In somewhat longer stages, we continue from the Caribbean coast towards the southwest. We drive via Mompox through Bucaramanga to Barichara. We do these stretches in several daily stages because we don’t want to drive into the night any longer than necessary. In other words, not at all if we don’t have to. With that we arrive in Barichara at a leisurely pace.

Stopover in Mompox

The first thing that surprises us in Mompox is that we see the Swiss flag everywhere! Although no, not quite, here it’s a white cross on a red rectangular flag, not square. Later we are told that Switzerland was the first country to recognize Colombia’s independence and that Mompox has therefore adopted the flag as the city flag, so to speak, in honor of Switzerland. Whether this is true, however, is somewhat questionable purely in terms of chronology.
The small town is well maintained and is probably often used as a filming location for Latin American telenovelas due to its beautiful appearance. We definitely like the many cozy cafés here!

Stopover in Bucaramanga

Bucaramanga is a huge city that we would probably have driven around had it not been for another strange noise from our Ben. Unfortunately, the noise seems all too familiar and we already have an assumption. We find a good mechanic in Buca using the iOverlander app, which we use every day to find a parking space. The garage is a real stroke of luck: although we turn up without an appointment or registration, we can drive straight into the garage and the mechanics take care of our problem. And it quickly becomes clear – our suspension joints are worn out. The left one, which we had already replaced in Mexico, doesn’t look any better than the right one, which already has a lot more kilometers on the clock. So much for the quality of the components and the mechanics here in Latin America. Well, it doesn’t help, we have to have it repaired. But we feel very comfortable here in this workshop and have the feeling of being surrounded by competent mechanics. We will probably find out how good the work actually is in the next few thousand kilometers.

Barichara – a really relaxed mountain village

We are slowly settling into the cozy Colombian lifestyle. Barichara is so small that everyone knows everyone else. This leads to many conversations on the streets, even if the traffic is blocked. That doesn’t bother anyone here. And the village is still quite in its original state, the houses mostly have white facades with colorful accents such as green walls or colored shutters. The streets are paved with large stone slabs – a different kind of cobblestone pavement. This gives Barichara an aesthetic appearance.
We treat ourselves to a stay at a beautifully decorated campsite near Barichara to really soak up the cosy atmosphere. The campsite is run by two Europeans, which is immediately apparent from the facilities. During our seven months in Latin America, we have probably never had such clean and beautiful bathrooms.
It’s also nice to meet other travelers here. Three couples from the total of 7 campers have even shipped their bus from Panama to Colombia on the same ship with us.
As much as we enjoy traveling as a couple, it’s also nice to have a good meal or chat with other travelers from time to time. We also compare our travel routes through Colombia with each other so that we can pick up a tip or two along the way – there are always people who plan much more precisely and in more detail than we do.

The campsite is in a quiet location, a little away from the nearest settlement. From here, we can walk through the hilly landscape around Barichara to the village in about 30 minutes. Another excursion takes us to Guane, an even smaller, equally picturesque mountain village about 1.5 hours in the other direction.
That’s all we actually do in Barichara. It’s just nice for us to spend a few days here and get a taste of Colombian life.

We continue our journey in the direction of Pandora Forest. We got this tip in Panama from a Swiss man who is traveling from South America to North America and we are really looking forward to it. Hopefully we’ll be able to write you another great report about it afterwards!