You can't swim in mud....

Up early to avoid the crowds we drove an hour out of Cartagena to the Totumo Volcano. It is a volcano in the loosest sense of the word, more of a vent! This vent is filled with volcano mud that is more than 2 km deep. They say that bathing in the mud will make you look 10 years younger!

We all had visions of some huge caldera, so were somewhat taken aback to see this.....

You put your bathers on and gingerly climbed the stairs to the top where you found a well with mud! At this point I was at the front, but looking down at the mud, about 20 foot below, knowing how deep it was, and seeing the rather crude ladder in I must admit to being somewhat nervous, and I made Leon go in first! Then I slowly climbed down and immersed myself in thick gelatinous mud. It's true you can't swim in mud. In fact you can't do much! So you lie back and then the locals "shove" you across the surface! They massage in the mud and pull you when you need to move! At one point I was just suspended in a frog like position, fully supported. It was one of, if not the most, weirdest experiences of my life! 

Then comes the trauma of extracating oneself, without the weight of the mud pulling down your bikini bottoms and at the same time hauling yourself back up a ladder that was covered in mud. I could have been taking part in Its a Knockout!

After climbing back down the mount you head, looking quite frankly like a monster from the deep, past a row of cafés to the lagoon. As soon as you arrive you are grasped by the local women who throw water at you, get you to sit down in the merky water and whip of your bathers! Modesty is obviously not high on their priorities here! So I had a naked bath surrounded by 3 blokes!

I needed a fresh coconut juice to recover!

The afternoon was a much more civilised affair. A wander through the streets of the Walled Town and a spot of shopping!

The Walked Town is such a vibrant place, and there is a photo opportunity around every corner. I even nipped back as the sun was going down, and the locals tend to congregate on the street to grab a few more shots.

As our it was our last night in Cartagena Leon had organised for us to be picked up by horse and cart and taken around the streets before dropping us off for dinner. It's a very touristic thing to do, but then I am a tourist, and when in Cartagena...!

After dinner some of us decided to head to the Havava Club, THE club for salsa. It felt quite naughty leaving the city walls and heading out but when we got there it was closed! A guy called Raymond introduced himself and told us what an awesome night it is at the club (just to rub it in!) but he did point us in the direction of another one. Sadly there were not many people in there (3 actually) but we had a beer, listened to the music, and enjoyed the view!