Bolivia: Madidi park and the secret of Toromonas
And suddenly a snap. There are now weeks touring the jungle, alone and anxious. The day is your last meal, only the charred remains of a baby he found disoriented monocapuchino after falling from a tree. Late nights spent in the white, equally plagued by spiders, reptiles and that nagging fear that appears every night, the fear that explodes into a thousand sounds of it bouncing carcajean domes impenetrable jungle. Yesterday he heard in the distance what seemed like the roar of a jaguar. And suddenly a snap ... and again note the presence of a handful of shadows that sneak into the jungle, to chase him for hours quietly. Looking at his watch he still works, only contact with the real world, that they left behind for weeks. Are 9 am on 3 October 1997, in an unspecified region of Madidi park near the border with Peru.
Eleven years later
Rurrenabaque is today one of those vigorous and accelerated Amazonian populations. Despite effort to bridle the wild horse of progress, its inhabitants still know a beer taste clinging to a hammock, They gather under the mosquito net when night falls to comment on gossip or reason to look at life peaceful pace of Madidi river where women still tend to wash clothes. Rurrenabaque is located just one hour's flight from the city of La Paz. The ramshackle Airlines planes Amazon, downloaded daily squads of tourists attracted by one of the main attractions in Bolivia. The Madidi National Park. Two hundred thousand square miles of Amazon ecosystem. One of the best preserved virgin places in Latin America. A real feast for nature lovers, the history and legends.
The effects landed in the legs and stomach still dormant and unstable a dizzying flight has moved me without transition from the snow-capped Andes an emerald sea, riding on a twenty seater Zesna stirred the slightest breath of wind. I decide to keep my appointment with Heder and with a beer in the body to calm nerves. And I hope in the bar of the lawn that makes up the single runway airport in the makeshift "Rurre".
Soon Heder appears, smiling and orders a hearty "Huari" ice cold liter. Indígena Tanaca, Madidi ethnic majority, theirs have changed canoes huge mopeds atronan between mouthfuls of smoke peace in the Amazon, dressed in ragged shirts of Real Madrid or Manchester United. They have growing corn they prospers replaced by travel agencies Adventure. But the Forest is still home, and no better partner to keep awake their secrets and show it as if the huge garden of his house they were.
Just hours later and miles upriver and in Madidi park gates I have the opportunity to check. Heder off the engine and uses the pole to wade through the tiny inlets. The capybaras are fleeing our way, flocks of macaws flying over us. The forest is a green so intense it hurts the eyes. From time to cross the fin of a porpoise or dolphin river welcomes us. If heaven really existed I guess it would be a faded carbon copy of Madidi.
Night falls, and go fishing with several tanacas catfish on a raft that sways gently rocked by the stream
The Tacanas has come to an eco-lodge in San Miguel de Bala, just at the entrance to the Madidi National Park. Several log cabins and a restaurant with the best of Asian cuisine Bolivia. Have been built in harmony with the forest, demonstrating that sustainable tourism and respect for nature can be compatible. Night falls, and go fishing with several tanacas catfish on a raft that sways gently rocked by the stream. As, hear the sounds of the jungle. We took coca leaves, mixed them with sodium permanganate and "acullicamos" waiting to catch our. The stillness of the forest encouraged to share stories and legends. It is time to ask for one of the main reasons that brought me here, time to learn the history of Lars Hafsjold.
-I was just a kid when I met him!- Remember Heder. - "There was a day for the community looking for a rare type of butterfly. It was one month, after several, eventually spent nearly a year living with us, taught at school ".
-"A huge guy- I make hand gestures his cousin Neymar,- barely bearded face as he looked. Always wondering about the forest, if this plant is eaten, the best places to fish. All the while with their gadgets and maps no more. One day he said goodbye to us across the park towards San Jose, Ichipiamonas and that we lost. Then came that whole story .....! gossip, people talk a lot because.
The forest swallowed Lars and the numerous search expeditions carried out since then have run into the inscrutable silence in response Madidi
All that history is the incredible story of Norwegian biologist 37 years, Lars Hafsjold, one day he decided to see for yourself, the certainty of the existence of uncontacted tribes in the Madidi human. Accompanied by a young man named Rene Ortiz, sailed along the Rio Tambopata, after passing through the village of San Fermin, came to the confluence with the Colorado River, from where he decided to venture into the jungle of Madidi only, without the help of Ortiz. In the mind like a dart stuck an obsession, certify the existence in the park of the last living Toromona. Rene Ortiz was the last person you saw. The forest swallowed Lars and the numerous search expeditions carried out since then have run into the inscrutable silence in response Madidi.
Neymar shows me the bright eyes of an alligator that sparkle with mischief in an instant the darkness of the river and sink to be discovered by the lantern. Add bait to the hook and the story continues. –"Risking only, in the forest unarmed Norwegian That was always a little crazy, possibly the same thing would happen to some of our grandparents, which rose high in the Colorado River and never returned, some have found that their heads nailed on trees, the limit of the river ". -I ask him whether he also believes in the existence of Toromonas, is convinced of it.- "Our parents and grandparents have seen footprints of bare feet in the jungle, have sometimes come down the river axes and beads, and one day accompanying two American tourists and camp in the jungle, suddenly began to hear a sound of drumming and dancing, we ran through the jungle to reach the cabins. Coca leaves dance from one cheek to another, shudders at the memory while.
If we leave aside the legends, The Toromonas were a tribe mysteriously disappeared during the war of the nineteenth century rubber. Historical sources state that it was a great ally of the Incas to those who helped to disappear along with their treasures in the jungles of great Moxos after taking the empire by the Spanish. Creating in the minds of the conquerors of the kingdom's existence full of gold Paititi, after whose ghostly traces were lost in the jungle many Spanish.
The great chief of a tribe disappeared
The exploitation of rubber and attempts to evangelize by religious congregations obliterated officially accepting the extinction Toromonas. But other theses state that launched exodus to the depths of the jungle looking for an arcade where you can preserve their way of life. The last expedition undertaken by the anthropologist in Díez Astete 2004 despite finding no evidence attesting to their existence advocate the idea.
Heder tense the line, struggles for a moment and pulls out a beautiful morning to have breakfast surubí smoked banana leaves. Spit your bolus of coca and the story continues. –"However the most amazing thing is what it says the wizard of Ichipiamonas". -Intrigued I ask you to continue. "Parents of the gringo, came to look at Madidi, desperate to ask the witch came to the village, an old man as they say has powers, gave them coca leaves ". And hold on to the Norwegian was living among the Indians who become a kind of head or something. Since then the parents keep coming back every year, to see the old man and this tells your child is well and reigning in the tribe, and thinking back in a few years ".
And hold on to the Norwegian was living among the Indians who become a kind of head or something
Falls dawn and goes fishing between the insistent splash alligators and macaws chatter. All around the huge trees of Madidi stand as a fortress guarding its secrets challenging. I like to think I live a Hafsjold, reigning among Toromonas, I grabbed a Huariy and a silent toast for him, Imagine for a moment that felt to find them. And suddenly a snap ...!
Dedicated to my friends and those nights Tanacas May 2008
Comments (3)
Hook
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Extraordinary story!! This is the kind of stories that look at the maps, you trigger the imagination and give you back to the dreams of adventures. I was at once Rurrenabaque and Madidi all spoke of as the Golden. Be re, to see if we are to Haksjold.
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Roman H
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Spectacular!!!!!! I want to go!!!!
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Bolivia: Madidi park and the secret of Toromonas
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