Christmas in Colombia, in colonial Mompox

This year we decided to travel north and spend Christmas in Santa Cruz de Mompox (pronounced Mompos).  

We drove there via a town called Honda (a colourful, colonial town).

We only stopped by Honda for a quick break and to take in all the colourful buildings

The next day we started our ten hour journey.

We were lucky enough to have empty roads most of the time.

At times we did pass villages and even had to 'pay a toll'

As we got closer to Mompox the roads became busier, with all kinds of traffic!

The colonial town of Mompox is on the Magdalena river and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1995.

It's incredibly hot (around 35C most days) but we worked around that by timing your outings and choosing a hotel with a pool and cool areas.

In terms of 'what to do' we mostly enjoyed walking around, eating, drinking and taking in the atmosphere.

In the day time we also saw iguana sunning at the river's edge:

or by our pool:

Mompox is also known for its Filigree jewellery, so naturally we looked around (and bought some!).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m77HVPcRj7s

We took advantage of the river and did a boat trip to the ciénaga (swamp, wetlands), along the way seeing many birds, iguanas and even monkeys!

monkeys hidden among the trees

We also saw fishermen pulling in their nets and 'ferries' crossing the river.

From the river, we crossed over to the ciénaga.  The river had been very high and there was a lot of vegetation to get through.

Some local people were trying to clear paths through the canals...

...but at one point we did get stuck and the captain jumped out to push the boat!

Eventually we made it (to a smaller ciénaga, as access to the bigger one was blocked).

Finally we had to return home.  This time we stopped overnight in the town of Barrancabermeja, which is basically a petroleum hub and travelled back through the state of Boyaca.

The trip was a lot of fun and it was great to see so much of Colombia again.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! from Amanda, Oliverio and Santa.

https://www.passporttheworld.com/santa-cruz-de-mompox-colombia/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Cruz_de_Mompox#:~:text=Mompox%20or%20Momp%C3%B3s%2C%20officially%20Santa,much%20of%20its%20colonial%20character.