The Lower Magdalena River Valley Overview

By Richard McColl

Strategic and fertile are two ways to describe the vast stretches of flood plain that make up the Lower Magdalena River Valley: originally strategic as the main route from the coast to the interior, and fertile in containing some of Colombia's largest cattle ranches. Spend any time in this sweltering region and you'll see that cattle farming is the dominant industry. Enormous ranches extend out from towns along the Magdalena River and any journey you make will undoubtedly be delayed by a passing cattle train ambling along a major byway.  As ranching is life to the people here, town festivals and ferias often resemble rodeos with bull riding and drinking that evoke scenes reminiscent of a long disappeared American West.

In the great spirit of regionalism that defines Colombia, most people in this area are referred to by other Colombians as being Costeños (from the coast) despite the fact that towns like Mompos, Puerto Berrío and Barrancabermeja are located several hundred kilometers from the nearest shore. However, this relative misnomer becomes justified when you learn that residents of these towns are defined by the freshwater Magdalena.

From the smoke stacks and nodding donkeys that dot the horizons and pinpoint the oil reserves of Barrancabermeja to the filigree silversmiths and Nazarenes on procession in the austere Semana Santa of Mompos, the Lower Magdalena River Valley is an area you will not want to miss and with its contrasts, garciamarquian idiosyncrasies and welcoming inhabitants will leave a lasting impression.