They Float... in Volcano Mud at El Totumo
El Totumo is an active mud volcano about one hour drive from Cartagena’s Old City. It is nicknamed the “Volcano of Youth” for the belief that the mud rejuvenates your skin.
When we first read about El Totumo, the reviews were very mixed. Some people believe its a local adventure you can’t miss and others griped about how poorly run the tour itself is. With eyes wide open, we arranged the tour and promised to make the best of it. Our pick-up was supposed to be 8:30-8:45AM and it finally arrived around 9:20AM. We drove around the city for another hour or so before finally heading on our way.
Upon arrival, we were taken to a basic room with some chairs and tables, told to change into our swimsuits. They would hold any valuables for us but otherwise leave everything on public shelves. We quickly sorted ourselves out and got on the line for the volcano.
The steps going up the volcano were quite steep and at times slanted with the sun just beating down on us. Luckily, we both had put on a good amount of sunscreen but without sunglasses, it was pretty scorching. There was a little kid walking up and down the steps making sure no one left a gap - he expected every step to be fully occupied and would annoyingly keep pointing at an empty space until you moved into it (sometimes it was where he was standing). Ian shared a joke he had read before, “someone came up with the great idea to shorten unemployment lines by squishing people closer together.” Another tourist told us she would not mind if we killed the child so he left us alone. This went on for about one hour. The views around us were quiet nice and as we waited up top, we curiously watched people getting into the mud, with some getting massages and becoming covered head to toe. If a drone had captured a bird’s eye photo, it would be a weird one: 30 people standing in their bathing suits watching 20 or so people in the mud - a weird ceremony of sorts.
At one point there was a bit of confusion when a guide told a group of people to move in a different direction causing about ten of us to get skipped in line. Fortunately, the Colombians in front of me began yelling at the guide and getting the situation fixed. When one of them saw I was still behind some line jumpers, she took hold of my arm and ensured the line jumpers gave room for us to get back in our original spot.
Finally - we made it and were getting into the mud. Ian went in first and we both were surprised when our feet never touched the bottom. The mud was so dense that we were extremely buoyant. Everyone was floating at chest level and struggling to move because of how thick it was.
We decided not to get the massages and just enjoy the mud like many others were doing. Neither of us were adventurous enough to get it on our heads but we did face paint ourselves. We learned to try and keep our legs straight while pretending to bicycle in order to move about. A couple other people had not worked that out and lost control going horizontal face first. It was quite funny and we all laughed with each other. When it was time to get out, one of the guides wiped off the excess mud as we got out. It was cold and windy being out of the mud and we then had our steep and slippery decent down the stairs.
We headed to the right of the stairs to a small lake where ladies were there to help us wash ourselves. They were surprisingly thorough and able to clean not only our bodies but our swimsuits, using the cloudy water to hide our modesty. After being cleansed, we enjoyed a beer, coconut, and some arepas under the shade.
We had opted to also go to a beach for lunch which we don’t recommend. We waited another 30 minutes before the first bus left and the drive took another hour. When we got to the beach (it was nice), we waited another 45 minutes for the food to come and this was already 2PM. We ended up not back in the old city until 5PM.
The best way to go is to drive yourself to the volcano else just book the tour for only the volcano so you can head back into town for a nice leisurely lunch. While the lunch was good (fried fish with coconut rice and salad), it didn’t include is typical for a Cartagena lunch: a nice soup and a natural juice.
