What are yayales?

Question

This is a verse from a song by Juan Luis Guerra, Voy a pedir su mano

Voy a bajar por los yayales en una yagua de tul voy a pintar los manatiales con óleos de cielo azul

I tried to translate it and came up with this:

I'm going to descend for / to the yayales in a tulle (mesh) bark of the royal palm I'm going to paint the wells with oils (as in paints) of blue sky

I understand and appreciate that the singer is very lyrical and poetic and that he is apparently "on a love high" but I can't figure out what yayales are. And the yagua de tul, is that some kind of boat? Any thoughts?

Thanks for your help!

Saludos, Chica

Answer 1

This is an old thread, but y'all may still be around...

The definition of yagua can be found here: http://lema.rae.es/drae/?val=yagua

In short, it's the broad part of a royal palm branch that's closest to the tree. One of the things they're used for is to cover a pit where folks have put a pig to roast.

Best, patotas07

Welcome to SpanishDict. - rac1, Jan 23, 2015

Answer 2

Yayales is a place in the Dominican Republic, see this map here.

And it seems Yagua is the Spanish version of Yahua. The Yagua (Yahua) are a people in northeastern Peru.

Not sure if this helps at all, but this is what i've uncovered in the googling jeje... maybe a native can offer some more in depth explanation. He's Dominican though, so i'm assuming he's talking about nice places and activities there. Either way, is music is very poetic, and always good.

Ok that makes sense, J.L. Guerra is a Dominican. But I don't think he is referring to the Yahua people though... - chicasabrosa, Mar 14, 2011

Los Yayales - lorenzo9, Mar 14, 2011

Yea, the Yahua part doesn't make sense to me either. =\ - DJ_Huero, Mar 14, 2011