Volcan Lodo El Totumo, Colombia

Tourists sitting in mud volcano

So when heard of a volcano where you can take a mud bath we assumed it was a giant volcano with a mud spring like the hot springs in Volcano Arenal in Costa Rica. We were completely wrong, it was a mound of mud in the shape of a volcano with a pit of muddy clay that was probably 20 feet tall at most. It's said that there is organic matter below that cause the gasses to rise and create the mud. We got in our bathing suits and jumped in. Supposedly we were allwoed to stay in there for 45 minutes, but it was too crowded to enjoy. It was weird, you would jump in, they would give you a massage and then push you in the middle in the orgy of people. It was so bouyant that you could sit and float. It's a weird feeling not being able to feel anything below your feet. Felt like the dead sea, but in mud.

Mud man Sean. [picture credit: Steph]

Seriously, way too crowded. people grabbing you to move around, a random foot between my legs. We fought our way across the crowded pool of mud and climbed out. Scrapped off any excess mud and walked down to the lake below to wash off.

View of the lake from the mud volcano.

The massage ended up costing 1.50$, there were ladies who would try to wash you down in the lake for the same price. I some how got conned into paying some kids the same price for watching my shoes. Mostly because we didn't want them to spit in our food. I later found out the food on the tour was served from somewhere else. Oh wells.