Volcan Totumo – I Can’t Get Enough of Your Mud

Volcan Totumo – I Can’t Get Enough of Your Mud

On the extremely bumpy and speedy boat ride back from Playa Blanca, I met three English guys. Now, when I say bumpy, I was literally flying out of my seat a few times. We all had a few laughs on the way back and decided to have dinner and a few drinks later on.

During a really tasty pizza dinner in one of Cartagena’s many squares, we hatched a plan for the next day involving Volcan Totumo. They were headed to Santa Marta, I was on my way back to Barranquilla, which are all east of Cartagena. Rather than having to take a tour and a return trip to Cartagena, I thought it might be a good idea to get a taxi there. The other reason I was thinking seemed like a good plan is because I knew it would be good to get there before the tour buses. It was the right thing to do.

Hence, Volcan Totumo – I can’t get enough of your mud. Even though I'd been in August, one visit is never enough.

Upon entering the mud, not laughing is an impossibility

creatures from the grey volcanic swamp

We are standing on nothing, and although we tried even by dunking each other, we couldn't sink


The mud statue that I became

Dré, Will, Adam, and I sharing the love of mud

After seeing everyone covered in grey it was kind of amazing to see people emerge in color after being washed in the lagoon. We all agreed that it was a rejuvenating and hilarious experience.

Back to life in living color

We continued on to Barranquilla in the taxi together. There we had a fantastic and very inexpensive lunch de pescado at a local restaurant. They left for Santa Marta and I took a taxi home. I was excited to take a shower after the mud, then lagoon bath, but unfortunately I had no water. I got home at 1:00, it's almost 11:30 pm and still there is no water. It was supposed to come back on at 5:00, which I knew meant more like 6:00, but I thought it'd be back n by now. I also briefly had no power. These are the kind of things that I expect from Colombia and usually they don't bother me that much. I have learned to keep two 5-liter bottles of water full and on hand so, when the water is unexpectedly off for 12 hours at a time, at least I can flush the toilet. I was defrosting my refrigerator and using the melted ice to flush the toilet too. Creative problem solving. I went to the gym to shower, so I'm clean.

The problem is that I am flying to Panama tomorrow morning. I wanted to do some laundry of things I'm taking with me. The first thing I did when I got home was throw a bunch of dirty clothes in the washer and put in the liquid detergent. I do not have enough water left to wash clothes even if I take them out of the washer. I also have no dryer, so it's possible that I'll be taking some dirty clothes with detergent on them (including a mud soaked bathing suit), or at the least some wet and clean clothes with me to Panama. Oh well, that's just kind of the way things go here sometimes. I've got plastic bags so I will be able to pack the clothes whatever state they're in. I do hope the water comes back on soon though.

I will be in Panama for Christmas and for a while afterwards. It is the first time I am leaving Colombia since I got here in August. I'm looking forward to that and seeing a friend of mine from Portland.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and a Happy New Year!

PS Just in case you've heard some news about a politician in southern Colombia, remember, I'm way up in the north.