Our Story.
“Noble Taino Village of the Creator’s Children and People”
Our Story Begins When Our Principal Chief (Cacike): Jose Tureycu Lopez Began His Taino Journey Being Partially Raised By His Grandparents. His Grandmother Juanita Lopez At A Very Young Age Began Telling Him About His Taino Heritage She Would Say “you Have “taino Eyes”” And Seeing Her Constantly In The Kitchen Cooking And Observing The Many Plants That She Had In The Window Sill. Whenever Anyone Would Get Sick She Would Take Cuttings Of Various Plants And Would Crush The Herbs And Plants In A Pilon (And Would Make These Horrible Tasting Teas For Your Upset Stomach Or She Would Make Creams For Various Other Ailments. These Mixtures Were Horrible Tasting And Smelling But They Made You Feel 90% Better. He Didn’t Realize At The Time That His Grandmother Was Practiing The Healing Arts Of The Curanderos And Bohike (Taino Medicine People) His Grandfather Jorge Lopez Would Tell Him Stories Of How That When He Was Young Teen He And His Pleneros (Musicians) Would Go Into The Hills To Play Music And Earn Spending Money And On His Way He Would See Bohios (Round Thatch Houses) On Stilts With Small Porch Type Platforms. He Would See Long Haired And Very Dark (Trigueno) People. He Would Say “those People (Tainos) Are The People Of Our Ancestors And We Share The Same Blood”.
Grandmother Juanita Lopez At A Very Young Age Began Telling Him About His Taino Heritage She Would Say “you Have “taino Eyes” and Seeing Her Constantly In The Kitchen Cooking And Observing The Many Plants That She Had In The Window Sill. Whenever Anyone Would Get Sick She Would Take Cuttings Of Various Plants And Would Crush The Herbs And Plants In A Pilon (And Would Make These Horrible Tasting Teas For Your Upset Stomach Or She Would Make Creams For Various Other Ailments. These Mixtures Were Horrible Tasting And Smelling But They Made You Feel 90% Better. He Didn’t Realize At The Time That His Grandmother Was Practicing The Healing Arts Of The Curanderos And Bohike (Taino Medicine People)
His Grandfather Had A Map Of Boriken (Puerto Rico) That Contained The Original Names Of The Towns And Original Names Of The Cacikes (Chiefs) And Nitainos (Sub Chiefs) And He Would Recite Stories Of These Chiefs. From Those Early Beginnings He Became Very Passionate About Uplifting And Awakening People Of Taino Culture And Became Very Active In The Taino Community.
In 1999 An Elder From A Taino Community Had Asked Him To Help Restore A Tribe That Once Exsisted In Boriken (Puerto Rico).
He Worked Doing Research And Providing Valuable Data And Other Services And He Continued To Work For Many Years Assisting Other Tribes In The Capacity Of Tekina (Spokesperson) And Other Positions.