The history
Deeds, a new lake and three siblings: the story of Berlín II, in order.
Before the Hoyos family
What we know about Calima before 1943
Long before any deeds, the Calima culture lived in these mountains. Its goldsmiths worked gold for centuries, from about 1600 BC to around AD 1300. Their pieces are now in the Museo del Oro in Bogotá and in the Museo Arqueológico Calima in Darién.
The family has long told that the estate’s high mesa was a ceremonial site of the Calima culture. It is a family story, not a finding. That is why the plan calls for an archaeological study before any earth is moved there.
The town of Darién was founded in 1912 by settlers from Antioquia, Valle and Caldas, and the municipality was created in 1939. Down below, in the Calima River valley, lay the pastures of a few large haciendas.
Before it belonged to the Hoyos family, the land of Berlín II belonged to the Ochoa Mejía family. We do not know since when: that detail is in old deeds we have not yet been able to consult.
The family's dates come from the estate's title certificate; the lake's, from the CVC archives.
1943
April 27
Víctor Hoyos Torres signs the estate’s first deed with the Ochoa Mejía family, at Notary Office No. 1 in Cali.
1947
July 8
Two more deeds are signed at Notary Office No. 2 in Cali. The family calls this date “the promise of love”, and it is the year on the logo.
1948
March 1
Víctor Hoyos Torres buys the last part from the four Ochoa Mejía siblings and finishes putting the land together.
1961
August
The CVC starts building a dam on the Calima River to produce electricity. Below, the valley is still pasture.
1966
January
A Cali court settles the estate of Víctor Hoyos Torres in favor of his widow and their three children. He did not live to see the lake inaugurated.
1966
May 28
President Guillermo León Valencia inaugurates the reservoir. The water covers about 1,900 hectares of the valley. The estate was already here.
1975
March
Through a deed at Notary Office No. 2 in Buga, the heirs split the hacienda in three. Berlín II, the middle share, stays in the family.
Today
What comes next
The family is preparing a project in five phases. The first is a campground by the water, set to open in early 2028.
1943 to 1948
Víctor Hoyos Torres did not buy the estate all at once. He put it together at three moments, always with the same family, the Ochoa Mejías.
The first deed is dated April 27, 1943, at Notary Office No. 1 in Cali. On July 8, 1947, he signed two more at Notary Office No. 2 in Cali, one an exchange and one a sale. The last came on March 1, 1948, again at Notary Office No. 1, with the four Ochoa Mejía siblings.
Of all those dates, the family chose July 8, 1947, as its own. They call it “the promise of love”, and it is the year on the logo: Valle del Cauca, 1947.
1961 to 1966
For almost twenty years, below the estate there was a valley of pastures. In the 1950s the CVC studied how to dam the Calima River, and in August 1961 work began: an earth dam about 110 meters high.
The water covered about 1,900 hectares, close to half the flat land of the upper Calima valley: pastures belonging to a few large haciendas and about 30 buildings. Before the flooding, part of the valley’s archaeological material was rescued. It is now in the Museo del Oro, the Smithsonian and the British Museum.
On May 28, 1966, President Guillermo León Valencia inaugurated the reservoir. That is how Lake Calima was born. The estate is 23 years older than the lake.
1966
Víctor Hoyos Torres died before the lake was inaugurated. On January 12, 1966, a civil court in Cali settled his estate in favor of his widow and their three children.
The family still keeps the newspaper clippings from those days.
Nine years later, in March 1975, the heirs split the hacienda in three. That is where the II in Berlín II comes from.
Family archive. Photo: María Victoria Hoyos.
Today
Berlín II covers about 423 hectares above Lake Calima: about 181 of pasture on the slope and about 242 of mountain and forest higher up.
The family is preparing a five-phase project to open the estate to visitors. The first phase is a campground by the water, set to open in early 2028. The rest comes phase by phase, with permits.
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