Los Últimos Navegantes en Balsas Oceánicas: testimonio de un balsero

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

At the beginning of a historical research about oceanic sailing balsarafts used by indigenous people of Ecuadorian and Peruvian coasts since before the Hispanic conquest, we noticed that would have been used until the first half of the XX century, so we decide to search for a testimony of someone who had made those journeys to learn their experiences:  how were these balsarafts made? How were they governed? What were their routes and trip purposes?   We were successful when we met a 94 years old Peruvian, of Sechurian origin, that when young, participated in journeys to Guayaquil.  Here we summarized hours of recording to this and other raftsmen, drawings and explanations given by mister Augustin Pazos, that give us lights about the ancestral oceanic navigation on great balsarafts.              We referred in this article to travelers and researchers who have written about Sechurian fishermen in balsarafts since the XIX century, and other chronicles and narrations of balsarafts usage.