Mocuana

    The sudden loss of her innocence fell upon her, colder and heavier than the darkness of the cave that enveloped her. The collapse of the rocks at the entrance still echoed in the skeleton of her soul, warning her too late of the great mistake she had made in the name of love. Silently, she meditated on the cursed yet beautiful moment she met the white conquistador, whose eyes were as clear as the sky of the Sébaco Valley. His hair was as blond as the gold that guided her destiny, turning her into a mere object of pleasure.

    She had just been buried alive by the man she loved. She had been cruelly deceived by the one who had convinced her to trust him. She had told him the secret of where the chief, her father, kept the treasure that belonged to this starry region. Generously, she had led him to the coveted place, and upon obtaining the riches, the ungrateful man had left, leaving her dying of pain, slowly losing her sanity with each tear of despair shed for him.

Her father had warned her. The whites had not been satisfied with the gifts of gold that he had initially bestowed upon their arrival. He had noticed it in the greed that was reflected in their bright eyes when they admired the precious metal. He had guessed it in the lust that betrayed their glances when they looked at the young women, innocent and beautiful.

In her confinement, the sorrowful indigenous woman did not fear the darkness and the silence. She had grown up running in the hills, enjoying the cool water of the rivers, playing in the mountains. Finding the way out of the cave was not a problem for her. It was another kind of oxygen that she needed. She had betrayed her father's trust, she had lost the tender light of those eyes she loved so much, and she suspected that a new life was beginning to beat in her womb.

Legend says that her lover's attitude and guilt caused her to lose her mind. Other versions of this story claim that it was the enraged father who locked her up in the mountain, condemning her to eternal punishment despite knowing her pregnancy. Whatever the story may have been, from that moment on, the beautiful young woman became the Witch of the Mocuana, a terror feared throughout the region. It is rumored that she invites men who travel the roads to follow her to the cave. Seduced by her black and long hair and her beautiful body, they cannot decline the invitation. Others claim that she steals and murders newborns. As payment for her crime, she leaves the child's parents some gold nuggets as a macabre reminder of their misfortune. Photo Credit: Gabriela Trejoss