The Guardians’ Bat Are Coming Alive in Sacramento

78 Years of Solitude (Part 3) – by Mario Crescibene Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Beneath an elevated highway in the south of Medellín, a skate park is already in motion. Skaters drop in from every side of the concrete bowl, cutting lines that should end in collisions, yet somehow no one crashes into each other. Wheels grind and boards clack against the lip, smoke from blunts and cigarettes curling aimlessly under the lights.

The park is 4 Sur, and tonight we are celebrating the tenth anniversary of Rodeo Skateboard — the best skate shop in Medellín. I find an open space on some large concrete steps overlooking the bowl that serve as stands. The park is already packed even though it’s still early in the night.

Bodies press in on either side of me as more people slowly arrive. I’m not exactly sure when I got here, but that is how time moves in the city of eternal spring. It drifts and disperses just like the smoke from the blunts.

Above me, fluorescent lights run in long lines along the underside of the highway, illuminating the concrete park below, every surface covered in graffiti. Cartoon characters share the walls with spray-painted rats scurrying across the ramps, the unofficial mascot of 4 Sur. A green creature painted on the lip of a circular mound just below me watches the bowl with bloodshot eyes.