__This afternoon the first big procession will parade through the streets of Mompox. The whole town is preparing. Visitors are arriving, the churches are full of flowers and all the procession statues are receiving the final adjustments of their cloths and accessories. You can feel the expectation building up. There's a very strong military presence, a lot of guns. People say the president may come too... and on the other end we are leaving, probably the only ones in town. We have to go to Medellin today because tomorrow is festive and there are no buses running until Saturday and staying two more days here is not an option. It's nice to feel the expectation building up, and very interesting leaving right before the big event happens. I've never done it.
Anyway I still had few adventures today before leaving: my Canadian friends met an archeologist who found human sculls maybe 400 yo in one of the main squares being renovated. We helped him digging them out and we found another bone too! Then I went crazy shopping: leather sandals, a new hat, and filigrana silver hearings. Goodbye Nieto family, thank you for the hospitality. Minivan to Bodega $7, 40min. Chalupa boat to Magangue, $4, 15min. Note: we had to pay also for the missing people because they wouldn't leave if the boat wasn't completely full! Brasilia night bus to Medellin, $60, 12 hrs, we'll arrive tomorrow around 6am.
We went from the hottest heat in Mompox to the coldest cold in the bus: the AC was freezing and they wouldn't turn it down. I had long pants, wool socks and sweater, wool shawl as a blanket and on top of it the yoga towel for protection from the AC wind...

God! It's hot here.. and humid! I was supposed to go for an architecture tour of the town with the Canadian friends but the guide disappeared so instead we went to the market to buy food for dinner: I arrived back home completely sweaty. The middle of the day is hell in Mompox, you can't really do anything but siesta. Robbert came back from his walk with a bright pink chick: apparently it's part of the local Easter traditions to paint the real chicks, not the eggs! We kept it for an hour and then gave it to the maid for her kids: apparently she has more colored chicks at home.
In the evening there was a procession going to the cemetery:all the people light candles in front of family graves. It was a beautiful scene, and we lit candles on abandoned graves. Back home we had a nice evening cooking and chatting with the Canadians.

_Easy morning in Magangue, and in the pm we move on to Mompox, where the Nieto family will gently host us. Chalupa (kind of boat) to Bodega, $4, 15 min. Taxi to Mompox, $8 each, 40min. On the boat we met this local guy and we took the taxi together. He told us a lot about this part of Colombia: they had two big floods in the past two years -climate change? - and the government is very slow in helping them. There's a lot of corruption and people are disilluded survivors. Mompox colonial core wasn't damaged but most of the villages around it were devastated.
Mompox is a Unesco site due to its colonial architecture and I guess to the peculiar atmosphere of being suspended in time. Everything goes slowly in this town laying by the river, people sits outside their front doors on their rocking chairs, but for Semana Santa there's a big celebration with processions basically every evening. The Nieto family welcomed us in their traditional colonial house along the river. It's a full house because also their son with 3 friends from Canada are there. It's going to be an interesting mix!

_I joined the early morning Bakti Yoga at Gambhira Ashram: singing mantras, playing drums, and reading Vedic books was nice. They made me lead mantras and read something from the Bhagavad Gita. I led the following yoga class as well. It was sad when we had to leave: these people are so nice and we felt like family but we had to move on. Our next destination is Mompox, where I have friends staying there for Semana Santa. Bus to Santa Marta, minivan to Baranquilla, lunch in a nasty comedor along the highway and car all the way to Magangue for $20, 3.5hrs. We really didn't expect to be able to get here today. We stay at Hotel Casa Dorada, decent,AC, wifi and private bath.$22.

Am Bakti Yoga with chanting and meditation, and then at 7am I led another yoga class. I love to share my yoga, especially here because they have so much to learn.
After breakfast our Seva was helping Krisna building the wall of the new cabana. I really hoped to have the chance of doing this. We built the wood frame first and then we filled it up with balls of mud that we made using the soil of the finca. Hard but fun work, and it was especially interesting for me as an architect. The cabanas at Gambhira follow the ancient techniques of the Tayrona Indians. They use only natural materials: wood and palm leaves for the roof, wood and mud for the walls. Round plan. The result is a fresh, ventilated space that embraces you with positive energy.

_Today at 7am I lead the yoga class at the Ashram on the grass. They were so impressed: "This is very professional!" "Well, I told you I'm a yoga teacher...". I'm happy I'll be helping them out with this.
After breakfast Robbert came up with the idea to do our Seva painting the dining table. I loved it. So we spent few hours on this project: I really miss doing projects like this. I painted the Maha Mantra in Sanskrit all around it, so relaxing. I also helped cooking and learn about new vegetarian meals. All the food is organic, some is grown in the finca, some close by. They have a composting program to use organic waste to produce nutritious soil for cultivation. They desiccate tasty bananas in the sun and they make their own delicious chocolate.