Step into the Heart of the City: Uncovering the Vibrant Charm of Parque Berrío

By: Andrea Lara.

I met Berrío Park in 2016, on a frequent visit to Medellín accompanied by my mother. I saw it for a few seconds, it seemed strange to me, it was gray and you could see the smoke coming out of the buses and how they stained the trunk of the palm trees and the trees that decorate it . However, it had life, there were ink shops, street vendors and three gatherings of people, one, around something called a “culebrero”, another with a man and a monkey puppet that danced to the sound of a song from Carlos Gardeland the last, a trio of gentlemen playing guitar, with several couples dancing, in a space that doesn’t seem to be made for it, but there was still a lot of joy and enjoyment.

…..

Eight years have passed since that first meeting between Parque Berrío and I, and I say it this way not because I have not returned, but because since returning to Medellín this is the second time I have stopped observe and analyze it, study it and get to know it.

Berrío Park is named in honor of Pedro Justo Berrío, a conservative politician who was president of the Sovereign State of Antioquia from 1864 to 1873, when the country was known as the “United States of Colombia.” Among his successes are the victory of the Battle of Bosa in 1854 when the conflict between the State and the dictatorship of José María Melo ended, the organization of battalions during the war between Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera and Mariano Ospina Rodríguez, as well as maintaining resistance against liberal policies. Similarly, while the rest of the country is divided between liberals and conservatives, with Berrío, the Sovereign State of Antioquia, maintaining the conservative regime.

I learned the history of his name and the statue that stands impressively among the palm trees through various documents. Today, this memorial space seems to be more of a place to rest and a meeting place for musicians, from whom I learn that it was a tradition every Friday, where they would make shows, that some would dress as women and started running between their attendees, who between dancing and laughing created a safe and happy place.

protest

I move towards the subway steps, which allow me to observe again three strange situations in the same space: the first, a gathering of the Colombian Pensioners’ Organization in favor of the current Government’s pension reforms.

To my surprise, the demonstration was welcomed by those present except for a man who was on my left on the stairs, he was thin, with a royal blue t-shirt and a print of something that looked like a rocket on the back, jeans and shoes the same color as his shirt. He shouted against the protesters, some of the pensioners responded to him, defending the sit-in, but the man continued to keep his position.

Then, one of those who took part in the demonstration approached him to ask him to leave the place, but without getting a positive response from that opponent, it seemed that the peaceful sit-in would transform into something similar to a persecution of pensioners against the opponent. . When the rest of the people present saw this, they began to shout, and the man, without further delay, and paying attention to what the Berrio Park jury said, left shaking his hands and arguing with words that I could not hear

Snakes, money and a “doctor’s heart”

I leave that scene worthy of something I once saw in movies inspired by the Salem trials to go to a second concentration, a darker one. There were about twenty people around something similar to divination, a woman who in the divinity of the future predicted things and if anyone dared to mock them they were punished with a curse.

On the floor were several items, something that resembled a stuffed monkey’s head with only a little hair visible on the skull, a green scarf, a maraca with beads that imitated the sound of a rattle, cigarettes, a baby doll with the dark look. , a glass bottle that contained oil or ointment and a cross wrapped in newspapers that he would use to tame the snake that was inside a cosmetic bag covered with magical bracelets to appease it.

berio park

Next to the beautician, the woman or as she called herself “Doctor Corazón, available on Olímpica Estéreo on the broadcast 5 in the morning,” boasted bells taken from several snakes, displayed as prizes while In his rucksack was a pink stuffed animal and also the existence of a second snake which was shown for two seconds only.

The woman had a microphone, she spoke quickly, moving from side to side trying to cover the snake inside her cosmetic bag from the cameras of the curious like me, she told us to make a circle covering ‘all the entrances, she repeatedly said “don’t record me because I’m getting nervous, don’t record me because I’m getting nervous,” but she insisted and tried to get a video of the moment. However, I failed, the lady reprimanded me and told me she would cast a spell if I continued, I had to stop.

All this, to “see” the head of a small snake which, because of its colours, appeared to be a road guard, its head was wide, and the little I could see of its body were its colours, half black and the another part yellow with spots of the same tone on the rest of your body.

The snake, if it was the one she thought, was not poisonous but it was impressive. because he ensured that these would have some power for luck, wealth, work or love.

The first person to dare was a man of about 40 or 50 years old. He gives her a 500 peso coin in exchange for the bell. .” and he tells her “you work like a mule but you’ve been paid very poorly, you’re looking for love but you can’t find anyone who wants you, from now on this coin is for good luck and for you to find love” he told him to take a good look at it, the coin went from having worn copper to turning silver.

At this fact, the other people were encouraged to give her their coins and bills, among them a mother and her daughter, both wrapped in a blanket and dressed in pajamas neglected by time , the girl got sweets and her mother in a fancy package. coins and bills from what was collected that day, the mother gave a 2 thousand bill to the witch, she simply took it and put it on the snake, she recited the same words “trancase guasapa trancase guasapa guare arisca piura” said some lottery numbers which the excited girl wrote on a piece of paper.

The session continued, more bills arrived with the promise that they would be returned, more magic numbers and other predictions were said, next to me was a thin man, about 70 years old, he was wearing torn clothes, with a beard long white, he had an eye patch and the absence of several teeth, he looked in amazement at the magic of that circle and said to me “Do you see?, that heart knows”, in those he pulled off the only bolivars he had left. and when he gave them to him, the woman said to him “You are alone and your family does not love you; has been exposed.

Their bolivars were returned like the rest of the bills, all under oath to be cleansed and transformed into abundance, prosperity, love and dreams that would come true.

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Berrío Park, a place to meet

Now, I’m thinking about what else will happen this afternoon ahead of me. Third meeting, a group of people, mostly men, sitting in the flower boxes overlooking the street, looking into the distance, considering how the hours pass. I realize something, they are “patched” as they say today, as a man I came to express briefly to my friend “is to be here, sitting on a wall or the stairs , buying red wine, talking to someone.”

I asked him what Berrío Park meant to him, and he replied “it’s a meeting place, to meet friends, dance, see people, that’s what it is, a meeting.” He also told me how his favorite pastime was sitting there until 8 at night and letting time pass. That response was repeated several times among the people sitting there.

I stay in the park for a few more hours, thinking about the agora, a space in ancient Greece where they met to talk about art, philosophy, politics, and more, is Berrío Park even that? sitting in, witchcraft, music and people who devote themselves to reflecting on life.

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