Canaima

There was a book on one my father's library shelves entitled “Canaima” by Romulo Gallegos. I remember that, when I was a child, the name “canaima” made me frightened. I thought, at the time, that it could mean “caiman” (aligator) or some similar scaring animal. Of course, I never tried to open the book nor even read it by any means.
In fact, this book has never been read by anyone until now, I know that because some of its aged yellow pages are still stuck. My father, probably, bought the book as part of a series that he had been buying as the intellectual he wanted to be, but he didn't consider to spend any time reading it.
In the end, the book was there waiting me to read it for near 50 years. Finally, I started it this August, without much interest at the beginning. But, as I was reading, I could discover a lot of beautiful passages describing a region of Venezuela: the Orinoco mouths and the mining region of Guayana.

Look at this awesome description of the land of my heart: “Venezuela del descubrimiento y la colonización inconclusos”.
Or this one: “palmeras, temiches, caratas, moriches... el viento les peina la cabellera rubia y el turpial les prende la flor del trino... bosques. El árbol inmenso del tronco velludo de musgo, el tronco vestido de lianas florias. Cabimas, caracas, y tahamacas de resinas balsámicas, cura para las heridas del aborigen y lumbre para su churuata. La mora gigante del ramaje sombrío inclinado sobre al agua dormida del caño, el araguaney de la flor de oro, las rojas marías. El bosque tupido que trenza el bejuco … plantíos. Los conucos de los margariteños, las umbrosas haciendas del cacao, las jugosas tierras del bajo Orinoco enterneciendo con humedad de savias fecundas las manos del hombre de mar árido y la isla seca”.
The translation is quite difficult, since this text is stuffed with venezuelan words that I can understand now, but which I hadn't been able to comprehend when I was “only a Spaniard”,i.e., a simple man without any exposure to Latinamerican idioms. Nevertheles, I will try to provide some (inaccurate but truly) translation of these terms since it is a beautiful passage that should be grasped by anyone interested in excellent poetry, no matter what his/her mother language was: “palm trees, temiche-palm, soursop tree, moriche-palm … the wind combs their blonde hair and the “turpiara” bird (the national bird of Venezuela) pins the flower of his trill on these trees... forests. The huge tree of moss hairy trunk, which is dressed up with flortees. Xxx, yyy, zzz (names of trees) of balsamic gums, healing for aborigine wounds and fire for his “house” (made of straw, conic-shape and wide dimension). The gigantic mulberry tree of leaned branches upon the asleep water of the river drain, the “araguaney” (national tree of Venezuela) of golden flowers, the red flowers of Santa María tree. The dense forest that the flortee braids … field of crops. The small vegetable gardens of margaritans (people from Margarita Island), the shady cocoa estates, the juicy lands of low Orinoco that turns less harsh the dry seaman hands and the desert island”. …
The dead woman in Upata, Estado Bolívar, Venezuela (where novel's plot takes place)

Now, seriously, listen to this beautil music from Upata and pay attention to the passing girl ... am I seeing ghosts like Marcos Vargas, the main character in Canaima novel?

Venezuela spirit lives in this girl child ...