A Unique Adventure at Colombia's Mud Volcano

El Totumo, the mud volcano located an hour or so northeast of Cartagena, is weird. It allows you to bathe in a chocolate pudding like substance on top of a hillock in rural Colombia. Worth it? For the novelty. Read on for everything you’ll need to know to visit this oddity.

1. Not for the Squeamish

If bathing in a large pit of mud does not sound appealing to you, El Totumo is not your thing. Although it is purported to have healing capabilities, it feels much less like a spa and much more like exactly what it’s called: a mud volcano. Now the mud is buoyant, so you’ll float in it, which is pretty cool. So don’t worry about falling into a giant hole, despite how disconcerting it may look.

2. Don’t Go Expecting a National Wonder

We’re fairly certain the ‘volcano’ was constructed by hand. It’s hard to tell for sure - and many people have different stories. While there must be some natural component to the particular mud, the volcano itself does not look spectacular in any matter. It’s the kind of thing where you pull up and you’re like oh, this is what I signed up for.

3. You’ll Need a Tour

I know, lame. But here’s the thing: it’s a tourist destination an hour outside of Cartagena. As far as we can tell, public busses don’t make pit stops (and we’re not really sure why they would). We went with hostel Mamallena and left at 1:00PM to avoid the morning tour that included lunch and a stop at the beach north of Cartagena. We got ours for 30,000 pesos each.

4. It Lasts About 30 Minutes

So the tour itself will take you the better part of the afternoon. But the mud bath lasts about 30 minutes. You’ll be ushered out of the bus, into a changing room, and up steep, slippery steps to the volcano. Here, you’ll plop in one by one and float around like giant blobs for a bit. The driving, prep, and cleanup take the majority of the time for this experience.

5. Don’t Bring Anything

Hence the reason we have no pictures of the actual bath, and only a shot of us on our way to Hostel Mamallena (there are plenty online if you’re interested). Everything gets ruined at the volcano, so only bring your (hopefully dark colored) swimsuit and a towel. There’s some dubiously secure lockers to leave your stuff in, but still.

6. .. Except Small Bills

This was one of our least favorite aspects of the trip. After paying entrance (i.e. the cost of your tour), you will constantly have people offering unsolicited services, such as showering you, massaging you, or washing you off in the river. Sometime they try to charge you even just for using the water spiggot. We were able to politely decline all these offers, but maybe bring some change in case you get yourself in an awkward situation. Or you just want a mud massage.