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******other drug-afflicted countries
Our vet, John Faber Rojas, was at our door right at 7am to do a drive for photography. He suggested a couple of drives that Cristina and I had already done recently so he agreed to go to Trujillo because that is a town I loved and, in fact, just happened to have posted one of my 2022 photos from there on my Facebook page very recently.
We picked up his father Luis in Tulua at John's brother's place. Luis just turned 74 years old, so he is younger than me... and we headed via Rio Frio to this lovely town. Little did I know that I was about to get an "in your face" history lesson....
I never knew that this gorgeous little town was one of the locations of the many narco-trafficker massacres of resisters, including priests. There is a large memorial and cemetery for murdered and "disappeared" persons, including memorials from other drug-afflicted countries. One memorial for a Monsignor Romero of El Salvador rang a history bell...
The stories, the paintings, the relics, the photographs,.... really drove home that this monstrous event really happened here, in this place,... in this lovely place... and we were at a loss for words.
And a poster outlining many similar massacres blew me away.
The dress, shown below, donated by the mother of a young lady, and I translate - "Dress made and worn by Alba Isabel Geraldo Fernandez, who disappeared, was tortured, murdered, and thrown into the Cauca River. Donation from her mother Maruja Fernandez.
Alba Isabel, today you become a path to justice for young people in Colombia." And then her photo, probably held by a brother, or son, was above my head....
I was dumbfounded at the cruelty mentioned and depicted everywhere, perpetrated mostly by a man called "El Alacran", "The Scorpion"...
Info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_of_Trujillo
And a lot of factual Colombian Drug War history here: https://oxfordre.com/latinamericanhistory/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199366439.001.0001/acrefore-9780199366439-e-504
We drove on to 3 other towns before returning, on some really awful and narrow roads, hoping we were not going to meet a bus or something big... John's car kept powering out on us, probably 25 times in total, but thankfully it always started again.
So we saw some more of this lovely country that survives in spite of the violent past and rejoice in the resiliency of its wonderful people.
I hope you enjoy the pictures. That was the day’s excitement.
Al
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Sugar cane fields on the way to Rio Frio 
Scenic roadway 
John at the wheel 
Rio Frio 
This bus is called a Chiva 
On the way to Trujillo 
Trujillo 
New colours for the church! 
Pigeons everywhere 
Another Chiva 
Another angle of the central park 
View walking up to the memorial 
List of massacres 
Cemetery for the murdered or disappeared 
John and Luis 
View of downtown 
Famous El Salvador murder 
Tortured and mutilated priest 
and another 
The dress 
The girl Alba Isabel 
Apparently The Scorpion owned a Chiva 
Leaving Trujillo 
Buzzards with a meal 
and they take turns... 
Welcome to Venecia 
With Luis 
Welcome to Andinapolis... No, ...no 500 
Cristina feeding pigeons 
Luckily the road was wider here 
A motorcyclist leading a pony 
Welcome to Salonica 
Gorgeous tree! 
Rio Frio (Cold River) attracts crowdson weekends 
Playing dominoes in Tulua 
Guy doing wheelies
