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Phys-ed teacher will swim the length of Magdalena river

By Manuel Rueda, Editorial Director

Thursday, April 01, 2010

A physical education teacher from the city of Neiva will attempt to swim almost the whole length of the Magdalena river in order to raise awareness about its environmental problems.

Honoro Munoz plans to swim from the San Agustin rapids in the State of Huila to the delta where the Magdalena river meets the Caribbean sea near Barranquilla. 

The 28 year old has been training for the 1,500 kilometer journey for the past year and a half swimming up and down the portion of the Magdalena that crosses through his hometown of Neiva.

“I want to show people that when I am swimming I am connected to the river,” he told El Tiempo.  “I want to show them that I feel its energy,  I feel when it is contaminated.  I want people to get close to the river and see that we have to defend this national treasure.”

The Magdalena is Colombia’s longest river and home to dozens of important bird and reptile species like caimaninae and river turtles. 

It has also played a crucial part in Colombia’s history and economic development making its way into well known novels such as Garcia Marquez’s “Love in the times of cholera”. 

For hundreds of years, when roads between Bogota and the Caribbean coast where rough or inexistent, steam boats that ran up and down the Magdalena were crucial for the arrival of goods and people to the Colombian capital.

Today however, water levels in some parts of the river are so low that large boats can no longer pass.  The river banks near cities like Girardot are polluted by toxic waste coming from Bogota and some areas are also affected by deforestation.

Munoz says it has been difficult for his support team to raise the 60,000 dollars necessary for him to swim down the river which he will use to rent a boat that will escort him and to stay at towns along the river.

After being rejected by more than 100 businesses and public entities, the Munoz team decided to borrow 5 million pesos (about US$2,500) from the bank and use it to make t-shirts which will be sold to Neiva residents in order to raise approximately 10 million pesos (about US$5,000).

The amount expected from t-shirt sales falls way short of the original 60,000 dollars budgeted for the expedition, but Munoz says there is no turning back, and is hoping that people will provide him with housing and nourishment along the way.

The teacher will begin to swim down the Magdalena river on April 21^st.