Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud!

So I am in Cartagena, pearl of the Caribbean and possibly the best preserved colonial city in all of South America. A place chock-a-block with fine buildings and memoreable architecture.

Therefore this posting will be dedicated solely to the theme of MUD!

”Mud, mud, glorious mud 

Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood

So follow me follow, down to the hollow

And there let me wallow in glorious mud!”

So goes the Hippopotamus song of my childhood in England. And indeed, I followed me followed - not to the hollow though, but to a mud volcano!

Oh, well, I suppose technically the Totumo volcano is not a volcano, but it certainly is the right shape for it. And - if we are to believe our guide - over 2000 meters deep, filled with very efficacious minerals and whatnots and a very pleasant 38C warm - which in the basking heat probably did cool the blood.

And what’s best - only 48% water, making it very thick mud!

If Dante had had a bit more imagination, I’m sure he would have added one more level to the inferno: the place where people eternally have to wallow in mud. Because this certainly looked like an image from some medieval depiction of hell - spare limbs and scary mud-faces all around. 

But this would be the hell I would sign up for. Such a smooth texture! Smooth as - well  - wet clay, which is what it is. And so thick that sinking up to your neck just isn’t possible. The Dead Sea of mud.

However, here’s a tip for you ladies: Don’t wear full bathing suits. Swimming suits here are bikinis. Full stop. So I was the only one with a full body suit. The suit nicely filled with warm mud and I entertained myself by impersonating someone vomiting mud by pushing up about 2 litres of runny mud from inside the suit out through the hole for the head. However, when it was time to climb the ladder and go back up... guess which holes in the swimsuit the runny mud was falling out of to the loud amusement of all the bathers. And there was lots of it! The gentleman helping me up the ladder renamed me ”el pequeno volcán” - the little volcano.

But let’s face it: A mud bath really makes your skin just glow!