discovered.
So, after a relatively easy hike up the mountain from the town of Sesquile (the lake is located in the crater of an extinct volcano), we arrived at Lake Guatavita. Ironically, we arrived on a day when the access to the lake was closed, but that didn't stop us from sneaking in illegally, through fields and forests. Everything ended well: we entered the territory without being noticed, took photos of the turquoise water, and left just as quietly. Mission accomplished 🥰
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