Wife and I own an interesting one hundred year old home in South America. It’s a money pit that’s tucked deep inside a very interesting barrio that’s deep in the middle of a very interesting city of 100,000 people . While we’re there on our visits we are always made to feel that wthout doubt, we do definitely belong to that barrio . That’s a good feeling and I like it a lot as I rarely experience that feeling here . But belonging to a barrio brings a few responsiblites . Like the large tree that grows out of the sidewalk in front of our house.
We’ve been contacted recently to inform us of something we already knew …. the tree in front of the house has become a problem and will need to go . It has grown to the point that it’s roots have have buckled the sidewalk into a pedestrians hazard as has the road in front of it become a bumpy nightmare for those riding motor scooters . It’s been evident for quite some time actually that the tree will need to be removed and we are not the only ones that will be dissapointed to see it gone .
In Cartago, Colombia there are still numerous men who make a living delivering everything from construction materials to furniture by horse drawn cart . Many of them would use the shade of our well known tree to rest their horses between jobs . Fruit sellers would take a break beneath it and sell me a mango or papaya and that’s beautifull. But they aren’t the only ones that enjoy that tree as the local electric company along with the internet services currently use it as a telephone pole .
We’ve contracted someone to come and remove the tree and they arrived the other day to assess the scope of work . A neighbor used their phone to record them doing so and sent that recording to us . As the man placed a ladder against the tree four large and colorfull macaw’s squawked loudly as they flew away …. I’m sure they will miss that tree as well and do hope they find our tree’s in the back yard comfortable …
