It was then, at the end of the 15th century that a Portuguese led a maritime adventure towards the -now- American continent. A lot of people decided to call this event "The Discovery of America", but nothing is further more from common sense. ¿How can anybody talk about the discovery of something that had already been discovered by many others before? Then, we prefer better to call this, the ENCOUNTER OF TWO WORLDS, which is more likely what actually happened at the beginning, what happened later, is another story ...
Arriving in Wuinamorena I
That anniversary, the 522th of the Encounter, in 2014, as well as the travelers from other continents that are shown in the previous Post (https://steemit.com/travel/@ma-jokaraisa/un-nuevo- encounter-of-two-worlds), I also had the opportunity to "meet" with the reality of an important part of that history at the Orinoco river´s Delta , in north-east of Venezuela.
Comunity of Wuinamorena I
During the crossing, first through the Mánamo pipe, the most important in that region, we were able to pass through the indigenous villages (no more than 200 inhabitants) of Culebrita, Wuinamorena I, Wuinamorena II.
On the way we could see the beauty of the corocoras, a type of red heron that abounds in the trees that are on the banks of the pipes, and that accompanied us from time to time until we reached Pedernales at sunset, wich is the capital from the municipality of the same name, where we spent the night in a simple but very comfortable inn.
Arriving in PEDERNALES
The next day we restarted the navigation through several channels and we were in the communities of Guacajara, Morocoto, Isla del Muerto, Punta Loi, and Capure.
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There, in all those villages and indigenous communities, in the face of the original inhabitants, in the architecture and engineering of their homes, in some of their food (fish such as tarpon or morocote, and shrimp fundamentally), we could still feel the past that yet claims its presence among us. A past that no longer can be separated from its fusion with the present, that is manifested to us between materials, equipment, motors, clothing, and also, other new architectures .
The ethnic group present in all these parts is the "Warao", which some translate as "inhabitants of the water", of "waha" (low riverbank, watery zone) and "arao" (people, inhabitants), and others like, "people of the boats" , from "wa" (canoe) and "arao" (people).
Sunset view from the dock at Capure
It was a paradoxical experience, full of joy and rejoicing at the extraordinary beauty of the place, on the one hand, but with some sadness because of the material vulnerability of those indigenous brothers and sisters, who -nevertheless- still had room for a smile and the warmth of a welcome greeting, and a pleasant conversation to share. Feelings of admiration for their Janokos in the water (palafitos), for their skills for the construction of their "wa" (canoe, boat made with the trunk of a tree), for their cultural resistance, for their legendary origins, for their wisdom and their cosmogony, arose in every encounter with them.
This journey left an indelible spiritual mark. Then, thinking about the username that I would choose for STEEMIT, many ideas came up, but then came to my mind a beautiful poem by a great Venezuelan poet, Gustavo Pereira, which is entitled: "About Savages". I know that the translation of a poem is not always faithful to the spirit of it, and to the beautiful of its lyrics, but, lets try, here it is:
The Pemones of the Gran Sabana
call the dew Chirïke-yeetakuú
which means Saliva of the Stars;
To the tears Enú-parupué
which means Guarapo of the Eyes,
and to the heart Yewán-enapué:
Belly Seed
The waraos of the Orinoco Delta say Mejokoji
(The Sun of the Chest) to name the Soul.
To say friend they say Ma-jokaraisa: My other heart.
And to say forget, they say: Emonikitane,
what does it mean to forgive?
The very fools do not know what they say
To say Earth they say Mother
To say Mother they say Tenderness
To say Tenderness say Delivery
They have such confusion of feelings
that with good reason
the good people that we are
we call them Savages
And so it was how "Ma-jokaraisa" arose here as an indigenous word to say "friend", which is in my opinion, what essentially happens in this new social network, a "permanent encounter" of new friends in the framework of the technological revolution of cryptocurrencies.
That's why, when you say Ma-jokaraisa, you say STEEMIT !!
All text (except indicated) and pictures are from @Ma-jokaraisa. Pictures taken with a Huawei cel phone