Cucunuba - The face of Ubaté valley

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Recently, in my instagram account - I posted the following clues for a little town in Cundinamarca. 


  • This is not a pueblo patrimonio, however the white buildings with green color are a treat to watch. 

  • The cobblestone streets in the center have been maintained very well since colonial times. 

  • This town lies in the middle of a coal mining region of Cundinamarca.

  • The name of the town in Chibcha language means "similar to a face".


Not a lot of people found the answer and that was not shocking. Well, this blog exists for a reason and for that reason has its name - The Unknown Colombia.


Cucunubá - The face of Ubaté valley


Cucunubá - This is a small town that is located in the Ubaté province of Cundinamarca.




The town gets its name from the Chibcha language meaning "similar to a face". This town is about 2.5 hours from Bogota exiting through Autopista Norte and towards Ubaté, Cundinamarca. The route to Ubaté is a scenic route that takes us through the small towns of Zipaquirá, Sutatausa and Tausa. Just before entering Ubaté there is an exit towards Cucunubá. A 20 minute drive takes us to this beautiful little town. 



The colonial town

The town has all the characteristics of a colonial town with the cobblestone streets and white and green washed buildings. Sometimes I wonder why this town is not a pueblo patrimonio -  Heritage towns of Colombia. 





The chapel of Nuestra Señora de Lourdes

A short walk from the center to a nearby hill and a hike for about 30 minutes takes us to this little chapel Capilla de Nuestra Señora de Lourdes. The top of the hill offers an unmatched view of the town and the surrounding countryside. The sheer vastness of the valley and the fertile land of the Ubaté province never fails to impress. 








The hike to the hill is not hard, there is a well laid path to go up. My suggestion would be to do it when it is early in the day, as the sun in this part of the world can be strong. 



The path to the hilltop has signs for the stations of the cross and during holy week, people take the pilgrimage to the chapel.























The center

The church as always is the principal attraction.  The center of the town is very well maintained and is not as busy as others. The architecture of the center is composed of whitewashed walls of houses with green doors and windows. This takes us back in time and a visit here is a time warp. Time comes to a standstill in this town. The place seems completely disconnected from the outside world. Here we can spend an entire day just walking and capturing the rural scenes as the lovely people carry on their daily activities.























The town

The town is not visited by tourists and hence does not have a very well developed tourist infrastructure. There are a couple of shops in the center. There is a very pretty coffee shop which is a converted old house. The shop offers very good drinks and local snacks. As far as I can see there is just 1 hotel a little outside the town. There are buses from Ubaté and from nearby towns. The buses though are not regular, and hence be watchful for when they arrive and leave. The town has a mining and an agricultural economy along with a sizable contribution to the milk industry of the region.







Cucunubá and beyond

There are roads to Chocontá and to Lenguazaque from Cucunubá and of course the main road to Ubaté provides connectivity to the town. The Choconta road is predominantly unpaved. The road to Lenguazaque is well laid in stretches and unpaved on others. The road to Ubaté is fairly well laid.




Here is my video blog to witness the daily scene from this town.

 


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