COLOMBIA:
Keeping the Words - and the Whales - Alive
Constanza Vieira

JUACHACO, Colombia,  (IPS) - "They take care of their children and drive their husbands away" sing the "cantaoras". Verse by verse, the traditional black singers describe the mating ritual of the humpback whales that visit their breeding grounds in Malaga Bay on Colombia's Pacific coast from June to November.

Around a bonfire under the starry night, the Night of Words begins at 9:00 PM in the schoolyard in Ladrilleros, 2.5 km away from the town of Juanchaco.

People have traveled the short distance between the two towns, which are located not far from Colombia's main port city of Buenaventura, in a "train" of blue wagons pulled by a tractor.

Buenaventura, in the western Colombian coastal province of Valle del Cauca, handles 53 percent of Colombia's foreign trade.

The "cantaoras" are of all different ages and sing to the rhythm of the "guasá" rattle, a hollowed out piece of wood filled with seeds that they play themselves. Five men accompany them, three on the "tununo" (drum) and two others on the "marimba", a kind of traditional wood and bamboo xylophone.

Stories are told on the Night of Words as part of the oral tradition of the local black communities, whose history goes back to escaped slaves who fled to this jungle area before slavery was abolished in Colombia in 1851.

The escaped slaves, known in Colombia as "cimarrones", created communities in remote areas that they defended fiercely through armed struggle.

Many descendants of African slaves brought over mainly from Guinea, the Congo and Ivory Coast settled in this area with their families, Jarling Santiesteban, a teacher in the nearby village of La Plata, told IPS.

Some words of African origin are still used in this region, such as ñangla (root), the teacher pointed out.

According to official statistics, 4.5 million of Colombia's 43 million people are of African descent, and one million are indigenous (although many more are of mixed race -- white, black and/or indigenous -- origin.)

But the traditional black communities scattered along the Pacific and Caribbean coasts are home to 1.5 million people, says Jimmy Viera, adviser to Liberal Party Senator Piedad Córdoba, who identifies herself as "mulatta".

A law passed in 1993 recognises the political, social and cultural rights of Colombia's traditional black communities, which have a subsistence economy in which production is based on mutual aid, and whose ancestral territory is collectively owned.

"It is one of the most advanced laws of its kind in Latin America," Viera told IPS. "The black communities, and especially those on the Pacific coast, have collective property rights to their land," which is "in the hands of the community councils."

But the community councils do not administer justice, as the traditional indigenous authorities are allowed to do in the native "resguardos" or reserves.

The black communities "administer their territory at an internal level. The government has to consult them before undertaking any project that affects their territories, which cannot be sold or embargoed," said Viera.

The community councils "assign land to the members of the community, preserve the cultural identity, decide on how to use and conserve natural resources, and choose the community legal representative," he explained.

Juanchaco, Ladrilleros, La Plata and La Barra, another village, have a combined total of 3,500 inhabitants. Another 2,000 live around the Pacific Naval base, built in the early 1980s on the northern coast of the bay.

These Pacific communities are known for their poetry, music, dance and traditional cuisine.

Before the cantaoras sing, the passionate traditional "currulao" dance of African origin is performed. Wearing voluminous cotton skirts, the women compete to see who is the best dancer, and the men respond in kind.

The Night of Words is a popular gathering in which the communities of Malaga Bay reflect on their cultural and environmental heritage.

It forms part of the eighth festival of migratory species of Colombia's Pacific coastal region, held annually to celebrate the visit of the humpback whales, sea turtles and a number of species of birds, which use the area as a feeding and resting spot.

There are so many birds that, seen from out at sea, they change the color of the treetops where they roost.

The annual festival is an educational initiative organised by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and two Colombian scientific and environmental groups, the Yubarta (Humpback) Foundation and the Calidris Association, whose efforts focus on migratory species of birds.

All three groups form part of the "institutional and community collective for the conservation of natural and cultural values in Malaga Bay", which was created in 2005 and also includes local black and indigenous communities and the Cenipacífico Foundation made up of biologists and ecologists dedicated to raising awareness on the environment.

Official bodies that belong to the collective are the regional Institute for Research and Preservation of the Cultural and Natural Patrimony of the Valle del Cauca and Autonomous Regional Corporation of the Valle del Cauca (CVC), as well as the national Marine Research Institute (INVEMAR).

"The aim of the festival is to create a strong social base for the preservation of the natural surroundings," biologist Patricia Falk, with the Yubarta Foundation, told IPS.

The 136-square km Malaga Bay forms part of the Chocó region which stretches down the western part of Colombia and Ecuador, from the Pacific Ocean to the Andes Mountains, and has one of the world's highest concentrations of fauna and flora as well as one of the highest rainfall levels in the world.

Nearly 90 percent of the 60 species of amphibians in Malaga Bay are endemic to the region, as are 45 percent of the 114 reptile species. There are four different kinds of mangroves and 400 species of trees. And the list goes on and on. Humpback whales are only one of the 12 species of marine mammals observed in the region, for example.

A large number of streams run into the stunningly beautiful Malaga Bay. At one place, known as La Sierpe, a narrow waterfall appears to flow in slow motion over a large curved rock, into a warm pool in the jungle.

But it is not only a paradise for people. "The largest number of baby humpbacks in the world are born in Malaga Bay," said Falk. At this time of year, the warm water in the area puts one in mind of a comfortable thermal pool.

The migratory route of the humpback whales (Megaptera novaengliae) takes them 8,500 km, from Antarctica to this area off the coast of Colombia, which is one of their favorite mating and breeding grounds.

But in a few years, if the government's plan to turn Malaga Bay into a deep-sea port prospers, the breeding habits of the humpback whale will be merely the subject of traditional songs recalling the past.