Paraje La Mazamorra

A series of rural trails, with some passages that still preserve stretches marked by the three footprints, make their way through the grasses, trying to outmaneuver nature, which has long been determined to devour what man left behind. In these fields, the oral version of neighbors who want to keep alive, more than the present, their own pasts, with old stories of what once was. In the present, nine people give timid signs that people still live in this place in the deep rural interior of the east. Journalist and broadcaster - member of the Uruguay Documental content production team - Leonardo Muraña continues to explore, alongside Juan Lucas Muraña's camera, the depths of the country's center, generating journalistic products that help us reflect on the country we cannot see. In this case, it is the La Mazamorra area; A small residential area located in the northeastern part of the Durazno department, close to the natural border of the Negro River, which connects it to the Tacuarembó department. Originally, it was a populated center with significant social and productive activity. Current residents recall a past with a certain nostalgia and reminiscence, when some fifty shacks, mostly made of straw and earth, fueled the dreams of a handful of easterners. The closest and most popular towns are: La Paloma, La Alegría, Cuchilla Ramírez, and Paso Ramírez. Drinking water and electricity were installed when almost no one was left. These stories are part of "Vaciado Uruguay," with residents who, convinced, continue to affirm that their life lies in these territories.