Mompox

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My guidebook told me that the travel to Mompox was long and exhausting, but I read on the Internet that there was a new road, so I thought it would not be too bad and since I really wanted to see Mompox...

I talked another kitesurf babe into coming with me ("there will be no wind anyway, the weather forecast is lousy..." ;o)

The trip there was really long, and really exhausting. Partly because you have to take a bus, then a boat and then a car. But mostly because of the heat. Cartagena is a very warm and humid place, but since it is close to the ocean, at least sometimes there is a sea breeze, and you can always jump into the warm ocean.
In Mompox, there is no wind, and the "playa" of Río Magdalena did not look very bathingfriendly, so we decided to take the heat and have tons of ice cream and fruit juice instead. ;o)

We actually got there on Ash Wednesday, which was lucky, seeing the ceremonies in the at least six! churches in the small town (there are about 30.000 inhabitants). The churches were so full that there were hundreds of people waiting outside to get the blessing with an ash cross on their forehead!

Mompox was the first town in Colombia to liberate itself from Nueva Granada and therefore hold tons of monuments to comemorate this, and to celebrate Simón Bolívar.

The town itself is quite small, and very very tranquilo. The typical product from there is rocking chairs, that are made in the size of children, but they all assured me that it was a grown up chair and that it would hold my weight (well, that is if I could squeeze my bum into it... hehe).
They also sold the typical tourist stuff; like bags, hats and keyrings.
They also produce a local wine made of tamarind, which was sweet, only 8% alcohol, quite nice but that I would not qualify as wine...

The town of Mompox is situated in another department, called Magdalena, and along the biggest river in Colombia, Río Magdalena. And on the opposite side it is surrounded by another branch of the same river, so you cannot get to the town without crossing the river by boat (a bridge would be far too easy...).

We took the local boat from Magangué to get there, about a 20 min ride and then a taxi colectivo to get to Mompox.

To get back, we took a direct bus service, door-to-door and got to cross the river at another place, where there was just a simple "boat ferry" which crossed the river, loaded with cars, four wheel drives, tractors, people and horses.

The ride went on a dirt road, a quite bumpy one, and I was glad we were in a 4-wheel-drive. For hours and hours we crossed this beautiful landscape, like a savana. Quite arid terrain, but still green and every once in a while a big tree covered in yellow or violet flowers that would be a nice contrast to all the green trees and beige ground.
And within not too far distances you could see colorful painted entrances to ranches, with cows and horses and plantations of beautiful, colorful flowers.
Every now and then a big lizard would run over the road, or a scavenger would slowly circulate above the car...

In Colombia there are tons of ways to get transport, nothing is impossible and you can always somehow talk someone into taking you where you want. And no prices are fixed, it is all a barganing game. I usually talk to the bus drivers for a couple of minutes, to tell them that I live here (implying I am not a normal tourist - I know how things work), and then I ask them if they cannot do anything on the price that is posted in the office. They always can, but sometimes they have to pick me up outside of the bus terminal!!!

The taxi colectivo that I talked about earlier is a way of public transportation, but it is faster and has a semi fixed route, but drops you off pretty much where you want to. It has fixed prices and you wait until it is full before leaving.
They are basically illegal, but there are so many taxis in Cartagena (seriously, I never waited more than 5 minutes to get one) that they all have to find a way to attract customers so that they can pay their daily rent.
Actually, most taxi drivers do not own their own vehicles, but rent it daily from someone who has capital, and then only earn whatever he makes above the rent every day.
That explains why taxi drivers are so keen on honking at you on the street to ask if you need a taxi, even though it is obvious you are just going to cross the street, or you are waiting for a bus.
In Cartagena city there are colectivos as well, and they are very handy if I only want to go to the centre, because they go to different places than the buses, and are faster and they charge the same price.
I wonder if we could start that in Europe... hm...

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Photos

People waiting outside of the church...
...to get the Ash Wednesday blessing.
Notice the local Rickshaw transport.