Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
I am going and I make myself fall
I am going and I make myself fall
I am she who seeks a world to live in that is cold and wet
I am she who seeks a world to live in that is cold and wet
This one fits my body and this one fits my head
This one fits my body and this one fits my head
But I am the one whose head wouldn't fit
But I am the one whose head wouldn't fit
I will send my head away from me
I will send my head away from me
As Simijáné concluded, my young Ayoreo translator turned to me.
“Do not believe him,” he said. “He is lying.”
My adopted Direquednejnaigose father, Jnupi, had visited Echoi sev-
eral times in his youth and had also met Bajebia'date, his wife, there dur-
ing one visit in the 1940s. Jnupi provided me with my second set of clues
about this place:
Author: Thank you, father, your stories are beautiful. I want to hear your stories about
the place that they called echoi.
Jnupi: There are many stories about that place.
Author: hmm. It was a good place, right?
Jnupi: Those-Who-Came-Before called it the
Erami Gatocoro
, the Center of the forest
World. They used to say (but are lying) that it came from some old women.
Author: hmm, that is good! I am looking for the reason why the Totobiegosode and all
Ayoreo know the same stories if they were fighting, killing each other before.
Jnupi: They know the same stories because we lived together; we are the same
people.
Author: Where did you live together? At echoi?
Jnupi: That's the way it was. The people met there and each group gave each other
things. In those days there was not yet any war between us.
Author: hmm.
Jnupi: All the people, everyone met each other at echoi. direquednejnaigosode,
Amomegosode, Jnupedogosode, Guidaigosode, Totobiegosode, ducodegosode,
Garaigosode, everyone. Cochocoigosode were there too. There were many of
them, but they camped to one side of echoi. We were all there together but we
did not kill each other. everything was good. This was not a long time ago, not
long at all.
Author: It is good what you are saying.
Jnupi: One group came and another came and there they were together. The others
put on their feathers and jaguar-skin headdresses and they did
chugu'iji.
We did the
