MAVICURE AND ANOTHER FORGETFULNESS
Argemiro, the anthropologist of indigenous matters, invited me to know Mavicure's hills, with the young men of the group of dances of the house of the culture. I only knew of the hills what had counted(told) myself the draftsman of planeación. One day I indicated them in the shield of the department and asked him if they were a drawing of the Stone of El Cocuy. He(she) said to me that the stone was staying in Brazilian territory, that the hills were three and were not staying very far. They were to the shore of the river Inírida, in the community of backwater, and he(she) was considering them to be the principal tourist attraction of the Guainía.
They are Pajarito (Little Bird), Mono (Monkey) and Mavicure. The highest of the three is A Little bird. To his(its) side and in the same shore it(he) is Pretty, the second one in height. The two is smooth and steep, of redwine color and with form of immense humps in the middle of the plain. They have a heap of jungle to his(its,her) feet and there outlines of fog are formed when it(he,she) changes the climate. They are high as a hill of Cali, but his(its,her) walls are completely vertical, impossible to climb without equipment(team). They told me that a group of gringos (some were saying that they were Dutch, other Swedishes) came with all his(its) paraphernalia and, with a lot of work it(he,she) rose to the top. They found a lagoon in the top of Monkey and long-legged since they had not seen in his(its) life. Other colonists, for his(its) side, were saying to me that it was a straw, which nobody had never climbed.
The Mavicure, the lowest of the three, is in another shore. He is a namesake of the stream15That forms the river when it(he,she) happens(passes) for between(among) the three. His(its) form is more irregular and has more plants(floors) above (other two is peeled). It is the only one that can be climbed afoot(by foot). Almost all the iniridenses that have wanted has climbed it and know of his(its,her) steep hillsides. The legend that passes between(among) them, that of the princess Inírida, it(he,she) gives the name to the capital. In the college they teach(show) them to all the children. The puinave and curripaco ethnos they have each one his(its) different version, but the central history is the same. Here there is the version of the Experimental Center Pilot of the Guainía:
" A lot of time ago, our jungle was lived(inhabited) by thousands of animals that acompasaban* his(its) boisterous singing with the fresh rumor of the springs and with(in spite of) the silence of the virgin morichales16.
Almost all the high employees who come to Inírida are invited to knowing Backwater. They take them in launch and show them the most impressive thing that has the department, taking advantage that only stays at a few hours of the urban hull. In launch it(he,she) comes near in little more than half an hour, in a bongo in almost three hours." And there Coop-Coop, big people(village) was where there were living gods who took his(its) sacred place, called Weito. Yod-Waru, people(village) nearby(near) existed also to the interior and in which(whom) there was governing a god called Bón-Wac, whose son was the prince Yoy, distinguished and estimated by all. Between(among) both peoples(villages) there had arisen violent wars that the time entrusted appeasing later.
" The god of Coop-Coop was calling himself Kedpú and there had a beautiful daughter, the princess Inírida, admired by all the inhabitants of the neighboring(similar) villages. When the love touched the heart of the prince Yoy; this one set to conquer the princess Inírida to marry her(it), but the beautiful daughter of Kedpúpushed it back calmly. In a holiday(party) that the puinaves was calling Mu-wui yu, the prince saw a new opportunity to declare his(its) love to the beautiful Inírida. She listened to the words in love with the claimant, but it(he,she) pushed it back afresh(again). With insistence Yoy there searched the support of the god Kedpú, chief of Coop-Coop, to obtain yes of the princess, but the only response was through that she(it) would never live with those that had killed his(its,her) forbears; explanation that also there were sharing the members of his(its) people(village) Coop-Coop.
" Plunged in the sadness for Inírida's negativeness, the prince continued looking for help. This time went to where his(its) friend the prince Yatsú, schemer and flatterer. It(he,she) advised him to give the princess pusana17. It(he,she) explained to him(her) besides the fact that it(he,she) had pusana good and bad and that, in agreement with his(its,her) intentions, he(she) should choose the most suitable. The prince chose so(then) the bad pusana, because his(its) love had been despised and to punish the princess.
" The princes went then to the hill Júo-Javen and Buotveen, called today Mavicure. In company of other friends, they were sailing downstream for space of two weeks and without eating during the trip until they came to Mavicure. They began a difficult ascent up to the top. There they remained two days in fasting, took(caught) the pusana and deposited her(it) in a totuma. Fulfilled the mission, they made the trip of return.
" The pusana, or Soon of Mavicure, is a magic weapon used between(among) the visible and invisible beings who populate the bosom of the jungle and the strange depth of the waters. It(he,she) must catch fasting, since they made it the princes of Yod-waru.
" A holiday and celebration in Coop-Coop came the princes Yoy and Yatsú. The typical instruments as the bohón, the yapuro, the turí, the út and others, were throwing to the serene air the strident but significant sounds for the heart of the people(village). Some songs were making silence the metallic concert of the katydids, because they all were you cheer. The princes added to the dance and to the laughs and took delight observing Inírida's beauty, beautiful between(among) the women of the region. They were waiting for the moment in which they would give the pusana to the princess.
" The moment came when the alcoholic maize drink was becoming exhausted in the holiday(party). Inírida and his(its,her) friends withdrew to prepare the drink for him(you,them) in his(its,her) peens, species(kinds) of colanders. They were in this task when there came the princes Yoy and Yatsú. Taking advantage of this exit, the prince Yoy smeared with the pusana Inírida's colander and moved back(retired). When the princess returned it(he,she) took it without knowing anything of the peen impregnated of pusana. It(he,she) began inexorably and slowly the effect on the beautiful woman.
" During the holiday(party) portions had been served of big-mouthed, morocoto and cachama18, as also meats of mount since(as,like) danta, limpet, etc. Inírida had eaten fat fish after having touched the pusana, which accelerated his(its,her) fatal effects. The princess started feeling headache, then his(its) world was filling with strange visions. His(its) beautiful eyes were opened enormously and in a few days there was getting lost the thin curvature of his(its) body and in his(its) place there were staying knot of dry skin, as a branch that does not support the life. And the princess Inírida was penetrating little by little in a sea of melancholy and loneliness.
" One evening that was eating next to his(its) mother sat on the mats, Inírida felt a shout that was coming from in of yes same and it(he,she) allowed that it(he,she) should smash in his(its) mouth, scaring to the sleepy birds somnolientos. Later, for amazement of his(its) mother, he(she) started by saying that million princes were coming and between(among) them Yoy, whom it(he,she) was calling in order that her(it) it(he,she) was helping.
" The people(village) already had sunk in a sorrowful silence, but Inírida's shouts interrupted the calmness. She(it) I take the mat and running across it(he,she) disappeared in the thick mount. The gods of Coop-Coop went(were) to look for Mavicure.
- Come daughter! - the mother Was Shouting. - I can not - the princess Answered. - there is someone who retains me strongly and not free me. Weeping For Inírida it(he,she) took the necklaces of the neck from himself(herself,itself) and said to the mother: - it(he,she) takes my necklaces and guard them as mine(my) recollections. I will not be able to return to see them, parents and dear brothers, good-bye." It(he,she) Allowed that his(its,her) tears should go out, it(he,she) raised his(its) mat and it(he,she) traversed hill it(he,she) arrives, it(he,she) entered inside the hill and it(he,she) covered the entry with the mat that was going with it(him). Then only one saw a cloud of ashes in the silent space.
Coop-Coop cried the item(game) of his(its) princess, the most beautiful of all. Says the puinaves that still(yet) it(he,she) is there. "19I travelled in a bongo, in one of these scanty weekends in which there were no meetings. They were going in the craft as 20 persons and the engine began to extract the hand to the half of the tour. It(he,she) did not matter for the young men; they were coming in the middle of songs and reboiled all the way. If they had not been for his(its) happiness, the trip had been the longest. The pilot repaired the failure in a few minutes and we continue(continued).
In summer, the rocks of the bed of the river become visible and banks of sand arise big in the shores of the river, but many of them stay under the surface. The pilots have to be very skillful(right) and know the river as the palm of his(its) hand, the water is dark and it is easy to give him to a rock with the hull or run aground in some bank.
A storm hovers on the river Inírida. I took this photo from the bongo, way to Mavicure's hills. The river Inírida is of the same color of a red wine, to say that it(he) is full of " black waters " it would be a mistake, since it(he) is cleaner than the Pance and that any river near to Cali. It(he,she) owes his(its) color to the minerals that it(he,she) drags, as almost all the rivers of the Guainía. There every tube changes color of agreement to the area. From the plane the red, different some are seen coffee, other negroes, in the middle of the green one of the jungle. Some end in others and his(its,her) colors are mixed. The only one that has the typical coffee with milk of big Andean rivers is the Guaviare.
The engine of the bongo trumped not one, but three times. The pilot reduced the speed not to exhaust it and the trip became even slower. The case is that we came from little push to little push, since(as,like) at 8 p.m.. The hills were seen even more mysterious in the middle of the darkness. Already it was not possible to see the river and his(its) silhouette was standing out on the clouds illuminated by the moon. The pilot was still very potbellied(smug) upstream for in the middle of the hills.
All the crew members scared on having heard the rumor of the stream. They all, less I, knew that the Mavicure has swallowed bongos, you dredge and launches in the minor carelessness of the pilots. To cross it, the most sensible thing was that the pilot was detaining and being checked the engine it was a hut before crossing it; our pilot did not seem to be very sensible. The noise of a stream unknown in the distance is something that I am not going to forget. For relief of all the iniridenses, his(its) intention was not to cross it, but to come to a beach, next to a small lake that was forming the river. The torrent was staying to scanty meters, but there the waters were calm.
The river Inírida is seen calmed, as a long lagoon himself(herself,itself) that it(he,she) moves. But his(its) tranquility transforms in a wild torrent on having come to a stream. In summer only a madman would dare to cross one in a bongo, and several have tried(meant) it. In Mavicure only come little waves over the surface and something of foam; anyone might think that it(he) is inoffensive, but it(he,she) would deceive itself. The current that happens(passes) between(among) the hills forms whirlpools that sink(destroy) what is without warning. " In case someone was managing to fall, only it might look how it(he,she) sinks, because if someone throws himself(herself) to extracting it, to the two one swallows them ", a pilot counted(told) me later.
We Were Expecting to take advantage that we were in summer to sleep this night in the beach, in the light of the moon. There were gray clouds in the sky, but they all were saying that they were not of rain. We stooped the bongo, gathered fuelwood and ignited a bonfire. The sands of the Inírida are white and thick(bulky), as those of San Andrés or Bocachica in Cartagena. But those of Mavicure scream if one treads on them with soles of plastic, as if out a little animal complaining. In the first minutes, to hear this shriek to every step he(she) made me feel as an astronaut in another world.
It(he,she) was not doing greatly we had come, when it(he,she) began to drizzle. To the while already it was raining in form and ultimately that we could not do with a torrential downpour above. The most cautious they had brought toldas* plastic arts(sculptures) to shelter, but since we were so many people, it(he,she) touched all to share them. Groups were formed of sensitive to cold, each one under a black plastic. Nobody remained comfortable. If one was pulling the tolda to wrap up itself(himself,herself) better, it(he,she) was making steep that of another end(point). If that of the top was stretching the leg unconfort to the whole group, one for one, in the middle of complaints. I tell these minutes between(among) the coldest that I have happened(passed) in my life.
Argemiro decided that(that) passing the night like that was not a good idea, so between(among) the two we decide(decided) to look for the tents of the miners that were working thereabouts. You upset we could see in the middle of the darkness, with big drops falling in the eyes. But we find(found) one, since(as,like) to 100 meters. The divers who were there had space of surplus and it(he,she) was not bothering them to receive ourselves. Several boys us continued and slept in the dry sand of the tent, other did prefer his(its,her) plastic ones and they remained where they were. Argemiro and I also we were going to fall asleep, but the almost drunk miners wanted to converse with us, and they did not leave us. We speak(spoke) on native, on the pollution, on his(its,her) lives and his(its,her) adventures. There they had dead man of dream awake until the dawn, tired so much report and avoid his(its,her) attempts of intoxicating us us also.
To another day he(she) was thinking to take photos, but the drizzle did not stop. Only I could take one (in the following page), in a lucky moment in which it(he,she) cleared. But the visual spectacle I did not get lost it. With the rain there were formed jets that were running for the hills, under them its redwine color was becoming darker. In the middle of the rock they were doing charquitos* and the water of his(its) bottom(fund) was incredibly yellow. The minerals of the reddish rock were returning yellow to become detached!
I Had the opportunity to raise a span of the hill Mavicure and saw the seams of quartz that cross it; I touched his(its) rugose surface and astonished with the plants(floors) that him(her) grow above. They must feed of the minerals that run for the surface of the crag, because you upset if they have sand to support and there is no root that perforates similar rock. I could not come to the top, the soil was wetted and to fall it very easy was. Any skid was representing a fall of several meters and nobody wanted to traverse the risk. So only we bath(bathe,bathed,bathed) in the small lake that was formed next to the stream.
In this we were, when several went out running of the water, with much I make a row. They were saying " the dolphins, the dolphins! ". I left with them and could see the reason of his(its) fright(threat): A pair(couple) of dolphins of river was approaching the small lake, the stream. You upset if his(its,her) loins could be seen. It(he,she) did not know that the colonists they had so much fear. For me the dolphins were nice creatures, but they were saying to me " he(she) does not create(should not believe), these animals bite ". In a few minutes they got lost of sight. I did not have opportunity to verify if his(its,her) dreads were founded.
The dolphins, you spit or dolphins of river, they differ from his(its,her) oceanic cousins in the color of his(its) skin. Of that I saw they were of color amber, very similar to that of the river. I was thinking that only they were in the Amazon, but I could see one to a few days of coming. It(he,she) was in the beaches of the Inírida, at the edge of the port. One saw the fish to jump in the river and they were looking like to be galore. Suddenly I heard something, as if someone was breathing heavily. I thought that he(she) was a diver or someone with an snorquel, but I looked better and could distinguish a loin amber that was rising and going down.
An indigenous girl opposite to the Pretty hill, in a beach between(among) the community of Backwater and Mavicure's stream.Silent and investor(impressive), Mono and Little bird are reflected on the river as a mirror and change color when they wet(get wet). The divers realized his(its,her) yellow waters it(he,she) does greatly and they brought his(its,her) drags. The community of Backwater was not favored by almost any program of the net, since his(its,her) income for golden royalties was overcoming fully to them of the others. Same native they agreed in that(that) they did not need help. But today there is becoming exhausted the seam of gold near to the stream. In the surroundings of Backwater a miner said to me: " It already does not extract it anybody; there would be needed a big company that comes with drills or something like that, in order that it(he,she,I) extracts(extract) the gold of in the middle of the rock ". He(she) was saying it with resignation. But it(he,she) had heard that there was the possibility of that a Japanese company was coming, and it for it(him) was a hope.
While, the mud of the bottom(fund) of the river has been removed, changed place and meticulously checked. The augury of the indigenous cultures, which he(she) warns about the evil that it(he,she,I) would cause to break the rock, can that it(I) is(am) ignored. The legends and thousand-year-old beliefs have a royal(real) bottom(fund), and the whole world knows it; much more if they are several cultures that coincide. This very day there can that the bottom(fund) has turned(become) madman and something begins to happen that we do not know.
Anyhow, Backwater will not lose his(its) tourism. The community is known in the whole department, they speak to all the children about her(it) in primary. A pity that in the rest of the country only has been heard speaking about the Stone of El Cocuy, as the milestone that indicates the border between(among) Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela. But this crag is in Brazilian territory. Some suspicious iniridenses was communicating to me his(its,her) suspicions of which the brasileros has traversed the border with careness and of little(few,small) in little(few,small). I do not believe that it(he,she,I) is(am) like that; it(he,she) seems to be to me more probable than our educational system has not realized the mistake, as well as almost nobody knows of Mavicure's hills, that they are three and yes they are in Colombian territory.
YOU NOTICEIt(he,she,I) Does(do) clic in
to return to the mark of note.
