Cuando hice el tomumbú*
Voy a contar que casi morí en el monte cuando hice el tomumbú. Quería ser como el joven valiente, fue así que casi morí.
Mi abuelo me contó —Tu ya moriste.
Yo ya estaba muerto; mi orina, mi orina ya no sentía, no veía más. Mi ojo estaba todo oscurecido, apagado, yo estaba muerto y mi abuelo dijo —Tu ya estás muerto, este ya está muerto.
Después, mi papá, mi difunto padre Eiragi, cuando me recuperé un poco, me alzó por el sendero de los aché, a mí me habían dejado, casi me comieron los buitres, después mi padre dijo —Vamos por el sendero.

When I did the tomumbu.
I’m going to tell you that I almost died when I did the tomumbu. I wanted to be a brave young man, that’s how I almost died.
My grandfather told me: “ you have already died”
I was already dead, I did not feel my urine, I did not feel my urine, I couldn’t see any more. My eye saw black, it was off, I was dead, and my grandpa said:” You’re already dead, This is already dead.”
After that, my father, my late father Eiragi, once I was a little better, carried me along the Ache pathway I had been left, I almost got eaten by the crows, and then my father said: “let’s go along the pathway”.

Then, the Ache men came to carry me.
“I’ll carry you, I’ll die with you, but I’ll carry you!”
Then Mr. Japegi carried me on his back, if he hadn’t come I would have been eaten by the crows.
I was already dead, I had no more blood, my skin was white, I couldn’t move my eye, I was paralyzed, I was dead and once dead my father Eiragi said.” Let’s take my son, if you can carry him, we’ll take him where his tomb will be.
Yes, my tomb. Then, they carried me, took me and after that, my eye was dizzy. The tree moved.

Bitten by a snake
I was bitten by a snake in the rainforest. I was left all alone, I also almost died of a snake bite. I no longer ate bre’e nor drank water. Then the ache said: ”Bring along the one who had been bitten by the snake, why do you want to leave him all alone? The crows will eat him”, that’s what they said, “ Fetch Chevugi before the crows eat him, carry him over.”

And so the Ache came to take me and then I found myself again with the Ache.
“Will you speak if there are a lot of people?” No, you don’t speak.
I almost died when the snake bit me. I was left and my wife doesn’t wait for me. There’s nobody near me. There isn’t anyone with me, nor to bring me any water.
Then an Ache man got angry and defended me. “why don’t you give some water to your husband?”
I was almost dead, I knew nothing. Another Ache said: “You will not die!”
Then kraku was cooked (typical meal) to make me strong, yet I could eat bre’e, I ate alone. Afterwards I was strong, and then they took me to my son’s hut.

Preparing the bow and arrow
I’m going to scratch first to make the arrow, then I’m going to make this piece of wood thin to make the bow, also I’m going to tell you about: the bow stretching with its string, for you to know, and also there’s the tooth of the arrow, to prepare the tooth of the arrow it has to be very well sharpened, sharpen it well.
Once all the elderly die, for you to know full well, you will have to make the tooth of the arrow the same way your parents made them, you have to see how the bird feather is prepared, you have to know how it is prepared, wax the wax, you have to look carefully how the string is tied to the bow, this way you’ll know how to make your arrows, you’ll also know how to prepare the tacuarilla, you have to prepare the tacuarilla and if you prepare them your parents will see and say:”my son already knows how to prepare the arrow, he does it right, he sharpens well.”
Yes, this kind I want to defend, I want to defend this kind of Ache.

Lost in the rainforest as a child.
Together with my brothers, we got lost when we were little. There were a lot of jaguars by then. We were crying with my brothers.  We were walking across the big woods in the great barrero….. amidst the snakes, we were walking all together with my brothers. One of my brothers started to cry.
“Daddy, daddy!” he started to shout because he was hungry, by sunset we were found by Payvagi, Payvagi his Ache name is, to take us he said:” Katugi, why are you running away?, has your father hit you, have you run away, are you an orphan?

No le dijimos nada, estabamos con hambre y nos alzaron para llevar —Vamos a mi choza.
Nos alzó para llevarnos, a mis dos hermanos los puso en su hombro y a mí en su cintura, me alzo en su cintura.
A mi mamá le pegaron —¿Por qué dejaste a tus hijos?
—Me olvidé, estaba rastreando al koati.
Empezaron a discutir, tengo muchos hermanos, están mis otros hermanos, mi papá tenía a varias mujeres. Les perseguía, en eso le dejó a mi madre y nosotros sus hijos fuimos llevados adonde nos perdimos, ahí fuimos dejados, nos perdimos por el sendero, ibamos perdidos por el sendero al atardecer cuando ya estaba oscureciendo, nos encontramos con mi difunto padre y nos quedamos a dormir con él.     

We said nothing, we were hungry and he carried us to take us away. “Let’s go to my hut”
He carried us, two of my brothers were carried on his shoulders and he carried me on his waist, he carried me on his waist.
My mother was hit. “Why did you leave your children?”
“I forgot, I was tracing the koati.
They started to argue. I have a lot of brothers, there are other brothers, my father had several wives. He chased them, and left my mother and we were taken where we got lost. There we were left, we got lost along the path, we were walking lost along the path at dusk, when it was getting dark, and we were found by our late father and we slept with him.

Quiero defender el idioma aché
Yo quiero a los jóvenes. Quiero enseñarles el idioma aché. Ya no se más muchas palabras. Nos equivocamos a veces. Yo les quiero defender a los jóvenes para que no se termine la palabra aché, a las jóvenes, a los niños, realmente quiero defender a las jóvenes.
Al niño blanco, llamamos katugi, al niño aché que tiene piel blanca; a las niñas morenas llamamos krapegi, así nosotros los aché la denominamos a la piel blanca, hapiagi a la niña, al niño de piel morena embogi y katugi al niño de piel blanca. Así les cuento nuestro idioma, a los niños los llamamos por sus nombres, así los aché en el monte llamamos por el nombre: Byvangi, Tatugi, así nosotros los llamamos y preguntamos por ellos si los vamos a buscar.
Yo así quiero enseñar a los jóvenes cuado muera para que ustedes sepan de cómo mi padre me ha contado para que ustedes conozcan, por eso quiero hablar.      

I want to defend the ache language
I love the young. I want to teach them the Ache language. I don’t know many words. We sometimes make mistakes. I want to defend the young for the ache language not to die out, I want to defend the young women, the children, I really want to defend the young women.
We call the white children, we call them katugi- this means the white complexion Ache child- we call the dark complexion girls krapegi, this is the way we, the Ache people, call the white complexion children, hapiagi the girl, embogi the dark boy and katugi the white one.