Well, I never thought I’d be writing about Mompox. Until a few days ago I’d never heard of it. But first let’s digress a bit. I now own a motorbike and I need to clock up some kilometres so that I can get my first 1000km service. I decided to head up the coast again to Barranquilla and buy a couple of things for the bike. It’s an easy one day ride and gives me 250kms towards my goal. I was definitely a bit timid but I think that’s important. It was the first time I had ridden my bike with all the gear on.  I got there safely and felt good that I’d been there before and sort of knew where I was going. I found the motor accessories part of town and parked up without embarrassing myself. It was so hot and I happily stripped off my heavy jacket. I should weigh it, but it must be getting up to 5kg I think, with all the armour and tough materials. I then realised I was stuck with carrying it and my helmet around which was a nuisance.

I quickly found a shop that sold alarmed disc brake locks which was my main purchase. I said to the guy I’d buy one off him if he stored my jacket and helmet for a while so I could go and get something to eat and a drink. I was pretty wet and sweaty. That worked well. Plenty of cheap places to eat. I also bought a bike cover which I have already decided to ditch because it’s too heavy and bulky. It wasn’t that expensive. It was then time to head back. It was a two hour trip to get there and my bum didn’t really enjoy the thought having to do it over again. I’ve actually got a lambswool seat cover but I forgot to bring it on the ride. I also had a sore left knee where it was rubbing on the pants knee armour when I changed gears. Hopefully my body will toughen up to these things. The ride back was good and I was happy to make it home and have a rest.

So I then decided that I needed to go on a longer ride and stay overnight somewhere. That’s where Mompox fits in. Somewhere back in the 1500’s the spanish colonized an area beside the Magdalena River and called it Santa Cruz de Mompox after a local indigenous chief called Mampo (Mompoj). Mompox means land of the ruler Mampo. And almost 500 years later I rocked up. It was about 350km from Cartagena following the route I chose and took about 6.5 hours. If you can average 60kms an hour on a bike you’re doing well. The roads in Colombia are pretty exciting. I think that’s a nice way to put it. Unlike Australian roads which are mainly black and flat and predictable, the roads here, and probably much of the rest of the continent, are unpredictable and exciting. I’m sure I’ll get to places with great roads, but I just haven’t come across them yet.

If you’ve driven or ridden in Asia or Africa or Central America, you’d know what I mean. One minute you’re on a lovely separated two lane highway cruising at 100kms an hour and you come around a bend and in the middle of the highway there’s a two metre square section of road missing. A deep square pothole. I just managed to miss that one thankfully, but a good lesson. The next bend the highway abruptly stops, and there’s a washed out gutter that leads you across onto the other side of the highway which you then share with the oncoming traffic before you both swap over onto the other two lanes. In some places there’s roadworks happening and other places it just looks like it been like that for years. Then there’s sections of road which you could only describe a linear mosaic of interlocking potholes and patches.

And the towns and villages along the way are a treat. Lots of speed humps everywhere. There doesn’t seem to be a standard ‘lying down policeman’. They’re not too bad on the bike but must be horrible for cars and trucks. There’s also painted flat ones which also work pretty well for newbies like me. Some towns are just a continuous potholes with missing or broken bitumen. And dust. And to make all this more exciting the roads are full of big trucks and buses of all shapes and sizes. And cars and bikes and animals and people. And while the general rule is drive on the right the reality is that it’s just a guide for what you should aim for where possible.

You need the full 100% attention all the time. Even when you get to the head of the traffic which is quite doable on a moto, you have to be extra careful then because the oncoming traffic just see an empty piece of road that needs to be filled. They are respectful of bikes and seem to allow you enough width to keep on the road but that’s all you get. And on the rare occasion you have to slowdown and move to the shoulder. You probably get the picture now so I’ll move on.

Mompox was a big surprise to me. I had googled places to visit and it popped up. I just went there because the distance was good and the name sounded funny. It’s full of lovely old spanish looking buildings that stretch along the river for a couple kms. The Magdalena River is Colombia’s biggest river at about 1530kms in length. At Mompox its quite wide and fast flowing. It made me think the type of river I’d expect to see in the Amazon. There were a few local kids jumping out of trees into it. You can see they are starting to redevelop the shoreline and I imagine in the not to distant future it will be a big drawcard on the tourist trail.

I’d prebooked into an old guesthouse which had a pool. The city is not very high which I found surprising so the temperature was still pretty hot and I thought a swim would be nice after a long ride. It was. The place I stayed was old but a fair price at about $45 for the night with a pool and breakfast. Like most places I looked at it didn’t have parking for my bike but there was a municipal parqueadero just around the corner which was apparently very safe according to reviews. I took my bike around there and it looked pretty secure. Lots of police bikes there as well. It was $4.00 for the night. I put my disc lock on and slept well. It was our first night apart.

I wandered around town for a while and was impressed with the amount and quality of so many of the buildings. There was one church in particular that was pretty different to any other church I’ve seen and apparently was built in 1540 according to the sign but after a bit of research I found it had been renovated at some stage. Still it was pretty amazing and had a service running while I was there.

After church (well, photographing the church) I had a beer and then ate out at a local night market. I had a nice big slice of pizza which was just what I felt like and it was only 2 bucks. I headed back to my airconned room. My body had held up pretty well to the long trip. Sore bum and sore knee again but I’d done a decent ride. I don’t expect I’ll be doing much longer days than that. Except for the next day of course and the ride home.

The ride was good. I took a different route which had a nice stretch of truck free riding. The road service was pretty good and I was able to wind it out a bit which was good for my “running in” of the bike. There also seemed to be petrol stations at least 20kms apart so I thought I’d try and see how low I could go before the low fuel light flashed. That could have turned out badly as I’d picked a section with no towns and it started flashing, luckily, some enterprising roadside house has set up a little tyre repair spot and they sold one gallon glass flagons of fuel. Some young girl in a bright pink dress came out of the house and poured it into my tank through a filtered funnel. Probably twice the normal price but I was just happy to get it. One of the old guys sitting there told me I had to pay another dollar. I just assumed it was a tip for the young girl. I gave it to her and then he said something and she gave it to him and went back inside and then he sort of gave me a blessing with his funny crossed eyes and they waved me on. All a bit weird.

If I can find a local moto going at a nice speed I’ll often follow them as I hope they know the roads and the traps a bit better. I was following one guy for a while who was doing mid ride stretches and he waved me forward and then waved me over. We stopped at a little shop and he needed a stretch and offered to buy me a cake and something to eat. He was an excavator driver on his way home from doing a swing on some roadworks somewhere. He’d stopped me because he has the same bike as me at home in Barranquilla. Showed me a picture of it as well. Will that be me soon? We rode together for a bit and then he turned north and I continued on to Cartagena. But. Not easily.

I could see clouds forming and lightning and as quickly as it appeared I found myself in it. Only 20 kms from the city. Like most people I pulled off the road and sheltered in a roadside shop until it passed. I was already soaked. Luckily after half an hour it backed off because it was starting to get dark and I didn’t want to ride in the dark and the rain. I left with the others and seemed to ride out of it and then the sky brightened a bit and I made it home before dark. Tired but happy with my first big overnight trip. And I’m almost at a thousand kilometres on the clock.

I’m posting this now because I’m caught up and about to head off to the most northerly point of South America and won’t have my computer. It’s about 700 kms away and not a common tourist destination. The first bit’s okay but the last 130 kms hundreds is just multiple tracks in the desert and while I’ve found a few bits and pieces from people who have done it, I’m thinking it seems quite adventurous and a good test for the bike and its rider. Because there is no set road, I’ve downloaded google maps, maps.me, and organic maps so I can use them offline as there won’t be any signal. I will have my InReach Mini 2 which works off satellites in case it all goes bad. Surely a trip around South America must start from the very top? Hopefully I’ll be back in a week and can let you know how it went.