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Mompos, Colombia - Step Back In Time To The 16th Century

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Map location: Mompos, Colombia
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Colombia travel blog by Mark Berman - July 2010 November 2020   » View Photoset (38 Photos)

Mark Berman, South America backpacker for over 12yrs!
Mompos, it sounds mysterious and it's off the beaten track. Step back in time to a place that hasn't changed since the 1600's. With a beautiful historic center spread out along the riverfront. Explore the enchanting streets where you will find many old but well-kept churches and buildings. Relax in the cafes and restaurants along the riverfront and enjoy fine cuisine. Take a river boat tour, see birds, iguanas and other wildlife. Mompos is a wonderful place to spend a few days. There are hotels and hostels to cater for all. Mompos is best accessed via Magangue from Monteria, Tolu, Sincelejo or Cartagena. With new roads and bridges (opened in 2020) in and around Magangue it is now much easier to get to Mompos than it was when I first visited in 2010. You used to have to get to Mompos by river from Magangue, now the new roads change that! The story of my first visit to Mompos is written below.

Bus to Magangue

After leaving Cartagena and the ramshackle of the area near the bus terminal, we rolled down a rough dirt road for 10 minutes to get to the main road out of town southward. The journey passed through the green countryside where animals graze in the fields and farm houses are set amongst the shade of trees. We passed through various small villages including San Cavetano and San Juan. I saw many donkeys and fruit stalls on the sides of the roads where people live in simple housing and make a living from the land. We travelled through the village of San Jacinto where there are shops next to the road selling things like hammocks, colorful shoulder bags, bongo drums, very colorful wooden parrots, butterflies and children's rocking horses and the black and white cowboy hats you see a lot of in this area of Colombia - cowboy country. Just before passing through the village of Carmen De Bolivar I saw a road sign that said La Ye 130km, Cerete 164kms and Monteria 178kms - for reference. The houses around Carmen are set on roads going off the main road half washed away by rain. After passing through Carmen I saw a road sign saying Ovejas 23kms, Sincelejo 64kms and Medellin 528kms. We passed through Ovejas where I saw a little plaza area which has a white church at one end. After passing through a police checkpoint we came to the fork in the road where we turned left towards Magangue, in the other direction is Corozal 15kms and Sincelejo 25kms away. The bus was only about 40kms from Magangue now, we passed a vineyard called Palma de Vino before coming into the village of Hatillo and continuing the journey through the vast countryside through Paloquemao and other villages as well as the odd checkpoint. It was about this time the light began to fade and we started to have problems with one of the wheels on the bus and had to stop 2 or 3 times to fix it. A while later we arrived in Magangue where I was dropped off in the center of town.

Helpful People in Magangue

As soon as I got out of the bus a strange man said he would show me to a hotel and picked up my backpack without asking me and carried it to a hotel that was twice as much as I wanted to spend on accommodation that night. I said no thanks I would find my own place and left without giving him the tip he thought he deserved. I walked across the road and found a room for $15,000 pesos ($8USD). I had a great feed nearby that night at a Chinese restaurant for less than $4USD. In the morning I woke early, took some photos out of my 3rd storey room of the nearby streets and area and headed out to have a cheap breakfast at one of the several street cookups. It consisted of soup, a rice, meat, beans and salad meal with drink for about $2USD. I then wandered around Magangue for an hour or so taking photos and to find out about a boat towards Mompos. Magangue is a town full of horses and carts, juice stands, people on motorbikes and of course smelly fish markets because it is located on the Rio Magdalena. There is a nice church and plaza near to the river where I sat down under an umbrella for an ice cold fruit juice freshly made.

Boat Ticket to Bodega

I collected my backpack and guitar from the hotel and walked for 3 minutes down to the river area which was very busy. I found the little blue shed where I bought a ticket for $6,000 pesos ($3USD) on a small boat to Bodega. They leave regularly when each boat is full with passengers, all the luggage is tied onto the roof. It is not a long ride along the river to Bodega, it takes about 17 minutes and is very pleasant indeed. The land along the banks of the river is flat and has cattle grazing and sheltering from the sun underneath trees. You could very well also see cattle boats - boats with fences transporting cattle from one part of the river to another. I hadn't seen one of those before.

Docking at Bodega

It was not long before we docked at Bodega where the last part of my journey to Mompos would begin, this would be a 40 minute ride in a co-op taxi along a very rough (in parts) road. Luckily I got the front seat while 3 locals sat in the back, it cost around $8,000 pesos ($4.50USD).

Taxi to Mompos

The sign said 38kms to Mompos and off we went, the trunk of the taxi didn't close and was wide open. We passed swampy areas towards the right and there were white cows on the side of the road eating grass. We passed through a community called Cicuco where many school children dressed in uniform were walking home on the side of the road for their mid-day break. We passed a church called Iglesia Cristiana Atrios de Dios. There were locals riding bicycles, motorbikes, pushing carts and selling things in roadside stalls. Continuing on over a bridge across the river, past livestock on the side of the road and on the road (pigs, goats), houses and shrines. The sign said we were aproaching Talaigua Nuevo 8kms with Mompos now 32kms away. The road was actually in very good condition in this area with beautiful green trees overhanging the road with swamps and palm trees to the side. We passed many locals riding bicycles busy doing their day to day business. As we came into Talaigua we passed by Hotel el Carmen before we hit the main street where the locals were eating and selling goods at stalls. A pleasant little place where pigs and cows wander all over the road.

Road Gets Rough

The sign now said 4kms to El Vesubio and 23kms to Mompos, this was about the time that the road started to get a little rough. It wasn't sealed and the rain had damaged it. It now became important to drive around the water filled pot-holes in the road more slowly while also watching out for animals standing in the middle of the road. I started to see more horses and cattle ranches around here with huge palm trees around. The road continued to be gravely, unsealed and rough but it looked like bulldozers and steamrollers were working on various sections to fix it up. We passed through Tierrafirme just before arriving in Mompos on the last part of the journey.

Mompos

Mompos is hard to describe but the first things I noticed were the deep roads and high footpaths with the houses perched high off the roads and painted in light pastel colors and everything is a very square shape. There are many motorbikes being ridin around as well as bicycles. People sit on the sidewalks outside their houses watching it all go by. After finding a bed for the night I went out to have a look around Mompos and take photos.

Sights in Mompos

There are about 6 churches in Mompos, the first that I found was right across the road from where I was staying called Iglesia de Santo Domingo, it is white and yellow. The plaza beside it is also very nice, people sit and kids play and in the evening a lot of food is available. There is a cannon emplacement and a statue of Juan B Del Corral - Dictador de Antioquia y Liberador de los Esclavos in this plaza also. Nearby is the cemetry which has many statues inside. I was enjoying walking around Mompos, the streets had a strange feel to them, some kind of timewarp. I came to Plaza Bolivar where trees hang over seats where locals shelter from the hot hot sun, there is also a statue. I walked to beside the river to Plaza Real de la Concepcion which was very empty, the building beside the river had taxis sitting under it and was in bad shape. On the other side of the plaza is Iglesia de la Concepcion, white and pink in color. I walked up the stairs of the building beside the river to take photos of the river and across to the church. Walking around in Mompos at times was like walking in a ghost town with its big long empty streets, especially in the heat of the day. I found Parque de la Libertad which has a monument in the center for the independence of Mompos from Spain on the 6th August 1810. I found Iglesia de San Fransisco and the nice plaza beside it, all a red-brown color. There are many seats and it's a nice open area, the church has a clock and bell tower. Now as I continued walking around Mompos I found my fourth church - Iglesia de San Juan de Dios, an orange and white color. Across the road nearby on the footpath under a tree was a Zapateria - a man who fixes shoes. Mompos is well signposted in regard to where the parks and plazas are.

The Main Event

As the light began to fade at the end of the day I was getting excited about the main event for the evening which was to see the people of Mompos sitting on the pavements in their rocking chairs, which I did see a lot of. I was wishing I had one also at the time. As night fell the streets and plaza turned into open restaurants where people gathered including myself to eat hot food. I sat down at a table at the side of the street and ate meat, potato and salad off a wooden board.

The Road From Mompos

The next morning I left Mompos the same way that I had got there - back along the rough road to Bodega and along the river by boat to Magangue. From Mangangue the only way to Sincelejo was by co-op taxi. So after having something to eat I waited an hour for enough people to fill a taxi to Sincelejo. Once at the bus terminal in Sincelejo I decided to get straight on another bus to Monteria and stay the night there. After a brief 1 night stay in Monteria I traveled south to Medellin where I ended up living for 5 months.

     

View all photos in the Mompos Photoset

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My Hostel & Hotel Reviews for Mompos, Colombia:

Pueblito Magico Hostel, Mompos, Colombia - Large Photo
Pueblito Magico Hostel, Mompos, Colombia (November 2020 - 3 nights) - A beautiful and big spacious private room with private bathroom, comfortable bed, couch, desk and chair, lamp lighting, tv and wifi! $90 Pesos ($28USD) for 1 person. Pueblito Magico Hostel is a great place to stay in Mompos. Dorms are also available. The hostel is located in front of the river at the far end from town and near one of many iconic churches. Food and drinks are available and the staff are friendly and helpful, tours can also be booked here. Recommended.
Hospedaje La Union, Mompos, Colombia - Large Photo
Hospedaje La Union, Mompos, Colombia (July 2010 - 1 night) - I had a nice little room with bathroom, the place is very nice and across the road from a church in the center of Mompos. Recommended.
Hotel Rivera, Magangue, Colombia - Large Photo
Hotel Rivera, Magangue, Colombia (July 2010 - 1 night) - I had a simple and basic room with dingy bathroom for about $8USD which is all I was looking for anyway. The room had a good view of the area from the roof floor, there are restaurants and main streets right outside and its 5 minutes walk to get a boat to Mompos.

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Mompos, Colombia - Step Back In Time To The 16th Century. Step back to the 1600's in Mompos. A gem in Colombia located beside the river and full of history, nature, wildlife, cafes and restaurants. Take an exciting river tour!