El Dorado Hill

El Dorado Hill is a poetic interpretation of Naparima Hill, in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago that was desecrated and defaced by quarrying and capitalist greed in the latter half of the last century.

It was originally called Nabarima (Guardian of the waters) by the Warao Indians of the Orinoco Delta in Venezuela who considered it sacred. Clearly visible from the low delta regions, it was the Northern coordinate of their navigation system.

Legend has it that a supreme spirit, Kanobo lived on the hill and that he rescued the inhabitants of the Delta region during a great deluge. Until the 1930s, the Warao Indians made an annual pilgrimage by canoe to the hill. However, the practice was stopped by the then British authorities in Trinidad who feared their naked Dionysian frolic.

There is a saying in Trinidad : “to behave like a Warahoo” – meaning to act loudly and wantonly.

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