By Jeimmy Paola Sierra |
Jardín (Colombia) (EFE).- The Emberá Chami indigenous community opened the doors of the Karmata Rúa reservation, in the Colombian municipality of Jardín, in a commitment to ethnotourism with an ancestral route that allows them to immerse themselves in their culture, enjoy their gastronomy, and learn about their worldview and way of life.
This innovative initiative, full of rituals, mystical experiences and spaces for connection with nature, was born hand in hand with the Comfenalco compensation fund and took shape with the ancestors of the territory as allies to preserve their traditions and explore new economies.
“We built this ethnic tourism route based on something called ‘the path of our ancestors’ to break the paradigm and open the door a bit to this new economy that is tourism with a project to strengthen and rescue culture and identity,” explained Freddy Alonso Tascón, indigenous governor of this reservation, in the department of Antioquia.
An ancestral fireplace
In El Crucero, one of the 10 stops that make up the tour, the journey begins towards the bowels of Karmata Rúa, which means “Land of the Pringamosa”, a territory inhabited by 1,923 people and 520 families, where the mountains and rivers speak and its inhabitants remember through dance, painting and crafts.
From the entrance to the ancestral path, the encounter with mother earth occurs, on a route marked by constant interaction with the indigenous people to learn about social, cultural and productive expressions. But before that contact, tourists have a mandatory stop in the San Bartolo ravine for a ritual with a jaibaná, a kind of shaman who is seen in the community as a wise man and traditional doctor.
“I started with harmonization baths, welcoming them, handing over the bracelets and conjuring,” explains jaibaná José Arnulfo Vaguiaza to EFE, who communicates with the “world of spirits” in the sacred places that house this site of exuberant nature, located 120 kilometers south of Medellín.
The guide explains that visitors must free themselves from the “bad energy” in that ravine before entering the reservation, to grant them “permission” to circulate within the territory with “spiritual accompaniment.”
After this contact with medicinal plants, tobacco smoke and handicrafts, the walk begins along a steep path until reaching stations such as La Cruz and El Atrio, where the stories of spirits, myths and legends concentrate attention to illustrate a part of the cosmovision of the Embera Chami people.
Later comes the encounter with gastronomy, which had a first half with a typical breakfast with corn-on-the-cob wraps and eggs with spices and cider hearts, to complement the experience with arepas de mote and chicha, a fermented corn-based drink, during a route that can take up to seven hours to travel.
A cultural corner
Passing through the colonial territory, the shops and a trapiche, to delve into the daily life of this community, allows one to discover the artistic and cultural component of Karmata Rúa, present in their beaded bracelets and necklaces, and in the paintings exhibited in a special and colorful place: the Dojura Warrana art school.
“In this magical space we work with children, young people and adults, rescuing our traditions and our orality with poetry and stories, facial painting, paintings and fabrics, also with indigenous theater and dance,” Kamukara Kau, cultural leader of the reservation, told EFE.
Alexa Yagarí Panchi, a young transgender indigenous woman from the “Wërapara” collective, dedicated to making pre-Columbian ceramics to maintain the legacy of a family of women potters, also makes a contribution in this area.
The tourist can also experience facial and body painting made with dye obtained from the jagua, one of the most important manifestations of the culture, which is related to their conception of the world, according to James Tascón, an indigenous artist who draws “by inspiration.”
“My thing is something cosmic, the mountains, the roads,” she says as she puts her art in the skin of a tourist.
It is a way to magnify the tourist offer. “We hope that people take an experience of ancestral culture, that they see where we are born from, where we are from because we are a mixture of peasants and indigenous people,” Tascón emphasizes.
The route has as a great closure the Dojura lagoon, where wise men, teachers and jaibanás gather for a last ritual and a “closing vaporization” with plants to say goodbye to tourists with a spiritual connection in another sacred place.
“We hope that people take an experience of ancestral culture, that they see where we are born from, where we are from, a mixture of peasants and indigenous people,” Jardín’s tourism secretary, Jeison Acevedo, told EFE.