THE ORIGIN OF THE STARS

The cosmovision of the Toba people, which encompasses their social life, economy,
education, health and beliefs, is very broad. For exampe, it’s said that during the
process of pregnancy, woman are very careful about certain foods, especially animal
meat, poultry and fish that aren’t edible so as not to harm the life in gestation.

The fundamental education of the children is scientifically based on ancestral

knowledge. Generally parents are in charge of all the training of their adolescent sons,
teaching them finish and hunting, the search for animals in their habitat and tricks, uses
and distances, of arrows for hunting an animal, bird or fish.

The mother is in charge of the daughters' education, teaching them housework, wool
weaving, fruit gathering and others. The physical and mental training is very similar to
that of the sons and the most complex part of the pedagogy is based on the movement
of the universe and the stars, with the reflection of the cosmogonic map of the known
world of the Tobas which will help to visualize some of the concepts of all disciplines of
life, from childhood to old age.

The influence of the constellations is very important in the development of spiritual

human life, since culture is formed and transformed based on the experience of the
environment. Man is born and develops his creative, theoretical, scientific, pedagogical
capacity and is socialized.

The Toba grandparents say that on winter nights, after the nediano- che, a group of
stars forming a drawing can be seen in the sky. They are two children, two little dogs
and a rhea. This constellation has its origin. It is not a pure myth, but a mixture of an
aboriginal and a European story, but preserving the image of the natives. the image of
the natives. It is told that a Toba family went out to pick fruit, but the couple's two
children, a boy and a girl, wandered away from their parents playing in the area until
they lost sight of them and could not find them.
The two children walked for several days feeding on roots and fruits; at night they rested
on the ground or the girl climbed the tree to safety. One day, at noon, they were resting,
when the girl asked her brother to catch a pigeon, but when he tried to do so, the pigeon
spoke to the boy and asked him not to catch her and that she would save them from a
danger that threatened them.

So they continued on their way and came across an old woman who ate people, the
dove told them how to trick the woman and make her fall into the fire, so the old woman
died. Then, the children cut the breasts of the old woman, from one of them were born
reptiles, snakes, toads and turtles, which did not exist until then on Earth. From the
other breast came two puppies, a female and a male, while from the smoke were born
mosquitoes. They continued on their way and realized that they could no longer return
to their parents.

They then found a peacock, which was captured by the little dogs, and further on they
found a rhea, but as it was running fast they could not catch it. When night came, the
rhea flew away and the two children and the little dogs flew after it. When they reached
the sky they were transformed into a constellation called "N-qua-aic", which can be
translated as "the road", where the stars of the sky were born.

Melgarejo's soul roams Tarata

It is said that the spirit of this former Bolivian president is kept alive not only by the
sayings and deeds that occurred to him, but also because there are people who claim to
have seen him even in our days, mounted on a white horse and carrying his head under
his arm.

Manuel Mariano Melgarejo Valencia was born on 13 April in Tarata, and became
president of president of Bolivia between December 28, 1864 and December 28, 1864
and January 15, 1871. The story goes that he took power in a coup d'état, overthrowing
Manuel Isidoro Belzu, whom he personally killed. According to legend, when a crowd
gathered in the central square in front of the Bolivian Government Palace, Melgarejo
appeared on a balcony with Belzu's corpse and announced: "Belzu is dead, who lives
now?" It is said that the crowd answered: "Long live Melgarejo!

In our days, there are many people who talk about the Tarateño general. His six years
in power are among the most tragic in the history of Bolivia, because of his repression
and his foolish "gift" of land and concessions to Chile, it is also said that Melgarejo had
given an immense amount of land to Brazil in exchange for a white horse. On another
occasion, in 1870, when Germany invaded France, he asked one of his top generals to
send Army troops to help in the defense of Paris, a city with which he was fascinated by
tales of elegance. And when he was told that it would take a long time to cross the
ocean, General Melgarejo replied angrily: "Don't be a fool, we will take a shortcut".

Of his tyranny, his sayings and deeds there is more than one version. Perhaps the
occurrence of each one of them is what keeps their spirit alive until our times, as they
could well affirm in their native Tarata. where it is said that the soul haunts the
Tecnológico Agropecuario (a study center) where the chairs in the dining room move,
women and even babies are heard crying. People say that the ghost of the former
president could also be seen on a white horse.

It is said that in 2022, from inside a small apartment in which the of a small apartment
where the former rector of the Tecnolóqico and his wife were staying, the footsteps of a
horse could always be heard at midnight. The woman did not believe that the noises
were caused by a horse, since there were no horses in the school. In the village there
were only donkeys and mules, but every night those noises of horse-like footsteps were
repeated, until one of those times when the former rector went out into the street and
saw the figure of a headless man, wearing a military uniform from the 1800s, sitting on a
white horse.

The specter was walking toward the house, heading in his direction. At that moment, the
former rector became frightened and could not scream to alert his wife. His legs were
paralyzed, but after a great effort he ran to his wife, locked the door and sat down in a
corner of the living room to calm down. However, peace did not return to his body, for
the ghost did not disappear. Even though the door was closed, the spirit passed through
the door. Then the man ran into the bedroom and woke his wife. He could barely utter a
couple of words, but it was enough to tell her that there, near them, was a ghost.

They both covered their entire bodies with blankets and remained that way for several
minutes, waiting for the specter to disappear, but it didn't. He stayed with them.

They heard his footsteps inside the bedroom and peering through the quilts, saw that he
sat in one of the chairs. He was wearing booties and general's clothes, but he had no
head.

After an hour, the specter vanished, causing them no harm, only fear that lasted until
dawn. When they told the experience to the teachers of the place, who together with the
students affirmed that it was the ghost of Melgarejo, who sometimes wandered through
the town riding his horse and carrying his head under his arm.

ERNESTO CALISAYA FLORES

A solid gold animal comes out of the water

BULL- LAGOON

The treasure of the Incas in Tunari

Legend has it that the native peoples of this region hid riches in the waters at the top of the
summit. A rain formed the lake to prevent them from falling into the hands of the greedy, while
the custodians, in the midst of mystical rituals, offered first their bodies and then their spirits to

protect it for the rest of eternity.

Those who know the high summits of Tunari may not know that there is a splendorous
lagoon that would have been formed only in times of the Conquest, millions of years
ago. Legend has it that the "Toro-laguna" has crystalline waters - born from the melting
of the snows of the mountain range - and arose as a result of strange mystical forces.
The exact date of the event is not known, however, it is said that it was many years ago,
when the Spaniards arrived to these lands in a plan of conquest.
 Not only had they subjected the original inhabitants to slavery, but they had also
committed abuses with their women. The Incas who dominated these territories
succumbed to the power of their swords and arquebuses. They ended up subdued, but
that was not enough for the bearded and covered men, in most cases with armor that
made them look like beings from other planets, it is even said that some of them
confused them with gods.

The jewels of the women shone as much as the ambitious eyes of the newly
bequeathed from the Old World. Thus it was that against the Incas and other native
peoples, driven by ambition, they committed many abuses in an attempt to take
advantage of their wealth.

The intention was to strip them of everything they had, moreover, they tried to seize a
valuable Inca treasure: a beautiful bull carved in pure gold, whose existence they had
learned of because the natives made extreme efforts to keep it out of their sight. It is
said that the Indians escaped carrying the bull on their backs throughout the Andean
region, crossing the rugged plains of the altipampa, entering valleys, dodging silver
rivers, dodging the sun's rays so that they would not be reflected in that soft structure.

Until they were tired of escaping from one place to another, and seeing that it was not
long before they were caught, they decided to hide the treasure in a high part of the
Tunari. According to the elders of the region, they waited for the arrival of the shadows
of the night so that nothing would give away their ascent, the footprint left by the Inca
custodians.

Nobody knows what rites they resorted to while they scattered the infallible coca leaves
to the wind to guess through their wise men the destiny they would run. It is not known
what happened to the Incas who transported the golden bull, since it is said that they
never returned to the place from where they left. However, it is said that they stayed
there forever, first in body and then in spirit, to protect this treasure for eternity.

But while everything that happened that night at the top of Tunari remained a mystery,
what is known to all is that a torrential rain fell that night, and did not stop until it formed
a lagoon, which completely covered the bull.
Only then could he be safe from the greedy, who, driven away by the winds, stopped
chasing him, although it would not be impossible to see him again, since it is said that
on nights of full moon the bull comes out of the lagoon and mates with a local cow, so
that the livestock is abundant.

Excerpted from "espantos de los andes", E. Calizaya

Sweet melodies that the zampoña and the quena blow in the wind can be heard in the
altiplano of La Paz. Those who hear the minula dance for the first time fall in love with
its rhythm and without realizing it, they fall in love with its sweet forms; although, when
they understand the origin of this music, they fall prey to an icy air that runs through
their body, because its history is terrifying. L

The Aymara who play this rare musical melody with their instruments are respected and
feared by the other members of their avllu.

To perform the mimula dance, the professional musician must have made a pact with
the master of darkness himself. It is believed that this rhythm, to a certain extent
cadenced, is nothing more than a song dedicated to the devil.

That is why it is very rare to hear in the high plateau the sounds of the so-called "hymn
from beyond the grave". In fact, when these melodies travel in the air they are an
announcement that the devil "bought" a soul.

To understand the mysterious legend of the mimula dance in its true dimension, what
better to know the frightening experience of an unfortunate stranger, who had an
encounter with the Dantesque "miracles" of the god of the underworld.

A humble and hard-working man left his community to exchange the fruits of his harvest
with the inhabitants of other regions, crossing the dusty pampas of the altiplano.

The road he had to travel was long and tiring. That is why he started his journey very
early in the morning, with the first rays of the sun.
The farmer took the road convinced that he would reach his destination in the afternoon.
Accompanied only by his aguayo - in which he carried his merchandise - and a small
bag in which he kept his snack, the man left his house.

Based on his experience, at noon he would arrive at the property of a charitable old
man, who used to fill the pitchers of travelers with water from his well. While the
travelers hydrated themselves and took a rest at his feet, the old man would catch up on
current events beyond the boundaries of his plot. As planned, the man arrived at the old
man's house when the star was at the very center of the celestial firmament.

"Welcome, young man. Come in, just come in, serve yourself some water with
confidence.

with confidence," said the owner of the house to the

the owner of the house said to the gentleman, who unloaded the bundle on his back

and shook the old man's wrinkled hands.

the old man's wrinkled hands.

Immediately after, the traveler filled a kind of canteen with the crystalline liquid that
rested cool about four meters from the surface. Then he washed his face and
moistened his hair, while he let a few drops fall out of the rustic mouth of the well. At the
end of this task, she extracted some chuño and cheese from her chuspa and offered
them to the old man who so kindly allowed her to enter his house.

"Help yourself, then, grandfather," said the traveler as his old man extended his hand to
take the offered food. Slowly, the old man uncrossed the dehydrated potato with his
fingertips, alternating each bite with a piece of cheese.

Despite his advanced age, the old man was usually strong and healthy. He always
lacked the time to chat with those who paid him a visit.

That morning, however, the grandfather remained silent with a distant look on his face.

The traveler noticed his strange behavior and only asked if he was well. The old man
nodded his head and remained silent, as if he knew that when night fell, his life would
never be the same again, since he had made a horrible decision. "Boy, are you coming
back tonight?" the old man asked. "No, this time tomorrow I'm going to be walking
around here to get back to my apartment," replied the young man.

Having said this, he put on his sandals again and continued on his way, after thanking
the old man for his hospitality.

After two hours of walking away from the old man's house, two blocks of dark clouds
appeared in the sky. They were moving from one side of the airspace to the other, as if
condemned to an imminent collision

imminent clash that would end in a powerful storm.

The strange thing was that the rain came early and that precipitation was just a
foretaste of the hail that would fall soon after. The path the farmer was walking on went
from kicking up dust to sloshing over puddles that formed on the ground and then
became muddy and prevented anyone from walking on them. Surprised by this
eventuality, the farmer decided to retrace his steps. At that point, his only option was to
ask the old man for shelter, under the commitment that he would resume his march the
next morning.

Almost at a trot, the traveler made his way to the old man's property, his clothes all wet.
Although it was not yet time

for the sun to set, the thick storm clouds covered the entire high plateau with their dark
mantle.

The closer the man got to the old man's house, the heavier he felt his footsteps and a
repulsive smell became perceptible.

Finally, when he reached the old man's house, he found that no one was home. He
knocked on the doors and windows, but no one answered his insistent calls.

So he went into the courtyard of the house, which was a small yard enclosed by some
precarious planks. Once inside, he saw a candle burning in the darkness. "He must
have fallen asleep
thought the traveler, who was soaked and wanted to cover himself. Somewhat
desperate because of the depth of the old man's sleep, the fellow managed to get into
the big room. However, no one was there. He searched all the rooms and there was
nothing, until he heard the meowing of a cat in a locked room at the side of the property.
When he peeked into the room, he found the old man lying on the floor, while the
candlelight allowed him to observe his corpse under the gaze of the black cat, which
had a pair of green eyes glowing in the dim light of the room.

The old man had died and chose that room to rest in eternity. The peasant took off the
Iluchu, dried his body with some rags and then lay down next to the old man.

The cat remained static and seemed intent on hypnotizing the man with its gaze. In the
end, that scene ended up turning into a wake for the man's mortal remains. "Surely his
family will come tomorrow," the farmer deduced.

Between prayers and whispers that invoked rest and peace for the deceased, the
traveler fell asleep, but a distant melody interrupted his sleep.

The traveler opened his eyes and sharpened his senses. He heard clearly how in the
distance someone played a rhythm that, as it grew louder, made the old man's body
begin to levitate like an act of magic.

The peasant's fright was terrible. The macabre dance sounded outside the house and
the body of the deceased seemed to revive, the fear was so horrible that the man
vanished on the spot.

At dawn, a scream woke him up. A of the dead man's daughters appeared in the house
where she saw her father.She then held the man responsible for the old man'sman for
the old man's death, but he the old man, but he defended himself by telling what
happened during the night. The woman and other relatives understood what the farmer
told.

farmer told. Those who were of age knew that the visitor's version was true.

visitor's version was true.

They knew that their relative wanted to his existence with a deal with the devil.
 That is why they buried the body that was cursed in a hill close to his home. After
burying it, they placed several stones over the grave, so that the deceased would never
leave it again and rest in peace.

Everyone left and this story reached the ears of those who lived in that and other
communities. People spoke of the curse of the mimula dance, a melody that awakened
the dead so that they would live for eternity but wandering, being souls in pain, because
the devil had only deceived them.

After a long time, the peasant who witnessed this experience returned to the old man's
house. Upon visiting his grave, he simply found the stones removed.

F. Garcia T.

They touched the sky and became stars.

ARÍ AND YAZÍ: THE SUN AND THE MOON

Two brothers, descendants of the "grandfather", the maximum guaraya deity, ascended
to the firmament to give mortals the day and the night.

In the genesis of time, the Earth lacked day and night, light and shadow. Everything
around living beings was simply gray, opaque and lifeless.

Although below the firmament the natural wealth was impressive, the lack of color
prevented the few thinking people from expediting the corners of the jungle to learn from
it the elementary mechanisms of survival.

the elementary mechanisms of survival. In the Guaraya culture, for example, it is said
that the first men who inhabited the vast tropical territory of our country were not mortal
beings, but descendants of the gods who preserved their divine essence and did not
suffer hunger, fatigue or pain.

Only a group of beings of this rare species walked scattered through the bush, distant
from each other. But, one fine day, two brothers met again and changed the destiny of
the planet from the ideas born from their curiosity.
Ari was the name of the first one. It is said that he was tall, strong, with blond hair and a
skillful hunter with bow and arrow.

His brother, Yazi, had similar characteristics, but he was dark and had straight black
hair. The spear was his favorite hunting tool and he was never separated from it.

Both walked among the vegetation listening to the harmony of the kingdom that their
parents had inherited, although neither could find an answer to the dullness of the days.
They both felt strange to observe how a grayish mantle covered everything that
surrounded them.

Then, Arí and YaZi began to investigate the subject. They used to take long walks
among the rivers and palm trees trying to find a clue to explain to them why everything
beautiful was lifeless.

As is the case to this day, the

the boys referred to the creator

referred to the creator as "grandfather".

grandfather". Both would lie down on the grass and imaginatively ask: "Wise
grandfather, you who gave us this kingdom, why did you deprive it of your light and
make the existence of all those who live here so difficult?

Silence was their only answer. That is why the brothers experienced adventures in
which they saved the world from colorlessness. They saw themselves as a pair of
vigilantes who brought to the jungle the shades they once knew in their heavenly
empire.

"Yazi, if only we could touch with our own hands that lifeless element we have, we
would surely please "grandfather" with our strength and allow us to enjoy the beauty of
his tonaicades," Ari thought aloud.

"The only way to achieve such a goal, brother, is to make use of our abilities. Let's climb
to the firmament by making our own ladder", said Yari.
The plan was that Ari would shoot each and every one of his arrows into the sky as long
as the first arrow was "anchored" in one of those seemingly invisible clouds.

clouds that seemed invisible.

Then, Yazi would launch his javelins so that they would intertwine with his brother's
arrows and climb to the top.

And so it was, after several hours of work, the young men built a structure similar to the
ropes used today. Yazi said to his fellow worker, "You go first, brother, touch the sky.
Ari stretched out his hand and was sucked into the firmament. Then the green of the
jungle and the common objects of nature appeared in the light of what we now call day.
Yazi was the second to touch the highest point on Earth. As he did so, a dark mantle
covered the world as the moon gave its faint glow for animals and humans to rest at the
end of the day. F. Garcia T.

Forty thousand years ago, Lake Titicaca covered 12,000 kilometers of the area now
occupied by the Uyuni salt flat. At that time, rain fell heavily in the region and the water
level was high, but then came a hot, dry period, which led to a drought that evaporated
the liquid.

Today, the only vestige of the aquatic presence in the area are billions of tons of salt,
lithium, potassium, magnesium and other agents. Although these are the natural
resources of the salt flat, the albo desert also treasures inexplicable mysteries, only
compared to the beauty of the reservoir.

One of them refers to the Jucumari of the salt flat, a fabulous being that is supposed to
be a direct descendant of the god of the Andes, who gave him life to be the guardian of
the brine.

This bear had the appearance of what we know today as the brown or grizzly bear,
although with a lighter brown coat and longer than its contemporary relatives.
The accounts of the inhabitants of Uyuni describe it as a solitary being that roamed the
hills surrounding the salt flat. He did so in search of a cave that would protect him from
the powerful cold.

It is said that, every time he was hungry, the Jucumari would leave his den to hunt for
food that would supply his hunger for a week.

Since the salt flat where it had its home was as inhospitable as it is today, the animal
would travel several kilometers along the borders of its territory in search of a herd of
unprotected alpacas or sheep.

Once it found its eventual prey, the beast was relentless and exterminated at least two
animals. It would eat as much as it could at the hunting site and take the remains back
to its cave.

Each time the bear went out in search of food, it had to look for a new refuge in the
middle of the hills. The uyunenses of long ago had the custom of making offerings very
similar to the current challas in honor of the powerful Jucumari of the salt flat. They did
this so that he would allow them to enter his domain when they were forced to travel
through the salt flat. By paying him homage, the animal not only allowed them to walk
through the salt flat, but also protected them from other dangers typical of an expedition
through an imposing, deserted terrain, which even generated a certain heaviness.
Inexplicably, the devotion and respect for the bear ceased to be valid among the
peasants who lived in the area.

Generations went by and almost nobody remembered the respectable Jucumari, of

which fantastic stories were no longer heard urging to pay tribute to him if one was
thinking of walking through the salt flat. The years went by and the memory of this
divinity was buried among the 10 layers of the salty soil of the place. At the end of the
1950s, the salt flat began to attract the attention of foreigners traveling to the south of
the country.

They disembarked in Uyuni motivated by the mineral wealth offered by the mining towns
of Potosi, although they believed that the salt flat could perfectly well become a tourist
destination that would take them away from the camps.
In this way, stories began to spread from voice to voice that spoke of the wonderful

the marvelous landscapes that the place had to offer.

the marvelous landscapes that the place had to offer. Every

more and more people were interested in knowing it and foreign tourists were arriving

foreign tourists arrived in Uyuni

determined to see how true these recommendations were,

Of course, for those years not a single patrol of the Bolivian Army had crossed the salt
flat from end to end, so the terrain was unknown and represented a real adventure for
all the foreigners who visited it.

for all outsiders who visited it. As can be imagined, the authorities advised travelers not
to stray from the margins set by the inhabitants of the area, as it would be very difficult
to find them if they went beyond the established limit.

In mid-1960, four tourists arrived in the town of Uyuni ready to cross the salt flat from
one end to the other. The group of explorers knew the basic notions of survival and
arrived in Bolivia with travel tools that until then were unknown among the humble
Uyunians.

The "gringuitos" -as the locals used to call them- spent a couple of days in town waiting
to get a vehicle that would allow them to undertake the dangerous journey.

The tourists' intention was to rent a 4X4 motorcycle, which would allow them to carry
their backpacks, provisions and at least two gallons of diesel.

Some say that the adventurers came from an English-speaking country in Europe,
where it was not complicated to rent four-wheel drive vehicles for long journeys.

Obviously, in our country, access to motorized vehicles of these characteristics was

almost impossible, so they had to settle for hiring a precarious automobile, in which they
set out to cross the largest salt flat on the planet.
The tourists had obtained all possible maps of the desert, most of them brought from
England, a country that had developed different cartographies of South America. One
morning in December, when summer was reigning in the region, the explorers left the
village for the northern towns. Their intention was to reach the border between the
Uyuni and Coipasa salt flats. Then they would return to the starting point to return the
car and prove that they had achieved their risky task.

As is the law, the travelers did not leave Uyuni without first reporting their expedition to
the local police, so that, in case of any eventuality, they could come to their rescue,
although even the authorities did not know the Salar in its real dimension.

In those years, most of the expeditions reached the island of Incahuasi, so that
everything that remained from there to amiba was only a mystery.

The "gringos" covered the first few kilometers without major inconvenience. They
camped on the icy saline soil and limited themselves to drinking plenty of water and
eating cereals to keep themselves well and face what was to come.

After having left behind the last vestige of civilization - in Incahuasi - the real expedition
was about to begin, although a breakdown in the motorized vehicle forced them to stop
their march in the middle of nowhere.

It was about to get dark and the mechanical malfunction could not be solved by the
tourists, who opted to camp earlier than planned, to fix the car with the help of daylight.
The next day, all attempts to get the car running were in vain.

Another day passed and the men were convinced that they would have to continue the
journey on foot before they had finished with their food and water.

To make matters worse, one of the expedition members became ill and preferred to
stay inside the car to wait for help. The other three left for the south, comforted by the
fact that they were relatively close to the island of Incahuasi. They did not plan to take
long and were sure that within a few hours, they would be back.

Their calculations were to no avail and they were lost for several stretches of the
journey, until they came across a community member of the Salar, who went to ask for
help from the Loa Regiment uniformed men to help the travelers, and they immediately
set out in search of the tourist who was abandoned.

The surprise came when they found the car broken down and the person who stayed in
the car was also missing. They patrolled the perimeter, but did not find the fourth
tourist. Days and weeks went by, until the three travelers decided to leave the Bolivian
territory.

At the same time as the traveler went astray, a series of strange events began to disturb
the farmers around the salt flat. Sheep, llamas and alpacas appeared dead or simply
disappeared from their herds without explanation.

Then, the grandparents remembered the Jucumari and came to the conclusion that the
deity was demanding obeisance.

The villagers made challas, payments to the earth and all kinds of offerings, although
this kind of extermination of the animals continued, moving among other Uyunan
villages. When the villagers understood that not even all their devotion would stop the
deaths, they asked the military to sacrifice the beast.

the military to sacrifice the beast that was committing the abuses.

The uniformed men went through the territories surrounding the salt flat and checked all
the caves where the lethal hunter could be hiding.

Upon entering one of them, the officers were alerted by the foul smell of rotting meat.
They entered the cave and found the abominable beast.

It lay in a corner, but the fur that covered it was nothing more than the skins of
extinguished flames. The beard and mane that covered his face were part of his
disheveled appearance. It was the abandoned tourist who was mistaken for the mythical
Jucumari.

F. Garcia T.