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SOUTH AMERICA: Reviving the Ancient Guaraní Pathways
By Alejandro Sciscioli*
ASUNCION, Jan 4 (IPS) - In 1524 Spanish conquistador Alejo García
walked the paths of Tapé Avirú. Today this ancient network of trails is
being rescued from oblivion by scientists and government officials from
Paraguay and Brazil as they attempt to protect the indigenous Guaraní
culture.
That means tourists will soon be able to follow the network of paths in
those two South American countries that Guaraní Indians followed centuries
ago.
The web of pathways was woven in the Guaraní people's constant search for
the ''Land Without Evil'', and connected what is currently the southern
Brazil state of Santa Catarina with the Peruvian Andes, passing through
Paraguay and Bolivia.
A semi-nomadic people, ''the Guaraní Indians organised migrations that
combined economics with religion,'' historian Rubén Darío Lugo explained to
Tierramérica.
On the one hand, they were looking for a mythical land where they believed
evil did not exist, ''a sort of heaven, in the Christian sense, where people
live in eternal joy,'' added Lugo, an expert from the National University of
Asunción (UNA).
But the tribes also left behind the lands that no longer provided them with
sustenance, and searched for precious metals, like those they knew the Incas
had. ''It was not to accumulate the metals as riches,'' but because for them
the shining brilliance of gold, for example, ''was the symbol of something
holy,'' said the historian.
When Alejo García was shipwrecked in 1516 off the coast of what is now
Brazil's Santa Catarina state, he had no choice but to stay and live in the
region. Eight years later, after learning the Guaraní language, he led an
expedition of 2,000 Indians towards Peru.
Guided by the South American natives, the expedition traversed the territory
of what is now Paraguay and Bolivia, and even obtained the treasures the
explorers and Indians had dreamed of. But on the return trip García was
killed by the Guaraní in San Pedro de Ycuamandiyú, capital of the northern
Paraguayan department of San Pedro.
Paraguay's national tourism department, SENATUR, has embarked on a project
to transform the Tapé Avirú paths into an adventure for tourists that ''will
help recover this part of Guaraní culture from oblivion and revitalise the
story of the Land Without Evil,'' Rosana González, another UNA historian,
told Tierramérica.
González is part of an expert team advising SENATUR and of the Paraguayan
delegation that visited Brazil in mid-2004 to delve into similar efforts
being made by Brazilian specialists under the Peabirú Project.
The Brazilians ''are 10 years ahead of us, and have made a great deal of
progress,'' she said.
Santa Catarina and the neighbouring state of Paraná seek to attract tourists
with activities that include re-creating what researchers believe were the
routes of the Tapé Avirú.
The pre-Hispanic route was indicated by very specific geographic references,
among them rivers, waterfalls and mountains, for example the Salto del
Monday, in the city of Presidente Franco, or the Cerro Lambaré hill, in
Asunción.
''Following the stretches of existing highways, they also propose
eco-tourism, contact with indigenous communities, museum tours and an
in-depth look at the historic Guaraní worldview,'' said González,
underscoring an idea for a travelling planetarium in which the
constellations identified by this native culture would be presented.
Now, Asunción and the Brazilian state governments are studying ways to
integrate their projects.
On the Paraguayan side, they would like to see tourists visiting the
country's eastern departments that Alejo García passed through, and, after a
stop in Asunción, continue the trek through the arid Chaco region in the
west.
''We are looking at ways in which Bolivia could also form part of the
route,'' González said.
The promoters of the Tapé Avirú project have requested funding from the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO),
says Juan Manuel Prieto, SENATUR advisor.
The initiative was presented in June in the southeastern Ciudad del Este, on
the border across from Brazil's Foz de Iguacu. In late October the
Paraguayan Geographic Society organised an ''eco-adventure'' from the Tres
Kandú mountain, the tallest in the country, to Itá Letra, which holds
pre-Colombian runic inscriptions.
Authorities from both sides of the border have consulted with Guaraní
representatives on the project. In Brazil, says González, they won support
''as long as the indigenous culture and traditions are respected.''
Meanwhile in Paraguay the project includes the participation of Margarita
Mbywangy, chief of the Aché (from the Tupí branch of the Guaraní) in the
northeastern area of Kuetuby.
Mbywangy ''has provided us with valuable information and gave a noteworthy
presentation at the conference we held in Ciudad del Este,'' said Prieto.
But ''Tapé Avirú will entail a long-term process, because even though we
have already identified several stations along the Guaraní's pre-Columbian
route, research is needed to trace out the definitive paths,'' added the
SENATUR advisor.
On the Paraguayan side, there is a lack of road and hotel infrastructure for
the tourist aspect of the project, and there are areas where social
conflicts continue to simmer - related to the demands of landless rural
workers - in the department of San Pedro, where conquistador Alejo García
was killed five centuries ago.
(* Alejandro Sciscioli is an IPS correspondent. Originally published Jan. 1
by Latin American newspapers that are part of the Tierramérica network.
Tierramérica is a specialised news service produced by IPS with the backing
of the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations
Environment Programme.)
(END/2005)
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