Where it happened?

The Bachue’s myth is developed in the Iguaque lagoon which is located in Boyacá department, in northwest of Villa de Leyva Town, which was founded on June 12^th, 1572 by Hernán Suárez de Villalobos and is a Flora and Fauna Sanctuary, for this reason this place is a sacred place for the indigenous people, Villa de Leyva Town is a colonial town located 40 km west of Tunja City, and is one of the finest colonial villages of Colombia, has a population of 9600 people and was declared a national monument to preserve its architecture, it is located at a high altitude of 2.144 meters where many fossils of Mesozoic and Cretaceous have been found.

The first European to discover the area was the Spaniard Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada who conquered and distributed the land in “encomiendas” and forced the indigenous people to work for him. Then in 1539 Gonzalo Suárez Rendón, a Spanish colonist, founded the village of Tunja, which is an important place for the country because during the 19^th century Boyaca was battlefield for several confrontations during the war of independence from Spain. For this reason Boyacá department is a historical place for Colombia.

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Boyaca was during the pre-Columbian time a domain of the chibchas. They were also divided into two confederations: Hunza whose sovereign was the Zaque and Bacatá, whose sovereign was the Zipa. They farmed corn, potato, quinoa and cotton, among others. They also were skilled in goldsmiths, bartered emeralds, blankets, ceramic handicrafts, coca and salt actively trading these with neighboring nations.

An excellent example of this is the salt mine located in Nemocón, a town of Cundinamarca located 65 km from Bogotá, where actually the salt mine is working yet.

More information about Nemocon’s salts mine: