Laguna de Aculeo: bullock cart, gold and legend

By Francisco Díaz C. ⁽¹⁾ and Carlos Navarro V. ⁽²⁾

Summary
Professors Francisco Díaz C. and Carlos Navarro V. present the iconic legend of the commune of Paine (Province of Maipo, Metropolitan Region), which they have named: «Laguna de Aculeo: Carreta, Oro y Leyenda». When reading it, it brings us into that world that no longer exists in physical form today, but it is in the shared imagination of the people of Aculeo.

Keywords: Afuerinos, Huincas, Legend.

Resumen
Los profesores Francisco Díaz C. Y Carlos Navarro V. presentan la icónica leyenda de la comuna de Paine. (provincia del Maipo, región metropolitana), llamada: “Aculeo Lagoon: Bullock cart, gold and legend. En la lectura, nos internalizaremos en un mundo que no existe en la realidad, pero sí en el imaginario colectivo de los Aculeguanos.

Palabras clave: Afuerinos, Huincas, Leyenda

Francisco Díaz Céspedes (Izquierda) Carlos Navarro V. (derecha). Foto tomada por el Profesor Rodrigo Rodríguez F. el día 2 de abril de 2026 a las 13:56 horas en la Biblioteca del Colegio Terraustral Oeste, comuna de Maipú, Santiago de Chile.

FROM FORGETTING TO REMEMBERING.
History is the only discipline that allows us to understand the past. Currently, the Laguna de Aculeo is located in the commune of Paine, Maipo Province, Metropolitan Region, and it has been the essence of its inhabitants; achieving a memory of what all of Chile has forgotten. Its first stories were of nature, harmony, and beauty. But the conqueror, whom they called Huinca, established his sword and his word. This last one, the most powerful of all, has lasted until our day. It changed the story, transformed natural thinking, and built the trick of physical things to dominate. Gold, the fever of all evils, since the white man got sick for getting a simple mineral, hit and removed the most genuine human relationships of the people of Aculeo, forcing them into the evilest pain, like an agony that never ended. That Huinca who rode with a hidden smile was the purest poison of the Indian Americas. Father Bartolomé de las Casas told this to the leaders of the Old Continent, and they only watched his writing in silence; but the evil action was already in the open veins of Latin America, as Eduardo Galeano said, and many of us woke up.

De las Casas and Galeano maybe never walked on or saw Laguna de Aculeo, but the people of Aculeo were also the word and mirror of the suffering they wrote about. However, their voice was never silenced or cut. And from the natural story, they would move to a resistant story, as a source of strength, sign, and resilience. Because teaching is not obedience, teaching is learning; and it is, in its final goal, the living and eternal expression of the soul.

With sword and word, the Huinca never saw that the communities of Laguna de Aculeo would last as a landmark; becoming a quick or passing message that builds the past of the people of Aculeo. Between bullock carts cart, gold, and legend, the idea of facing the iron would be formed; being the result, hope, grief, and bravery. Because the people of Aculeo live overcoming the impossible, taking care of what belongs to them, protecting their environment, watching and recognizing what others did. Laguna de Aculeo lives in the voice of those who live there, in their looks, in their talks, in their events, in their courage. Because the people of Aculeo live in «where the river ends». So, their history is recent, it is speech, it is wisdom; and not the kind that science explains. On the contrary, it is the one spoken in their streets, in their homes, in their infinite spaces where everything happens.

BULLOCK CART, GOLD AND LEGEND.
The commune of Paine is a land of historical people and natural wonders that enrich its environment. All this context made the people of its town grow in a world surrounded by farming, animals, and a culture wrapped in mystery. So, the stories travel from voice to voice at the edge of a river, from a six-day country wedding, or in a talk between two friends in a dark street without lights. Paine is visited for its famous watermelons, hunting, the rodeo, the hill, the Cantillana reserve, and the countryside; however, a place that marks this area is the famous lagoon, kept by its only water sources: the Pintué stream and the Santa Marta canal, today declared an urban wetland. In this world, the story is born, shaped by the voice of the oldest men and women of Laguna de Aculeo. In the beginning, the Aculeo basin, also called Aculeufú, was lived in by original peoples who came from the Incas; all wrapped in the lake life of their lands and what nature could give them. Not everything was natural heritage, but they also inherited gold that came from their ancestors, bringing up spirituality and a direct connection with those who came before them. For decades, life was quiet and good, full of pure lands that they still had to know.

Between the change of time with the understanding of gold (the treasure they protected so much), they would face their greatest threat: the coming arrival of the conquerors (Huinca), thirsty for growing, power, and getting riches never seen before. The original peoples began to receive traveling people who came from other regions of the south of Chile, the Afuerinos, who slowly joined the community. They, helpfully, brought new habits, for example, new ways for planting and pulling carts with oxen or horses, which made work and travel easier. It was a winter, the sun hid early and during the morning, the fog covered the view of the roads around the lagoon, when the first steps of a group of horses were heard coming strongly through the entrance to Aculeo. The first men and women who saw those Afuerinos passing were surprised by their clothes and the way they talked; they had never seen anything like that, it felt threatening. It seemed they were the same ones they once saw walking through Huiticalán. These people, warned by the visit of these strangers, had the feeling that something was going to happen; so, they ran along the sides of the Hill of Peralillo and took a short path to arrive earlier and tell their people. It was already noon, and the oldest indigenous people of the town, warned by their people, felt that a day like this would arrive: «something bad could happen».

On their side, the Afuerinos realized that not only the lands could be a target to hunt, but also the gold of their ancestors, because for other people, it had a value of power beyond the spiritual. Finally, the elders had no other choice: «they had to defend their lands and treasures at all costs». Because of this, the Afuerinos, forever thankful to the first indigenous people, joined the cause. The plan was to wait and see the reaction of these men on horses with «strange» clothes whom, from now on, I will call Huincas. Already at noon, the Huincas arrived at the home of these indigenous people, claiming their fertile lands and everything they had, in front of the confused faces of the oldest ones, who waited for the arrival of these Huincas with fear, strength, and the belief of getting through this moment. After a few minutes, it was clear there was a lack of understanding between the oldest speaker of the indigenous people of Aculeufú and the leader of the Huincas. The relations between both sides, clearly, broke. At the same time, in another place near this meeting, a group of young indigenous people prepared a bullock cart loaded with riches, as well as the gold that the first men had inherited from their old people. It was ready and set to escape if it was necessary.

One of these indigenous people, strong, young and smart, was the one who would escape with this cart. He was given the promise of protecting the inheritance of his people, no matter the results. Back in the meeting with the Huincas, the seconds passed; Huincas and indigenous people did not find an agreement and began to steal everything they could. Inside the mess, one of the Huincas warned his leader: «They escaped with a cart full of gold, they are going toward the hill!«. In that same moment, the young indigenous man moved with the gold cart toward the sides of the hill (the highest part of the area), to the west of the town, he felt the strange screams of the Huincas near his location and thought: «I will not be able to get lost in the mountain, I will have to escape toward the lagoon and, maybe the fog of the night will cover me, and I can escape». It was already late, the sun was hiding in the west, and the brave young indigenous man waited for the fog at the edge of the lagoon; but something did not go well. The fog appeared, but the moon shone more than ever. Soon, the lights of the Huincas appeared, they saw him, they surrounded him and trapped him at the edge of the water with no escape. The Huincas saw the gold that gave off the shine of the moon, and made a golden shine stand out that would blind anyone.

With no way out, the young indigenous man squeezed his hands tightly, and with no choice, but full of bravery, he drove the cart into the lagoon. Even without knowing its waters, the Huincas followed the cart at full speed, but something happened: the mud under their feet began to swallow them. They could not go back to the edge; it was late, and slowly they sank with fear and crying. They were swallowed by the waters of the Laguna de Aculeo. Instead, the young indigenous man just disappeared.

Currently, on days of a full moon, the people of Paine believe strongly, on one hand, that the golden shine of the gold has never disappeared, even under the water, and that it shows itself as a golden snake that swims without stopping ; and on the other hand, that under the waters of the Laguna de Aculeo one can see and hear the desperate screams of those Huincas chasing the golden shine of the cart.

Francisco Díaz Céspedes
Artículo publicado el 03/04/2026

Annotations:
(1) Fracisco Díaz C. teacher, writer and maipucino researcher.
(2) Carlos Navarro V. teacher, musician and aculeaguano researcher.

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