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The small town of Tinjacá, located between Villa de Leyva and Ráquira, has a unique artisan craft that makes the town worthy of a detour.
Introduction to Tinjacá
Tinjacá was originally inhabited by the Muisca people. The name translates to enclosure of the powerful lord in the Chibcha language. The modern town was founded on November 7, 1556, and it became a municipality in 1778. Agriculture and handicrafts are the main components of the local economy.
Getting to Tinjacá
You can reach Tinjacá on any bus traveling between Villa de Leyva and Ráquira or Chiquinquirá. I suggest combining it with a day trip to Ráquira and stop in Sutamarchán for lunch.
Plaza
The town’s plaza is just a block off the main road through town. It’s a beautiful space full of shrubs, flowers, and trees. There’s a sculpture in the middle that looks like a conglomeration of tree stumps and stone, and the Government House (Casa de Gobierno) sits on the southeast corner.
Church of San Blas
The Church of San Blas (Iglesia de San Blas) is on the west side of the plaza. The parish was founded in 1608 and the current church was built in 1838.
Bonilla & Vergara Tagua Workshop
Bonilla & Vergara is a workshop on the outskirts of town owned by husband and wife Juan César Bonilla and Julia Vergara. They make crafts out tagua nuts. Tagua is a pine native to Colombia, Ecuador, and Brazil. It has an astounding 97% of the properties of ivory. In fact, they built their workshop completely out of recycled tagua.
Juan César and Julia invited us back into their workshop for a private demonstration. First, they showed us the nuts that they use to make their creations. They mentioned that every single shaving that falls off the tagua nuts as they carve them are used to make other products, such as paper.
Juan César asked us to stand in front of his table while created something out of tagua. We watched in amazement as he quickly transformed the nut into a tiny vase. It only took a few minutes!
After he finished, he handed the vase to Julia to decorate it for us. As she was decorating, she told us a love story that the drawing on the vase represents.
After the demonstration, we had a chance to walk through the store to admire some of the amazing products they make from tagua, including the world’s smallest chess set.
It was a great experience to witness a truly unique craft that we had never heard of. The Bonilla family has been practicing it for four generations so far. Juan César’s grandfather started the craft in Colombia and passed it down to his father, who then passed it down to Juan César. He has since taught his own son, who has traveled around the world representing Colombia in international craft competitions.
