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1. State university of
Milagro
(UNEMI)
Topic: my holidays
Name: Juliana Martillo
English folder

2. Región amazónica de Ecuador
Amazonas
(Spanish
pronunciation: [a
maˈsonas]) is a
region of northern
Peru bordered by
Ecuador on the
north and west,
Cajamarca
Region on the
west, La Libertad
Region on the
south, and Loreto
Region and San
Martín Region on
the east. Its
capital is the city of Chachapoyas.
With a landscape of steep river gorges and mountains, Amazonas is the
location of Kuelap, a huge stone fortress enclosing more than 400 stone
structures; it was built on a mountain about 3,000 meters high, starting about
500 AD and was occupied to the mid-16th century. It is one of Peru's major
archeological sites.
Folklore
The folklore of Amazonas is not as varied as in other departments of Peru.
The profusion of dances, songs and clothing is not seen in here, like in Puno or
Cuzco. Its folklore is nourished from legends and stories in which mystery and
inexplicable things are always present. Towns, lagoons, hills, religious images,
always have an origin that violates in an invariable way the rules of logic or
biology.
For example, if you ask people about the lake Quchakunka (Cochaconga) they
will say that it is enchanted. They say it has the "form of a neck" and that with
the smallest noise provoked by an animal or the scream of a person, there will
be a tremendous thunderstorm in which an enormous monster will appear in the
shape of cow. This monster will become mad with the strangers. That's why,
whoever passes by this remote place, does it with maximum precautions for not
altering the local silence.
To give accommodation to travelers is an elementary norm of good behaviour
with people. To deny it can provoke the most tremendous evil on the selfish
person. An irrefutable evidence is the marsh of Mono Muerto (Dead Monkey's
marsh), in the Huambo District (Rodríguez de Mendoza Province). A dramatic
story that people tell, with more or less details, but with the same respect.

3. A very rich man was living in his house. The marsh was a part of his estate, in
which he was happy and lacking of nothing, until the day a traveler asked him
for home and he denied it to him. A witch doctor of the surroundings, who found
out about the attitude of the wealthy neighbor, entrusted that all the curses fell
on him. All his goods disappeared and his grounds became a stinking marsh.
Mysterious power are also assumed to the four lagoons of Pukyu, in which
there are monsters that influence the crops, as well as to the lake Santa
Barbara which disappears before the view of the walkers and it is destined to
initiate the end of the world with the overflow of its waters.
Next to the city Chachapoyas there is a hill called Pisquwañuna (Piscohuañuna),
in the way towards the forest. This name means "where the bird dies", because
the mountain kills all the birds that approach it.
People attribute pernicious influences to certain animals like the mochuelo that
"freezes the soul", or "quien-quien", that makes fun of the travelers in the roads;
or the cricket, which singing in certain circumstances, like when it has sound of
bells, presages big evil.
People have big respect to the antique remains. They firmly believe that there
will be terrifying punishments for those who violate the graves of the "agüelos"
(mummies).
Most of the population of the department of Amazonas is indigenous and
mestizo, being notable the people' quantity, in some cases entire communities,
in which the Spanish type predominates. Since the time of the Incas, there are
legends about the existence of white people in these places. There are also
versions gathered by chroniclers in which they assure that women were chosen
here for the Inca, precisely because they were white.