Discover Santiago: Weaving and Inga Culture
Accommodation in Santiago
Three perspectives can help you plan a trip to Santiago: the town’s urban layout, Inga weaving, and the municipality’s natural landscapes. The town center and the wider municipality are distinct: the guided tour and the church relate to Santiago, while Manoy and the Páramo del Bordoncillo are located in the municipality. A 2025 official visitor guide lists Tambo Wasi – El Orquideario as a place to visit in Santiago; check in advance whether visits are currently possible. For the Putumayo Route, it is recommended that you arrange visits to artisans in advance.
Town layout and planning your visit
An older visitor program for Santiago proposed a guided tour following the route through the town center and explaining its urban layout. This offers a different way to get your bearings than visiting a single attraction: the tour takes in the center as a whole. As this is an older proposal, check in advance whether a tour is offered today. A visitor program for Santiago also proposed a visit to the Church of Santiago ApĂłstol. If you plan to visit the church, check access in advance as well.
Weaving and cultural connections
Luz Tisoy and NĂ©stor Jacanamijoy lead Inga Awaska, a weaving workshop in the urban area of Santiago. The beadwork made by the Inga collective Inga Awaska draws on motifs from the Chumbe. The Chumbe is a sacred woven belt worn by the Inga to protect the womb. The focus is therefore not only on textile design, but also on the meaning of the motif: the beadwork references a woven object with protective significance. For those interested in the craft, this connection offers a concrete cultural reference.
Atun Puncha, “El Gran DĂa” in Spanish (“The Great Day”), is an Inga celebration in Manoy, in the municipality of Santiago. Together with Inga Awaska’s urban location, this gives two distinct geographical contexts for cultural themes: Santiago and Manoy in the municipality.
A historical accommodation plan
In January 2013, Tambo Wasi in the municipality of Santiago was still under construction. The project, funded by the Fondo de PromociĂłn TurĂstica de Colombia and supported by the Vice Ministry of Tourism, planned 28 beds in double and shared rooms.
Nature in the municipality
The Páramo del Bordoncillo is one of the natural landscapes in the municipality of Santiago and is home to a diverse range of flora and fauna. It offers a perspective on nature at the municipal level, while the tour was intended to explain the urban layout of the town center. This comparison helps distinguish the páramo’s landscape setting from the tour’s urban focus.
Discover more destinations: VillagarzĂłn, Puerto AsĂs, Orito, San Miguel, Mocoa
Return to the main travel guide: Putumayo.
