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Well, I finally made it to Mompos with my new companion Carlos. Now for anyone wanting to go there I highly recomend staying at La Casa Amarilla. It is a fantastic hostel and is of a really high standard with really friendly staff, great rooms and even has an English owner (sorry but it is nice to be able to speak english as well as my terrible spanish) and is in a house which is 100s of years old.
Mompos is 250km from Cartagena and as you will now understand very difficult to get to. It is bordered by the Magdelena river on one side and vast swamps on the other. But, it is well worth the trip. I think one of the (many) reasons I had wanted to visit Colombia was because of Gabrielle Garcia Marquez and honestly when you arrive in Mompos it is like you have just stepped onto the pages of one of his books.
It is a colonial backwater town which is of significance in Colombian and South American history. It is almost like a living museum in that it feels like you have stepped back in time about 300 years. Because it is
so difficult to get to there are hardly any other tourists at all and the locals often stare at you as you are going past because you are unusual.
It is hot and humid and on an evening the local residents sit outside their houses rocking in their rocking chairs. Everyone here though are so so friendly. I was lucky enough to be invited inside a house of a local family and the house itself was like something out of a Garcia Marquez book too. Big high ceilings, huge doors and of course lots of rocking chairs.
There are cars there but most people use bycycle or motorbike to get around. I had meant to stay for one night and I ended up staying 3! The place has such a magical feel to it.
There are 7 churches in this small town but the strange thing is that you never ever see a priest??? We were lucky enough to be taken up to the bell tower of one of the churches. Admitidly this was by a guy that was drunk at about 11am who somehow managed to produce the keys for a small fee of course but
Me and Carlos
This was taken by one of the local kids who was facinated by my camera it was an excellent experience.
Another day we rode around in a motor taxi and went for a swim. We walked along the riverfront everynight and had beers with the locals, climbed trees and chilled out.
The time eventually came to leave my new friends and get back on the road (or rather the Magdelena river) to make my way back to Bogota.
My trip this time consisted of a jeep that would pick me up at 5am to take me to El Banco where I would catch another boat (identical to the one I came in) but this time would take me on an 8 hour journey down the River Magdelena.
Again I was the only gringo around and again I caused the locals much amusement as I just kept saying "Bogota, Bogota, Bogota" even though the boat was going no where near there they obviously all knew what to do. This time I was at the back of the boat which was full of people but as extra travelling companions I had a couple of chickens and a pig that would not stop squealing right behind me. I was really frightened that the pig
How cute?
They just wanted to play with us all night. It is so safe for them. The kids play out until late at night and seem to not be supervised. The all seem so happy too. was going to bite my bum as there was a big hole in the seat so it was a bit difficult to relax.
The thing that really upset me on this journey was that I realised the extent of the rubbish problem here and it is completely down to a lack of education. Everytime we stopped at somewhere along the river to allow passangers to alight or depart we would be offered food and drink to buy. Every single person on that boat threw their rubbish straight overboard. There were cans, crisp packets, plastic bags - everything. A women got on in front of me and changed her babies disposable nappie and that went straight overboard into the river as well. The militarty who were sometimes at the wharfs (and ammusingly ordered the whole boat to put on their life jackets which were pulled straight off with laughter as soon as we rode away) also just threw everytnhing in the river.
It was really heartbreaking to see but is completley down to education. Some of my Colombian friends who I have met said that the indiginous people of Colombia (for example) are extremely aware of the environment and
are really protective of it but they will throw plastic away in the water. Until recent years any materials that were used would be bio-degradable and in the shops all you could buy was flour and fat so you could throw anything away. Now plastic has been introduced and no-one realises that it doesn't go away.
Anyway, I finally end up in this oil refinery town at about 3pm and find out that my overnight bus to Bogota is at 9.30pm. I start trying to occupy myself but this is a dodgy town. Darkness always comes at about 6pm in Colombia as you are so close to the equator and after dark all of the druggies come out. In Bogota I never once felt threatened but here it is dodgy. Apparently oil and mining towns are often like this as there is such an inequality of wealth.
I scarpered into the bus station and stayed rooted to my seat until I could board to go and have my last night in Bogota and meet up with my lovely friend Hector who I had met at Tyrona National Park.
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