Background Info:

 

Many people will tell you that El Totumo Volcano tour is sort of a "rite of passage" when visiting Cartagena, Colombia. If you have done any research on tours or visited almost any travel blog by those who have visited this lively Country- you will see pictures of mud clad folks happily covered from the top of their hair to the tip of their acrylics. In some cases you may see a shower cap or two in an attempt at saving their fresh style (or water allergy) hair. In my case, I simply made a public service announcement in broken Spanish stating "No Cara...No Pelo" (No face, No hair) and said it about three times! It was met with laughter but I got my point across loud and clear (as you see in the pictures above). 

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The Experience:

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We chose the morning tour which included the mud volcano and lunch at Manzanillo beach (with some beach time afterwards). There is an afternoon tour as well but doesn't include lunch or the beach (my understanding is that it's still the same price). You are contacted in advance with your pick up time from your hotel. Once picked up you make a few more stops to collect everyone else. This takes about an hour in total! Once you have everyone it takes another 45-60mins to get to the location. 

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Once you arrive- you are instructed to place your stuff in the locker (valuables) it's shared by everyone and the tour guide keeps the key. There are little shelves for you to place shoes and clothes. You are allowed to bring a camera or phone for pictures. Remember to take off all jewelry because getting mud in your stuff can be tough to get out later. Once you are in your swimsuit you get to walk by everyone (locals and other tourists) in your swimwear as you make your way up the narrow stairs to the top of the volcano crate opening.

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Once at the top, you stand in line and watch folks one by one enter the mud. You hand off your camera to the "photographer" who will take photos of you entering the pit, being massaged in the mud, "floating" in the mud and exiting the mud. He juggles multiple cameras but somehow his system works. Once you climb out the pit you walk down another narrow stairway and head to the lake. The sidewalk is very hot- the locals try to sell you flip flops (some people brought their flip-flops to the volcano pit and just left them at the top until they got out the mud). When you get to the lake there are helpers who will lead you to a spot and start to assist to rinse you off. Trust me- you need their help! It was a weird experience because you are kneeling in this lake while someone pours lake water on your body. I didn't feel any cleaner to be honest. Once you finish, the person that helped you ties a ribbon on your wrist identifying you had services (for payment later). 

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So after the lake you head back to the lockers to dry off and change. Everyone comes to meet you for payment. You pay 5million Colombian pesos to the camera guy, another 5mil to the massage guy and 5mil to the woman that helped clean you. I think one kid got money just because he had his hand out LOL! There are some vendors there to purchase your own volcanic ash to take home-starting around 15mil.

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Once we left Totumo we headed about 30mins to the beach for lunch. You had the option of Fish, Chicken or vegetarian meal. I chose fish and it was really good (fried) and water for my drink. There were soda and beer as an option but the beer came with an additional cost. Once we finished eating we had 45mins to enjoy the beach. That time felt like forever for some of us who just wanted to get back to the hotel to shower. The drop off process was the same as the pick up process. It took about 30mins roughly to get back to the drop off points and we got back around 3:30pm to our hotel. If you are lucky enough to have hot water where you are staying in Cartagena-the shower will be amazing after mud and lake water! 

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Would I recommend this tour? Yes, it's almost as if you HAVE to do it when in Cartagena! There are many tour groups you can choose from online. The inexpensive alternative would be to have a taxi/uber take you and wait while you do it. That way you can head back right after you're done.

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Need to Know...

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• Bring a towel and bug spray

• Flip flops and easy drying clothes

• Bring a bottle of water (the sun was beaming)

• Bring wet wipes, tissue & sanitizer- just in case

• Don’t wear jewelry (including rings and earrings)

• The bus ride was very bumpy and lacked leg room

• Your hotel pickup time will be between 8:30am-9:15am for the morning tour

• The Tour Guide is Bi-lingual but may need to be reminded at times to translate to English

• You can buy snacks and drinks there (not a big selection) they also sell volcano mud (starts at 15mil)

• Small currency (1/2/5mil) tipping of the washers, massage, photographer (5mil each) no change for big bills

• You rinse off in a lake but I saw showers back by the bathrooms (they don't share that info) the point is to tip the ladies that help clean you off

• Important to know- when the ladies wash you they get VERY VERY touchy/feely and personal with you in an effort to get as much mud off you as possible. It's pretty hard to avoid them.

• *If the touching is too much for you-ask to use the showers they have near the restrooms* It wasn't shared information on the tour but I did see older ladies using them.