The Orinoco is one of the most important rivers in South America and the third largest river in the world after the Amazon and the Congo. One of its sections marks the border between the department of Vichada in Colombia and the state of Amazonas in Venezuela. The Atures and Maipures are among the largest of the many waterfalls that break the flow of the Orinoco along its course.
The story goes that Maipure was a skilled fisherman. He had made a pact with Visuri, a snake-shaped demon who enlarged his navel so that he would use its pieces as fishing bait. The fisherman was obliged to keep this secret, but one day he made it known to his sons.
Visuri, enraged, turned the boys into pink dolphins to gobble them up when they bathed in the river. The fisherman then created a great barrier of rocks to separate the snake from his sons and save them. Visuri was so angry that he made violent waters flow between the rocks, thus forming the Atures and Maipures rapids.
