Christian Liberals & Progressive People of Faith

When I first met my wife a quarter century ago, she told me two things about her religion (Roman Catholic).

One of them was an answer to this very question.

She told me how her ancestors first climbed el cerro del Manzanillo nearly 500 years ago, to see if they could find a way back to Africa.

When they couldn't see Africa, they cried and played their drums.

Over time, whenever their descendants were sad, they too would climb el cerro del Manzanillo, and look out to see if they could see Africa, and then they could not, like their ancestors they would cry and play their musical instruments.

Over time, all of those tears coalesced to form a lake.

El cerro del Manzanillo is a magical, mythical and geographical place.

When my wife was a little girl, there was a rumor going around Patía that la Virgen María had appeared at the top, so my wife and her friend climbed to the top to see if they could see Her.

That was more than 6 decades ago.