Lagoon Sur América on the left represented the Child of Water for the Muiscas
& Lagoon Fausto in front represented the Woman of Water.
Siecha is a group of three lagoons located inside the National Park of Chingaza regrouping various Páramos like the Páramo de Chingaza in Cundinamarca, Colombia.
The Páramos are a peculiar ecosystem that is found in only five countries in the world. They capture through frailejones, the “flying rivers” :
Moisture from the Atlantic and the Amazon flows toward the Andes, ascending into the Páramos.
Here, frailejones filter this moisture into pure water, thriving only at specific altitudes, in this case, 3,600 meters above sea level.
Frailejon
The Páramos are the major provider of water of Colombia’s Capital, supplying 80% of its drinkable water.
For the Muiscas, the three lagoons of Siecha weren’t simple lakes but live beings, sacred temples to whom they made offerings of gold, emerald and ceramic in order to balance the sites energies.
They also did rituals and pilgrimage : Correr la Tierra or Run the land in order to thank the water, ask for fertility and meditate.
The lagoon of Siecha representing the Man of Water in the Muisca's cosmology.
Although the legend of El Dorado was believed to be based mainly in the lake of Guatavita, the first Muisca’s gold raft was found in the Siecha lake in 1856. This discovery ended three centuries of skepticism by proving that while the 'City of Gold' was a myth, the sacred ritual that inspired the legend was real.
The raft was then sold to a German museum. When it arrived on German soil, customs on the dock supposedly caught fire and the raft with it.
Lagoon of Fausto
For the Muisca, water was the mother of all creation. They didn’t climb to Siecha seeking wealth; they climbed to offer gratitude.
Today, the physical gold is gone, but centuries later, these Páramos still sustain millions of lives. Honoring their memory today means understanding that every drop we protect is a tribute to their ancestral wisdom.
Water was always the true gold.
Photography by @SofíaSteeg