Orinoco river and its legend

My town is small. It barely houses about 300 thousand inhabitants. It awakens at 6am and goes to sleep shortly after the chickens, when the sun goes down. It is a quiet town, slow and hot. Nothing happens here; Although a year ago we were hit by the tragedy as a result of being governed by the dictatorship, but that is another story.

We bear the surname of our liberator Simón Bolívar as a demonym, how many have that luxury?

The first settlers were smart people, they knew how to take advantage of the benefits of the area and they looked for the best location to lay the first stone of what would be their home. My village stands on the Guayanese massif or igneous rocks, the most ancient and stable geological formation on the planet. That's right! We do not know what telluric movements are, they are strange to us, although occasionally when they occur, they are barely perceptible.

Ciudad Bolívar is no longer as boisterous as it would have been in its beginnings when the battles of the War of the Blues and the April Revolution occurred. We have a 19th century fortress as a memorial of those days; it is on the highest hill of the city, which was a strategic garrison point.

From my town, you can take a plane ride to the highest waterfall on the planet: the Angel Falls. Its name honors the American aviator Jimmy Angel, who helped in its discovery and location. It is a paradise, according to everyone who has visited it, but that is also a story for another time.

It turns out that my home town lies on the banks of the Orinoco River, the third largest river in the world, behind the Amazon River and the Congo. In its narrowest part it is 800 meters wide.

Right at its center, we have the oriconometer, the middle stone. A rock formation that refuses to disappear under the dark and turbulent waters of the Orinoco. We is this as our point of reference to calculate how high the water rises in the rainy season.

Here, we fear its waters. It swallows people in the blink of an eye, but does not keep them, it renders them lifeless a few kilometers away. There are those who risk crossing it in "lanchitas", a kind of rustic boat to cross over to the other shore, just to save the minutes it would take to make the trip across the Angostura bridge.

In May the flow begins to increase, growing and growing until it begins to recede in the month of August, which is when the Sapoara fish appears swimming downstream looking for the sea. It is a rare fish, but not by its appearance, it looks like other fish; its rarity is due to the fact that not only can it be seen once a year, and that no other fish of this species have been found in any other corner of the world. They are only here.

We have the Sapoara Fair when they fish it. This is only possible by casting nets, because it does not bite a hook. Superstition says that whoever eats its head will remain forever on these sides. We even a song about it! Listen carefully: if a Guayanese woman feeds him what I have just mentioned, he will be captivated by her kisses for eternity. Don't say I did not warn you, but this is also a story for another time.

I really want to tell you about my favorite legend. The one with the seven-headed mythological snake. All self-respecting people must have a legend. Well, my people have theirs.

It's mythological, as I said. It is huge and prehistoric. Hundreds of years ago it seems that it was visible and terrified the inhabitants. Too bad that back then there were no smartphones that preserved their encounters. The only reference we have is the story told by word of mouth, and I am telling it to you as I heard it.

For thousands of years is had lurked in some cavern under the middle stone. It is so big that its heads are resting inside galleries that run under the city. Just one of them sleeps under the Cathedral of my town and, the settlers believe that it is the hand of God who keeps it gentle.

With each flood of the Orinoco, uneasiness grows in the soul of “Bolivarenses”. According to the legend, the day that the waters cover the Middle Stone the monster will wake up from his dream. Of course this is why every season we watch the flood, so that it gives us time to run!

The last sighting occurred in the year 1955. It happened that a barge named “La múcura”, laden with vehicles, sank near the stone. The company hired a diver to locate the boat and attempt to recover it. Minutes after submerging the diver desperately pulled the rope that attached him to the boat. He wanted to be pulled up. Still overcome by nerves, he said that he had seen a strange creature with an eye as big as a Casabe cake. Sadly again, there were no smartphones at that time either.

Because of how things are today, probably someone would stay to take selfies if the snake decides to make an appearance. We have crazy people here too, and who knows, maybe we can finally have evidence.

But for the moment, when the sun goes down in the afternoons we can enjoy beautiful sunsets like this.