A Taxi Driver in Medellin

A cab driver is one of the most privileged professionals who is aware of and to know about people: rich and poor, good and bad, women and men; so, all travel unnoticed inside a taxicab.

Not anyone could be a cab driver because it is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, especially in Medellin at those violent times; it required to have a warrior's soul for a man or woman who want to be affiliated and baptized in the brotherhood of cab drivers.Many former employees buy a cab with their retirement money; innocently enter the sordid world of the streets and when the delinquents assault them in a first robbery, or when they ride, voluntarily or forced, the first wounded or dead person, then they get aware and give up so risky profession. 

When I board a taxi with the mission to get a journalistic or literary chronicle, most of the time I do not introduce myself as a writer instead as a simple passenger who is ready to listen to new stories; this way the taxi driver becomes more spontaneous and I am aware of the smallest detail to put it at the paper immediately after the ride is over. Cab drivers authorize me to turn interviews into texts and I have the freedom to express my opinion about the facts. I name the protagonist of a cab driver in Medellín: David; he represents all of them, including myself, because I was a cab driver for 20 years, I could feel and live that  historical moment social and culture of Medellin