‘Yeah, I was going to point that out.’ We stop at the red light. ‘It’s supposed to be Newball. It was the last government’s idea, but parce, nobody’s ever been able to tell me whose idea it was to make him look like that – or why it cost hundreds of millions to do it! A bunch of officials from that administration – this was back in the nineties – ended up in jail for shit like this.’ Nard nods his head towards the Coral Palace.

We take a right, then pass the dock at the end of this road. Then we take Avenida 20 de Julio, where the school parades were held on Colombian Independence Day, and on 7 August in commemoration of the Battle of Boyacá. I took part in those parades: I remember carrying a triangle or cymbals or a xylophone, the boys playing side drums and kettle drums, marking the rhythm that our bodies all followed, regardless of origin or skin colour or religion, in the same tone and the same direction, at least for one day.