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Patia (Patía)

Patía is a colombian municipality located in Cauca department. The administrative centre of Patía is El Bordo.

Within the main touristic attractions of the region we can find Piedra Sentada: The Parador Patía, The Lerma Hill and Patía river that irrigates the valley of the same name. This river is the largest and abundant of the basin of the Sudamerican Pacific.

The Patía is located on Panamerican road, about 82 km at south of Popayán, capital of Cauca department.

The populated of Patía Valley, was conformed since prehispanic period by Bojoles Indians, Chapa chugas, Sindaguas y Patias, leaving their vestige to disappear behind the forced work and the missions in the Indians doctrinaire chapels and after of slaves that made part of the social organization of the farm landowners, that nowadays are places of archeologic evidence.

The foundation of the towns in the Patía Valley was realized by the clergy; When Indian population decimated, came the black spooks (black run off people) and released of the farms and mines that were exploited along the Patía river Guachicono until Juananbu in the Nariño department, creating the towns — or palenques — of black people.

The myths created in this region tell that after they ran off and with the idea of descrying their original Africa, the black spooks climbed the Manzanillo hill and when they did not see their ancestral land, they cried and cried, so much that their tears formed a lake.

Today this foundational mythical place can be visited in the rock of the hill Manzanillo, from which springs permanently feed the riverbed of the Valerio ravine.

Within its task there was the extraction of gold with punts in the depression called The Hoyo, where are located Quilcacé river and Esmita, where nowadays is handmade exploit mines of coal.