Mompós

ABOUT MOMPÓS:
The quiet colonial town of Mompós, located in the wetlands along the River Magdelena, is most famous as being the location where the revolutionary Simón Bolívar declared independence from Spain in 1812 and then recruited an army to march on Caracas. Once an essential port for transporting goods up the river, the old colonial buildings of Mompós are not only well-preserved but are mostly still used today for their original purpose, providing an excellent example of a living colonial-style city.

I woke up this morning, having had a better sleep than the previous night. I’m not sure if I found a more comfortable position or I was exhausted from the hike and sun from yesterday! As like yesterday, I chose to skip breakfast again, due to the remoteness of the area, the choice wasn’t great but also costly!

We began the c45 minute hike back to the truck at 8:00 am, and it had just started to lightly rain, which we thought would make the walk a little cooler. However, the humidity was off the charts, and we were all dripping in sweat by the time we reach the truck.

We went to pick up Tom and Herald; Tom looked a lot better! It turns out he had heat stroke which he had now recovered from, but also had a herniated disk. We, therefore, had to drive him one hour to a better hospital, with an MRI etc., where he will be accessed to see if he can meet us in Medellín. As we are now behind schedule, we had a quick lunch while waiting for Jazz to get Tom sorted. With limited options around, I just bought ham, cheese, and bread from the supermarket and made sandwiches. The remainder of the day was driving to Mompós.

After another good night sleep, went to breakfast of fruit and scrambled eggs, I’m sensing a pattern here. After which, we all departed on a walking tour of the small 38,000 population town. As it was just a small town, I felt I had seen everything

on the tour and went back to the hotel to escape the scorching weather until the boat cruise at 3:00 pm.

It was a consensus amount the group that the boat trip was a waste of time! It went for three hours, and you didn’t see much, except a few birds, which do not interest me, especially after doing boat trips in Africa, which had Hippos; Elephants, Crocodiles etc. Unfortunately, the tour group is dropping like flies, with Ian, vomiting the entire time during the boat cruise.

A quick but lovely pizza for dinner as tomorrow is an early one! The alarm is set for 3:45 am to leave at 4:00 am.