Cartagena, Colombia
I must admit that, as a child of the 70's and 80's, the very first thing I think of when I hear "Cartagena, Colombia," is Michael Douglas's voice speaking the city's name in Romancing The Stone. (Then I think of the scene with "…my little mule!" and try not to think of the crocodile scene.) Thanks to Lainie of Raising Miro on the Road of Life, I will now also think of one of my favorite subjects: volcanoes!
Volcan el Lodo del Totumo is not a typical volcano in the sense that there isn't any heat from magma involved. Instead, gas from decaying organic matter heats up the mud and pushes toward the surface. Of course, according to Wikipedia, there is more to it than that! "According to local lore, the volcano used to spew fire, lava, and ashes, but it was turned into mud by a local priest who believed it was the work of the Devil, and ensued to banish him by sprinkling holy water into it."
Regardless of the origin, it looks like a whole mess of FUN! (Sorry, that was kind of a cliché — but it's true!)
I am SO doing this when I go to South America! (Shared with permission from Lainie. :)
You can read all about the mud volcano and even watch a short video on Lainie's website!
Where's your favorite place to get dirty? ;)
We just saw this post …. the mud volcano is actually lots of fun , although it can look a little gross ;) …. we laughed with your Romancing the Stone comment, we actually wrote about that in our blog last year in our series ” Hollywood vs Colombia” : http://seecolombia.travel/blog/2011/07/hollywood-vs-colombia-ii-romancing-the-stone/
Happy Travels!
Paul
As a now-former film biz worker, I actually get a huge kick out of visiting places I’ve seen in movies. This lets me either confirm or utterly deny the veracity of info in the film. One of my favorite travel adventures was visiting a shooting location from The Mummy in Morocco: https://www.tourabsurd.com/city-of-the-dead/ (It’s also one of my favorite posts.)
I think it’s great that you’re writing to dispel some of the misinformation about Colombia out there. :)
Oh my – that looks gross! Have fun! ;)
It’s good for the skin, Katie! I can’t wait to go there and get dirty one of these days. :D
What is going on?! There are tourists in the mud? Is that what you do when you hike the volcano? Whatever it is, sign me up for that next time :)
I’m with you on that, Shannon! The only concern I have is what happens if I get an itch in my eye? :P