Calima lake, more than just a lake

Located in the municipality of Darien in the Valle del Cauca Department, Calima lake is the largest artificial lake in Colombia, and it is a part of a hydroelectric Project for generating power to the department. Calima lake has become a place for water sports like Kitesurfind, windsurfing and leasure activities. Vacational centers, restaurants and camping zones were built near the lake and now is a very popular and visited place from both national and international tourist, specially from near cities and towns like Cali and Buga.

But, like I said, it is not just a lake, there are another places to see at Calima lake as Calima Museum, where you will find the most complete resource of Calima’s culture (One of the oldest in América). The museum has more than 4.000 pieces including ceramicas, textils  and all traces of its four societies: hunter-gatherers, Ilama, Yotoco and Sonso.

You also can visit the EPSA hydroelectric , a must take picture scene, where the mist meets the lake and engineering blends with nature.

The  Perpetuo Socorro cathedral is an impositing structure that rises at the heart of downtown Darien between colonial balconies.

And the Gringa’s waterfall where an urban leyend says a nude girl appears at midnight to take a shower in its cold water.

I want to keep going back!

Calima lake becomes a wonderful place to me, I want to return with my family and show them the beauty of this country and prove that we do not have to go far away from our city to meet incredible places, this is just one of the  paradises that Colombia has to be uncovered.

My first impression

 

Always when I traveled, I dit it with my father, mother and brother, in my father’s car, a Renault. They way I enjoyed the trips was very different than I do today, I used to sleep all the road, came up to visit family, and it turned a little boring.  But this time,  traveling with friends allowed me enjoy the route, the view of the mountains, I enjoyed even staying in the bus.

I thought the trip was going to be longer, I did not know i was arriving till I saw the huge lake and a lovely cloud above it. 




The climate was perfect, cold in the night and a sun giving us heat at day. The place was very homely, there was pools, waterslides, and a large lake to practice water stports. I have a really good time with my friends and at the end I did not want to leave there. 

Prejudices

“Calima lake” the first thing that come to my mind with that words was: The place where people go to the electronic event Black and White Sensation.

What is that? The B&W is an electronic event inspired in two colors, the black and the white, wich are represented in musical lines that you hear there and the clothes that people use. It was born 12 years ago in Cali, and only performed in Calima lake, till four years ago, the creator expanded and projected it to an international level, turning it in a tour to be show in differents cities of the world.

Party, alcoholic drinks, and uncontrol. That is what I thought about it. I ignored even its location, what I  could do there, more than an electronic  party, and the activities that can be practiced in a lake. I can say that Calima lake was not even attractive to me, even to me! That I love to travel and know different places.

Till then, like the best plans, that are  prepared spur of the moment, my friends and university mates make the plan, Calima lake, three days, two nights and a lot of expectations to have a good time.

Welcome, enjoy.

Hello there, I am Andrea, a colombian girl, who with the little I was traveled of this country I fell in love with this land, with its people and its unique customs. 

I am pretty sure that I have not known anything yet, I lack so much to know! but with the little I have known is enough to invite you, if you still have not visited this beautiful country, to change the perspective, paradigms and prejudices you may have, just like I did, as well as I will narrate through this blog. Come with me!