Orocué, inspiration for literature

Orocué, birthplace of La Vorágine. “In the limitless skies you will see the stars twinkling.”

The Orinoquia has been a source of inspiration for different artistic expressions. An example of this is the following fragment from the work "La Vorágine" by the Colombian writer José Eustasio Rivera:

“Don Rafo gave my boldness a happy round of applause: I was the man for Casanare! As he spoke, he was unharnessing the beasts and putting their headstalls on. I helped him with the task and we were soon ready to continue our journey. Alicia, who was shining a lantern on us, begged us to wait for sunrise.”

And the dawn appeared before us; without our noticing the precise moment, a rosy vapour began to float over the grasslands, undulating in the atmosphere like light muslin. The stars fell asleep and in the opal distance, at ground level, a fiery cloud appeared, a violent brushstroke, a clot of ruby. Under the glory of the dawn, the air was split by the screaming ducks, the slow-moving herons like floating flakes, the emerald parrots with their trembling flight, the multicoloured macaws. And from everywhere, from the grasslands and from space, from the “estuary” and from the palm tree, a jubilant breath was born that was life, was accent, clarity and palpitation. Meanwhile, in the glow that opened its immeasurable canopy, the first solar flash darted, and slowly, the star, immense as a dome before the astonishment of the bull and the beast, rolled across the plains, turning red before ascending to the blue.

Alice, hugging me, tearful and mad, repeated this prayer: My God, my God! The sun, the sun!

Then, continuing our journey, we sank into the immensity.