{"id":28747,"date":"2024-12-22T00:01:23","date_gmt":"2024-12-22T08:01:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/?p=28747"},"modified":"2024-12-22T07:36:51","modified_gmt":"2024-12-22T15:36:51","slug":"colombias-mighty-magdalena","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2024\/12\/22\/colombias-mighty-magdalena\/","title":{"rendered":"Colombia’s Mighty Magdalena"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Joe Berk<\/h6>\n

I felt a mix comforting mix of \u201cbeen there, done that\u201d and smugness when I read the Wall Street Journal<\/em> yesterday.\u00a0 The lead photo in the paper’s “Off Duty” section was strangely familiar, and as the coffee kicked in I realized it was because I\u2019d been there:\u00a0 Colombia\u2019s Magdalena River.\u00a0 My Magdelena photo (one of many) is the photo you see above.<\/p>\n

The Wall Street Journal<\/em> article featured places not part of the borscht belt (i.e., typical tourist destinations), and the stops it recommended along a Magdalena River cruise were locales I\u2019d been to: Barranquilla, Cartagena, Mompox, Magangu\u00e9, and others.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been luckier than most because I\u2019ve had incredible motorcycle adventures:\u00a0 China, Mexico, the Three Flags Classic, Baja, the Western America Adventure Ride, and more.\u00a0 The ride through Colombia and along the Magdalena River, though, was in many ways greater than the other motorcycle adventures.\u00a0 \u00a0The Journal’s<\/em> story had me thinking about Colombia again, and I thought I would share a few photos of the places it mentioned with you.<\/p>\n

Mompox<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ah, Mompox.\u00a0 It’s pronounced and sometimes spelled Mompos…an amazing city, unlike any I had ever visited.\u00a0 The night we were there I wanted to stay in the hotel and post a blog for my CSC readers, but good buddy and ride leader Juan told me:\u00a0 Joe, your readers will wait.\u00a0 You need to see Mompox.\u00a0 He was right.<\/p>\n

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A street along the riverfront in Mompox. People actually live here. Wow.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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One of several churches in Mompox.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Carlos, me, and Juan having dinner in an Italian restaurant run by a German in Colombia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Magangu\u00e9<\/strong><\/p>\n

We began our ferry ride to Mompox from Magangu\u00e9 (pronounced ma gong gay). It was brutally hot and humid and we had to wait a couple of hours for the ferry to arrive, but that ride down the Magdelana was worth the wait.\u00a0 Dreamlike, it was a scene from a 1930s adventure movie.\u00a0 Peaceful.\u00a0 Indiana Jones.\u00a0 That ferry ride had it all.\u00a0 There are more adjectives I could use, but you get the idea.<\/p>\n

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The ferry at Magangu\u00e9.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Headed downstream and facing north on the Magdalena River.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Barranquilla<\/strong><\/p>\n

I first saw Barranquilla (pronounced bar en key ah) on an earlier business trip to Colombia.\u00a0 \u00a0I’d just purchased a new Nikon D200 (the cat’s meow back then), and it had a backfocus issue I later had corrected (you can’t see it in these photos, though).\u00a0 \u00a0I felt like Indiana Jones at a beauty pageant.\u00a0 If there are unattractive women in Colombia, I couldn’t find them.<\/p>\n

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Business beckoned in Barranquilla…good buddy Paul Smarr and yours truly examining manganese dioxide.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cartagena<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yep, that Cartegena, the same one as is R0mancing the Stone<\/em>\u00a0(although that movie was actually shot in Mexico).\u00a0 On that same business trip, we took an afternoon to visit Cartegana, about an hour and a half down the coast from Barranquilla.<\/p>\n

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Two Colombian highway patrol officers on the road to Cartegena. My friends thought I was nuts when I jumped out to grab this photo. The Colombian police officers probably thought so, too.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A shopkeeper in Cartagena who agreed to let me take her picture.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Cartagena is a very photogenic city.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There were many things in Colombia well beyond what the WSJ<\/em> article covered:\u00a0 Honda (the town, not the motorcycle), Covenas, Volcan Los Nevados, La Playa de Belem, Barichara, Villa de Leyva, and more. \u00a0\u00a0I saw them from my RS3 motorcycle (the carbureted version of the RX3) and you can, too<\/a>, if you don\u2019t mind living vicariously through my lens and keyboard:<\/p>\n

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