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As a solo traveler and without very much time, I left the comfort of being a traveler to become a tourist. With only two weeks in Colombia, I realized I had not given myself enough time to truly get to know and understand this dynamic and multi-dimensional country. I gave myself a week in Bogot and a week to discover the Caribbean coast. My tour of the Caribbean coast included Cartagena, Taganga and Parque Tayrona. Cartagena was definitely the most touristy of the three because it is frequented by Colombians and foreigners a like. Taganga would be a close second. This small beach town has been overtaken by Israelis in the last four years and at certain times of year, tourists may out-number the locals. Parque Tayrona is a national park and is therefore only frequented by visitors.

In the interest of saving time and keeping myself on schedule, during my week on the coast I did two tours.

Volcan de Lodo el Totumo (Mud Volcano)
This was one of the places that I had read about before coming that I knew I wanted to visit. The Mud Volcano is located about an hour outside of Cartagena and was definitely worth the visit. Bathing in a cool mud pool that bubbles up from the ground is an unrepeatable experience. Supposedly, the mud bubbles up from a spot 2,300 meters deep. Over time, the mud has formed a small hill that you climb to sit in a man-trained "pool". Fortunately, the mud is not hot, it is actually quite cool.

Arriving at the volcano, we were instructed to strip down to our bathing suits and sandals and hand our cameras over to a local who's job is to take pictures of us covered in mud. We started our climb up the 200 ft pile of mud and at the top found about three Colombian men standing in the pool of mud waiting to give us massages. I climbed down the ladder into the mud and was told to lie back. The sensation of floating in thick, cool, grey mud is indescribable. Unlike in water, where you have to tense certain muscles to stay afloat, the mud just cradles you. After lying down, I was pushed over to a masseuse that completely covered me in mud. They start by covering the face to protect it from the sun. The massages are nothing particularly special, but they are relaxing.

After the massages, I just sat in the mud with the other people from the tour. When I first saw the pool and the masseuses, I didn't think that the pool was that deep. The masseuses were up to their shoulders in mud and I assumed that they had been standing. Once I was able to explore the pool

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