Duitama

Duitama is a city in Boyaca, it is about 1 hour from Tunja and 4 hours from Bogota. Duitama is at the foot of the National Park Guenenta Alto Rio Fonce and has some beautiful walking/hiking near by.

Duitama is named "The Pearl of Boyaca", the town itself is not much to look at but the countryside around is lovely. Duitama is aiming to become the number 1 destination in Colombia for "ecological" tourism. This currently means that they have some well signposted footpaths traversing some fantastic countryside. The town plans to continue to promote "ecotourism" activities and rural tourism.

Duitama has a population of just under 110,000 inhabitants. The town is centred around a main plaza (called Los Libertadores and not Bolivar). The main bus terminal is on Carrera 18 and Calle 17. Around the main bus terminal there are a number of hotels, there are also hotels near Plaza Los Libertadores (there does not appear to be a shortage of hotels in Duitama). Bars and restaurants are also located all around the town and the town offers a wide variety of different bars. The main streets for bars appear to be along calle 16 (between Plaza Los Libertadores and carrera 18) and along carrera 16 (between Plaza Los Libertadores and Carrera 20).

From the Culturama you can pick up some tourist leaflets detailing walking and maps of the town. Culturama is on Diagonal 16 #20-41 (follow carrera 16 towards calle 19 and keep going).

We stay in Hotel International Plaza (Calle 16 #18-69, telephone (8) 760 3304), it only costed 30,000COP per night for a double room with an onsuite shower (with hot water). The decor was a bit 1970s but the hotel was clean and the staff were friendly.

Plaza Los Libertadores, Duitama

City Map of Duitama
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The main hiking areas are Paramo Pan de Azucar, Paramo de Rusia and Quabrada la Zarza.

To access the two paramos you follow the road from Duitama to Santa Ana (pronounced "santana"), the road is paved until Santa Ana. Afterwards a track runs up above the River Surba Valley. First along this road is the path to Paramo Pan de Azucar (1 hours walk), then further along this track you should reach the path to Paramo de Rusia.

To access Quabrada la Zarza you can take a bus to Trinidad, from there it is only a 20 minute walk along a pleasent track.

We walked up to Paramo Pan de Azucar and along the Quabrada la Zarza, see below for further details. We did not visit Paramo de Rusia.

You can download a google earth file containing the locations of the sites mentioned on this page. The file can be downloaded here. You can also see this map in Google Maps.

Paramo Pan de Azucar is high above Duitama. The paramo has mountains going up to nearly 4,000 metres and Laguna Pan de Azucar (the source of the River Suba).

There is a road from Duitama to Santa Ana, after Santa Ana this road becomes a track. The footpath to the paramo is on the right of the track near the head of the main River Surba valley). See the google earth file here for the exact location.

To access the paramo there is a milk truck going to Santa Ana every morning (including Sundays) at 6am from Cementario (Calle 6/Carrera 16 see Duitama map above), you will need to wait on the north side of the roundabout. The milk truck will take you to the start of the footpath.

Alternatively you can catch a taxi (which is what we did), this costs between 18,000 and 25,000COP. The taxi can take you to the start of the walk or for less money you could get taken to Santa Ana and then do the extra 1 hours walk up the track to the actual start of the walk.

From the track the walk takes between 5 and 6 hours to reach the laguna and return to the track. The footpath is well signposted. To return we walked down to Santa Ana and got a lift, alternatively you can phone a taxi (mobile reception is good). If you wish to climb any of the mountains you will need to take a GPS system with you to ensure you can find your way back!

The Laguna de Pan de Azucar is at 3,750 metres but the path goes over 3,800 metres in places.

Paramo Pan de Azucar, with El Morro in the background (3,950 metres).

Looking towards Paramo de Rusia (in the far distance) from Paramo Pan de Azucar

Laguna Pan de Azucar

At Quabrada la Zarza there are two footpaths, one following the stream itself (ruta el chorro) and the other heading up to a paramo (ruta la rastra). Ruta el Chorro joins Ruta la Rastra after the Chorro waterfall, you then return along the Ruta la Rastra to the start of the walk.

The footpaths are just outside Trinidad. There is a bus that leaves Duitama Terminal and goes via Cementario to Trinidad. The journey takes about 15 minutes and costs 1,000COP. You should get off in the main plaza of Trinidad.

You reach the start of the two footpaths from the main square of Trinidad. If you're facing the cathedral, go down the track to the left of the cathedral. This follows the River Surba. Keep following the river, the track crosses the river and there is a fork that leads up a hill on the left with a bar opposite, take the righthand track and follow the river. There is eventually a bridge on your right, don't cross it, shortly afterwards you reach another bridge and you have to cross it. On the other side of the bridge there are two tracks, one straight on and the other left. Take the left hand track that follows the Quabrada la Zarza (Zarza Stream) closely (The River Surba comes down the valley on your right). Keep following the track and you'll reach a large cross and the sign detailing the two footpaths.

We followed the Ruta el Chorro which was very beautiful, it involved various stream crossings using a variety of techiques. You follow the Zarza stream for a while and then follow a different tributary. This tributary has the Chorro waterfall on it, the footpath goes up steeply to the side of the waterfall. You then follow a shallow river valley before joining the ruta la rastra which you then return down. The path is quite tricky in places and involves clambering over a lot of rocks, doing the path in reverse would be a bad idea. If it has been raining a lot the river crossings could be very interesting, some of the boulders will be even slippier and the path up the side of the waterfall is likely to be terrifying.

The ruta la rastra appears to join up to the main road to Paipa, it may be possible to return via bus to Duitama from here.

Both footpaths are well signposted. Ruta la Rastra is 7.5km long and takes about 6 hours (there and back). Ruta el chorro is 6.5km and takes about 5 hours. Ruta la Rastra goes to about 3,300 metres and Ruta el chorro goes to just under 3,200 metres.

Above El Chorro Waterfall

Looking over Trinidad

Map of the two walks with highlights.

Second map of the two walks.