In the territory of the Bandeja Paisa, two mules haul freshly-cut stalk of plantain to the market. Nestled in the western highlands of Antioquia, the picture perfect town of Sonsón bustles on market day, and locals take great pride in the fruits of their hard work.
In 1789 a group of residents from the towns of Rionegro and Marinilla asked the then Governor of the Province of Antioquia, Francisco Baraya, to allow them to work the lands of Sonsón and with the objective to promote trade in these remote highlands. On January 28, 1871, the request came through and San José Espelette Sonsón was the name granted to the residents. But it took another decade for the town to be officially founded by a judge of the new Republic.
The combination of warm days and cool nights has been generous to Sonsón, making the town an important center of agricultural activity, and the farming of goods such as coffee, tomatoes, red beans, maize.
While nature has been bountiful with this land, Sonsón is one of several towns near the Cauca River which bore the brunt of Colombia’s long internal conflict and with a real threat, every day to the locals, of large swaths of mountainous terrain land planted with mines. While an effort is currently underway by the army and several NGOs to clear up the mine fields, as well as humanitarian de-mining brigades now present in the region, it may take another decade for the land surrounding Sonsón to be free of explosives. Yet while the country makes strides towards a resolution of the conflict, for many, life trundles on, with mules and heavy sacks of fruit leading the way.
