La Vega
The place
La Vega ("The Meadow") in the department of Cundinamarca, Facatativá/Villavicencio area (Eastern Llanos foothills of the Andes, Colombia), at 561 m elevation, on the eastern foothills of the Andes' Cordillera Oriental, at the edge of the Llanos lowlands. Continuous Colombia cluster (batches 260-402). A tourist finca-hotel on the Llanos del Meta foothills (La Vega meaning fertile meadow, in Cundinamarca department, Andean, capital Bogotá, population 8 million, 2600 m elevation; Villavicencio, population 500,000, capital of Meta and gateway to the Llanos; the Eastern Llanos, 570,000 km² of tropical savanna spanning Colombia/Venezuela); part of the heritage of the Muisca/Achagua peoples (the Muisca, a Chibcha people numbering some 100,000 in the 15th century around Bogotá, ruled by a zipa, source of the iconic El Dorado legend tied to Lake Guatavita; the Achagua, an Arawak people of the Llanos, some 500 speakers of the isolate Achagua language); also part of the iconic heritage of Simón Bolívar (1783-1830), the Liberator, victorious at Boyacá on 7 August 1819, founder of the iconic Gran Colombia (1819-1831); of the iconic armed conflict with the FARC (1964-2016, 260,000 deaths) and the Havana Accord of 24 August 2016 under President Santos, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2016; of the iconic drug cartels, Pablo Escobar (1949-1993) of Medellín and the Cali cartel, both linked to cocaine trafficking; of the iconic writer Gabriel García Márquez (1927-2014), Nobel laureate in 1982, author of the iconic magical-realist novel "One Hundred Years of Solitude" (1967); of the iconic artist Fernando Botero (1932-2023); of the singers Shakira (b. 1977, Barranquilla) and Juanes (b. 1972); and of iconic Colombian coffee, symbolised by Juan Valdez, the world's 4th-largest coffee producer.
The setting
Cundinamarca Facatativá/Villavicencio Eastern Llanos Andes foothills Colombia 561 m eastern Andes foothills Cordillera Oriental lower Llanos, continuous cluster batches 260-402, tourist finca-hotel Llanos del Meta foothills + La Vega meadow + Cundinamarca Bogotá 8 M 2600 m + Villavicencio 500,000 capital of Meta gateway + Llanos 570,000 km² savanna CO/VE, Muisca/Achagua peoples Muisca Chibcha 100,000 15th c. Bogotá zipa El Dorado legend Lake Guatavita iconic + Achagua Arawak Llanos 500 Achagua isolate + Bolívar 1783-1830 Liberator Boyacá 7 August 1819 iconic Gran Colombia 1819-1831 + FARC 1964-2016 260,000 deaths + Havana 24 August 2016 Santos Nobel Peace Prize 2016 iconic + Escobar 1949-1993 Medellín cocaine Cali + García Márquez 1927-2014 Nobel 1982 "One Hundred Years of Solitude" 1967 magical realism iconic + Botero 1932-2023 + Shakira b. 1977 Barranquilla + Juanes b. 1972 + coffee Juan Valdez world's 4th-largest producer iconic.
