the tranquility of Mompox

After Peru I was able to take a few more days off, in compensation for many weekends spent travelling and working away from home, and decided to go to Mompox in Colombia.  Founded in 1540 beside the River Magdalena, it became a major Spanish colonial trading post, but then when more modern boats required a deeper berth, and trade moved to a different branch of the river, Mompox went to sleep.

The streets and buildings are still as they were hundreds of years ago, perfectly preserved (it is a UNESCO World Heritage site) but now there is very little activity.  The few tourists who pass through mostly spend just one or two days there, despite its remoteness and difficult access.  But for lack of time to do the necessary research, I had booked myself in for six days... that turned out to be six days well spent.  Not that I did very much, but it is an easy place to wander around slowly, to sit in a rocking chair in a cafe beside the river and sip a coffee, to watch the iguanas, kingfishers and woodpeckers in the trees beside the river...

I also wandered along the river out of town, just to enjoy being out in the countryside, although of course there turned out to be more attractive birds there.

Not to mention that the people were so friendly!  Many of the older people stopped to chat - to ask where I was from and what I thought of their town, to admire my eyes (it seemed as though no-one with green eyes had ever before visited the place), and in one case to ask me to join a family reunion celebration.  Even when I declined the latter invitation they ensured that I hung around long enough to drink a glass of Scotch with them.

The people running the hostel I stayed at treated me like family, inviting me to share their food (not that I'm a big fan of chicken feet soup), going on a boat trip with me along the river, and even now, two weeks after my return, sending me nice messages on facebook.

There were a few things to do in town.  A rather nice cemetery, full of cats.  A small but interesting museum.  & a botanical garden - totally overgrown as the caretaker has some long-term illness and clearly no-one is covering his responsibilities in his absence, but a trio of rather cross-looking red-mantled howler monkeys were around as well as a large number of mosquitoes.

But overall I didn't do very much at all while I was there.  A rare time of relaxation!  Something I know I don't do enough of these days as I am usually rushing around either working or trying to fill every moment of my spare time.