June 1, 2018 – June 4, 2018
We needed to do a fairly major resupply before we could leave Cartagena. After a few false stops at what Google Maps had mistakenly indicated were grocery stores, we had a full fridge and were on the road again. Not knowing how long our shopping would take we had picked a spot close to Cartagena for the night to break up the drive the drive to our next destination which was Mompox.
Looking out towards Cartagena.
We stayed at Finca Manantial, owned by an English man who had been the British Consul to Colombia for many years, and who ,upon his retirement, had bought a beautiful hobby farm in the highlands overlooking Cartagena. We enjoyed a night of cooler temperatures and it was interesting to chat with him about Colombia, the changes he had seen throughout his years there and about his ongoing plans for his piece of property.
The finca’s resident parrot. It is illegal in Colombia to keep a parrot in a cage, so I guess this would be a free-range parrot.
The next day we headed towards Mompox, a magical little town on the banks of the Rio Magdalena. We drove about 3 hours to the town of Yati, where we loaded the truck onto a ferry for a one hour ride up the river. The Rio Magdalena is a huge river that flows north in Colombia to the Carribean Sea. The headwaters for the river collect rain fall from two separate subranges of the Andean Mountains in Colombia, and the river has been used to transport products in and out of Colombia for centuries.
Seymour enjoying another ferry ride.
We chatted with a few different people on the ferry, one, a man from Colombia who had travelled around the country on his motorbike and who was very enthusiastic about our trip; he even had his son take his picture standing next to our rig and later his wife took shots of us while chatting.
Some of the fellow passengers. I thought it was cool that they hung hammocks for people to swing in for the ferry ride.
Rio Magdalena is one seriously big river, maybe even more so when we were there as the Colombian highlands have been receiving an unusual amount of rain in the last several months.
After arriving up stream and on the opposite side of the river, we drove another 30 kilometres or so the the town of Mompox. We found parking for our truck (not so easy in these colonial towns), and spent one night in each of two different hostels, both with air conditioning. Mompox is very hot during the day and one of the charming aspects of the town is how it comes alive in the evenings. In the late afternoon children float in the current of Rio Magdalena, past the main plaza. People, who have hidden from the heat during the day, begin to drag rocking chairs out onto the sidewalks for the evening. Children play in the streets after dark on scooters, go carts and roller blades. Neighbours catch up with each other. Tourists sit at tables in plazas to have food and drink while electric fans are strategically positioned by the serving staff to maximize the diners’ comfort. People walk the malecon next to the wide Rio Magdalena eating ice cream. It was noticeable how people seemed to enjoy engaging in activities that created even the hint of a breeze in this heat – rocking, fanning (hand fans were popular too) cycling, rollerblading, strolling etc.
The sun going down in Mompox.
Rocking chairs are seen all over town.
One of the mosaics in town, this one celebrating the town’s annual jazz festival.
Convent de San Francisco. 1860’s construction on site of convent started in 1580.
People cross the river here frequently enough for there to be an established ferry and docks. The ferry is a long boat paddled by two men into the current to “ferry” the boat across.
Swollen waterways along the way to our next destination.
Mompox is a very friendly, laid back town, and during our brief stay there we had several conversations with locals. Some were curious about where we were from and how we had gotten there. Some wanted to practice their English with us. Some wanted to talk to us about our dog Piper, being dog lovers themselves. One fruit vendor pushing a wheeled cart up the street gave us four oranges…a gift, for no apparent reason, it seemed, other than maybe he recognized us as being far from home and wanted us to feel welcome in his warm little town.