My mother talked in very colorful ways: different words and phrases from the other Habaneros. She used to make people laugh with her way of talking and people liked her a lot. Frequently, she would call a "vivijagua" a person, particularly a child, that was very active. Today I learned that a vivijagua is an ant in the Taino language.
She came from the Remedios-Caibarien area of Cuba. I learnt today also that there used to be a lot of pirate activity around Remedios which is why they ended up moving inland away from the sea side (link here) around 1578.
"La Villa de San Juan de los Remedios fue fundada en 1578. En 1545 el pueblo remediano contaba ya con ayuntamiento y así continuó creciendo a través del tiempo hasta que en 1843 se le confirió al creciente poblado el título de Ciudad. Es sabido que en los principios de la época colonial Remedios sufrió ataques de corsarios y piratas de todas las naciones enemigas de España, como era usual en la región caribeña. Ello conllevó a que el poblado se alejara de las costas."
That little tid bit is really interesting. You see, one of the ancestors of my grandmother (born ~1902) was a Dutch pirate. I think it was her grandfather or great-grandfather but she would get angry when one asked about the pirate ancestor and would not talk about it. But others in the family knew about the Dutch. The story was that he was very poor and had hoped to make his fortune in the Americas. So he had enlisted in a corsair/pirate ship. The Caribbean was a hot spot of pirate activity so this is not surprising.
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