Apenas el Sol plot
The Avoreo people live in the arid Chaco region of Paraguay. The ancestors of Mateo Sobode Chiqueño worshiped the sun, which they considered to be a superior and generous being. For Mateo and his contemporaries, the sun has primarily become a threat, turning deforested areas into worryingly dry, dusty plains. A small part of the Ayoreo still lives withdrawn in the forests of Chaco in Paraguay. But a much larger group, of which Mateo is a part, was herded into small settlements by missionaries, who expropriated their land and forcibly converted them to Christianity. Since the 1970s, Mateo has been traveling to Ayoreo communities with a now antique cassette recorder to interview them and record traditional songs for his audio archive. Doubts about the loss of identity can be heard in the conversations. Is it a problem that the Ayoreo culture is disappearing, or is that a necessary condition for integration? How important is it to preserve traditions?