CULTURLESS COLOMBIA

Well OK, cultureless Monteria. There is a lot of culture and history in other places around this country, but it just so happens that in this little town, there is nothing, or so I thought. You see, there are no theatres or operas or art galleries of the sort, and I feel deprived. It seems that the only culture people have here is the tribute to the local rum or beer at their local watering holes on any given evening of the week. There is also the culture of cows and farms and other livestock, but not quite the culture I am interested in.

But passing my neighbours late afternoon, I found out there was a poetry festival in the next town over—a festival of female poets from Central and South America. It surprised me, and of course I accepted the invitation. It even surprised me how I could catch a slight gist of the poems and it wasn’t just murmurings of incomprehensible words.

It felt great to be around a crowd interested in more than just rum, cows and beer. It was wonderful to hear the rhythmic flow of Spanish being amplified around a plaza and to see the poets in front of a yellowish colonial style building framed with palms. There was definitely an energy that buzzed through the crowd. At the interlude, a local band played typical music from this area which had poets and audience up and dancing on the make shift dance floor in front of the stage. I sat back and sucked it all in.

It is funny, just when you are about to make a conclusion about something; or in this case about the lack of culture, something comes along to change your mind. I am glad that my mind wasn’t made up, and happy to say that yes, this city isn’t quite as cultureless as I had originally thought.