011.Santa Marta 01.Village of the Arhuacos (Colombia)

2022-09-07

The Sierra Nevada de Santa Malta Mountains are an indigenous protected area.

See Nabusimake village as the center of the Arhuacos.

The highest peak with a snowcap in The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Mountains is Mt. Cristobal Colon 5775 m high, located about 40 km from the tropical Caribbean Sea. As for distance from the sea for elevation difference, it is one of the steepest areas in the world. The indigenous Arhuacos live on the southern slope. Their central village at an altitude of 2000 m is Nabushimake. It means "a place where the sun is born".

In the forest, a meadow came in. Horses, cows, sheeps, pigs, and chickens were free-range in a relieving environment. Beyond free country air, a village surrounded by low stone walls appeared. Thatched houses with white walls were lined up inside, and a quiet dignity stood out. It was suitable as a spiritual capital for the Arhuacos and had forced the Catholic church to withdraw.

To take the photo of locals was prohibited. In reality, the Arhuacos live, wearing an unbleached folk costume, a hat, and hanging two bags with patterns woven on a white background in a cross shape. Its whiteness made them innocent and Nabushimake more divine.

The shared truck, which went to the town through a trackless path was full of fruits to bring to the market. The Arhuacos gave me a fruit like an artichoke. When peeled, white fruit had a sweet and rich taste like milk sorbet. It was the cherimoya found in high-end fruit stores in Japan recently. It connected them with the outside world and supported their community.

See Nabushimake village from the top of the hill. Fields and meadows spread out in the forest, and in the center, surrounded by stone walls, houses stand densely.

See Nabushimake village beyond the pastures where livestock have been grazing.

See the gate to enter Nabushimake village. When I visited, the entrance fee was collected at the management office near the gate.

See the stone-paved square in Nabushimake village and the Bell Tower as a remnant of the time when Catholics on the left.

See Nabushimake village. The square hipped houses are lined up neatly, and the ground is covered with stones.

See a waterway that flows through the village.

See a local house in Nabushimake village beyond the stone walls of the meadow.

After passing through the forest, the gate to the meadow beyond the grassland appears, and beyond the meadow, the houses of Nabushimake are seen.

Click here for your impressions

When you want to know more → Time of Travel - Village of the Arhuacos (Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia)

reference
"先住民が守る聖なる山、部外者を拒む巡礼の旅に同行した" (Gena Steffens + Stephen Ferry, ナショナルジオグラフィック日本版, 2019/12/22)
"Guia de relacionamiento y dialogo entre el sector minero-energetico y el pueblo Arhuaco" (Resguardo Indigena Arhuaco de la Sierra de la Nevada, Confederacion indigena Tyron, Organizacion del Pueblo Arhuaco, 2015)
"Arhuaco tribe asks Bogota to protect their lands from extractive activities" (EFE, La Preens Latina Media, 2021/11/09) "Arhuaco Universe" (Crispin Izquierdo Torres + Juan Bautista Villafana + Juan Marcos Perez + Manuel Chaparro + Karmen Perez + Norberto Torres + Otoniel Mejia Izquierdo + Jesus Izquierdo + Mauricio Sanchez, Organizacion Cultural del Caribe Colombiano) "El grupo indigena colombiano arhuaco reci- bio 500 hectareas para proteger la biodiversidad" (Romina Castagnino, Mongabay, 2017/05/04)
"The Arhuacos’ last stand in the heights of Sierra Nevada" (IWGIA, 2018/10/12)
Wikipedia

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