MUD VOLCANO!

June 14th, 2009

Later yesterday evening, I went back to a grocery store that also sold paintings. I ended up buying a copy of Botero’s Mona Lisa which is a depiction of Mona Lisa if she were about 50 pounds heavier. It is pretty funny and cost me $25. We then went for dinner and had steak with cheese on top and then to a café where I got a brownie with an ice cream scoop of dulce de leche on top. It was awesome. We then came back to the hostel and crashed.
We woke up this morning and we went on a tour to a small volcano that is filled with warm gray mud about 40 minutes outside of the city. We went swimming in the mud and got massages. It felt like walking in pudding, but we couldn’t feel the bottom or even sink. All we could do is skim along the top. The volcano was so full of people that it was hard to get around. We then went to wash off in the lake next to the volcano. Old women from the community would wash us down. We all got buck naked in the lake and they then washed out our swimming suits. I was a little shocked at first but it was a good thing because I had so much mud in my pockets in the swimsuit that I bought from the D.I. We then got back in the bus and then the bus driver backed into a car. We ended up spending about an hour waiting as they fixed the situation. We then ended up going to the beach and swam while they fixed a fish lunch for us. We came back and got cleaned up. We then went to a church up on a hill overlooking the city that took the place of where the Indians would worship a goat. Sherrie and Scarlett took a picture with the same sloth that Scarlett took a picture when she visited Cartagena a few years ago.
We then came back to see the inquisition museum and the gold museum which were both closed because it was Sunday. We then went to a fancy Italian restaurant, which had fantastic food and great atmosphere. We ate by candlelight, the two ladies and I, and they had wine and I had tap water. It was excellent and $10. We then went and had dessert in the town square on cobblestone streets surrounded by lanterns. Two guys played guitars and serenaded a couple by us and then a group of local kids were street performers did some typical Colombian and Afro Colombian dances for tips. The people who live in the north are descendents of slaves and had some great moves. We had a great time telling embarrassing stories and laughing. We then came back to the hostel and are watching movies. What a great day.