Mud Volcano

Volcan El Totumo, an hours bus ride out of Cartagena, is not actually a volcano as the name suggests but rather a 16m high volcano shaped hill that is full of mud - it is a giant mud bath. Apparently it is really hot spring water mixed with volcanic ash which results in a thick, dense oozy mud.
After stripping down to nothing but a swimsuit, you climb the stairs, wait you turn, then lower yourself down into a pit full of mud. It is so deep you cannot touch the bottom. In fact you cannot stand up as the density of the mud makes it impossible to do so. Just like people cannot sink in the dead sea due to the high salt content, you cannot stand, swim or wade in the mud. Trying to propel yourself through the mud is highly comical and takes a great deal of effort!

Once you climb down the stairs into the mud, a man at the bottom of the stairs takes your feet and pushes you to another chap who then completely covers you in the mud. He propels you to a third man who then massages you before you try and somehow get to the other corner of the mud pit where you can relax and enjoy the experience. The feeling of the warm mud was like nothing I had experienced before and we simply could not stop laughing - it was fantastic.Lifting you hand out the mud and watching the thick mud settle on your hand was like watching liquid plastic coat your skin. It was mesmerizing.

After a while, it was time to reluctantly come out. This involved another chap wiping the excess mud off your body before flinging you up a ladder and out of the mud pit. Still wearing nothing but your swimsuit (not even flip flops) you had to descend the volcano via steps and a painful gravelly path and then walk a couple of hundred metres to the river side. Here local ladies grabbed you and cleaned you properly. This entailed being violently scrubbed, inside and outside of your bathing costume, fingers went into ears and nostrils (if necessary) in an attempt to get rid of every last trace of mud. Then bucketfuls of water were thrown into your face and over your head.The current in the river made it difficult enough to sit down without the force of a pail of water in your face trying to unbalance you. The cleaning experience was almost as enjoyable as the mud experience.
I have no idea if the mud had any benefit for my skin but the whole morning certainly did wonders for my general positivity and good humour.
What a fabulous few hours.