Puerto Berrío

By Richard McColl

Telephone Code 4

Altitude 125 meters

Population 38,000

The first thing you notice upon arriving in Puerto Berrío is the staggering heat and humidity. Once you have become more or less accustomed to this dank humidity that leaves everyone covered in a shimmer of sweat, you note the obvious absence of hills. Puerto Berrío and this region of the Magdalena River are flat.

The town is now little more than an important port on the Magdalena River; formerly it had greater significance as a transport hub for the rail network, moving coal and other products through Colombia. The railway service is gone and all that remains are some forlorn tracks and a historic engine situated in front of the Military base.

In the past, Puerto Berrío was renowned for its bawdy whiskerias (brothels) and chicas de la vida alegre (prostitutes) fulfilling its role as a transit hub among linking fluvial and rail networks. To some extent this is still the case, as around the port area, almost anything is still available.