Follow the Liberator’s Steps in Boyacá

Wednesday, 08 July 2009 00:00

One hundred and ninety years after the Battle of Boyacá, which sealed the independence of Colombia, a visit to the Boyacá Bridge turns out to be a good plan for this time of year. This is the site where the heroic feat of the army led by Simón Bolívar took place in 1819.

The Bridge is situated 127 kilometers north of Bogotá, on the Eastern Mountain Range, amid the ever-green landscapes of the department of Boyacá.

Aside from the site of the Battle of Boyacá, a visit to Tunja and its historical center is a good option, as well as traveling to the municipality of Paipa, where the Pantano de Vargas Battle took place, also a definitive 19th century battle in the quest to end Spanish domination.

Here rises the monument to The Lancers, a sculpture honoring freedom, by Master Rodrigo Arenas Betancur, one of the greatest sculptors born in Colombia.

At 184 kilometers north of Bogotá, the town of Paipa is also famous for its hot springs and water sports on Sochagota Lake.

A tour of the paths traveled by Bolívar also implies getting close to culture, ecological richness, and the delicious Boyacá gastronomy; it is impossible not to taste peasant arepas and almojábanas (corn cakes of sorts and buns made from curds, respectively), and many other delicacies.

Other nearby municipalities like Duitama, Sogamoso, Cucaita, Nobsa, Iza, and Villa de Leyva, once harbored winds of Independence and are today a colonial historical legacy, with the charm style, and warmth that characterizes the central region of Colombia and its inhabitants.