Imaybé and Iniguazu were a couple from the Chiriguano tribe that fiercely resisted the Spaniards from the beginning of the colonization period. Imaybé was the daughter of the cacique and Iniguazu was one of the bravest warriors in the tribe. They were married and expecting their first child. One day, Spanish troops stormed the village, setting fire to everything and killing men, women and children. The Chiriguano warriors fought back bravely, but were overwhelmed by superior weaponry, and many fell in action, among them Imaybé’s father and husband.

She was in the last month of her pregnancy, and ran into the forest in a desperate effort to save her child’s life, praying to the god Tumpa to help her. Tumpa heard her pleas, and turned her into a toborochi tree at the precise moment when a group of Spanish soldiers were about to fall upon the running survivors to kill them. This way, mother and son were saved by disguising as a tree, well protected by the round trunk and the thick, strong roots of a toborochi tree. Read the Legend of the Toborochi Tree to find out why the toborochi tree has such a big, swollen trunk.