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Published: September 26th 2009
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For today, we decided to go volcano dipping in El Totumo, the highest mud volcano in Colombia, which is a 15 metre mound that looks like a minature volcano. Instead of spewing lava and ashes it spews mud, which is a phenomenon caused by the pressure of gases emitted by decaying organic matter underground. We travelled for an hour with a tour group out to the location of the mini volcano 50 km NE of Cartagena.
We stripped down to our swim wear and climbed the specially built stairs up to the crater to have a bath in the mud that is said to have therapeutic properties (don't all places of mud claim this?!). The mud was lukewarm/cool depending on where you moved inside the crater and it had a consistency of cream. Upon entering the crater, I was whisked across the top of the mud by a local and positioned flat on my back, whilst a local gave me a massage in the mud. Dan had his massage next, before we were left to just linger in the mud in any space that wasn't beign taken up by any other tourist. Being in the thick mud felt like being
suspended in thick air. I has in a seated position for quite a while and Dan was standing straight up, yet both of us couldn't touch the bottom. It was more surreal than floating in the dead sea! Dan and I tried to push ourselves deeper into the mud, but the force of the soft earth just pushed us back up again. So it was practically impossible to sink.
There was a slight funky smell to the air, but it was a lot more pleasant than what we would have thought. We sat/stood around for a little while laughing about our experience with other tourists, before deciding we were ready to climb out. A few photos later and we were climbing down another staircase and walking down towards the lagoon to wash all of the mud off. Local women were in the water and directed you to direct areas in the lake, where they proceeded to wash you down. The lady who worked on me did a through job of getting all the mud out of my hair and ears before she took my bikini top off to wash it and yanked at my bottoms for her to clean
them also. Luckily, the water was murky so you could see, as I was partly naked during my session in the water. The woman helping Dan washed his boardies, but he wasn't taking his boxers off for her!
Feeling cleaner, we walked back to the hut near our tourist van to dry off and eat some of the watermelon that our guide had cut up for us once we got there. The whole experience was a great laugh and we didn't mind tipping for the services of the locals to take photos, massage and clean us. A dollar for each of those services was well worth it.
On our way back to the city, our tour group stopped off at a little town where we all sat down and ate a typical Colombian meal by the watersedge. Dan and I dind't venture out for a swim, but the long grey sand beach looked inviting. No commercial buildings had been built along its edges and only shanty buildings with some nicer eateries under thatched roofs existed. During lunch with sat with some girls who were on their way up to Costa Rica. We were able to exchange Colombian Pesos
for the Costa rican Colones, which really helped both them and Dan and I out. So all in all, it was a great day!
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Tan Sue Anne
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People in a volcano?
How can there be anyone in a volcano? I thought its dangerous.