Captain Rodrigo Cambará: The Epic Hero of Santa Fe
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This is the sixth chapter of the trilogy The Time and the Wind: The Continent.
The Arrival of Captain Rodrigo Cambará in Santa Fe
Santa Fe, 1828.
Captain Rodrigo Cambará reaches Santa Fe. He is 30 years old and has participated in several wars: 1811, 1817, 1821, and 1825. He makes friends with Juvenal Terra. He meets Bibiana when she goes to the cemetery to place flowers on the grave of her grandmother, Ana Terra.
Rodrigo decides to stay in Santa Fe. On the advice of Father Lara, the vicar, he asks permission to remain in the region from Colonel Ricardo Amaral Neto. The colonel, claiming the town is no place for people like him, asks him to leave. But the captain is determined to stay.
Love and Conflict: Bibiana Terra and Bento Amaral
Bibiana Terra impressed him deeply. He would spend hours on end staring at her house on the corner of the square. Because of the young woman, Bento Amaral and Rodrigo quarreled at a party.
The Duel on the Coxilha
They climb the coxilha (hill) for a duel. Rodrigo is hit by a bullet fired by a henchman of Bento Amaral. Juvenal welcomes Captain Rodrigo, who is seriously wounded, into his home.
Family Life and the Arrival of Immigrants
Restored to health, he married Bibiana in 1829. Rodrigo begins working with Juvenal; they open a store with supplies brought from Rio Pardo. Bolivar and Anita are born, children of Bibiana and Rodrigo, along with Florencio, the son of Juvenal and Arminda.
In 1833, German immigrants arrive in Santa Fe. They are Erwin Kunz, Hans Schultz, and their families. They settled in small huts on the outskirts of town.
The Farroupilha Revolution and the Captain's Fate
Captain Rodrigo cannot get used to the quiet life in Santa Fe. He gambles, becomes involved with other women, and works very little. His daughter, Anita, died without him coming to her aid.
The Farroupilha Revolution (the Ragamuffin War) starts, and Rodrigo goes to battle. In the year 1836, the loyalists attacked the village. We follow Rodrigo, who is with Bibiana, waiting at home. The group takes the Amaral mansion, but Rodrigo dies after being shot in the chest.
The Legacy of the Terra-Cambará Family
Dona Picucha Fagundes, daughter of Horácio Terra, tells stories of her new heroes—Garibaldi, Bento Gonçalves, and Canabarro. She speaks of the wars that took over Rio Grande do Sul and claimed her children.
"I am brave with arms,
I am brave like a lion,
An old Indian without a government,
My law is the heart."