The Colombian adaptation — text-only story frames, mirroring Muckletåget spread by spread. Colonial towns with pun names, the same counting structure, the same loop ending.
La Chiva de los Munchos
The Chiva of the Munchos
Front cover. The chiva climbs a dirt road through green Andean hills, crammed with animals and munchos, chickens on the roof rack. Wax palms and coffee bushes behind; on a pile of grey boulders the sum "15+3=18" is painted in red. Hand-lettered title "La Chiva de los Munchos" across the sky.
⚠️ Cover mirrors the El Peñolito spread (frame 7), like the Swedish original.
Aquí está la chiva en el pueblo de Guayabalito. Dos munchos van sentados atrás. Se llaman Menos y Más. – ¿Están todos? grita el conductor. ¡Entonces nos vamos! – ¡No, esperen! ¡El marranito también quiere ir!
Here is the chiva in the town of Guayabalito. Two munchos are sitting in the back. Their names are Menos and Más. "Is everyone aboard?" shouts the driver. "Then off we go!" "No, wait! The little pig wants to come too!"
A sleepy colonial plaza: white-washed houses with terracotta roofs and painted wooden balconies, a small church with a bell gable. A huge guava tree full of fruit holds a painted banner "2+1=3". The chiva waits by the plaza with the two munchos Menos and Más aboard; the little pink pig runs to catch it. Mushroom-shaped bread stalls and green hills behind.
Así quedaron tres munchos en la chiva. En el siguiente pueblo se baja el marranito y dos más quieren subirse. – ¿Cuántos son ahora? grita el conductor.
So there were three munchos on the chiva. At the next town the little pig gets off and two more want to get on. "How many are you now?" shouts the driver.
A yellow colonial house with a green balcony buried under an ENORMOUS purple bougainvillea in full bloom; a hand-painted sign "BUGANVILLA". The pig hops off; an armadillo and a small green iguana carrying woven mochila bags wait to board. Painted on the garden wall: "3-1+2=4".
Ahora eran cuatro en la chiva. En Tuchín se bajan dos y tres más se suben. – Me pregunto cuántos somos ahora, dice Menos. – No tantos…, dice Más.
Now there were four on the chiva. At Tuchín two get off and three more hop on. "I wonder how many we are now," says Menos. "Not that many…" says Más.
Tuchín, home of the sombrero vueltiao: the hill behind the stop is shaped like a GIANT sombrero vueltiao, and giant woven hats lie scattered on the slope like the hats of Hatthult. A red-walled tienda carries two hand-painted posters: "4-2=2" and "2+3=5". Two animalitos hop off; three new ones climb aboard: a howler monkey, a tiny golden frog, and a small spectacled-bear cub wearing a hat. A small waterfall and a mango tree on the left.
⚠️ Tuchín is the real town where sombreros vueltiao are woven — the pun writes itself. Cerro Tusa appears in frame 6, Jardín inspired frame 4, El Peñol is frame 7, the páramo of frame 8 is Los Nevados.
En Vacalinda se bajan dos munchos. Allí hay cinco munchos que quieren subirse. Y se suben. – ¿Cuántos son ahora? grita el conductor. Los munchos no lo saben, porque no saben contar.
At Vacalinda two munchos get off. Five munchos are standing there wanting to get on. And they do. "How many are you now?" shouts the driver. The munchos don't know, because they can't count.
The prettiest plaza of the trip, looking like the town of Jardín: a colonial fountain, a tiny chapel with a tower and a flag, sign "VACALINDA", brightly painted facades with colorful wooden balconies, geraniums everywhere, and a little cable-car garrucha crossing above the plaza. In the pasture two brown cows wear the sums painted on their bodies: "5-2=3" and "3+5=8". A crowd of small Colombian animals queues to board the chiva: an anteater, an armadillo, a howler monkey, a hummingbird, a little frog.
Ocho munchos van en la chiva. Cuando llegan a Chinchiná, hay cinco más que quieren subirse. – Solo caben diez en la chiva, grita el conductor. Necesitamos un remolque. ¡Y entonces aparece un remolque!
Eight munchos are on the chiva. When they come to Chinchiná, five more want to get on. "There's only room for ten on the chiva," shouts the driver. "We need a trailer." And then a trailer appears!
A tiny red coffee finca ("CHINCHINÁ") in the heart of the Coffee Region, among coffee bushes heavy with red berries, plantain trees, a haystack, and a few tall wax palms like the Cocora Valley on the hillside. The sum "8+5=13" is written in the sky as a thin cloud trail. A little wooden trailer, painted in the same red-yellow-blue style, is being hitched behind the chiva. Five more animalitos wait to board: a jaguar cub, a green iguana, a coati with a striped tail, a turtle and a parrot.
⚠️ From here the chiva tows the trailer — the "second wagon".
Ahora falta mucho para el próximo pueblo. Dos tucanes también quieren subirse. – ¿Pueden? grita Menos. – ¡Sí, todos pueden subirse! dice el conductor.
Now it is a long way to the next town. Two toucans want to come along too. "May they?" shouts Menos. "Yes, everyone may come along!" says the driver.
The richest spread — a fairy-tale coffee landscape between towns: the unmistakable pyramid-shaped silhouette of Cerro Tusa rises in the far background; a red crop-duster plane tows a banner "13+2=15"; the Coffee King sleeps on a throne made of coffee sacks; a giant pair of pruning shears sticks out of the ground; red-spotted cows, wax palms, a treehouse village with lightbulbs hanging from a giant ceiba, and a garden with giant glass bottles. The two toucans perch on the chiva's roof rack.
Ahora son quince entre la chiva y el remolque. En El Peñolito se suben tres munchos contentos. – ¿Cuántos son ahora? grita el conductor. – ¡Mil! grita uno de los contentos. – Creo que contó mal, dice Menos.
Now there are fifteen between the chiva and the trailer. At El Peñolito three happy munchos climb aboard. "How many are you now?" shouts the driver. "A thousand!" shouts one of the happy ones. "I think he counted wrong," says Menos.
A stop beside a giant granite boulder like El Peñol de Guatapé: "15+3=18" painted in red on two rocks, a small sign "PEÑOLITO". Golden sugarcane field, coffee drying on a patio, giant sunflowers. Three cheerful little titi monkeys climb on; chiva and trailer are crammed with animals.
En Frailejonal los tucanes salen volando. Seis de los munchos se bajan de la chiva. – ¿Cuántos son ahora? grita el conductor. – ¡Diez mil! grita el contento. – ¿Somos tantos? susurra Más.
At Frailejonal the toucans fly away. Six of the munchos get off the chiva. "How many are you now?" shouts the driver. "Ten thousand!" shouts the happy one. "Are we that many?" whispers Más.
A misty páramo: a forest of GIANT frailejones (furry-trunked espeletia plants) replaces the Swedish spruce forest. A wooden sign nailed to the tallest frailejón reads "18-2=16" and "16-6=10", with a small sign "FRAILEJONAL". Beyond the mist: a stone refuge hut and golden grass. Six animalitos hop down into the golden grass; the two toucans fly off, and a big Andean condor circles above the mist.
En Setamaría se bajan tres munchos contentos y tres munchos gruñones. Otros ocho munchos se suben. – ¿Están todos? grita el conductor. ¿Cuántos son ahora?
At Setamaría three happy and three grumpy munchos hop off. Eight other munchos get on. "Is everyone aboard?" shouts the driver. "How many are you now, then?"
The stop is a GIANT mushroom with the sign "SETAMARÍA" under its cap, more giant mushrooms behind; beside them the romantic ruins of an old colonial chapel and a stone dolmen. The sums "10-3-3=4" and "4+8=12" hang as laundry on a clothesline. Three happy and three visibly grumpy animalitos leave; a queue of eight new Colombian animals boards (frogs, monkeys, iguanas, birds).
Ahora son doce munchos entre la chiva y el remolque. En Zapatoca se suben cinco munchos más. – ¿Caben todos? grita el conductor. – ¡Sí! Aquí somos diez, dicen los de la chiva. – Aquí somos apenas siete, dicen los del remolque. – Bueno, ¡nos vamos! dice el conductor.
Now there are twelve munchos between the chiva and the trailer. At Zapatoca five more munchos hop on. "Is there room for everyone?" shouts the driver. "Yes! We are ten here," say those on the chiva. "We are only seven here," say those in the trailer. "Good, then off we go!" says the driver.
Zapatoca ("zapato" = shoe): the stop is a GIANT old alpargata espadrille with a little bell tower on top, sign "ZAPATOCA", next to a red-brick colonial ruin. A wooden sign on the stone wall reads "12+5=17". Rolling farmland, tall poplars and a cow in the pasture. Five animalitos squeeze aboard.
⚠️ Zapatoca is a real colonial town in Santander — and a shoe pun, matching Skokloster.
A Puerto Champán llegan diecisiete munchos. Siete de ellos se bajan. – Ahora nos vamos, dice el conductor. – ¡No, esperen, también queremos bajarnos! gritan cuatro munchos. – Ahora no quedan tantos, dice Más. Quizás apenas ocho… doce.
Seventeen munchos arrive at Puerto Champán. Seven of them hop off. "Now we're leaving," says the driver. "No, wait, we want to get off too!" shout four munchos. "Now there aren't so many left," says Más. "Maybe only eight… twelve of them."
A stop on the wide Río Magdalena: an old wooden champán riverboat is beached at the shore, its two sails carrying the sums "17-7=10" and "10-4=6", with a small sign "PTO. CHAMPÁN". Tall caña brava reeds, a wooden jetty and a little canoe on the water. Eleven animalitos in all climb down here.
Ahora la chiva está de vuelta en Guayabalito. Cuatro munchos se bajan. Menos y Más se quedan sentados. – ¿No se bajan nunca? dice el conductor. – ¡No, queremos dar otra vuelta! gritan ellos. – Entonces damos otra vuelta, dice el conductor. ¡Pero esperen, el marranito también quiere subirse!
Now the chiva is back in Guayabalito. Four munchos get off. Menos and Más stay seated. "Don't you two ever get off?" says the driver. "No, we want to ride once more!" they shout. "Then we'll go another round," says the driver. But wait — the little pig wants to come along too!
Back at the colonial plaza of Guayabalito where it all began — same guava tree, same banner now reading "6-4=2", same white houses and balconies. Four animalitos hop off; Menos and Más the two capybaras stay aboard, and the little pink pig with the red neckerchief comes running again — the loop is ready to repeat.