TRAVERSE Issue 42 - June 2024 | Seite 25

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a feel for a complicated history that in many ways affects the outlook for the future and yet in some parts the people don ’ t care , for the day to day is just as important .
Colombian colonial streets lead to town squares , or the plaza de la ciudad , a communal place where the town folk and visitors alike meet , eat and drink , celebrate life . A public space is a public space , regardless of where you ’ re riding the world yet something special happens in Colombia .
Just as the sun begins to reach the western horizon a feeling of celebration fills the air . It ’ s the same in every town or village where church bells ring , suggesting it ’ s time for the evening mass . In the square stalls are erected , streets performers prance about , children laugh , and adults discuss the daily routine . It ’ s a celebration played out across the country .
As Christ hung from a threehundred-year-old wall , parishioners toward the rear of the Catedral Nuestra Señora del Rosario beckoned us forward , we were now officially a part of the daily routine of life in the former river port town of Honda . Without wanting to intrude we took a few steps forward as a hymn began to play , I looked toward my travelling companion , José from Mexico , he
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