Log #48, More about Tetakawi
Go backward to Hazards of San Carlos Jump ahead to February Logs Return to the Latest Log
Updated January 5th, 2007
The Mountain's Name, and Its Dangers
Tetakawi sunset
(intothesunsettours.com photo)
Tetakawi's famous silhouette is used in logos of San Carlos businesses, hotels and restaurants. According to local reporters, however, this famous rocky body is not protected, and that has generated controversy about tourist development (Log #45).
Grupo Caballero Logo
(grupocaballero.com picture)
Popularly known as Tetakawi, or "goat tits", the hill's name, itself, has generated controversy.
Tetas
(abril.dynip.com photo)
A local columnist, Horacio Vázquez of the Market, says that in reality Tetakawi signifies
“mountain of stone,” a 400-year-old term initiated by Spanish colonizers.
Before the Spanish invasion, however, the true name of the hill was Tacale, a Yaqui Indian word meaning
“tongue of viper,” which described the forked form of the hill. For the Yaquis, the hill symbolized the
northern limit of their mystical territory. It was there that they performed sacred ceremonies
similar to the celebrations they held on its twin, a peak located between Ciudad Obregón and Navojoa,
which marked the Yaqui's southern territorial limit.
Before a bloody gouge was dynamited into the hill by developers, Tetakawi suffered a previous
attack, the famous explosion in the movie “Catch 22” flimed in the seventies. Mr. Pablo,
a Guaymas resident of 71 years, remembers with displeasure, “They made a scene where apparently
collided a light aircraft with the hill and at the moment in which the light aircraft impacted, they
blew a part of the hill with dynamite to simulate the explosion. The Government let them do
this.”
We watched the movie last night, and discovered that neither of us had seen it before (I confused it
with "Apocalypse Now" - different era, different war). It was great seeing so much of our
local scenery in the movie, with the Tetas silhouetted in so many shots, not to mention the explosion
right at the base of the highest cliffs, the simulated crash site.
In more recent Tetakawi news, on New
Years Eve, a 24-year-old visiting from San Diego fell from the same upper cliffs
that exploded during the movie. He didn't live to see 2007. The Marines attempted a helicopter rescue, but
weren't able to fly close enough. Rescate ground rescue retrieved the body
on New Year's Day. The hiker was
alone when he fell, and friends didn't miss him for quite some time...yet another lesson for those of us who
scramble around the mountains.
