Barlovento, Venezuela: Difference between revisions

Barlovento is a sub-region located in the Venezuelan state of Miranda. It is the conurbation of the municipalities Acevedo, Andrés Bello, Brión, Buroz Páez and Pedro Gual.

It is known for its people and their African American dances. This extensive plain located to the east of the entity offers beaches with flat bottom and soft waves, equipped with tourist services. Area of ​​lush vegetation and a great fertility.

Its lands were seat of haciendas of cacao in the Colony. The cultural offer in this region is very attractive, standing out the drums of San Juan in Curiepe, Los Reyes in Higuerote, Los Boleros in Caucagua, the Burial of the Sardine, The Parranda of the Dead in San José de Río Chico, El Niño Jesús in Curiepe, Birongo, Capaya and El Guapo, La Cruz de Mayo, San Pascual. The majority of the population of Barlovento was brought from what presently constitutes the Congo, Zaire (or Belgian Congo) and Angola (corresponding to the cultural area of ​​the African ethnicity Bantu, Kingdom of Loango and Yoruba). When the enslaved were brought in colonial times to work on the cocoa plantations, their cultural and religious manifestations were banned and new cults were imposed on them. Faced with this situation, the enslaved, having no choice but to accept the images of Catholic worship, assign each saint a deity of their African religious scheme. Thus, San Juan represents one of the most important in what, experts define as a syncretism of some compilation.

Barlovento is the region that is in Miranda state, east of Caracas. The term Barlovento has two meanings: one of geographic and another historical and anthropological.

Toponymy

Barlovento means "Windward" is the part where the wind comes, which after penetrating in the south of the region and causing a great rainfall in the zone, the trade winds will return to gain the coast by this region for after crossing the Caribbean and the Ocean Atlantic return to bring the rain to the Canary Islands.

Geographical situation of Barlovento

The Barlovento region is embedded in the Barlovento depression. Being this one of the regions, with its natural physical aspects which form the North Coastal Region, according to the classification of the Ministry of Popular Power for Planning and Development. It includes the populations of: Caucagua, Capaya, Río Chico, El Guapo, Higuerote, Panaquire, Tapipa, El Clavo, Curiepe, Birongo, Tacarigua de Brión, San José de Barlovento and Cúpira. Barlovento has an area of ​​4,647 square kilometers, which represent 58% of the surface of Miranda State. It is located to the east of the Mirandine entity, between the parallels 10 ° and 11 °, north latitude and the meridians 65 ° and 67 °, longitude west. Its orography is very varied going from the mountains of Caucagua to the beaches of Higuerote and Río Chico.

Characteristics of its Geographic Space

The plain of Barlovento, properly called by many of the connoisseurs of the region, among them the best known is by the official chronicler "Jesus A. Silva I."

The Plain of Barlovento is a great plain that extends from the east side by the Valles del Tuy, and then from the west side to the state Anzoátegui, and travels south to the state Guárico. In whose vicinity it extends in an area known on the north and northeast side of the Mirandine state, which are of rock-rich origin Caliza because it is formed with the material carried by the rivers of its mountains Serranía del Interior, that come from the central sector of the Cordillera de la Costa (Venezuela).

Among its slopes are many of its grottoes, caves and caverns, but the best known, either for its beauty and as a wonderful attraction of interest to the studies of caverns and underground spaces, according to societies scientists, explorers and tourists, is the Cave Natural Monument "La Tapa de Cambural", Located in the area of ​​Birongo and discovered in the year 1934 by a poacher of the area, and explored by the Venezuelan Society of Natural Sciences (Ve / SVCN) of Caracas, on March 9, 1952.

The plain is crossed by numerous rivers, coming from its high mountains and that deposit a great amount in sediment, reason that gave origin from the geological point of view, to a deposit in oilfield, that It goes from the basin Valles del Tuy - Cariaco.

Limits

• North: Caribbean Sea.
• South: Serranía del Interior, State Anzoátegui and State Guárico.
• West: Serranía de la Costa of the Cordillera de la Costa, Vargas State and other municipalities of the Miranda State.
• East: Uchire River, Caribbean Sea and Anzoátegui State.

Economy

Barlovento became known as the granary of Caracas because it was once an essentially agricultural region, nowadays is a tourist area and dormitory city of Caracas, experiencing an accelerated growth due to its proximity to the capital, its beautiful coasts and the construction of the Highway Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho. Its economy is based on its Earth relief, climate and hydrography, and is mainly towards tourism and agriculture.

Transportation and roads

Barlovento has an important network of asphalted roads. Its main avenues are Bicentenario Avenue and Intercomunal Avenue San José-Río Chico, the Troncal 9th passes through the municipalities of Andrés Bello, Páez, Brión, Buroz and Pedro Gual.

Gastronomy

The typical cuisine of Barlovento is a product of the mixture of cultures that settled in the region. It is integrated by products that are in the area such as grains, tubers, bananas, fish, seafood, lapa, etc.

One of the oldest dishes is the Cafunga, a recipe inherited from African ancestors consisting of a banana muffin, prepared with cassava, coconut, papelón and anise. Another very popular dish is the Tropezón, composed of white beans cooked with pork skins. It also cooks the Soup of Mapuey white with sardines and abundant garlic. Tacarigua de la Laguna (Laguna de Tacarigua) is famous for the preparation of the roasted lebranche. Bañao: Ripe banana cooked to which is added a caramel made of papelón, anise and spice clove.

Crafts

On the road to Barlovento, along the side of the road, it can see informal exhibitions. Passing Caucagua, at the height of the village of Yaguapa, are the well-known replicas of aircraft and military helicopters, made of balsa wood. In the village of Gamelotal, between Caucagua and Tacarigua de Mamporal (Tacarigua de Brión), Adam Expedito López, a sculptor of wood and coconuts, surprises with his imagination and the realism of his works; Pylons, portraits of Bolívar and coconuts with the faces of caciques are some of his many sculptures. Entering Higuerote, just after the beautiful square of the virgin Virgen del Carmen, there are reproductions in wood of the typical birds of the canals and lagoons of Barlovento, coro-coras and herons. The famous Curiepe drums called “culo e´puya” or tamboritas de fulía, can be purchased in the town through the also famous "Tucusito".

In Curiepe and almost all of Barlovento there is a very important craft activity: the production of musical instruments, ie the different drums used in the dance. Among them it find the curbata, the mina and the cule puya with its prima, cruzao and pujao varieties. Another elaborate musical instrument is the furruco, of frequent use in the accompaniment of the Christmas airs. In San Nicolás, a small community located on the road that leads from Curiepe to Birongo, crafts are done as carpentry, basketry, textiles and musical instruments. In San José de Río Chico, pylons, pans, canoes, manars, mats, baskets for collecting and loading cacao, hammocks and fishing nets, and musical instruments such as drums and furrucos are produced. In Río Chico they are made hammocks for rest, hammocks for fishing, and musical instruments. They use the same raw material that is used in the rest of the region.

Folklore

Its folklore is of great importance, it is composed mainly of Afro-Venezuelan drums. The drum of Barlovento, in its different varieties (redondo, culo e’ puya, mina and cumaco) on Sundays becomes an essential spiritual part of the barloventeño.

On June 24, the celebrations in honor of Saint John the Baptist are celebrated in Venezuela, celebrations that are of singular importance, from the colonial time to the present. The date established by the Church to commemorate the Saint coincides approximately with the winter solstice. The feast of Saint John the Baptist: it is of singular significance and strength in those black populations. In Barlovento it is celebrated in all its towns.

External links

• "BarloventoWeb.com"
• Page about Barlovento