We use Komoot to plan our routes. There are of course many other tools, but this works for us. It’s enough to find out the length of the route, the condition of the road (asphalt, road surface, loose surface), the type of road (main road, side road, path, cycle path) and the altitude when planning the daily mileage. This works better in some countries and worse in others. But it’s enough for a rough overview. If necessary, we check Google Maps again to see what the road quality is like using the satellite function. We also consider whether there are at least small towns to stock up on food and water. And last but not least, I scour the various travel communities for places where there may have been an increase in robberies in the last 1-2 years.
All of this has resulted in a route for us here in Colombia, which we adjust slightly every day if necessary. According to our route plan, we will stay on the Rio Magdalena for quite a while.
In Colombia, 80% of the population live around the 1600 km long Rio Magdalena. Every country is defined by its borders, both natural and artificial. What the Mississippi is to the USA, the Rhine to the Germans, the Magdalena River is to the Colombians. It runs from the southwest through almost the entire Colombian Andes to finally flow into the Caribbean Sea near Barranquilla.
The towns that line its banks like urban pearls give the brown water its real shine. They exude a dusty charm because the signs of time make them look like mothballed antique furniture in an abandoned building. They seem to be just waiting for new life to be breathed into them again. We are on our way :-).
The Ruta del Sol runs through the valley. Something like a highway, 4 lanes, with a hard shoulder. We hope to make good progress on it. Every now and then we want to cross the river by ferry. Sometimes Kommod doesn’t know this. We also take this into account in our considerations.
Again and again I read about disappointed users of route planners and of course it doesn’t work 100%. I wonder how we traveled 15 years ago without smartphones and digital route planners :-).
The first few days are pretty lonely on the route, but the closer we get to the cities of Bogota and Medellin, the more crowded it gets. The trucks are huge and every now and then the road becomes two lanes wide and the hard shoulder narrow.
These are the hours when we think about alternatives again, but sometimes we just have to persevere.
Sandy tracks are only of limited use to us. Our equipment suffers and we only make slower progress. We can do that, but we don’t want to. Yes, we sometimes like to stay in beautiful places or areas, but our trip involves us “driving” around the world and that means, above all, making progress.
But with all the tour planning, things turn out differently.
Right at the start in Neiva we decide to take the road on the other side of the river, we want to go into the Tatacoa Desert. As if we hadn’t already had enough desert!
It’s getting hot, once again over 40 degrees. Another one of those things where we ask ourselves why we are doing this to ourselves.
If we get a fresh orange juice in this situation, it is guaranteed to be the best oranges in the world!
We set up our tent at a small campsite and sit around, waiting for the heat to subside. Then it does, and in the evening and the next morning we discover that it’s not just a desert. Not unique, but I hadn’t thought of Colombia as such a “desert”.
It’s actually quite green for a desert and somehow not really desert-like, but still pretty dry. A mixture of Capadocia, the Grand Canyon in miniature, the white rocks on the Sinai, or the colorful rocks in Jordan. So nothing new and yet always impressive what our earth can do.
When the sea disappeared and the two mountain ranges formed, the Tatacoa Desert was created in between. Very high average temperatures and the double rain shadow of the two mountain ranges led to the formation of this dry area.
Not that I’ve ever been a fan of cacti, but they are beautiful in the wild. Anyway, I can’t stop photographing them. I think I’ve snapped them all :-).
We continue on a sandy road and soon decide to take the next ferry and cross to the other side of the river on the asphalt road.
Colombia could be one of the really beautiful parts of our journey. It feels so cozy. Small villages with “life” on the streets. There is no sense of fear here like in the so-called “war zones”. We ride past many rice fields, meet fellow cyclists and love our breaks in the small restaurants.
The next day and yet another change to the route plan. We’ve only been on the road for 3 hours and are already so full of impressions. We take another ferry. It was a bit tricky today, Sunday morning and there was only this one. When we arrived on the other side, we were quite surprised by the town of Ambalema and at breakfast we spontaneously decided to stay. It is perfect. A simple, fantastically beautiful place to stay. Even though we don’t speak Spanish, it was easy to ask for a simple place to stay with the translator.
So after just 13 km, it’s the end of cycling for today.
The next change of plan follows on the same day: I want to go to a ruined town and we look for a cab bus. We find one and see seems to take us. At least that’s what the nodding heads tell me. The translation doesn’t say that much. But we made it and it was an experience.
But back to our route
After the short stop, we continue tomorrow not to “Renault” but to Honda. “City, country, river”, this is the path we are currently on and it seems to be a good one.
Honda – perhaps one of the underestimated gems
Honda has a unique history. Due to its strategically important location on the river and between the centers of the country, the city quickly became an important transportation hub. Technical innovations such as steamboats, telegraphy, seaplanes and automobiles were introduced faster in this sleepy town than in the rest of the country. More than 40 roads span the Magdalena and its tributaries, giving Honda the name “City of Bridges” early on.
In a museum in Honda “Museum del Rio Magdalena”, we learned a lot about the importance of this river, about its development, about the problems, and we talked to very motivated young people who do not do this for the tourists (of course they are happy about every visitor), but above all for their country and interested Colombians. I’ve rarely enjoyed a museum so much. A lively kind of exhibition. Very exciting.
And I’m really looking forward to continuing along this “lifeline” and seeing many more places.
Honda itself is also a beautiful place and I enjoy the splendid colors.
However, I wonder if people have thought about the effect of colors when painting their houses? Are they just going with their feelings? Or is the color just left over? Or did they take nature as a model? Riddle, riddle!
Yellow – optimistic, cheerful, playful and happy!
Light blue – the summery color of sky and sea gives us the impression of vastness and openness!
Magenta – the color of universal harmony and emotional balance. It contains the passion, power and energy of red, tempered by the introspection and calm energy of violet. It promotes compassion, kindness and cooperation!
Violet – originally violet stood for humility, virtue and penance. It also symbolizes the mysterious and mystical, pause and deep calm and a regal opulence, power and extravagance!
We eat pizza for a change. And I’m not exaggerating when I say that it was probably the best pizza of our entire trip. And we continue, the river remains our companion.
This Rio Magdalena, which before the Spanish occupation was also called “Yuma” for “the river our friend”, fascinates us. The gigantic bridges make its size clear.
The river valley is home to 80% of the country’s 51 million inhabitants. It accounts for 86 % of the national GDP and 75 % of the country’s agricultural production. The basin provides 70 % of the country’s hydropower and 90 % of its thermal power. It also supplies 38 million people with drinking water.
Dams and oil refineries threaten the river and everything it supports.
A few little things I saw in Colombia: there was almost a “Critical Mass” on the road, the standard bicycle in Colombia for daily use, temperature measurement on a public building in the main square (I assume nobody cares about the exact number, it’s just warm :-)), plastic bags cost money since July 2024, bananas come with every dish and some more pictures from our route.
Trucker accommodations along the river Route
We’ve been pretty lucky again so far. It rains quite a lot here in the area, which is why it’s so lush and green. And in the mornings when we set off on our bikes, between 5:30 and 6 a.m., it’s still quite cool (24 degrees) and fortunately the sky isn’t always bright blue. The temperatures rise to a maximum of 34 degrees, which is still good for the body. We may also have water with us to cool down our clothes. But most importantly, we haven’t yet been caught in a heavy thunderstorm. They’ve only been at night so far. One reason why we don’t camp. Instead, we use the trucker accommodation. Simple, clean rooms with air conditioning and a bathroom. Price for both of us between 6 and 11 euros.
Otherwise we continue to eat our daily portion of egg and rice and sometimes we also get a potato or Yuca.
Reaching Barranca on our Route
Barrancabermeja on the Rio Magdalena. “Barranca”, a town that is probably not very attractive in terms of tourist attractions. Unless you like oil refineries. We stay there for 2 days. After 7 stages, people and equipment deserve a little break and need some care.
I had problems with my steering and the advantage of larger towns, Barrancabermeja, is that there are really good bike service stores. We’ve been fiddling with it for a while, but it just wouldn’t go right. It didn’t take 5 minutes here and now it’s perfect again. Sometimes you need a good service man with a lot of feeling.
Jireth Bike thank you so much
And Daniel “ReCycles”, thank you for making it clear to us that we’d better not try it on our own. There were simply too many possibilities for the problem.
Barranca, the oil capital of the country
And of course we suspect that this is hardly good for the area, the lakes and marshland, the lifeline, the Rio Magdalena, not for the animals and not for the people either. Contaminated water from the center of Barrancabermeja keeps entering the canals. One of the culprits is the Ecopetrol refinery. The river provided an endless supply of fish for the approximately 2,000 fishermen from Barrancabermeja and the surrounding area, a third of whom are women. It used to seem as if there was an endless supply of fish in all sizes. That has changed. Today, many have disappeared or are only available in small quantities. When the dam only lets a little water through and the water level is low, you can see oil-smeared fish.
Pollution from oil and chemicals is causing fish to die. This is exacerbated by falling water levels as a result of the El Niño climate phenomenon. In addition, the regional water company Aguas de Barrancabermeja is pumping out water for the city’s 300,000 inhabitants. Industrial agriculture has also contributed to changes in the lake and marshland landscape. Palm oil plantations and livestock farming have led to a decline in riparian vegetation, and sediment is washed into the canals and rivers when it rains.
They do exist, the environmental organizations that campaign for the environment.
But they have to live with death threats, environmental protection is risky in Barrancabermeja, where several armed groups are active. In 2022, Colombia was the most dangerous country in the world for environmental activists – ahead of Brazil and Mexico. This is because Colombia’s active civil society is a thorn in the side of armed gangs and paramilitaries who want to profit from cocaine cultivation and gold mining in protected areas and the rainforest.
The inhabitants seem to counter this with a very orderly and tidy town. They are delighted that we are visiting their town and we actually feel very much at home here. There is no sign of problems, whether political, economic or environmental, only the occasional graffiti.
Fully nourished with lentil soup, salad, mashed potatoes and other delicacies, we continue our journey (we had a kitchen in our accommodation). The next 6-day stage. Another 2 days north and then we turn west towards the Caribbean. Next stop with a break: Mompós, Santa Cruz de Mompox!
