Sacred to the Muisca people,  Laguna Guatavita gave birth to the legend of El Dorado. Legend tells of mountains covered in gold which the Spanish Conquistadors discovered when they landed on the continent. They encountered people adorned in gold who cherished the properties of the metal as a reflection of the sun, giver of life.

The ancient ritual of the Golden Man — “El Dorado” in Spanish — disappeared long before the arrival of the Spanish in South America, but the legend lured droves of conquistadors and looters to this small lake in the Colombian Andes. A gold-covered man, they reasoned, must be from a city of gold.

Although the golden city was never found, the search for El Dorado and its fabulous variants continued across the New World as it was being explored, feeding the greed and the imagination of the invaders. Most returned poor and decimated by disease but the name of El Dorado became linked to wealth and plenty.

Since the arrival of the Spanish here in 1536, a tenth of a ton of gold artifacts has been fished from its muddy bottom by brash treasure-hunters and explorers, and in 1968 a solid gold miniature was discovered in a cave that depicts the Golden Man and his shamans aboard their raft, midway into their ritual.

Covered in gold dust, the Indian king leapt from the ceremonial raft into the sacred lake as masked shamans sprinkled the waters with gold and emerald offerings to their gods.

From Portal Norte, Bogota we caught a bus for 6000 pesos (£2) to the head of the trail on the road to Guatavita town. It was a 7km hike up a gentle road to the lagoon.