Myths of Bolivia, know all these important stories

The place where the cholas and cholos come from and countless other professionals, a South American country that shares many historical coincidences with its neighbors Peru and Ecuador, let's learn a little more about the myths of Bolivia.

Bolivian myths

First of all, we want to tell you that while Bolivian myths are truly fascinating and range from tenderness to extreme fear, you shouldn't miss other regional myths, such as Colombian myths.

In colonial times, many Spaniards arrived in the country whose capital is La Paz, seeking to exploit the minerals of the famous Cerro Rico. From there, many myths of Bolivia originate, but not only from that time, but even before with the indigenous people and later with what are considered horror or urban legends that are very similar to others, such as La Llorona or El jinete sin cabeza , which are found in other parts of South America.

An important part of the legends comes from the founding myths that arose from the original settlers or that began to emerge, precisely, during the colonial era. Another important portion are those of terror with a strong presence of references to the devil and the urban ones that, we understand as such because, contain more modern aspects that are very related to cities or their institutions.

To a lesser extent, but no less important for that, we will find among the myths of Bolivia stories that have to do with short stories, love, abundance and appearances of virgins. However, we cannot fail to comment that it is difficult to make a sharp separation between categories because, for example, just as we find a myth with a lot of romantic charge, we also find it very scary and vice versa.

Foundational and pre-colonization myths

The myths of Bolivia that we will present below, are those that gave an explanation of the creation of themselves and their environment to the aborigines of what we know today as Bolivia, thanks to these fanciful stories, perhaps as if it were the vision of a child, that these people seem to have given meaning to his life.

The legend of creation

This myth, which is part of the myths of Bolivia, reveals the indigenous people's vision of the creation of the world. It is one of the most famous and tells the story of the beginning of time, in which the god Viracocha, who created the earth in the beginning, did not incorporate light.

The world of the early days was very dark and was also occupied by giants who respected Viracocha but did not obey him. Annoyed by so much disrespect and disrespect, Viracocha caused a huge flood that wiped out those giants who did not love him.

Later, when everything was calm and the dead giants decided to create another generation of humans, but this time they would be different; they would have a shape and size in the image and likeness of Viracocha , and they would be guided and instructed by Viracochan, a delegate sent by the god to take care of his creation.

Viracochan was a wise man, according to Bolivian myth. He used his wisdom and love to teach humans how to survive on Earth by imparting all the skills, techniques, and methods of healing they needed to live. Viracochan can be understood as a great healer.

Even the story of this great village doctor transcends nationalities, because he is credited with founding the settlement of Cuzco (what is now Peru) by creating a person from whose descendants the Quechua peoples come , and he also left a prophecy, according to which this people would form a great empire.

However, much like with Viracocha and the giants, some people did not respect Viracochan. There were even humans who mocked him, but they soon turned to stone. Perhaps because of that lesson, no one dared to mock the gods anymore. When Viracochan 's purpose on Earth was fulfilled , the divine being entered the deep waters of a lake and disappeared without a trace.

Mom Tunupa, one of the beautiful myths of Bolivia

This legend, part of Bolivian myth, has several versions. One tells of Mama Tunupa, a volcanic mountain in the Andes, who, like other mountains, could walk and possessed both male and female attributes. According to this Bolivian myth, Mama Tunupa was female, while Cuzco, who was male, met Tatazanake mountain in what is now Bolivia, and they fell in love.

At first, the marriage worked well; they already had four children: Cerro Colorado, Cerro Gordo, Salviani , and one who didn't have a name because his birth went wrong. To cook for him , she would go to a crater with Bolivian recipes, but over time Tatazanake became aggressive, proud, and grumpy, so much so that he would hit her and refuse to give her food.

After much mistreatment, Mama Tunupa decided to separate from Tatazanake and leave, but when she left she couldn't take all her children with her. She had to leave Colorado , already fat, behind, taking Salvani, who was pregnant with her child. It is said that Colorado is so named because his father beat him so much that he bled, and that's why his name means " fat hill." Because he lived far away, he didn't suffer as much from his father's violence.

It has been passed down from generation to generation that Salviani was very ill with measles and that his condition worsened on the way to his death. In fact, locals say that on the hill itself it is possible to see craters and spots that are very reminiscent of that disease.

In Mama Tunupa 's escape to reach Salinas, where she finally ended up, she was still running and suddenly she found a hill called Apacheta that was blocking her path because it wanted her to stay with it, and it crouched down to obstruct her path but Tunupa jumped and since she was pregnant, that is the moment when she lost her last child, the place that remained of this is called Colchani.

The fourth of Tunupa 's children is nothing more than a small hill or mound of darker earth, which could well have been a mountain but seems to have been cut short in its growth. Then he continued his journey until he reached the salt flat of Tunupa; it is said that, being his resting place, it is also where he spills the breast milk he could not use, and this milk transforms into salt.

In other versions of this Bolivian myth, it is understood that there came a point when all this movement caused a lot of discomfort to the mountains and therefore, they all decided to stay in the same place where they were and not move anymore.

the legend of the lake Titicaca according to Bolivian myths

This narrative, part of the myths of Bolivia, begins with the description of a beautiful and fertile valley in which the gods of the mountains had placed people to grow and prosper under their protection. In that paradise-like land where humans, or one of the first generations of humans, were very happy because life was good and peaceful.

Life was truly beautiful in this valley, there was no disease, all the men had jobs they liked and were passionate about, and had good relationships with their neighbors, friends, family, and partners. But there was only one rule that, if followed to the letter, everything would continue to remain exactly the same, but if it was broken, misfortune would fall on the beautiful meadow.

That rule, the only restriction humans had, was to know that there was a mountain forbidden by the Apus , as the mountains and the gods in them were called, according to which one could not climb a certain mountain, much less wanting to explore, since it is said that on that mountain there was a place where a sacred fire burned from time immemorial and forever.

Since the beginning of time, humans had been obedient and for many generations there was not a human who dared to climb the sacred mountain in search of that mythical fire, but it was then that, motivated by the devil and his misgivings, it slipped into the heart of men the evil of competitiveness and challenge.

After this change in the rules of the game within beings, it did not take long for men to want to see who was the bravest and most daring to climb, knowing that they were defying the gods, and exploring the forbidden mountain. . In flocks, the humans set out to go in search of that fire, piqued by curiosity and rebellion, most of them were already in search of the sacred.

But the Apus realized what was happening and, very disappointed in humans, went to capture them to exterminate them. Moreover, they were so upset because they had broken their only rule, so they sent pumas to end the lives of those who remained in the valley.

This is one of the most popular myths of Bolivia, which tells that upon seeing all this chaos, the supreme god of the aborigines, the god Inti, their sun god, began to cry for so long that he caused the entire valley to flood. Of both tragedies, only a man and a woman who were a couple survived, and they survived because they were great navigators and took refuge in a cane boat.

The tears of the sun god not only flooded the plains but also affected the pumas sent by the Apus, turning them into stone statues. Inti 's tears never dissipated, nor were they absorbed by the earth; they remained there, forming the famous Lake Titicaca, even to this day, where it is said that stone jaguar statues can still be found.

The name Titicaca inevitably evokes, from Western tradition, the story of a lost Homer or Odysseus, depending on your Greco-Roman preference, longing to return home to Ithaca. However, it doesn't only bring to mind, surely by chance, the ancient poem, but also narratives like the Catholic ones—didn't they think of the story of Adam and Eve being expelled from Eden ? For us, it was obvious.

These coincidences seem very important to us, because thanks to them we can infer or suppose that the nature of this story and many other myths of Bolivia has changed over the centuries and above all, because of the religious intervention of the Christian evangelists. .

Missing Capac y Mama Ocllo, Bolivian myths that founded the nation

These myths of Bolivia are even foundational for several reasons, besides being one of the most told, it is also understood that the indigenous emperors of Bolivia descended precisely from this pair of heroes called Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo and the legend says that the sun god (Inti) in view of the state in which humans lived, decided to create a couple that he sent to earth to create a new civilization.

The Bolivian myth tells that this pair emerged from the foamy waters of Lake Titicaca and walked on the waters until they reached the island of the sun god, which was in the middle of the lake, carrying a golden staff in their hands that would show him the place where the new civilization was going to begin.

The couple moved to what is now known as Huanacauri, and the golden staff, in a kind of prophetic act that showed it to be full of life, was planted in the ground to show that, indeed, that was the ideal place and then disappeared.

And after indicating the place, the brother and sister couple, who were also husband and wife, taught humans a variety of useful life skills. Manco imparted education about agricultural and livestock skills, while Ocllo instructed women on child-rearing and domestic tasks. The Inca emperors long claimed to be descended from this couple and therefore from the sun god (Inti).

The tiger wants to eat the moon

To understand this example of Bolivian myths, we must first refer to the Guarayo indigenous people. They are one of the oldest groups, and long before the arrival of the Spanish, they explained their fear of the dark in the following way: The Guarayos feared tigers, and that is why every time a lunar eclipse occurred, they believed that the moon was being eaten by a tiger.

Due to their fear of tigers, they explained the confusion that the moon disappeared at times, accusing the animal of eating the star of the earth, to solve the situation the chief or cacique of the tribe gave the order to launch arrows lit with fire towards the sky to drive away the tiger and save the moon.

When they saw that the eclipse was passing, they believed that the strategy of the arrows was bearing fruit, which in addition to accompanying it with shouts, was full of faith to save the satellite of the earth, they gave so much strength to these myths of Bolivia that they became pure truths.

This custom has not ceased to be practiced despite being so ancient; it survived the colonial period and the general knowledge of the astronomical reasons for eclipses. However, myths of Bolivia like this one remain alive because, despite everything, the Guarayos safeguard their belief that the tiger is the stalker of the moon, repeating their rescue operation, for example, in the eclipses of 1975 and 1996.

Legend Guarani of the god Ñanderu and the creation of the earth

One of the myths of Bolivia is that of the Guaraní, another of its ancient indigenous tribes, which tells that the origin of the earth and everything, even what is beyond the earth, was created in the beginning by Ñanderú, this god who at the beginning was alone had great power and that was to create, he was even able to create himself in a time when there was nothing, neither mountains, nor people.

There came a point in his creative process, after having created the language of men, in which he wanted someone else to be able to speak and he created the other gods, in four couples who were going to have god children too, he taught them to communicate.

Ñanderú made the earth emerge from the tip of the staff he always carried. At this end, a circular sphere began to grow, and from there, little by little, the blue planet emerged. But the earth moved a lot, so to prevent this, he created a palm tree that would act as a pin and fix his creation. That palm tree had to last eternally in the center of the earth.

Later he created another palm tree where the sun rises, in the East, another in the North, another in the South and in the West, and with those five palm trees the earth should no longer move, it would be fixed and safe, very firm and resistant from any storm or wind. Heaven for his part installed it on earth as if it were the roof of a tent, he placed it on four wooden posts that were the same as the cane that he always had with him.

After establishing the stage, which was initially very dense with jungle, Ñanderú created the first animals. It is said that the first one to fly out of his hands was the hummingbird; then the snake appeared crawling; the first one to sing was the cicada.

As the Guarani people say, their god had initially created everything covered in jungle. He thought there should also be fields without trees, and to help him with this, he created his accomplice, the locust. That is why the Guarani believe that where the locust digs its tail into the ground to lay eggs, grass grows but not trees. The hopping locust flits about everywhere, hopping and darting, and in some places it digs its tail in.

With this exfoliation left by the lobster came the opportunity for Ñanderú to create the partridge, which, very happy for the opportunity to exist, sang and stayed to live in every clearing left by the lobster; another that emerged after the creator's inventiveness was the tatú, which is a kind of armadillo that is always digging in the earth; one of the last was the owl that gradually took over the night, that is why it sleeps during the day and comes out at night.

After creating many other animals, Ñanderu created man and woman, animals too. By then, the supreme god wanted to return to heaven and entrusted the care of everything he had created, especially humans, to the other gods.

These types of myths from Bolivia demonstrate the closeness between this story and that of the creation of the world by God in 7 days. It catches our attention and makes us believe that this was also one of the legends that was transformed from contact with the Western world. But, if the previous stories remain in half measures and still have much of the indigenous, the following ones that we will present below are evidently postcolonial.

Myths Bolivia post-colonization

Although they continue to mention indigenous elements and names, the legends and myths of Bolivia that we will present below are derived from colonization and are made up of passages that refer us directly to it, for example, scenes where the indigenous and the Spaniards confront or find each other getting better or worse freed from one or another cultural and ideological shock.

Imaybe e iniguazu chiriguana, myths of Bolivia and its people

The myth of Bolivia takes us back to the years when the Spanish arrived, to that exact moment when the soldiers of Castile expanded across the Americas. Even well into this invasion, reaching the territory of what is now Bolivia, the legend of the Chiriguano tribe tells us that they were fierce indigenous people who strongly resisted colonization, and among them was a couple: the woman was named Imaybé and the man Iniguazu.

This couple, though separated by social hierarchy, benefited from this separation, as she was the daughter of Chief Iniguazu, a renowned warrior. They were expecting their first child while the Spanish ventured deeper into the jungle to reach the mines and establish a settlement to exploit them. On their way, they raided the village, burning everything to the ground and killing men, women, and children.

The Chiriguanas, being skilled warriors, defended themselves, but the Spaniards' superior weaponry overwhelmed them, causing many to fall in battle. From the chief to the most important warrior—from Imaybé 's father to her husband—the dead perished. At this point, the indigenous woman and a group of other survivors decided to flee, and the Spaniards gave chase.

The chief's daughter was in her last month of pregnancy and in her desperate escape she prayed to the god Tumpa to help save herself, her baby and the villagers who accompanied her. It is said that the god heard her and at the moment when the Spaniards caught up with them they turned into toborochis, a type of tree, thus managing to save themselves by disguising themselves as a tree.

the legend of the bird silbac

According to Bolivian myth, the Silbaco bird is extremely horrendous. In fact, legend says that those who have had the misfortune of seeing it have suffered serious health problems that affect their hearts, or just by hearing it, they have gone deaf, and these conditions have even led to death due to the delicate state of health in which those who saw the Silbaco bird enter.

This point is very similar to the story of El Silbón in Venezuela, the sound made by the Silbaco bird. It's similar to a whistle, but as it gets closer—and this is where it differs from the local myth—instead of a whistle, it now sounds like a shriek, becoming so high-pitched and unbearable that it can stop anyone's heart.

The story of the Silbaco bird goes back to a very old family whose origins are now lost to time, but which consisted of a hardworking man, his wife, and two children. One day, the man began to feel different, as if something inside him had changed, and suddenly his nose hardened, and a beak and feathers began to sprout all over his body. This hardworking husband and father was transformed into a strange creature, half bird, half man.

The worried and desperate wife sought help from the village priest, but nothing could stop Pedro's metamorphosis, which continued until he became an enormous, ugly, black bird that the neighbors called Silbaco. When the transformation was complete, the bird that had once been Pedro, with a job, wife, and children, flew into the forest and was never seen again, though his voice could still be heard.

The destruction of Huari

There are many versions of this Bolivian myth, but they all have in common what we will relate below: the destruction of the god Huari implies the destruction of an evil god who decided to attack the Urus tribe because they had decided to walk the path of good. Huari, jealous and ill-tempered, confronted the tribe and sent them plagues and monsters, among which were toads, snakes, and other slimy and crawling animals.

Huari could not continue to bother the Urus for long, because as soon as the villagers realized the source of these evils, they began to pray to the Virgin of Socavón who appeared immediately to fight against the god of evil, until he fled and went to hide where they could never see him again.

In this myth, as in the previous one, we can see in mentions of virgins and priests or even Christian names like Peter, the presence of Spanish and Catholic influence in Bolivian thought; even this account of the destruction of Huari cannot help but remind us of the story of the struggle of good against evil, which the Catholic Church so often proclaims.

The Legend of the Merry Widow

There are many versions of this Bolivian myth. It is said that the story begins with a young woman named Carolina who, after being deceived by her husband, died of grief. After a malevolent treatment, her soul was left wandering in pain, frightening any unfaithful man who wanders lost and straying through the streets of Bolivia.

https://youtu.be/5w25-U-P7e8

One of those stories is that of Martín, who was a shy man who many years ago, almost forced by his brothers, decided to go to a party in a town in Bolivia. This man, who was reserved and spent most of his time working, upon arriving at the celebration, looked for a place to sit while his brothers were already dancing.

Martin spent most of the party sitting in a corner waiting for it to end. At that moment, a beautiful woman approached him and asked him what he was doing there all alone, with so many people and such a joyful atmosphere. He replied that he had only come to accompany his brothers and that parties weren't really his thing, because he wasn't a very good conversationalist or a good dancer.

" I don't like to dance either ," said the woman, whom we understand to be named Carolina . Martín then suggested they go outside so they could talk for a while, because the music was making it hard to hear. The girl was very pretty, with black hair and skin almost as red as the moon, which was also beautiful that night. The weather was cool, and the two talked for hours until they finally kissed. But right after, the woman said she had to go home because it was late.

Martin, being a true gentleman, agreed with Carolina, stating that it was indeed true that a single woman shouldn't be out of her home near midnight. To remedy the situation, he offered to drive her. She happily accepted, and they mounted the knight's horse. He said nothing to his brothers to prevent his wife from finding out, and they set off. But as soon as she mounted, the horse began to whinny desperately, as it never had before.

Our protagonist, for more harm than good, managed to calm the horse and direct it towards the town, but at that moment the beautiful woman asks him to change direction.

Carolina: Martin, my house is near the cemetery, please take me there – she said in a tired voice.

Martin: But nobody lives near the cemetery.

Despite this, the boy changed course and headed towards the cemetery, and when they were very close, he became worried because he didn't see any houses. The closer he got to the cemetery gate, the more suddenly Carolina let out a bloodcurdling scream, both high and low, with a strong echo and a chilling sound that made Martin 's hair stand on end. When he turned around, Carolina had turned into a living skeleton.

It is not known if this was the last victim of the walking skeleton, or even if Martin survived, what we do know is that the merry widow or black widow goes from party to party looking for unfaithful men, to give them the scare of their lives and prevent them from disrespecting their wives and even, if she can, she kills her victims.

The tiger people, myths of Bolivia and their knowledge

Long ago, the Movima tribe had among them great sages who controlled the mind, to such an extent that they could truly perform great wonders such as taking on the appearance of any animal they desired.

These sages made trips to the depths of nature and the jungle, separating themselves for long periods of time from the village and the tribe, and they returned from this period of isolation with greater wisdom. They came back with a clear mind about how they wanted to work, whether they wanted to be musicians or whether they wanted to constantly transform into animals.

All that wisdom came to the Movima sages through the celestial bodies, through the moon, the sun, and eclipses. Being alone in nature, they had direct contact with all of this. But this wisdom, once shared, was exclusive to the tribe; they could not teach these transformations to outsiders.

In Santa Ana de Yacuma, the grandparents born around 1898 tell that they heard from their own grandparents that when they arrived in the town there was a family called Pobosno and in that family there was a great sage who could transform into an animal. The sages did this in order to hunt animals to feed themselves and their family; they did not do it out of malice, and with the deer or peccaries they hunted they could eat for several days.

One day a European woman, or a descendant of Europeans, arrived and convinced the matron of the Pobosno family to teach her the secrets of the tribe. The wise Movima, for reasons unknown, broke the rules of the indigenous people and taught her, disobeying the rule not to pass on her knowledge to a stranger who, unfortunately, had learned well how to transform herself.

Around the same time and in a nearby town called San Francisco there was a season for coquinas, which are fruits of some Bolivian plants, because it was the month of February, so a young man along with a younger brother left the town for the other locality approximately 10 km. Already in the place, the young man and his brother go collecting the coquinas, the eldest in the tree moving it to make the fruits fall and the youngest below picking them up.

Suddenly a tiger appeared and approached the creature that was distracted collecting coquinas, the one above remains silent, scared before the beast without knowing what to do, paralyzed, the tiger dragged his little brother to a kind of cave and there he was he ate, crushed it and left. The tiger headed towards an indigenous settlement where their pools were and there was a container with clear water.

There she transformed back into a human, the only proof that remained of her transformation was the tiger skin that remained after each metamorphosis and showed that she had transformed, but when she was already naked as Eva, she went to a well and started to wash her hair, full of blood, she washed her head with the child's blood.

The other boy, a little older, had seen all this, his flooded hair, the animal's hide, everything, and holding in his hand the hide that gave her away, he approached when she had her head in the water and when she raised her face, the young man grabs her by the hair and drags her to the village.

She asks him to let her get dressed and the young man does not leave her and takes her away, they arrived at the town and the woman was still screaming between the paths and highways, the indigenous people lean out to see what happened and when they see that pair, they are going to separate them wanting to apply the community law to the boy, but that is when he himself says that he is wearing it because he is not a human being, he is a female tiger, who ate his little brother and released the leather as evidence.

The parents, who had come out to see what was happening, asked about the brother. They couldn't believe a tiger woman had eaten him; they were heartbroken. They summoned the chief, the highest authority in the village, who ruled over all the people. The chief had a commission examine the hide. Apparently, the hide was alive because it was even moving. They placed it on poles called chichapi, which proved the boy was right. They burned the hide, and the woman died in the flames.

Since then, in Santa Ana de Yacuma, the natives have prohibited this learning and this culture, because they understand that it no longer works as it used to, since there are many cases in which the teaching reaches people who do not know how to handle the power of becoming animals, they no longer had the ability as their ancestors did. Then came the evangelization and the people stopped practicing this type of rites even more, but this Bolivian myth was something true that once happened in Santa Ana de Yacuma.

Of the devil as corregidor

The legend we are about to recount can be quite terrifying and frightening; many people don't believe it and look skeptical when they hear it. But don't dismiss it before reading it, and if you still have doubts, you can consult the chronicles of Potosí or ask the residents of Pauparcollo or Paucaroto, who will tell you everything, as you will find below.

The residents of this town must have a fresh memory, because their ancestors were the ones who lived these seven years harassed by that demonized corregidor who hurt them so much.

And without further ado, let's light the lanterns of a street in Paucaroto near Potosí, back in the 1600s, in the early days of the conquest, which became famous for having been governed for seven years by his majesty the one in red himself.

Many anecdotes are told of this regime that began on any given day, in which a man with a colorful cape appeared and took office as corregidor sent by the Viceroy of Lima, which is why the command was immediately handed over to him.

No one knew him, nor had politicians heard of him, no one even knew where he had come from. He maintained that he was a descendant of Spaniards and that is why he believed himself to be very important, giving himself that tone of supremacy that those who have no values ​​give themselves and suddenly get money and power.

It didn't take long for the neighbors, especially the most intuitive ones, to begin to comment and suspect that their mayor was the same lord from hell, who was spending a season as a politician. The ideas that it could be the devil himself grew, when they realized that he assumed the postures of a saint but never attended mass, or entered the church, or even greeted him on holidays. But he was fine, he was standing at the door of the temple on Sundays writing down in a red book all the neighbors who did not go to mass.

These inhabitants were then whipped in the square with fifty lashes each according to the devil, sorry, the corregidor and that to correct the indevotion. The neighbors alleged that while this unjust corregimiento was taking place, he was walking through the square in front of the parish looking at the church out of the corner of his eye and wrapped in his red cape. He excused himself through the action of supervising all people, even in their private lives, not only in public or in their companies.

He carried with him at all times between the wide folds of his red cloak a saber that was by far his favorite weapon, as well as that of other devils. On the other hand, the only one who did not visit was the priest and saying before they asked him, that they were of different political opinions.

That ability to anticipate the thoughts of others was also applied when he realized that an uprising was about to rise, putting the rebels in jail before they could say the word "revolution."

The corregidor was so feared that everyone in Paucaroto had grown accustomed to living under his yoke and atrocious tyranny. The indigenous people could not bear it, and both they and the other inhabitants were so unhappy that they did not know what to do, until a holy missionary arrived to whom, with great reserve, the very honest neighbors confided their suspicions of being ruled by Satan in disguise.

The missionary infused them with calm, recognizing them as sons, the religious believed the words he was hearing and tried to explain that perhaps God had allowed him to govern them to atone for their sins as a people and man, God even proposed that the best thing was do penance so that he could rid you of that class of corregidores and even went a step further and prophesied that the day would come when America would not follow orders from Spain.

According to the missionary who arrived, if this were not the case and if he did not free himself from the yoke of the Spanish empire, America would continue to be harassed by evil behind his governments, because he would not settle for a humble township and would want to continue ascending within the political structure. of Spanish America.

If we see this myth of Bolivia up to this point, it seems to be very much in line with the Bolivarian cry of freedom for the entire continent. Therefore, it is very likely that it was popularized from then on.

Already on the second day of being the saint in the town and having listened to the most respectable neighbors of the same, telling him so many pranks about the corregidor, he decided, although a little dazed and confused, to go visit him to observe him carefully. He found an elderly man, tall and with a long beard, a little restless, pacing his living room from one side to the other, wrapped in his red cloak.

As soon as the holy missionary perceived for the first time that a smell of sulfur was coming out of the corregidor, he decided to read him an exorcism for which he waited for the right moment after politely greeting him and finally sitting down next to him, this did take the corregidor by surprise and he rang a thunder as enigmatic as the lightning of the catatumbo.

The ground opened under the feet of the corregidor and fire came out of there, the missionary continued reading and little by little, the devil became what he really was.

This is so incredible, but if you ask the inhabitants of Paucaroto , more or less, they will tell you this story, part of the myths of Bolivia, and they will also mention that you can still see a stone at the point where the earth opened and where the devil returned to hell.

The enigmatic monster the canMarketplace

In a Bolivian town known as El Puente , a long time ago, which was surely after the arrival of the Spanish and colonization, an inhabitant who passed by the lagoon of Los Ciervos on his way home, was able to see a huge footprint with a magnitude of such that it was two meters wide by half a meter deep, it was a huge trail like a snake, which would remind one of a movie like The Anaconda.

He told his friends and neighbors, and they all, very worried, set out to discover where that footprint came from, but they could never find it, and from then on the inhabitants of that area called the never-before-seen creature, El Jichi of the Deer Lagoon.

On the other hand, its trail is found again by El Puente every ten years, although it has never been seen to harm anyone; it is said that its roars make the earth tremble and announce the arrival of great storms.

El Guarayo who went to live with aquatic beings

The Guarayos , an indigenous tribe of Bolivia, tell of small, white-skinned, curly-haired creatures with bodies covered in scales, especially on their undersides, that lived in the waters of Yaguarú Lagoon . These fish-like beings caused the disappearance of many fishermen. One of these men emerged from the water and recounted how he had lived with these creatures, whom he came to call the Achaya, in the depths of the lagoon.

He also recounted that there were houses at the bottom of the lagoon and that these somewhat strange beings had given him the power to breathe underwater. For him, his adventure was summed up in a single day, but the truth is that several years had passed since he disappeared, so we can infer that time also behaved differently in this world of the Achaya.

This man remained as young as when he had plunged into the water, but upon returning to his real world, he could find neither his family nor anyone else. He felt as if it had been a mistake to return to his normal life, so he went back to that world of the depths where there was no evil or suffering and time stood still. To this day, when someone is lost in Yaguarú Lagoon, the Guarayos say that the Achaya took them.

The house that became a shell, a tender myth from Bolivia

This is one of the myths of Bolivia that can be one of the most beautiful of all, it reveals so much ingenuity and purity of thoughts that it seems created by a child, if you like turtles you will understand it even more, because it is precisely about them and tells that in ancient times, all animals had the gift of being able to speak and among all one of the most respected was the turtle.

One day a rain came that flooded almost everyone and in order not to drown, the animals had to move to a mountain and everyone wanted to do it except the turtle, who did not want to leave his home. The tortoise never wanted to leave his house and Jesus had to perform a miracle to help the tortoise move with his house on his back. As the journey lasted many days, the house became hard and stuck to the turtle's body until it became its skeleton.

A very interesting myth from Bolivia, Calamarca

If we are in the capital of the country, La Paz, just in the Aroma province on the way to Oruro, 60 kilometers away, we will find a town called Calamarca, where the following myth of Bolivia that we tell you comes from, below.

At the top of a small hill, where the town was, lived a priest and two nuns, one day under mysterious circumstances one of the nuns died, a reason that was never known, the next day the church also collapsed, for no apparent reason.

In that collapse the other nun and the priest died or so it is believed, although their bodies were never found among the rubble and since those tragedies every full moon, there are those who say that the nuns can be seen praying in the streets of the town, praying and crying, already a man praying and walking with a bell, it is believed that they are the nuns and the priest of that church because they see each other for a moment and immediately leave, as if they were walking in the direction of the church.

After a while they rebuilt the church but hardly anyone visited it, because strange noises were heard and those who stayed in small groups there or even just felt that the temperature dropped much more than normal and the space seemed to freeze.

A year after its reconstruction, the church fell again, it collapsed without apparent cause again, but the new clerics were saved, seeing this, the inhabitants of the town and of the church decided to exorcise the place and rebuilt the church for the third time, but it was kept closed from now on as a symbol or kind of mausoleum for the priest and the nuns.

coke legend

Coca is a plant native to South America that has had great relevance in the Andean peoples, especially in Bolivia. Coca helps maintain body heat at high levels of cold and is also a kind of relaxant against the pressure that can be felt when being at a very high altitude, coca is not any type of drug defends the Bolivian government.

Among the myths of Bolivia, there is one regarding the origin of coca that tells how, when the Spanish arrived during the colonization process, in their search for all the riches of the continent, they reached the majestic Lake Titicaca —remember the one that was said to be the product of the tears of the sun god? In their ambition, the Spanish troops wanted to reach the sacred treasures of the only temple on the Island of the Sun and seize them.

But they did not count on the fact that by then a wise and brave old man took care of the sacred jewels and managed to escape with them, but he had to throw them into the waters to prevent them from being stolen by the Spanish hands, this made his persecutors very angry and when they captured him they tortured him for a time until his death. But on one of those nights, already close to death and almost dying, the man had a dream in which he asked God for help.

The old man's dream revealed to him that God would help him by granting him what he asked for, that it was an inheritance that all generations of indigenous people could enjoy and that it was not gold or silver because it could be stolen, God asked him to look at his around and showed him many green leaves that were going to calm the pain, the evils and reduce poverty.

This is one of the myths of Bolivia that undoubtedly has a strong influence from the Catholic religion and we understand that without colonization, it would most likely not exist or would exist in another way, mentioning shamans and indigenous people, instead of priests and nuns.

Short stories from Bolivia

The short stories or myths of Bolivia, though brief, are also laden with symbolism. Their brevity doesn't diminish their power; they offer interpretations of extraordinary events that occurred throughout history. We also invite you to explore the myths of Honduras.

The Condor and the Chola, frightening Bolivian myths

Do you remember that at the beginning we introduced the terms cholas and cholos? Well, this is the way they call young men and women in Bolivia and that is what this story is about how a pretty cholita is kidnapped by a condor that, In addition, it is a very recurring bird in the myths of Bolivia.

This is also one of the most beautiful stories that can be found among the myths of Bolivia and it is about a beautiful young woman, the prettiest in town, whose job was to take care of a flock of sheep, so in the mornings she always She was seen accompanied by her animals, whom she did not like to leave alone for fear that something would happen to them.

On a certain morning the chola was kidnapped by a large bird that was passing by, which suddenly saw the young woman and thought she was so beautiful that she decided to take her to her cave on the peak of a mountain. These birds, the condors, we know that they are huge and there is little you can do to free one of their claws if they attack.

The heart of the condor, although he was already totally in love with that young girl, waited for the right moment guided by his brain to find the best time to take her home, that moment was when the other shepherds were already at home or on their way and for more that they will hear some screams from the cholita, they were not going to return in time to hurt him or frustrate his plans.

He grabbed her by the shoulders and lifted the creature into the air, reaching the very top of the mountain where the condor lived, a cold, rocky place. The protagonist of this story, whose name, coincidentally, is Chola , was terrified and heartbroken, wanting to escape from the very first second of this kidnapping. She begged her captor to let her return to her parents, whom she needed to help with the farm work.

But the condor was so in love with Chola and so oblivious that he didn't let her go; instead, he kept her captive, and she lost weight due to malnutrition since the only thing this bird brought to eat was raw meat. In addition, fear, stress, desperation, and thirst also took their toll on her health.

If only there had been a fire, she could have cooked his meat, but it wasn't, and it was getting worse and worse to the point of threatening her life. It was because of these circumstances that the condor noticed that humans cooked food using fire, for him before that it was just a defense mechanism but, seeing his victim almost starving, he realized that women use it to prepare their food .

But since giving fire to his beloved was complicated because when he took it there it would go out, he decided to cook a piece of meat himself in a fire that the humans had recently lit and that, although now they were pure ashes, could still be used for cooking. He did that during the night of a day when his cholita was already raving with hunger. He was very attentive that the meat will change color and went to take it to his diner.

Although the young woman had already eaten after the condor brought her the piece of meat, she kept begging to be allowed to go to her family and that was when the condor took pity on her and decided to take her back to her home, because she She realized that she was never going to love him. The bird got ready for the flight and made a gesture for him to get on her back and hold on to it very hard and thus, he would return her to the place where she belonged.

The young Chola was happy again after many days, she returned to smile immensely grateful, the bird fulfilled what she had promised and took her to the door of her house, the myth says that she kept one of the feathers as a gift from the Condor.

El jucumari

This is another of Bolivia's myths where the stories of men and animals intertwine. It tells of an event that occurred many years ago, a number lost in the annals of history: in the Chapare mountains , a cholita, or young Bolivian woman, got lost and was kidnapped by a monkey-man—that is, a man who was half man and half monkey.

For many years the ape-man did not let the young woman leave the cave and at least gave her food, but he hardly spoke because he was a monkey. She became pregnant by the monkey named Jurucami , so the legend says, and apparently she had twins.

Even so, mother of her children and everything, the cholita could not leave the cave since the monkey brought them food for her to cook in the cave thanks to the fact that she had the ability to light a fire by rubbing sticks or stones.

One day when the twins were already cute men, the cholita decides to escape with her children who were already strong and big, her descendants were very hairy because they even had hair on their faces and she returned to town, every day she took them out and cleaned the hair of the face.

Oboish, one of the shortest Bolivian myths

If we refer to short stories among the myths of Bolivia, the one about the Oboish is quite short. We can see that there is an impressive variety among them, but these words that have been passed down from generation to generation do not fail to convey a significant message of warning and caution to the listener.

That is why, when the Oboish is mentioned in Bolivia, more than one person goes out alarmed and seeks to have blessings or solve a problem, because within Bolivian mythology the Oboish are something like the evil eye in other regions of South America, or that bad energy that someone can send just by seeing that another person has something that the first person ends up envying.

If the issue with the Oboish were left at that, everything would be fine because it would only prevent, for example, hair or nails from growing longer, and in the worst-case scenario, it would cause arguments in relationships. But far from wanting to give all this too much weight, the Oboish is a multiplied evil eye, because it can even cause death, and according to Bolivian myths, it can only be cured by sorcerers whose souls are sold to the rabudo (a deity), with remedies ranging from sprinkling holy water to whippings.

The goblins, recurrent in the myths of Bolivia

Just as it happens in other regions of the American continent, the myths of Bolivia are full of characters that have to do with the spiritual forces of a low vibration, with this we do not mean good or bad, just more or less dense, for example, like they are goblins and elves.

Among the myths of Bolivia we usually find them mentioned as beings of short stature, who wear white clothes and wear hats, a bit bizarre, but the different versions have in common that these apparitions correspond to the souls of children who died before being baptized and in whose eyes reveal evil.

The goblins seem to be very pranksters according to the myths of Bolivia, as they died as children they were left with that desire to do mischief and the victims they choose to have fun they hide things, they close the doors, among other things.

There are many variations of the tales that feature them with physical mutations, making them seem even more dangerous. Although this is another matter, someone once told me that he saw one smile and had pointed teeth like needles.

An elf

The myths of Bolivia in relation to goblins are varied; we can find several anecdotes that refer to them and give us a glimpse into the legends and information found in the collective unconscious. As Jung would suggest, perhaps many desires are revealed through the parables found in the myths.

This myth begins with the story of a mother, a woman who claims to have seen a goblin in Beni, in the town of Trinidad. This mother recounts that when she was a child and was playing with her brothers, they chased her so fast that she ran so quickly out of fright that she was left alone for a moment, and then a small person with a wrinkled face appeared, whistling at her and trying to hit her.

At that moment she, without finding what to do, began to cry and scream, luckily her mother heard her and went to look for her, at the moment of calming her down and asking her what had happened, she replied that a small man wanted to hit her but the mother did not he believed his girl.

the lake monster Titicaca

Among the myths of Bolivia is the short legend of a lizard that entered Lake Titicaca, which we mentioned earlier, which has houses at the bottom and stone pumas, and with those sacred waters it grew approximately 30 meters long but it felt a little sad and for that reason, it went to the bottom of the lake and since then nobody knows anything about it.

The Legend of the Damned

The legend of the condemned refers to one of those Bolivian myths that deal with very specific topics, for example, to understand it we must know that a condemned person is one whose soul remains in pain after death because it does not enter heaven and remains in the middle plane. without uniting with God. It is for this reason that the souls of the damned are said to wander the world as a banshee.

According to legend, one day someone was insistently knocking on the door of some grandparents who lived in Kilpani. When they opened it, they saw a man who looked like a completely dirty and very thin vagabond. The man asked for lodging in their house for the night, but the grandparents remembered that the damned eat people and felt very afraid, so they distrusted the man.

For that reason, they only gave him food, but it so happens that the condemned eat nothing but human flesh. However, it seems this condemned man decided to enter because the grandparents insisted, and he didn't refuse. But as soon as he took the first bite, the food came back up his throat. Seeing this, the condemned man fled the house and was never seen again. Certainly, Bolivian myths are very varied, but if you want to learn about other stories from the region, we invite you to read our post on Salvadoran legends.

illimani, is also part of the myths of Bolivia

Illimani is the name of a mountain that dominates the city of La Paz, the capital of Bolivia. Throughout its history, a great number of myths have accumulated around it, some surprisingly numerous. One of the most widespread Bolivian myths is that Illimani possesses a powerful magnetic force that attracts airplanes and helicopters flying nearby. There are also tales of mountaineers frozen in a cave within its boundaries.

Apparently these legendary mountaineers have not been able to be rescued, not even their bodies, because they are watched by a cold demon that makes those who are looking for the group get lost or in short, never get the explorers who stayed in bad time on that mountain.

the devil's chariot

This myth tells of a carriage that once passed by in the northern part of Antofagasta , in a town called Quillacollo. Although it was on fire, the wood or material it was made of didn't melt; it continued to burn, and above the flames, a corpse could be seen. From the very day that carriage passed, the locals began to say that progress was impossible in that place.

In fact, the couples on that street began to decrease and suddenly, it was full of widows in each house; It was a long street, but also every time a new couple arrived, in a short time the man died and the woman was left alone. All these calamities were attributed to the fateful day when she passed by burning that coach.

There was no way to improve their economic situation, no matter how hard the families in the town worked. In fact, with the same amount of work in other towns, they could have earned much more than they could there. Hunger was rampant in the streets of Quillacollo because the disease had spread until it had engulfed the entire town. The only way to escape this hardship was to sell one's house and leave the area.

The bottle foot

Among the myths of Bolivia there is something called the feet of jugs, which are species of malevolent creatures that once frightened a family that lived in a field, since one of them went with a friend to look for wood and on the way to When he returned, he gradually heard the presence of this being, to the point where he became very concerned about his safety and that of his family.

The man who died under the train

Among the myths of Bolivia we also find the sad story of a very old man who died under a train, since it is said that this man kept walking along the trail or the train rails, one day he was hunting as usual and on the way through the forest, he went through the rails but it was when he saw that the train was very close, he ended up being run over.

He was found dead on the tracks but even years later, there are those who say that when the trains pass through there at midnight, the spirit of this elderly man appears, of whom it was never known exactly who he was or where he came from.

Do not be afraid, they are only myths of Bolivia

Do not be afraid is a legend that mixes the game and traditions that are even curious such as the celebration by young people of Halloween, more popular in the United States but, nevertheless, we can find a special one among the myths of Bolivia for this day when a store appears, whose clerks can be asked for a book that should not be read aloud.

In this book you can read, words more words less, that an ugly and slimy monster with two heads that will chase whoever reads the book to feed their children when they are born, nothing can kill this monster but, don't think so much on this because maybe that monster doesn't exist. So don't be afraid.

The screamer of the chiquitania

It is said that a long time ago in a town that is part of Bolivia called Chiquitanía, a demon appeared that was known as El Gritón (The Screamer) whom the inhabitants of the town were very afraid of. Apparently, on one occasion a family made up of a grandfather, his daughter and his grandchildren had run out of firewood at home, so the old man decided to go out in search of the material to make a fire.

The grandfather was accompanied by a friend, and they ventured deep into the forest with an axe to gather firewood and heat the house. But along the way, they began to hear voices that gradually transformed into screams. They didn't stop; each time they heard them, they grew louder and closer. The men had already given up on cutting firewood and were turning back, fleeing from the Screamer . The screams didn't cease until they were out of the forest.

The inhabitants of Chiquitanía still have fears or reservations about going to the forest, lest a whisper from El Gritón transform into terrifying screams and howls that chase visitors back to their homes.

This is what happened to the two men, both to the grandfather and to his friend, the whispers began just before the felling began and they did not pay attention, after a few minutes they were so unbearable that their ears began to bleed as they ran.

Myths about abundance

It would be expected that in Bolivia, being a country with so many mineral resources, such as those found in the Cerro Rico de Potosí, it would be a country in which we would find many legends referring to abundance, however, we find more towards terror and between those that we will be able to observe in relation to wealth, a tragic vision of the situations is intermingled, here are the myths of Bolivia regarding abundance.

the clay pot

According to one of the grandparents of the town, a very old man of almost 100 years, when the Spaniards left Bolivian soil, a campfire began to appear that lit up and went out by itself, this used to happen in the month of August of each year in a town in La Paz, where the grandfather who tells us the legend lived with his children, but only on a mountain near the town and around midnight.

Two young people from the town were greatly struck by this and went to find out what was happening. On a very dark night, they came to see up close the mystery of that intermittent and independent fire, but those cholos never returned to the town, nor were they seen there again, nor in another town. The locals were so afraid of these disappearances that they did not go looking for them either.

But, some time later, a person who used to walk through the mountain found himself in front of the mysterious fire that came out without burning anything and this man, without as much fear as the others, decided to stay and sleep in the place. The next day he explored or observed a little more and realized that there was a small hole in the ground, a gas source maybe?, but not exactly.

This man started digging and after a few meters deep he found a sealed pot. When he opened it, a toxic green gas came out. Once the gas dissipated, he saw a large number of gold objects that had belonged to the Incas, but were buried when the Spanish arrived. And what a coincidence that just as they left they started calling someone.

What a relic! What an archaeologist's luck! What a glorious past that summons us! and it even appears in the form of an amphora, but not Greek but Bolivian. The villagers say that part of these gold elements are found in the country's museums and we can see them today, because the men of history did not want it to be only part of the myths of Bolivia.

the legend of the balcony

This legend begins by portraying the life of a father with two sons, whom he left very free to grow up and form their families independently, but while one studied engineering and became an independent man, the other was only filled with already desperate, he turned to his father for help with his financial problems.

The father did something very ambiguous, he put a rope in his son's hands and told him that there was the solution, he left for a moment and the son, in his desperation and without having understood very well what his father was referring to, took the rope and ran to the balcony of his house, tied it to one of the beams and hanged himself, at that moment the rung broke and both the young man and a pile of gold fell from a coat that was there.

But although much money and much gold fell upon that cholo, it was already too late because he had no life. This story allows us to glimpse not only Bolivian culture, but also a curious coincidence with the Greek myth of King Midas who desired gold on industrial levels and when his wish was fulfilled.

He couldn't even drink water without it turning into liquid gold, plus he turned his children into gold just by touching them and one way or another, his life became chaotic precisely because of his ambition.

The covering of Rocha

Another of the myths of Bolivia that are very short and significant, talks about the Rocha tapado and knowing it, it is inevitable to remember the years of colonization in which gold coins were the official ones for the exchange of goods, the tapado referring to something that is hidden refers us to a hidden treasure on a hill in Potosí that the locals have searched for a long time without success.

It is said that this cover could reappear at any time but this treasure, product of the greed and greed of people who did not want or could spend it inside the town, was hidden forever and has already been so sought after that the inhabitants of Potosí half surrendered They have given up exploring. However, when they are going to build something on the site, they are always very vigilant to find it.

Myths where there are apparitions of virgins

Other myths of Bolivia and although they are the last of this count, they are not the least important, they are those in which we can observe a direct relationship of the appearances of all kinds of virgins with Bolivian mythology, we observe in them an evident reading of the colonial and Christian codes, which reflect a sample of the cultural union in terms of new and old ideas.

Brief history of the discovery of the virgin of Totoca

According to the chronicles and the word of mouth of Bolivian society, this myth of the appearance of this virgin dates back to the 1700s of the colony, since three farm lads who were very humble and had been blamed for a homicide of which they did not they were responsible, they fled towards Río Grande and other distant lands in an area called Chiquitos, these men already well away, at night they were surprised by a cold blizzard.

The fugitives decided to rest on a hill and to set fire against the cold they began to cut down a tree, only one of them was the axeman but he realized that the ax blows against the trunk sounded hollow, hence the curiosity was aroused in the three to know what was inside the trunk.

They were greatly surprised to find a small image of the Virgin Mary inside a hollow in the tree. Upon seeing this, the fugitives' fate changed. Overwhelmed with emotion, they decided to take the image to their patron saint, abandoning their escape. The fame of this discovery spread quickly; almost the entire region was devoted to the Virgin, and in 1799, one of her devotees built the first chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Cotoca.

the virgin of Urkupina, truths and myths of Bolivia

The myth of the Virgin of Urkupiña is of great importance to Bolivian history, as it is a revered image celebrated throughout the country. Among Bolivia's myths, it is one of those recorded in its chronicles. According to the story, this Virgin appeared before a shepherdess who became wealthy after helping her build her church.

Currently, the festival in honor of the Blessed Virgin of Urkupiña, at the site of her apparition, is celebrated on August 15th in the city of Quillacollo. This town is located 14 kilometers from the renowned city of Cochabamba, and these celebrations draw large crowds who come to venerate the Blessed Virgin.

Bolivian horror myths

The following myths of Bolivia are part of the legends, in which fear is instilled in society, these myths also allow us to see what factors are those that regulate certain actions at the level of behavior in a town. It is not by chance that a myth is formed and perpetuated, sometimes they are full of control intentions by the elites of those societies, wanting to influence the preference for one idea or another, or otherwise create aversion to places, people or situations. .

The man who became himselficuri

Legend has it, which is an important part of Bolivian myths, that a Bolivian couple went to live in Yaguarú, a town surrounded by nature, where the neighbors had noticed the presence of a sicurí, a type of snake typical of the jungle, which is large and looks similar to a python.

When this couple arrived, they recommended that neither women nor children leave their house, if they were not accompanied by a man, however, everyone was struck by the fact that after the arrival of the new neighbors a man never seen before, He began to haunt the front door of their house.

According to what the witnesses said, this mysterious man was tall and thin as a spike and used to dress in immaculate black, and the newcomers were uncomfortable and on one night, the man stood at the entrance walking from one side to the other, Therefore, to avoid further espionage, the owner of the house fired three shots to scare him away.

Although it is not very clear what happened to the man, when they went to see the next day, after the man's disappearance, what a surprise! What they found was a dead sicurí.

The coffin, among other mysterious myths of Bolivia

As strange as the previous one is the legend of the coffin, curious for others, especially if we consider the interrelation that existed between Spaniards and Bolivians and as part of their myths they were mixed with the myths of Bolivia. The very narration of this legend already deserves more than a scare and is capable of leaving anyone with their nerves on edge, it is said that in the country you should not go out after midnight on Tuesdays and Fridays.

It is all due to a Spanish family that lived in Bolivia at the time of the colony and that came to it with the intention of becoming rich, but the plan did not work out so well, although at that time the mines in the region were charge of the Spanish.

It is about a married couple with five children who a year after arriving in what is now a multinational nation, their youngest daughter became seriously ill with measles and even died. After several years of not moving forward, the family returned to Spain but they did not take the little girl, but left her on Bolivian soil.

Exactly after the family's departure, several miners claim to have seen a coffin lit on fire going to the train station; however, curiously, when the first ray of sunlight appeared and scratched the sky, the coffin returned to the cemetery. People who are dedicated to the study of paranormal issues suggest that all this happened in this way, because in those days the trains that went to the capital left Potosí on Tuesdays and Fridays, in addition, apparently this event was seen for the first time on a Friday.

The goblin

This is one of the myths of Bolivia that occurred specifically in the Santa Cruz area. Legend says that in these parts there was a goblin of low energy vibration who had a very large wardrobe, although many people saw him mostly dressed in white fabrics and a large hat of sao or straw weavings.

Others saw him with various different outfits, the fact is that he confused the villagers a lot with these changes in clothing because at first, they did not know if they were referring to the same goblin.

He came to be known simply as a goblin, after the man who saw him many years ago. One afternoon, while spending time with friends in Santa Cruz, a being resembling a child appeared before them. His gaze betrayed wrongdoing and sadness, but not the innocence of a child. In the afternoons, this strange individual played games like dominoes or chess with the group, but when it was time to leave, he always returned to the forest.

At that time they were all still very young and the man who told us what had happened was different than the rest of his friends, because his parents needed him for some housework, which is why he had to be absent for a while. a long time to help at home, after a long time when he met his friends again, they were very changed.

He saw them as more handsome, or at least more presentable; even that Esteban de Jesús , who had a very bad temper, he found attractive and good-looking. But he also saw them as rude and ill-mannered, treating each other badly. The boy, or perhaps not a boy, who had strangely appeared, seemed to have fit right in with the group, according to what the old man told us that afternoon.

However, this influence exerted by this creature was not entirely positive, because instead of sharing peacefully, it taught them to be more rude and disrespectful to each other, as well as to their parents. One of the following nights, one of those transformed and misbehaved friends came to the old man's house to ask for help.

It turns out that the young man's parents were so tired of him that they were about to beat him up, so he went to take refuge at a friend's house but treated him so badly during his stay that he no longer wanted to help him. In the next fight, the now old man who was telling us all this refused to help his friend at the time and that was when the mysterious boy invited him to his house, because in his house he would find everything and he would not have to obey His parents.

The troublesome boy went to the house of the strange being who had appeared on any given day in the group and no more was heard about him, the desperate parents asked everywhere and when it was learned that he had gone to a house of someone they had never seen in the town, but who lived in the forest, they went into that place and the only thing they found was his clothes and his bones.

It was believed for a long time and even up to the present, that this being that is placed in this group of friends with reasons to offer food, house and without obeying parents, is a goblin that has the habit of kidnapping innocent people, transforming their minds. and then do unknown things to them, until only the bones are left.

stories of my grandmother

Next, we'll tell a rather different legend, the story of a grandmother's tales that takes us to Plaza Murillo in La Paz, the capital of Bolivia, at a time when the plaza wasn't even paved. This is one of Bolivia's myths that, despite its endearing name, evokes a situation of constant suspense. One night, Sebastián Cuevas, unable to sleep, decided to go out to the plaza, even though it was past midnight.

No one was advised to be out on the street so late, especially in a country as superstitious as Bolivia, but for Cuevas everything was fine; the only thing he saw beyond the solitude was a person sitting on a bench who he thought was also in the middle of a sleepless night.

The person appeared to be a man who was crouched down, even giving the impression of being asleep. Out of curiosity, Cuevas approached and asked him for the time. It seemed the person didn't hear him, so our protagonist put his hands in his pockets, then waited, gave a half-whistle, and asked again, but received no answer. This happened several times, and Cuevas was determined to get an answer even though this person didn't say a word to him. Meanwhile, the man raised his head, and it turned out to be a skull.

Do you know who is speaking to? – He heard himself ask.

The boy was terrified and ran away desperately, but he looked back and realized that the skull was chasing him. He kept running until he got home again, locked himself inside, and swore never to go out at night to the plaza or the town streets again. Although some say, "my grandmother tells me ," that the man did go out and got another big scare.

The Headless Horseman

Among Bolivian myths is a version of the legend of the Headless Horseman , not unlike those popularized worldwide, but with its own distinct Bolivian flavor. The story goes that a group of young men were gathered together, and one of them, who owned a horse, told the others he wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to go hunting.

When he had already told them his plans, he left calmer because he had already informed his friends where he was going to be in case of emergencies. Already in the hunt when the young man was running on his horse after a deer, he unfortunately ran into a wire trap that he did not see and cut off the head of both the horse and the cholo.

It is said that in the rush, the horse continued running strangely until it reached where the friends were, who, upon seeing it, were frightened and lamented greatly, because they knew that their friend had died and therefore, from that moment on they began to call him the headless cholo or headless rider.

The curious, very present in the myths of Bolivia

A weaver who was very accustomed to getting up every night to weave garments and on one of those nights when she was working and concentrating between stitches, she heard as if a procession was passing through the street, so she looked out to see what was happening and suddenly a man stopped in front of his window and told him that he will save two candles for him, that tomorrow he would come for them.

She, perhaps out of fear, answered that she could keep them and the day she told a friend about the strange situation, to this the friend asked her to take those candles to a priest so that he could see them and indeed she did, but when the father observed them He told him that he was not a real man but that it was a goblin.

Very nervous, she asked her father what she should do when the elf returned for her candles and he told her that she should take them away but before that she should take her baby and open the door with him in her arms, but making sure that the child was crying. , for which he had to give it a pinch before opening the door.

When night came, the woman awaited the arrival of the mysterious man and when she was about to fall asleep the door rang, she immediately took her baby and the candles.

She went to the door and before opening it she pinched her little boy, he woke up and started to cry, therefore, she was able to open the door and the man did nothing to her, he just received the candles and told her that she was lucky to that his son was crying. The moral of this type of Bolivian myth is that when it is night you do not look out the window to see the things you hear outside your house.

Among the many and varied types of myths from Bolivia, we also want to recommend our entries, which are also very good in terms of research on various myths from South America, such as Mayan myths.

the condemned

The legend of the condemned is one of those Bolivian myths that can produce a lot of compassion, but also a lot of fear, let us remember that the condemned according to Bolivian mythology are those who did not enter the kingdom of heaven and whose souls roam the earth. Like that legend in which the tenant of the grandparents could not eat.

What will be told below happened many years ago in Playa Verde, Munecas province, La Paz department. It began an afternoon like any other in which a man comes home with materials to make a fire, but suddenly there is a knock on the door and it is another man who came because he was asking for asylum for the night.

The man who had arrived was very different from those who usually appear around asking for a place to stay for the night, but at first the man who owned the house did not notice that detail, they talked for a long time at the entrance of the house, even They shared a coffee and the moment the owner handed him the cup in his hands, he felt his skin and was surprised.

The stranger's skin was frozen, it looked like the skin of a dead person and the owner of the house wondered, how did this man get so cold walking here? He thought of offering him food and did it on different occasions, but since accepted, his attempts came to nothing. It seems that he just wanted to talk about everything a little as if he hadn't been able to in a long time, he would tell anecdotes and details about the world, people or politics, etc.

The man who was the owner of the house felt a lot of empathy with that upstart and could imagine everything he told him almost as if he had lived it himself for this reason, he invited him to come into the house and the visitor was very kind and delicate always asking permission for anything and at that moment they shared a tea.

When they were comfortable in the room, the man began to detail more consciously the person he had at home, his eyelashes were long, he had huge dark circles under his eyes, with very tired eyes that were hidden by his long hair but, in addition, his eyes changed color. The latter, already began to produce a lot of fear in the owner of the house because he had finally realized that he had let a condemned man enter.

The headless chola

This legend, part of the myths of Bolivia, which could well be about love but instead is about fear, begins in the town of San Pedro where a cholo (young Bolivian) falls in love with a young woman who had beautiful red lips, beautiful eyes, a dreamy waist that seemed to be drawn from the tail's curves. All the men in the town were in love with her and even anyone from another town or another country who could see her would fall in love with her.

One Sunday he noticed that the young woman was in the town square accompanied by other young women who could be contemporaries of her; the chola was known as Domitila and since the protagonist of this legend was not interested in anything else in the world but that woman, when he saw that she left the meeting he began to follow her, he walked for two hours behind her until he reached a point where the city and the town were separated by a bridge.

At that point, Domitila began to climb a small hill beside the bridge, where an adobe hut crowned the summit. As darkness fell, some dogs nearby began to bark when they noticed the boy. Near the hut where the girl had gone, he decided to approach and peer through a window to see the woman everyone was talking about.

Inside that house you could only hear a leak like any other but, when you looked closely, you realized that what was falling into the container was blood and the scene was becoming more and more stormy, butcher hooks could be seen dripping and a corpse. of a decapitated man on a table.

Seeing this, the innocent man who chased the girl got very scared and ran to flee, in some bushes nearby something very loud sounded but he couldn't identify what it was because he was going downhill very fast but he began to hear that something came flying towards him and it sounded closer and closer, suddenly it stopped sounding and when he thought he was saved he noticed that something landed on his right shoulder.

Terrified, he turned to see what had landed above him, and what a shock it was when he realized it was Domitila 's head staring at him malevolently, smiling wickedly. The young man fainted from fright, and when he awoke, he was back in the house where he had witnessed the horror that had made him flee. A week later, Domitila was still clinging to him like a parasite.

One day it occurred to him that he wanted to escape, it didn't matter if he came to town with two heads but he had to go, they had to go. Heading towards the town, and with some deceit on the part of the boy, they passed in front of a tree where there was a beehive, for which the cholo suggested to the head that they separate to let him download the honey, and she accepted.

At that moment, the young man didn't miss his chance to escape. He started running, not knowing if the head would fly after him, but it seemed Domitila didn't have the same strength as before. The head just stayed behind, screaming furiously and desperately that it had been tricked. Since then, it is said in Bolivian myths that when you see a very beautiful woman with red lips, jet-black braids, and a tiny waist, she is surely the headless chola.

The Goblin Camba

Another of the legends of goblins is the one that corresponds to the goblin Camba, it is said that a long time ago in the 70s on the outskirts of the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, in a field area, when there were plantations, livestock and even the wood industry gave life to the city with its economic income.

At that time, one of the village's grandparents had an important and prosperous wood business and the family spent a lot of time in the fields. On a certain occasion, the grandfather's wife went to wash clothes in a river that was very close to the plantation and she went with her son, who was around seven months old.

The woman left the child on a stone near the river, but she concentrated so much washing that the next time she turned to see her son she noticed that a creature similar to a man but small was approaching her baby, making tiny jumps, from this In addition to his ragged appearance, his mischievous smile stood out, which was the only thing that could be seen on his face because a huge hat covered almost all of it.

The old man's wife ran to her son in great despair and yelled at the creature to get away but instead, after noticing that the woman was coming, she began to jump faster, when she finally reached the suspect, it was already too late. because he had the child in his arms.

But the lady bravely and remembering her grandmother's stories, told the goblin that the baby had just defecated and asked if that didn't disgust him, then the goblin changed his face going from pleasure to revulsion and released the baby. child on the ground with a look of disgust, then backed away and disappeared into the woods.

the woman of the shadows

This legend tells of a city called Oruro , a place inherently frightening due to its gloomy and dark atmosphere. Many years ago, a beautiful young woman with red hair lived there. Her radiant joy only enhanced her beauty. A beacon of happiness in that somber land, she would dance, sing, and spin in circles every Tuesday and Friday. What was the source of such bliss?

In that town it was barely midnight when a great party began, but not of humans but of spirits that were so real that they were said to be made of flesh and blood, to this celebration the spirit women invited the clumsiest boys among humans .

And one night not only one clueless person arrived but four, four daring boys who arrived without knowing the party of the spirits, attracted by the music and curiosity, they went to find out where that party came from and were happy to see so many people dancing and celebrating. Suddenly the red-haired girl approached the group and chose one of them to dance, he was a handsome blond boy.

It should be noted that they were in a mine and a few minutes after the dance the woman took the blond boy aside where she began to kiss and hug him with great passion; however, our protagonist kept saying that he had a girlfriend, but the red-haired girl insisted.

The boy moved away from the repentant woman and went to look for his friends to leave that place, but he couldn't find them, he was in the center of the party and he didn't see them, standing there in a blink everything disappeared.

The boy swallowed hard and started screaming looking for his friends again, he was trembling, he was nervous, but nobody answered, he was looking for the exit, but he couldn't find the entrance to the mine. The only one who was with him was the red-haired woman who told him to stay, that she was going to make him very happy, but the boy walked away from her.

Some species of horns began to grow on the woman's head, the young man entered into a great fear, he looked for the exit again and found it this time, but as soon as he left a few meters he fainted from fear. This Bolivian myth tells that the boy woke up, but he was never the same again, now he danced and sang in circles with that woman, he was crazy.

La llorona, myths version of Bolivia

The legend of La Llorona is another of those Bolivian myths that are extremely popular throughout the country. It tells of a woman who, from crying so much, became a ghost. She died in a place deep in the countryside called La Poza , and many people claim to have seen her, especially when she wanders around this place at night.

One of those occasions when a woman and her son who were riding a bicycle at night were seen, but suddenly they heard someone crying very loud and loud, in view of that they got scared and drove faster until they reached a nearby house. .

Based on other sightings, it is understood that a group of neighbors heard her because on the way to the pool they experienced the same thing as that mother with her son, only they saw her moving from one place to another and carrying stones to sit on, which is why Bolivians warn that one must be very careful if venturing into the countryside.

urban myths

The myths of Bolivia that fall within the category of urban do so because in them we can find mentioned sites that are not so rural, but also because similar myths are told in other parts of the world, it seems that the city and the cities bring hidden in some corners that little bit of mystery that accompanies myths.

Ghosts in the Thorax Hospital

There are many difficult-to-explain anecdotes about the Thorax hospital that continue to be told from generation to generation. This Bolivian myth enters the urban sphere because it creates an environment that does not refer so much to the countryside or to the towns, but rather to an institution. of health, of the feared hospital, many Bolivians assure that you can witness the frequent appearance of ghosts.

One of the most peculiar and strange cases was witnessed by Wilma Huañapaco, a nurse who was on duty on August 4th, working a double shift. At five to two, while Huañapaco was preparing her patients' documents to hand everything over in order to the next nurse, the kind Wilma began to feel a great heaviness throughout her body.

It was as if she were suddenly very tired and could not move from the chair, nor activate various functions of her body such as moving, she was rigid, she said that with the greatest effort she managed to move her head a little to the side to turn around and observed a silhouette male of great stature, from which a kind of green smoke was coming out.

Apparently, although it gave her a good scare, the figure was not so dangerous, because little by little it disappeared from the place where Wilma observed it and only then was she able to continue with her work, because the nurses cannot sleep on duty, she assured that it was not a dream at the time of telling it to her companions.

In addition, this woman assured that during her life she has had several events of strange visions like these and that she is used to it, because she has lived with this since she was a child. Other stretcher bearers have seen the same being, always inside the hospital and in the emergency corridors, he has no head, that is the way he is recognized, both by health personnel and by some of the patients who have been hospitalized at the hospital.

The Ghost of the Garden Cemetery

We get an anecdote that makes them somewhat less attractive. These are recent events that is why they have not passed from generation to generation and the legend is still to be seen, that is to say, it is not yet fully believed, but it consists of a lady going home with her husband and they still had a long way to go to get home, when the man decided to cut through the cemetery.

In that shortcut they passed very close to the Garden Cemetery and near it the wife believed, and not only that, but she was sure that she had seen a person wearing black clothes, so the woman asked the man to go back to see her better because it was probably cold since, it was winter.

Once they were close enough to where the woman was, they caught her attention, but the lady who was actually dressed in immaculate black observed them and that was when the man almost had a heart attack, realizing that it was not a woman but a ghost. , without feet, just floating, his eyes white, all this scared them very much and they left immediately.

The Wolfman

The myth we are about to tell you took place in a remote forest in Payrumani , near the city of Cochabamba. The waterfalls there seem to be the most dangerous spot in the area. This legend begins with a young man who was out for a walk with a group of friends, planning to spend a couple of nights camping there and enjoying all the wonders that nature had to offer.

They had the idea that beyond the falls they would find gold, but they knew how dangerous they were; however, one of them managed to convince all the others to go all together to that place and they walked for three days in a row, sooner rather than later, without realizing it, they found themselves in a forest that had a different landscape and that is why they thought to turn back immediately, going back the way they had come.

As they did not take precautions, on the fourth day they had little food left and, thirsty, one of the friends went into the forest to look for water and on that path he found the remains of a deer, something that was not usual in that area, that's why He ran off to tell his friends.

It was when they realized that they were not the only ones in the forest and that there was a dangerous and silent animal, but they were trapped because to return they had vague notions, already at night they made a fire and heard a great howl that became more and more older and closer, suddenly something appeared in the bushes and the next thing was that one of them was bitten by a beast while all the others ran.

the footless

Legend has it that a girl was very sick in one of her feet and that is why her family took her to the hospital. Maybe gangrene? Maybe diabetes? The next thing was that after a few hours in the hospital and before any diagnosis, the girl died on a stretcher and next to a doll. Since then she appears at the hospital without her foot and with her doll in her arms.

Santa Cruz Bigfoot

The following legend took place in a year when the harvests on the Altiplano were poor, causing a great exodus to La Paz and Santa Cruz. However, in those years, the people were oppressed by the government. Don Constancio was one of those people who lived in Santa Cruz, and when he was 17 years old, he went to work as a bricklayer in a place far from the city.

Apparently, that land was cursed because five children died there in a fire, but Constancio didn't know this. The locals say that a strange, hairy creature lived there, a man who looked like he'd stepped out of a movie, extremely tall with horned arms that resembled swords.

At that time, seven men worked alongside the young Constancio , including the owner, Don Rubén Antonio Perales , who owned two companies.

One day they all went out drinking and Don Constancio, although he didn't drink at that time, in the middle of the celebration our protagonist went to the bathroom, but suddenly a great scream very similar to a moan reached his ears and immediately everything was panic, people were crying, screaming and begging for salvation.

Don Constancio was utterly astonished, watching in amazement as a strange beast devoured everyone, tearing them to pieces with its sword-like arms. The man who tells us today the story of Bigfoot in Santa Cruz hid, and at dawn he alerted the police, but no one believed him.

The specter, scaring in the myths of Bolivia

The Tarija fairs are double-edged swords. On the one hand, gastronomy and agricultural products are shown, such as potatoes, grapes, and others, but when these people return home, alcohol flows generously during the fair. brings trouble on the road.

To get there you must go by car, this was known many years ago by three young university students who visited it in search of adventures and pretty cholas, for which they decided to spend an unforgettable weekend at the Tarija fairs, not knowing that they would meet a spectrum.

Alejandro asked his father for the car for the weekend without honestly explaining what he was going to do, since he thought the only thing he had to worry about was returning the car safe and sound. Melvin and Toño did something similar , telling their parents they were going to a party in the city. All three had crazy plans for that weekend.

The three of them had enough money to get very drunk and eat typical dishes. Once there, they noticed a group of women drinking at a nearby table, and both groups of friends were exchanging knowing and flirtatious glances. The only one who wasn't happy was Melvin.

Melvin couldn't take the peer pressure and went off to find other company. Somewhat further away, he stayed behind, enjoying traditional music and socializing with other friends he met for two days. But when they were about to return to the group he'd originally come with, everyone was very drunk, and Alejandro blasted music in the car to keep the party going on the road.

Alejandro, on the way to play a prank on his friends, took a shortcut he didn't even know existed, thinking it would lead to the city. Melvin started recording that route to add the video to the one from the crazy weekend. While in the back seat, he asked his friends all sorts of questions and recorded their answers, when suddenly...

They found a beautiful young woman on the road and stopped because it was curious to find someone on such a road. She told them that her friends had left her there and asked if she could go with them, and they took her. Melvin was happy because finally there was someone for him on that lonely weekend. Toño was complaining because suddenly it started to smell like decay.

They had already been driving for a long time and could not get back to the highway or get to the city, the boys were worried and at a certain point the woman began to cry seriously and desperately to suddenly say that, at the point they had just passed was where she had died years ago.

The only one who survived the accident was Melvin , and when he told everything the next day he also learned that it was not the first time that this beautiful woman had appeared on the roads to cause accidents, since she had died because of irresponsible drivers.

the devil's passage

Among the myths of Bolivia stands out the one that tells that once a village grandmother related that in the passage or the street that was in front of her house it was called at some point "La calle del Diablo", although today it is the San Rafael passage. from Cochabamba. All because at night that place was filled with demons, devils and any kind of ghost.

Among the demons, one stood out that was called Correvolando , whose job was to scare or drive crazy any human who happened to pass by. Apparently, if you stayed to watch from one of the balconies at midnight, you could see the witches passing by on the roads. Sacrifices were also made, such as offering white horses, although in that area, one of this color had never been seen.

The Legend of the Mermaid

The song of the sirens is beautiful, or so it is believed, the legend of the sirens of Tarija tells that in this town of Angostura you can, and years ago you could even more, listen to the siren songs, but above all o Men have always heard it. It is they who have this privilege, although few have survived after hearing the melody.

Legend of Jaén street

According to the myths of Bolivia, currently on Jaén street, in the city of La Paz, goblins, ghosts and other figures of yesteryear can be seen. The paranormal phenomenon is so strong in this city that, although the Christian clerics put up the green cross that is supposed to drive away spirits, they continue to appear and be seen. According to legend, you can even hear the noise of drums at night in museums and when the guards go to see, they find nothing.

Bolivian myths that deal with love

The myths of Bolivia that deal with love are also loaded with a lot of fear, but there are some among them that reveal a very pleasant and touching vision of eternal affection that shows us in a psychological profile of the Bolivian a being that is conceived in lasting and stable couples.

El Puente del Diablo

The legend of the Devil's Bridge narrates that, in a town in Potosí, Bolivia, there was a bridge that was actually much more than one, due to the beings that built it. In this myth we find a young peasant very much in love with a very beautiful young woman, that is, a cholo and a chola who wanted to be together. But the young woman was the daughter of the mayor of the town, therefore the relationship was prohibited.

When the father realized what was happening, because the young people were secretly seeing each other, he came up with the idea of ​​making the young man pay for his daughter, but in a period of time that he knew that since he was so poor he would not to be able to comply and therefore, he was not going to take her.

He only gave him a week and this boy accepted, he went to the city of La Paz and worked everything, even in humiliating jobs, but when he was back and having little time to fulfill the time that the chola's father gave him, he found himself stuck in a very heavy rain that did not allow the truck to advance to reach the town and desperate, the young man asks the devil for help who in return tells him that he must give him his soul when the morning comes.

The devil had to build a bridge for the young man to get there because the one on the way to town had fallen, thanks to breaking stones all night the bridge was almost ready, but the deal was that when it was ready and it was already morning next the soul of the young man would belong to the rabudo; however, on the way to this the boy repented and began to ask God for help.

The angels of God began to battle against the devil preventing him from laying the last stone and they did so, the stone was never in its place and the cholo kept his soul, thank God, and was even able to finalize his relationship with the young woman he that loved.

The Bibosi and the Motacú

In Bolivia there are two trees that are currently known as Motacú and Bibosi, the first is a palm tree and the second is a kind of parasite because it grows attached to another tree until it kills it simply by stealing resources and covering it with its shade.

And around these trees a legend was born, in which two boys were in love, he was strong and hardworking also, he was very much in love with a beautiful woman with whom he had an affair that her parents did not approve of, so they arranged a marriage of the chola with another young man.

She couldn't refuse, so the last time she went to see her love they made a sudden decision, they talked for a long time during the night, they cried with sadness and before saying goodbye forever he hugged her so tightly that they both died on the spot, it is said that this was the place where the first Bibosi was born in Motacú.

The condor and the red-headed parrot

Between Cochabamba and Potosí there was a parrot, at the beginning of everything when the animals were men and women and could also transform into this, the parrot was dark green, large as if it were an Andean condor. The condor that was also there began to feel envy of the parrot because he believed that the inhabitants respected him more.

One day the condor spotted a very beautiful young woman and fell in love with her to the point where he wanted to take her to his nest or cave and so he did, when she was unprepared he grabbed her with his claws and took her to the top from the mountain, the parrot observed everything that had happened and set out to help the young woman.

After a few weeks the girl was malnourished due to lack of food and the condor transformed into its human form to annoy her, the parrot that had already found the cave decided to enter to save the young woman and found the condor. A great fight began between them where the parrot was seriously injured, but the girl was able to go free to return to her family, taking a condor feather and a parrot feather as a souvenir.

ear street

Legend has it, from one of the best-known Bolivian myths, that many years ago a peasant father and son took care of their wheat field together, but when the boy's shifts came, which were usually at night, he always fell asleep. and when it dawned they saw parts that had been eaten by an animal.

One night the father devised a plan so that the moment the young man fell asleep thanks to two needles placed in his seat, the boy would wake up and that's how it happened, when he fell asleep it didn't take long for the prick to wake him up again and at that moment he could see an animal in the wheat fields.

It was a strange creature, similar to a bull with many colors and large dimensions, the boy took his machete and went to the animal to scare it away, from this encounter the bull was injured since the boy stuck the machete in the part behind; However, he was able to escape and when the young man's father found out from his son's mouth, they went in search of the animal, taking advantage of the fact that the blood trail could guide them.

The tracks of the blood took them to a slope where they climbed, everything seemed to indicate that the animal had gotten into a cave that was in the middle of the hill, the father sent the young man inside the cave with a bow tied at the end. his waist and after a few hours he felt the rope being pulled indicating that the rope was missing to continue, so he had to wait a bit and finish entering the depths of the cave.

Inside the cave there was another world, something bright and surprising that the boy set out to explore, although his father was waiting for his return, the animal was already history, he wanted to know that reality. On his way the young man found the house of a beautiful young woman who invited him to eat with her, they were there when it was noon and she asked him to hide in a seed vase because his father would arrive at any moment and he ate humans.

The girl gave her father a lot of food, hoping to make him full, and when she finished, she said that it smelled like something special, that she wanted to eat that little human. That is why he searched until he found the vase and saw the young man hidden whom he immediately took out, the man was the devil and he was going to eat the young man when the daughter tells him not to, because that is her boyfriend to which he The devil did not agree and told him that if he did not leave he would eat him.

It is not known if the young man was very stubborn or very much in love, but he was in that house for five days trying to make the rabudo's daughter leave with him, but the girl told him no and to leave, but during that time he was spitting on a plate that in the end he would give to his beloved to guide him on his way back.

And then he gave him the container with his saliva, ensuring that when he was lost he would put some saliva on the road and he would ask where he had to go and also warned him that he could not turn back all the way. The young man did very well along the way, but when he reached the exit of the world, just in the last one it closed before returning to normality he turned and turned into stone.

The girl with black eyes

The girl with the black eyes is another of those Bolivian myths that are very popular. According to the legend, everything begins with a girl not very different from the rest of the girls in the town, who loved to play and her mother always watched over her. But the day came when the girl was diagnosed with cancer and her somewhat desperate mother found no other solution to save her than to sell her soul to the devil.

His wish was for the girl to recover and return to being the playful girl from before, the devil accepted, but not before putting the condition that the girl had black eyes from that moment on, the mother accepted and the girl recovered, but since then his eyes are black.

The crazy Jarichi

The legend of the crazy Jarichi is also very emblematic among Bolivian myths. It tells of a very happy, lively, and cheerful young woman who grew into a beautiful young lady. One day, while at work, she met a very attractive young man with whom she fell in love. He reciprocated her feelings, and their relationship began. Two years later, while they were still together, the day came when the young man had to leave for another town.

Since the relationship did not continue long-distance, nor did they agree to meet again, nor did they go to live together, Jarichi , as the young woman was called, entered a nervous and anxiety crisis, she began to wander the streets and people approached her only to bother her, she went crazy, she did not eat, she only thought about her truncated love and one day she died of hunger.

The passage of Santa Teresa de Sucre

All this legend began many years ago in the Convent of Santa Teresa de Sucre, whose street in front is populated by goblins, ghosts and even nuns, but they can only be seen if you pass by at midnight, that is why the convent is famous for Many mysterious things happen in it.

The most well-known apparition of those of the convent is about a young woman who had arrived there against her will and had a lover with whom she secretly saw herself, the girl before making her vows decided to kill herself with her lover that is why they are seen pass in front of the alley of the institution, remembering the love they had in life.

The condemned, among the myths of Bolivia

At the beginning of this myth we find a couple who were very much in love and were already living together when one day the man tells the woman that he had already gathered enough for them to celebrate their wedding and asked her if she wanted to get married. which she responded accepting and very happy.

He was very happy because they were going to form their family and in that he goes to work singing, returning from work a stone fell on him, big enough to crush him and although he asked for help, no one could hear him, his increasingly thick voice indicated that he was in great danger.

Suddenly he arrived at the house, his future wife was cooking something delicious, but he came in a hurry and told her to grab her bags that they were going to leave quickly so they could get married immediately. They both left in a hurry and on the way to the church where they were going to get married he got hungry, she asked him if she wanted what she had prepared and he said that what she wanted was a lamb.

She entered a store that they had on one side in search of the lamb and the clerk asked her if that was her husband, she said yes and that they were going to get married, to which the man replies that her husband is a condemned man.

But don't be scared that he was surely there because he wanted to keep the promise he had with her, so he told her to take him to where the river was and cross it so that he could see that he wasn't going to be able to do anything and that he return the promise by throwing away the ring.

Feeling fear and pain for the death of her future husband, she approached the condemned man and told him to change the route to get there faster, with this she took him to the river and the spirit began to get scared, she told him that they had to cross but he did not want to. .

She took the suitcases and crossed, and when she was on the other side she turned to see her husband and noticed that, indeed, he could not cross. She there she took off the ring that she had given him and yelled at her that she would return her promise to him and she threw the ring into the river, then she ran away without looking back.

Undoubtedly this is one of the legends, of the myths of Bolivia, in which we see the figure of the condemned suffer the most, one so recurrent in national thought and sentiment, it is still noted that if you cross a river at three o'clock In the morning, sometimes you can hear the cries and laments of this man.

The virgin of the seven streets

The legend of the Virgin of the Seven Streets takes place in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, where it is said that there was a newlywed couple who had just had a very beautiful daughter, who was considered the most beautiful girl in the town and they named her Zora.

One day, his parents, Antonio and Aurora, were having a romantic walk in the countryside when suddenly the child's father heard something in the undergrowth and set out to find out what it was, when he came across a tiger.

Aurora , who had followed Antonio to see what was happening, was struck by the bullet Antonio had prepared for the tiger, and this ended his wife's life. The man, consumed by guilt, fell into alcoholism and accidentally started a fire in his house, in which he perished. Zora survived because she had been practically abandoned at her paternal aunt's house, since her father never visited her.

Zora 's aunt abandoned her because she hated her for being so beautiful. Over the years, the girl grew into a beautiful woman envied by many. The aunt came looking for her again and sold her into marriage to a man, claiming they were very poor. Zora disagreed, but decided to marry the man, believing it would be for the best, even though she would suffer.

A long time later, Zora 's husband left her. He was living in another town with another woman, and a friend of the Virgin invited her to a party where she met a man and fell in love. This reached the ears of Zora's husband, who appeared to take revenge and ended up killing the young man. After this, her husband left again, and Zora decided not to look for another partner. That is why she was called the Virgin of the Seven Streets, because she lived on a corner where seven streets met.

The legend of Guajojo

This is one of the most beautiful love legends that we can find among the myths of Bolivia, it begins a long time ago and even, prior to colonization, in the town of Chiquitanía where a beautiful woman who was the daughter of the cacique of one of the tribes She fell in love with an indigenous man whose social rank was not so high, but as we usually see, love broke down the barriers of social classes and hierarchies, so they agreed to meet hidden from everyone in the jungle.

But their love would soon face a great difficulty and that is that the girl's father followed them and discovered them in the jungle, without saying a word or thinking about it much the father decided to kill his daughter's boyfriend, but he did not do it immediately but He waited to find a moment in which the indigenous man was alone, this happened in the meeting following the one in which he managed to make his daughter arrive late and when the father saw the boyfriend alone in the jungle, he killed him.

The young woman sensed something and went as far as she could, but when her lover arrived he was dead at the feet of her father, he who did not expect her to see him in that situation and could not find a way to calm the grief that had caused him. his daughter. When she said that she would accuse him with her tribe, her father who was also a shaman turned her into a bird.

The sound of this bird is Guayoyò because that was the last word he said when he was still human, Guayoyò the name of his beloved and his own name as a bird ever since.

The house of the detachment

The house of the detachment is one of those stories part of the myths of Bolivia that are impressive for revealing the influence of the words of the elders in the collective unconscious of the country. All this myth begins with the words narrated by a grandmother in a Bolivian town, according to them the old women of that town told about a very old house that was inhabited by a man who was accompanied by her son.

The son and the father had a very emotional relationship, they loved each other very much, but one day a terrible illness ended the life of the young man, which bitterly separated them forever and from then on, the man did not stop crying until he had a dream in which his son appears to him and asks him not to cry anymore, because his crying wouldn't let him go in peace and until his father stopped being sad he couldn't go in peace.

Since then, the father stopped crying to help his son go away in peace and sought other ways to drain his sadness, such as good friendships and faith, this is told by grandmothers and they agree that family love is very important and can help a lot to the soul.

the elixir of truth

With this legend we close this series on Bolivian myths, we never said they were stories because we consider myths and legends as historical records loaded with an imaginary component, but we appreciate them for their cultural content as also containers of the elixir of truth.

Just like the one created by that scientist in Bolivia who long ago claimed to have found the elixir of truth with which men were no longer going to have any problem; However, this cry seemed to resonate in the void because over time he failed to make his invention known and after his death the elixir was buried with the scientist until one day it was stolen from the cemetery without anyone knowing who it had been. responsable.

But although there was a lot of fear, in reality the elixir was in innocent hands, it was held by a boy who had heard mention that a scientist had invented such a wonder and that is why he undertook his search so that he would no longer be beaten for the things his brother did.

Then, in the next mischief that his brother did, the boy only had to apply a little of the elixir when they were going to blame him and his mother understood that he was not the guilty one, but, not only that, but she apologized for all the trouble. abuse that he had previously given him without deserving it. After this mission accomplished, the boy returned the elixir to the cemetery guard and the end, these were the myths of Bolivia.

We know there may have been many, but surely you also found them funny, cute, or spooky. For more emotional ups and downs, we invite you to continue reading the impressive legends of Querétaro.