Jugglers

I saw three jugglers in the traffic near Uzaquén and Santa Ana yesterday; I'm always impressed by this brash combination of courage and skill, especially given the nature of traffic in Bogotá. They were all young men, they seem to be always young men, one juggling red balls, the next juggling silver clubs, and the last one juggling five balls coloured red, yellow, blue and green. They were also near the military base, from where I heard the suspected machine gun fire the other day. There were lots of soldiers on the street carrying machine guns. It did feel a bit unnerving walking by them or standing still right next to two of them while waiting for the light to change. Just as it felt rather scary waiting for the light to change a couple of hours earlier while two young thuggish looking guys were playing with their off-leash pit bull. Other pedestrians seemed also unnerved and actually went right on to the street to wait for the light in order to put some distance from the dog. I went with them. I noticed that the soldiers seemed to be mostly in their teens and in many cases their eyes had an empty soulless expression and I wonder how many of these children (because that's what they are) have already killed someone. I don't believe them to be bad people. On a couple of occasions, I have exchanged greetings with them and they seemed like sensitive nice boys though I do fear for their souls. I guess like the jugglers they are also endeavouring to prove their courage though I tend to side with the jugglers. Today was a little bit tense. Twice I had to dodge some very threatening looking guys coming towards me and both expressed displeasure that I got away from them. Another fellow did approach me with a piece of paper that he wanted to give me that seems to contain interesting information about ebola. I at first thought that he wanted some money but when I gave him some change he put it back in my hand saying it was for free. Now, Gentle Reader, you might be wondering why I would avoid two of these gentlemen but not the other. I sensed that the other guy had a mental illness, but also that he had a good soul. The others, no way! I believe that God is leading me and that I simply have to listen for his voice. Or perhaps we could call it intuition or listening to my gut. I prefer to give credit where it is due. I also felt led to a cafe I hadn't noticed before except for today while I was on my way and the weather was still nice. On the way back it was threatening to rain and I suspected that it was going to be yet another one of Bogotá's legendary cloudbursts and it was. I made it inside an Oma cafe, which is kind of like a Colombian Tim Horton´s. Within minutes of getting inside, the heavens let loose and the thunderclaps were awesome and soon the street was flooded.