An old man hunched over with a baseball cap and a small cloth pack hanging from his back, scoots in beside me on a small well worn bench.
He quietly calls out to an old woman who has casually wandered over to us carrying a Styrofoam box perched on top of her shoulders .
She places the coffee carefully in between the wooden slats on the park bench in between myself and the older gentleman.
We sit here in silence, yet surrounded by music and watch pigeons peck ferociously in the shade, in the shadow of the old church which stands above the plaza in the pueblo. Food drives their gatherings – which tend to be brief. They scatter like leaves in the wind when someone walks by.
I would like to talk to the old man but the language barrier is insurmountable. He lives here, he tells me that. He says it’s a very touristy town. It’s a charming town I tell him in English. Now finished with his small cup of coffee he simply walks away. I later see him numerous times walking around town.
A new song comes on from the café near me. It is Ahora Que Te Vas by Los Inquietos del Vallenato. It is romantic, and sensual at the same time. I have no idea what the words are but I can feel it’s raw emotion.
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