Highlights of Cartegena

Mud Bath
Wilson and I spent about 11 days in Cartegena, Colombia. I thought the most exciting part of the trip was when we visited the Volcan de Lodo El Totumo for a mud bath. The 15m mound of mud looked like a volcano from the outside and was over 3000m deep (if I understood our guide correctly). The mud is said to have 51 minerals (i.e. sulfur, iodine, potassium, zinc) with medicinal properties.

The sensation when you first get into the crater of mud is indescribable. I thought the mud would light and watery but it was so thick that everyone stayed afloat. Since the crater was full of people and it was hard to move around or control your limbs in the crater, at times you we got a foot in your chest or ass.

Another interesting observation was there were various types of service providers inside and around the crater. For example, we saw plenty of men being rubbed by other men, just to learn these men were masseuses. We were also wondering where we would put our camera since once we were in this crater, there was no doubt you would get mud everywhere. So we saw a man that took your camera and took photos of you and your friends while you were in the crater. All this for a small tip at the end.

Finally, when we were done, we had to walk over to a local lagoon to wash the mud off. We tried not to give-in to the many women that tried to sell their bathing services (since we've been bathing ourselves for nearly 30 years now without assistance). But at the end, we just gave into the numerous ladies inside the lagoon that offered to bath us for a small fee. My lady even took my bathing suit off and washed it. Believe me, I made sure I kept my body under the water at that time. And although my lady was a bit aggressive, throwing lots of water over my head and face (that was the only way you could get everything off), I thought she did a wonderful job.

After, the nice mud bath we headed to a local beach for some lunch and then headed home.

Beaches
The beaches in Cartegena, mainly in the Boca Grande area, were nothing special compared to some of the beaches in Mexico. The set-up and appearance were just not nice. When you get to the beach, hundreds of vendors will approach you from folks selling canopies (which is a necessity with the warm temperature), shrimp, water, rice, mangoes, beer and jewelry. Although this may be a nuisance, sometimes I do wish there were more vendors selling these types of things in the States.

All the canopies are set very close to the water, which makes the beach look very cramped. And with the thousands of people on the beach, it did not make it relaxing. Not to mention, there was lots of bottles and trash throughout the beach. Nonetheless, it was certainly a great experience and all the local tourists appeared to be enjoying a wonderful day at the beach.

Friends


We were lucky enough to meet some friends in Cartegena. We randomly looked at some apartments for sale just for kicks. Upon visiting the second apartment, we were introduced to a native San Franciscan, Jack, that lived in the building. As such, we kept in contact with him and went to a couple of his gatherings and met some local Colombians. This was a real treat to our trip.


Favorite Restaurant
Although our Cartegena trip was not a life-changing adventure, we did manage to try some great restaurants. Our favorite, hands down, goes to Oh La La!, owned for a Colombian/French couple that served out-of-this-world food. Every dish from our appetizers, main course to dessert were phenomenal. Even the wine here was delicious, a rarity to find. For our appetizer, we tried the provolone cheese with bread and tomatoes. For our main courses, I had a white fish with some delicious bechamel-like sauce, veggies and rice. Wilson had the pork tenderloin, which was absolutely tender and cooked to perfection. Both courses were absolutely delicious. And for dessert, we had the crème broulee. Perfect as well. I had some Sauvignon Blanc to go with my meal (Wilson was sick so he stuck to water, which I believe was also delicious). This restaurants ranks high on our list of favorites. This restaurant was also recently reviewed by the NY Times, which was how we found it. Here's the link: http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/travel/26choice.html (go to the end of the second page).