Ypacarai, word from the ancient Guarani language, mostly spoken by the Indians living in Paraguay, means “water of God”.
This is the name of a nice lake and a city in the south-west of Paraguay.
There is a legend which says:
In the valley of the Pirayu stream, there was a stream called Tapaikua. A Guarani chief had his hut near the stream. The legend says that the villagers had fallen into corruption and therefore the wrath of the Gods were unleashed causing this the land to shake throughout the valley and the neighbouring hills, water gushed forth from the stream with great strength. It quickly covered the area and the Tapaikua and Arekaja villages.
Alarmed by the situation the desperate chief sought religious help from a Franciscan apostle called Fray Luis Bolaños who was in a nearby town. He went to a hill nearby from where he invoked God, with a cross and a book in his hands (it must have been the Bible) blessed the waters which immediately calmed down and receded in part. Since then, there has been a lake in that place: the Ypacarai Lake. Apparently, there are some recordings that this happened by the year 1603.
You may think there are many legends from South America, yes, you are right, there are many legends and stories which make the places more beautiful or unforgettable.
The unforgettable thing for me about the Ypacarai lake was not the legend. In Spanish, they always called it, the “blue Ypacarai lake” and before getting to it (due to the name), I obviously made my own picture: a magnificent place with amazing blue water…. To my great surprise, the water was not at all blue, but brown.
The nearby people are popular due to the tablecloths they make, I must say they are lovely!
They are called Ñanduti (spider web in the Guarani language), they are handmade lace whose design is based on spider webs. You cannot leave the place without one of those! To be honest I did not purchase one, on one hand because I was a teenager whose thoughts were far away from becoming a housewife and on the other because I think spiders are disgusting.
There is a famous song called “Recuerdo de Ypacarai” (memory of Ypacarai). It is about a couple who fell in love near the “blue lake”, the man disappears and the Indian young woman keeps waiting and wondering why her loved one never came back. This is usually played with the harp, which is typical from Paraguay and has an outstanding sound. Link below!
We all have surprises in our lives, good ones, bad ones, a variety of surprises. We sometimes tend to create an idea or an image in our minds of something and all of a sudden, our mind creation is totally wrong due to the fact that reality was different. Has that happened to you? I will assume your answer is yes, many of us are quick to judge instead of thinking first! It has happened to me! The blue lake was one of them. I knew after a while the lake changed its colour due to the pollution… this made me sad.
“There´s a story behind every person. There´s a reason why they are the way they are. Think about that before you judge someone”.
I should have taken this into account when I visited that lovely lake. Lesson learnt!