You can bet the farm we had a great day on it!

One of my new quilting buddies, Bertha (pronounced Bair-ta), and her husband, Alberto (whom I called Alfredo one time too many), own a charming ranch which sits along the banks of Rio Magdalena - a little south east of Barranquilla near a small town called Salamina. 

If you heard about the horrible flooding that happened in Colombia a few weeks ago...this area was pretty hard hit. You can see from the picture below, which is part of their farm, that the flood-waters took away lots of the river bank.

Jerry and I were blessed to be invited to spend the day with them at the finca this past weekend and I'm so glad we went. 

The first time we met Alberto, he told us that he drives down to work there 2-3 days per week and Jerry (being a farmer-boy) told him he'd love to go to help out and to please call whenever he needed a hand.

When the call came inviting both of us to go...I readily accepted but then started worrying about things like mosquitoes, the weather, what shoes to wear, what in the world I was going to do all day, and on and on. 


Thank goodness I said yes before I thought about it because the pictures in my head were vastly different from the way things actually were.

We had one of my favorite days here in Colombia! 

We began bright and early and waited eagerly for Alberto and Bertha to come pick us up. I had packed my bag the night before which included hand work, nail polish remover with cotton balls, a book, my sketchbook and mark makers.

(Weeelllll - Bertha told me I might want to bring something to do).  


As it happened...I never pulled ANY of it out. We were having too much fun!

I was dressed in my army fatigues under which I had slathered so much skin-so-soft (to repel mosquitos) that I was worried about offending everyone in the car. Thankfully, we kept the windows open most of the way there.

Another couple, George and Margie, were also invited which was delightful to me because they're both simply wonderful people.

Carlos came too but you'll have to wait for a picture of him.

Alfredo needed to stop at a hardware store on the way and they laughed because I got out to take pictures while he went into the store.

I so wanted to take home some little peeps.

When we turned off of the main road, we saw the tents that were set up to house families that were flooded out of their homes. 

We had to take a ferry across the river and I couldn't imagine what it would be like because they called it a barge...but I was game.


When we arrived at the ferry there was a little problem with a truck that was about to slide off of the roadway, which had been built up since the flood, and had pretty soft shoulders. I was amazed to see the number of trucks and large equipment in line to go across...

We ended up sitting in line for over an hour but it was a pretty cool experience because we had breakfast there. We got out of the car and walked down to the river where they had food cooking - with coffee and cold drinks.

This shot was taken from the ferry. We sat in the second tiki hut up on the right.

 
We passed the vehicle in the next picture on the walk down and I wanted to show it to you because in every little town we passed, there were dozens of these - used for taxis. Some were pulled by motor - others attached to bicycles.

This man made delicious bunuelos and empanadas!

Anyway...here we are - all fat and sassy. There's Carlos on the end...

It was fascinating to watch them load the ferry...

I was pretty happy Not to be on the one pictured above as I felt it already had enough weight on it. You can see the raised area in the back of this picture...which is where we climbed up to - to sit out the ride across. Bird's eye view.

When Bertha saw me taking pictures of these boats (below) she told me they were called jun-shuns. I repeated it a couple times and Margie said, "You know, like the name of one of your Presidents". 

OH - Johnsons! 

They named them that because the motors were Johnsons and had the name written on a plate. One of these in the picture is actually a Yamaha motor...but who's counting.

They look really cool going down the river...

Once we got off of the barge...

it was a matter of minutes to the farm...

After we stretched for a minute and had a shot of rum...


we took a tour...

Gallos and gallinas roam freely

an occasional farmer rode by

water supply for the animals

idyllic setting

What's that Gringo doing here?!?

Turtle Soup

A great place to sit and shoot the breeze - and catch the breeze.

side view -kitchen window - a family lives here and takes care of everything on a daily basis

burros and horses live here

The wife/mom of the family who lives at the farm made THE best San Cocho!!!

On the way to the river.

And there's Jerry - fishing for another invitation to the farm!


We loved it and thank you so much Alberto and Bertha!!!