The day Olwen patted a Rottweiler

There's a shop in Santa Fe that sells handcrafts. It consists of a small, dark cluttered room, and beyond it there is a second similar room containing strange items: a ladies side-saddle (for when ladies looked like ladies), an 85 year old fridge and a large Rottweiler dog.

This beast guards the way to an inner patio. On Saturday, the owner commanded it aside and brought us through to a bright courtyard. With much pride and a flourish of the hand he said, "This house was where the Declaration of Independence of Antioquia was signed".

This happened 200 years ago and didn't succeed for very long, but still today Medellín, Santa Fe and the rest of the Department of Antioquia regard themselves as being a different people. They´re called paisas: genetically European and traditionally Catholic.

As we made our way through Santa Fe, the priest´s voice from St Barbara's could be clearly heard as he intonated repeatedly "Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners ..."

Mairianna and her side-kick, my dearest, have now taught 88 women how to sew bags. A useful skill, and for some it's a further contact with a rejuvenated Christianity. Mairianna flies back to Glasgow on Thursday, Olwen hopes she'll come back again, and so do many paisas.


Photo: Mairianna and her side-kick in an outdoor café, Santa Fe

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