It has been interesting to see the varying importance of music, particularly public music, in the countries we have visited.
Mexico bursts with sound. Every street, square, store and open window booms with sound. It is normal to be sung to by your taxi driver. In contrast Central America seemed strangely quiet. With no home grown musical genre, music here seemed to be an extra not an integral part of life. One evening in Leon, Nicaragua we went to an advertised "music festival". It rained and less than two dozen people showed up. It is strange that in the land of poetry, music did not seem so important.
Now, in Caribbean Colombia public music is again prevalent. Here in Plaza Bolivar, these beautiful people gather nightly to put on this wonderful show for a few hours.