Volcán El Totumo

During my last few weeks in Cartagena, seeing and doing all the things that I wanted to before the end of my grant, I finally took a trip to Volcán de Lodo El Totumo, a mud volcano located about an hour and a half north of Cartagena. Rather than lava and ash, the volcano is filled with geothermally heated mud, and there you can take a dip, have a massage, and head over to the huge lagoon situated behind the volcano to bathe in afterwards. This is definitely a very touristy, do-it-once type of activity, but it was a really fun experience that I thoroughly enjoyed.

I went to the volcán with my friend and fellow Fulbrighter Andie, within a group of tourists. This was definitely the way to go because the travel package we had was affordable and included transportation, entrance to the volcano and the lagoon, and a day pass to a nearby beach club for lunch and a dip in the pool. Our transportation stuck with us the whole day, which was super convenient because we were able to leave all of our things on the bus that brought us once we got to the volcano. Our guide also loaned us little capsule necklaces where we could safely store money during the excursion.

When we first pulled up, I was a little surprised to see how small the volcano was; it seemed more like a large hill than a volcano, and later on, a quick Google search taught me that Totumo is actually the smallest volcano in Colombia. When we got to the foot of the volcano, there were staff there welcoming us and collecting phones. With all the constant advice of “no dar papaya” in Colombia, I had grown extremely cautious of where I put and how I handled my things, so it felt super strange at that moment to hand my phone over to a complete stranger, but it was all good. Our things were safe, and the guy who took my phone kindly snapped tons of photos and recorded videos of us along the way.

To get to the mud pool, there is a flight of stairs to climb up to the top of the volcano. Part of the reason that I didn't get to visit for a while is because those stairs got washed away in a bad aguacero (rainstorm) during the rainy season a few months before, but thankfully they were reconstructed by this point. At the top of the volcano, we watched the groups ahead of us in the mud pool as we waited for our turn and got a really nice view of the lagoon, where a different group was washing the mud off of themselves. The lagoon is huge and, according to Google, can be described as a swamp or lagoon rather than a lake because it connects with the ocean on one end.

From the top of the volcano!

Once it was finally my turn, the attendants directed me to descend into the mud pool via a small wooden ladder. The sensation of being in the mud pool was so unique. It's really deep (over 2000 meters or 7000 feet), so your feet cannot touch the bottom, you can’t really swim, and you can’t sink either due to the mud’s density. It was so funny how while all of us visitors were in awe, floundering about in the mud as we dealt with such a strange feeling for the very first time, the masseuses who work in the volcano were obviously desensitized and unfazed. They calmly pulled and pushed us around like babies as they helped us in, around, and out of the pool.

The masseuses kept saying “stand-up” in English, which was such a funny choice of words to me because there was nothing to stand on and also because it was almost impossible—the mud kept forcing our legs up, so most of us ended up floating on our backs for the majority of the time. It was a really comical moment of collective helplessness. Another thing that made me laugh was that my masseuse asked me something along the lines of how much I would like to be covered in mud, and without thinking, I said "solo un poquito!", just a little, but I still ended up with my entire face and body covered, with the exception of just the top of my afro.

After being lowered down into the pool, getting lathered up with mud and massaged, and being floated over to the guy in charge of wiping off some of the excess mud and helping us up a different ladder out of the mud pool, my friend and I got some photos taken and went down a second set of steps to go bathe in the lagoon. Once we got to the water, there were women waiting to wash us off, but I opted to do it myself so I could take my time. It was such an innocent and genuinely fun moment. All of us there bathing were dying of laughter because every time you thought you were done washing off, there was always more mud to be found: behind your ears, under your nails, or a random streak on your back. The whole experience was super lighthearted and fun!

The lagoon/swamp was really beautiful too. I took a moment to float as I washed the mud out of my hair and wished I could stay a little longer. There seemed to be a sense of haste to lead each group to bathe and to return back to the main area near the volcano in a matter of minutes, and I’m not sure if it was just to keep the flow of people moving or what. I remembered that there are indeed cocodrilos, crocodiles in Cartagena, and with the realization that the water wasn't clear enough to see to the bottom or to be able to notice when reptiles may be approaching, I went ahead and joined the group making their way out of the water!

At the base of the volcano, Andie and I bought 5mil costenitas from one of the little shops there to cool off and pass the time. Those Costeñitas were real expensive considering that the first one I ever drank in El Mercado Bazurto (the main popular market in Cartagena) cost 1.5mil but inflation, tourism, and the new year meant that things would always be more expensive than usual. As we sat, the attendants came around collecting tips for taking photos, for the massage, and for bathing people. We paid, finished our costenitas, packed back into the bus, and I took a little nap with the sound of vallenato in the background, content with my dip in the volcanic mud!

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Cumbia on the beaches of La Boquilla: La Escuela de Tambores