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Published: January 3rd 2008
VOLCAN DEL TOTUMO
Kids playing and showing offWe had gone back to Cartagena to find ourselves a yacht to sail to Panama and found that we had a few spare days. I decided that some sight-seeing was in order as the previous time I had been in Cartagena was spent partying at the fiesta. I booked myself on a tour to the nearby mud volcano, something that was pretty rare and I had been told was definately worth going to see. After being picked up first in the van I then spent the next two hours picking up the others and getting stuck in traffic.......not what I was expecting at all! Finally we made it to the other side of Cartagena and passed the huge amounts of water that had slowed the traffic down and we were on our way to the volcano. As we pulled up I saw the volcano that to me looked quite man made as it wasn't all that big and seemed to be in the middle of no where. We were told that we had to be just in our bathers and to leave everything else in the bus and if we wanted any photos taken to hand over our cameras to one
of the guys working there. Up on top of the volcano was a small mud bath where people were lying in the mud. Once I got in it was the weirdest sensation as you just couldn't sink in it and it actually bouyed you up out of the mud. I was quickly grabbed by one of the men and who told me to lie down and then started to give me a full body massage. I was not really wanting to put my head into the mud as I was thinking that I would have mud in it for weeks afterwards but I really didn't have much choice when my head was pushed into it. You could just lie on top of the mud and it would bouy you up with no need to do anything. We all got about 3 massages and then we were told to head off down to the lake for the next part of the procedure.....getting washed. This time it was all women doing this and they ask you to come into the lake and sit down. Here they tip buckets of water over you as they clean all the mud from your body and
VOLCAN DEL TOTUMO
The mud bath at the top hair (felt sorry for my lady). They also ask you to get your kit off so they can wash your bathers as well. I have heard many stories of people getting a very thorough wash at this point so I was ready for it. After about ten minutes in the lake it was time to head back to the car and get dry before paying the photographer, the massager and the cleaning lady before heading off towards our lunch spot. When we arrived there was a group of young boys aged from 6-11 years who were very excited to see us. They were dancing around and moshing each other in front of the cameras and I was waiting for them to ask for money for their photos. These boys though were not interested in money they just wanted to see how silly they looked in the photos. I wasn't eating lunch so I was left with the kids when everyone else ate and I had so much fun with them. They were hanging off the tree, dancing around, singing, laughing and three of them managed to bite their lips causing them to bleed. They would all pose for a photo
VOLCAN DEL TOTUMO
Getting into the volcano with a little helping hand and then laugh hard once I showed them the photos. I then started to use the video and that was a real winner and they wanted to replay it time and time again.......kids so innocent in their fun and so happy just made me smile and laugh as well. To me this was actually the highlight of the day even after being to a volcano so rare as the mud volcano. By the way I found mud in different parts of my body for the next few days!
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