It is an ecological tour to visit the Totumo volcano which is the name as the locals usually refer to the mud volcano Cartagena where people usually go to take a mud bath while they get relaxing massages and enjoy the healing powers of the mud to the skin, in addition to an antigravity experience as it remains suspended without sinking due to the high density of the mud.
This mud volcano Cartagena is located about 30 miles from the city of Cartagena, so you have to drive about 45 to 60 minutes to get there. It is actually called a volcano because of its conical shape, but it is only a diapir of mud that was born at ground level and for hundreds of years the side has overflowed day after day until creating this 8-foot-high hill, to which later the locals built a rustic wooden ladder to climb to the crater which is about 2 square feet in area.
The mud volcano Cartagena has a depth of about 6,100 feet, which is why many, being aware of it before entering, are scared, so we usually recommend the massage, which makes you forget about the depth and enjoy your mud bath.
This mud, according to research by the University of Cartagena (the city’s public university), is made up of the following minerals: water 45.37%, silica 3.94%, aluminum 9.31%, magnesium 13.11%, sodium chloride 15.0%, Calcium 9.30%, sulfur 6.74%, iron 1.7%, phosphate 1.15%, which is why the healing properties of this Cartagena mud volcano are popular.
In your experience with us, you will be able to enjoy a mud bath for at least 1 hour or 1 hour and a half so that you appreciate the weightlessness that this mud has due to its high density, which will not allow you to sink into it, even if you try, even if you jump on it.
When you leave the mud volcano Cartagena you will have to take a bath, and you have two options for this:
1. Go to the beautiful lagoon that is behind the volcano, where you will find some ladies who will help you bathe with a bowl pouring water on you and rubbing your hands, legs and others to help you remove the mud, and sometimes they also help you to Wash your clothes.
2. Go to the beautiful lagoon that is behind the volcano, where you will find some ladies who will help you bathe with a bowl pouring water on you and rubbing your hands, legs and others to help you remove the mud, and sometimes they also help you to Wash your clothes.
Depending on the time the tour takes place, the order of the visits to the experiences will be different. For example, if the tour takes place in the morning (7:00 am) then we arrive first at the Cartagena mud volcano and then at the Pink Sea which is the other experience included in this tour. And if you choose the tour in the afternoon (2:30 pm) then we arrive first at the Mar Rosado and then at the Cartagena mud volcano with the intention in both cases of finding the mud volcano as alone as possible.
The pink sea is the other experience included in this tour which depends on the weather of the previous days or months; with which we must take into account that in Colombia, being geographically located in the equator, we do not have seasons (winter, summer, autumn, or spring), and we only have sunny days that occur in the months of December to May and rainy days, from June to November.
These climate changes in our region affect the experience of the pink sea since, more than a pink sea, this place is an open-pit salt mine which works as follows:
In 1950, the Bank of the Republic of Colombia built 4 swimming pools on a 230-hectare property, located in the town of Galerazamba, to which water from the Caribbean Sea is poured from a channel built for this purpose and which, through a manual gate It allows you access to seawater to fill the pools. After filling the pools with seawater, this water evaporates in a natural process due to the sun’s rays, until the concentration of salt in the pools exceeds 3.5% (which is the normal concentration of seawater) up to 27% salt concentration in the water.
To reach this salt concentration of 27% naturally, at least 3 continuous months without rain are needed, which can only be possible from December to March. After reaching this concentration of salt in the water, the salt contained in the water solidifies and falls to the bottom of the pools and on their banks, forming salt crystals which, after 1 month of formation, have the necessary concentration in order to be harvested.
These climate changes in our region affect the experience of the pink sea since, more than a pink sea, this place is an open-pit salt mine which works as follows:
In 1950, the Bank of the Republic of Colombia built 4 swimming pools on a 230-hectare property, located in the town of Galerazamba, to which water from the Caribbean Sea is poured from a channel built for this purpose and which, through a manual gate It allows you access to seawater to fill the pools. After filling the pools with seawater, this water evaporates in a natural process due to the sun’s rays, until the concentration of salt in the pools exceeds 3.5% (which is the normal concentration of seawater) up to 27% salt concentration in the water.
To reach this salt concentration of 27% naturally, at least 3 continuous months without rain are needed, which can only be possible from December to March. After reaching this concentration of salt in the water, the salt contained in the water solidifies and falls to the bottom of the pools and on their banks, forming salt crystals which, after 1 month of formation, have the necessary concentration in order to be harvested.
In addition, it must be taken into account that this open pit mine produces 35,000 tons of salt annually, which are harvested by the locals for a month and a half or so depending on the availability of personnel to remove the salt from the pools. Considering that the salt crystals are usually sharp, people must wear gloves and boots in order to harvest the salt, and they use canoes to place the salt blocks that are extracted from the deepest areas of the pools. When you visit this place, you can see these canoes around the pools.
By booking this tour with us, you can enjoy this unique and relaxing experience by clicking here.
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