A paved highway wends about 170 kilometers (102 miles) from Tunja, up into the Eastern Cordillara, to Capitanejo. This is the Bogotá-Cúcuta route preferred by trucks and many bus companies, as opposed to the trajectory by way of Bucaramanga: it is shorter and has no peajes, toll booths. On the southern limit of Capitanerjo is the turn-off for the Sierra Nevada de El Cocuy and its hamlets.
Capitanejo is on the Río Chicamocha and serves as an alternative point to raft through that river gorge. The village enjoys a hot, dry climate, perfect for warming up after trekking in Parque Nacional Natural El Cocuy. The highway forms the main street, Carrera 4. One block west is Plazoleta Municipal Pedro Antonio Ruiz Prada, the main square whose name is as big as the plaza itself, in which most of Capitanejo’s population could probably fit. Around this are the church, palacio municipal, bank, two nightclubs and a hotel. In the center is a large ceibo tree which—according to legend whose origin is lost in the mists of time—is over a hidden lagoon. At a 1997 proposal to chop it down, the people rose to protect it. Decorating the plazoleta is a mosaic depicting the products for which Capitanejo is known: tobacco and goat. Indeed, this is the goat, tobacco and melon capital of Colombia. Goats make their appearance on the comida corriente menu and all-dolled-up for the patron saint processions in August.


Altitude: 1172 m / 3844 ft, Population: 7,800, City Code: 7