Lake Guatavita

57 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Bogotá, Colombia's capital, Lake Guatavita is situated in the Cordillera Oriental of the Colombian Andes in the municipality of Sesquilé in the Almeidas Province, Cundinamarca department.

The lake is 19.8 hectares in size and has a round shape. There is presently no evidence to support the earlier hypotheses that the crater was formed by a meteorite impact, volcanic cinder, or limestone sinkhole. The most plausible explanation is that it was the result of an anticline's underground salt deposits dissolving, creating a type of sinkhole.

Geographically and legally, Sesquilé's municipality is the owner of the sacred lake known as Guatavita. It was once a sacred place where Native Americans performed elaborate rites honoring Chie, the water goddess, which gave rise to the myth of El Dorado. The Muisca Indian chief, according to legend, would travel on a wooden raft, coated in dust, carrying four priests, along with the wealth amassed by his people. He would plunge himself into the water after casting the treasures into the lake as an act of adoration. The importance of gold to the locals was not purely financial; rather, it was a way for them to get closer to their gods.

Location: Sesquilé, Cundinamarca, Colombia