Some of the best known Legends of Guayaquil The Lady with the Black Hand, La Llorona, Victor Emilio Estrada and the Devil's Covenant and The Legend of Guayas and Quil. It is said that the latter gave the name to the city.
The city of Guayaquil was a very important commercial port and a center of construction of ships of the Spanish in the colonial era. It obtained its independence before Ecuador, the 9 of October of 1820.
La Llorona, one of the legends of Guayaquil.
In 1822 it is annexed to the Great Colombia by Simón Bolívar. After the failure of Gran Colombia, Guayaquil ends up being part of the newly born Republic of Ecuador.
The assaults and fires to the city by pirates were quite common. Today popular stories about these clashes are told.
The 7 most outstanding legends of Guayaquil
1- The lady covered
It is believed that this legend comes from the year 1700. The story recounts the appearance of a woman's ghost in midnight hours touring the streets of the city, wearing an elegant black dress of the colonial era with veiled face.
Her figure and the scent of perfumes was very attractive to the men who saw her, who were mostly drunk or typical"don Juanes", seducers and womanizer. The men tried to walk towards the lady, but she began to walk without letting them get close enough.
In this way they were chased down dark alleys to the cemetery, where she stopped and turned to see her victim. It was then that the veil revealed a hideous corpse face with burning eyes and a lot of putrefaction.
It is believed that very few survive this encounter. History does not define why the victims die of the lady covered: if it is by the scare, the pestilence or some other factor like hypnosis. In more contemporary versions, victims fall through an abyss or are run over by vehicles.
2- The tamarind widow
This legend comes from the story of a woman from Manabí who murdered her Spanish husband. She was cursed to wander near a tamarind tree by an hacienda in Quinta Pareja, crying forever for the memory of her husband.
This myth is quite similar to the covered lady. It is said that she is dressed in mourning and sometimes crying in the dark streets of the city, with a veil or umbrella.
The men who saw her followed her to comfort her. The widow made them follow her to the tamarind tree, where she revealed her face and they died.
3- La Llorona
This story stems from the typical situations of innocent young women of the towns that moved to the city in search of better opportunities. This legend tells the story of a girl who managed to get a job in a house of wealthy people.
Naivety made her easy prey of love and she got pregnant from the owner's son. After being thrown of its work tries to return to its family, but was strongly criticized.
Desperation made her throw her newborn baby into the river. Realizing his inhuman act, he tried to recover it between cries and tears but was dragged by the current.
The stories tell that they have heard the girl crying in the nights looking for her son among the houses and estates near the rivers, scaring children and big alike.
4- The child with the black hand
It tells the story about a child of wealthy family named Toribio de Castro Grijuela, who lacked the right hand of birth.
The family was very religious; they had special devotion to the Virgin of Soto to whom they asked for many miracles. Thanks to Christian upbringing, Toribio grew up with a kind and selfless heart. He liked to help poor and needy people.
One day an old woman asked the child for food, he attended it with great joy, as he always did. She gave Toribio a gift. The next morning the boy woke up excited, because his right hand was black.
It is said that Toribio had his heroic moment facing the pirates in 1587, defeating the famous Cavendish and his men. According to account, when exhuming the corpse of Toribio after years of its death, its black hand showed no features of decomposition.
5- Posorja
This legend tells the story of a girl with the gift of divination that one day arrived brought by the sea in a kind of small boat. The Huancavilca natives of the area adopted her as a princess and called her Posorja.
Many powerful men from other tribes wanted to marry her or marry their children, to take advantage of their divine gifts and expand their territories. The Inca emperor Huayna Capac was obsessed with her.
The Huancavilca fled from the Incas to found the area of Posorja. As a result, many clashes and deaths occurred between tribes. Before disappearing into the sea again, Posorja predicted a tragic future for both Huayna Capac and Atahualpa.
6- Victor Emilio Estrada and the pact with the Devil
It was an Ecuadorian politician whose presidency in 1911 lasted less than four months, since it passed away by heart failure the 21 of December of that same year. According to the legend, the former president had made a pact with the Devil, offering his soul in return.
The inhabitants of Guayaquil believe that this was the reason for the order to construct their mausoleum in copper, to prevent that the Devil could enter to take away its soul after being buried.
After his death, the devil enraged by the bullshit cursed the soul of Estrada, sending his demons to guard him and not let him rest in peace.
Since then they have seen the phantom of the former president dressed elegantly and hat, wandering around the entrance of the cemetery. Some stories tell that the apparition seeks to converse with the people waiting for the bus.
7- The legend of Guayas and Quil
The legend goes back to the time of the conquest of the area. The story is about the sacrifice of love and freedom of the couple of native warriors of the Huancavilca tribe when threatened by the Spaniards.
Sebastián de Benalcázar had many strong confrontations with this tribe to try to establish the new city of Santiago (present Guayaquil). The cacique Guayas and his wife Quil led the native resistance forces, and were great warriors.
Eventually they were captured. Guayas, knowing the avarice of his captors, offered to the Spaniards many hidden treasures in exchange for his freedom and that of his wife. They were then taken to the Cerro Verde (now Cerro Santa Ana).
Here Guayas asked for a knife to move one of the stones that covered the entrance of the treasure hut. But instead of gold and precious stones, Guayas nailed the knife to Quil's heart and then to his; they preferred to die to be subjugated.
It is said that this event occurred near the current Guayas River, where it is said that the bodies fell. This is one of the origins that is given to the name of the city.
References
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- Julio Calero G. (2014). Legends of ancient Guayaquil. Ecuador to Colors. Recovered from ecuadoracolores.com
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- Brayan Cabezas (2012). Urban legends. Recovered from leyeurba.blogspot.com
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