In a past that is still near, home life was quite different. The relation with our parents, for instance, was quite respectful. Anyhow, it was the way through many generations. Between the more striking changes in the last decades, is the way the elder people is treated. Once, a grandparent was an amazing person, full of tales. Someone we could always count on, in our bad moments. In the present times, it has sadly changed, there is no doubt.
When we were very young, how many of us came to our grandparents, to hear their stories? Those were wonderful moments from our childhood. And with every elder who pass away, goes a little bit of our own history. How to forget those endless holidays, far from home, having fun during the day and with all the family gathering together almost every night, to talk about many things, under the stars. Those memories are like a treasure, but time will end erasing them, along with all that recent past, which now seems so distant.
Tío Conejo and Tío Tigre stories. Songs, fables. Narrations from older times. Family anecdotes, history and legends. Buried treasures, histories of love: everything danced before the eyes of our imagination. And the ghost and sorceress stories, which seemed to attract the children, like little moths to a candle. One thing is certain, if we could trace backwards the stories the children heard from their grandparents we might travel to the early days of our history, in only a few of those cycles. It is the oral tradition from every family, that the excellent Venezuelan writer, whose name was Francisco Herrera Luque, always considered so valuable.
We may figure one of those conversations... somewhere in the country, between a curious child and his grandfather:
--Grandpa! did you see? That flame running by the road, it seemed to float over the floor. How strange, isn´t it? I am scared, grand-daddy. With a soft reproach, the old man said: --- Come on, and will you be frightened of a little flame in the field, ah? Those are the so called wisps, small balls of fire, spontaneusly produced, nobody lit them, you see? Now you are a big man and I don´t think you will be so afraid of a little burning match, hahaha. --- But, how can it be? Are you sure, grandpa?
See, how nosy this young boy is. Come near, I will tell you what my old man said about those lights.
But later, don't be scared and can´t sleep well, ok? Come, and I will tell you the tale...
When I was your age, everything seemed dreadful at night. Many believed, that those lights, running over the fields was the tormented ghost of a truly bad person who passed by Venezuela a zillion years ago. Are you sure that you want to hear about... Lope de Aguirre, the Tyrant? ---Yes, grand daddy, but, it truly happ...? --- here comes the nosy kid again! Listen up and shut the mouth, ha ha ha.
After one of those tender hugs we always keep in our hearts, the old man hawked to clear his voice and began to talk:
---Lope de Aguirre was born in Spain, in the beautiful lands of the Basque country. It was very long time ago, by the 1500´s: I wasn´t born yet, can you imagine? He was the second child of the family, in those times, it meant that he had almost nothing to expect as a heir. And he headed for adventure, to "do the Indias", as they said in those times.
---The Indias?, asked the child. ---So they called these lands, in Spain, in the days of the discovery and the conquest. Maybe you have heard something about it at school. Well, as a young man, Aguirre left towards America. His beginings here are not well known, but he ended in Peru, a very rich country. Many adventurers got there, in search of fortune. Ah, Miguelito, perhaps are you sleepy?---No, grandpa, but, why they said that man was so bad? ---You will see, now the party will begin. And his words turned into images, as if the past came to life again...
For many years, Aguirre was just one more, among the many who had come from Spain. Their lives passed by, almost unnoticed, in the lands of the New World. Short of money, but plenty of ambition. For sure, ready to go all in, in one bet. By then, Peru was a hive full of rapacious men, the perfect material to feed the long civil wars, that followed the conquest by Pizarro. Bold and quarrelsome, a fine horse-tamer, with his low height and his disturbing gaze, Aguirre felt that his life was passing and he was nobody. Always fighting for worthless causes. He had nothing, except a limp leg, as the only result of his struggles.
His only affection was his young daughter, Elvira. She was cared by a good woman, who was called la Torralba. But Aguirre felt worried. If everything continued the same, what would be the destiny of his poor child? Then came one of those unexpected events, which can change the life completely. He heard the opportunity knocking at his door, and did not hesitate a single moment, to take the chance. And how he did! The search of El Dorado, would turn that insignificant man, into a notorious sinister personage.
By then, the golden city of El Dorado, apparently had been located in the middle of the jungle, in the Omaguas country. It was somewhere between the Orinoco and the Amazonas (or Marañon) rivers. The Viceroy of Peru thought it was a good moment to kill two birds with one stone. On one side, the conquer of such an opulent kingdom, was a true temptation. But, besides, if he organized a huge expedition trip, he could get rid of many of the annoying rogues which infested the country. He knew well that those men would go to the end of the world, in search of gold. So the public announcement was made, and as expected, one of the first to come, was Lope de Aguirre. Unable to leave his daughter behind, she would share his destiny, for good or for worse!
All in all, the Viceroy tried to be sure of the good results of the mission, and put a man of proven capacity in charge. He was don Pedro de Ursua. Nonetheless, his mistakes mainly were the cause of the failure of the expedition. Even more, with his negligence, he stimulated the rebelion of that bunch of violent men.
It could be said, that "the expedition started on the wrong foot". The torrential and prolonged rain of the Peruvian forest, ruined everything. The first embarkations they made, inevitably sank. So they had to adapt to the available materials and the ambiental condition. At last, on rafts and some bigger boats, they could start sailing down the river. The expectating crowd, seemed well provisioned. But they had no idea of the hard times they would have ahead... or perhaps they simply had a head for their wealthy future.
There were some women, between the travellers, including Aguirre´s daughter. It did not pleased some of the rough men. Somehow, they took it as "bad luck" sign. But the same Ursua made the worst mistake, when he decided to bring his lover, Ines de Atienza, with him. That way, he was turning the hazardous voyage into a leisure trip, just as a honey moon couple. It was a real nonsense to put one of the most beautiful women of the New World, near a horde of wild beasts. And no question, love blindness finally brought his doom.
Maybe Lope de Aguirre soon sensed that the expedition would end as a fiasco. Or he simply never took El Dorado for real. To him, they were leaving the true wealthness behind, in Peru. Besides, is impossible to ignore his frustration, he was an old nobody! He could not wait for any longer. It was now or never! That way, he started to conspire. The idyllic life of the governor, Ursua, provided the perfect excuse: the annoyance among the soldiers then grew as the weed. Aguirre began to surround himself with the more violent and heartless, who saw him as a father. In a little while, his will would become the law, in that marañones´ river... (to be continued).
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