Tasting authentic Mexican street food, exploring ancient Mayan ruins, relaxing by wild beaches and sampling tequila and mezcal where it's made is something you must do once in your lifetime. Mexico is a treasure trove of hidden (and not so hidden) gems that will have you wanting to stay longer than you might think.
Did you know Mexico is rich in beautiful, crystal clear swimming holes? Known as cenotes, these unique swimming holes are sure to be a highlight of your Mexican adventure.
From Mayan ruins, to volcanoes, to beautiful colonial cities, you’re sure to be impressed by what Guatemala has to offer.
Floating in a mud bath inside a volcano would have to be one of my most random travel experiences. But also one of my favourite travel experiences – I don’t think I stopped laughing the whole time I was in the mud bath.
While on a tour along the Caribbean coast of Colombia, our guide recommended we visit the Volcan de Totumo (Totumo Volcano) – a 15 metre mud volcano about 45 minutes outside of Cartagena.
When you reach the volcano, you’ll wonder if you’re in the right place and may think you’ve been tourist trapped.
Rough shacks line the entry in what feels like the middle of nowhere and ahead of you stands the volcano – which looks like a dirt hill someone has roughly put up and added some stairs to the top. I’m assured though that this is actually a mud volcano.
I was with four other friends on a tour and we uncertainly exited the minivan just in our swimming gear – told to leave everything else in the van. We were led to three men, told to hand them our cameras and were led up the wooden stairs. This was definitely not what I expected.
Our tour guide had described this as a thermal mud bath with a massage included, and my mind had immediately jumped to thinking we were going to an established spa with changerooms at least – not to an exposed hill top.
As we reached the top of the volcano, we looked into a pit supported by wooden struts down into thick dark grey mud with two men waiting for us down in the pit.
This was getting a little weird but travel is all about new experiences – even the weird ones that take you out of your comfort zone. Especially as none of us knew much Spanish – so we were basically going by hand gestures.
One by one, we climbed down the wooden stairs into the pit. There were four girls and one guy in my group, and the guy boldly was the first to go in while us girls watched from above to see what exactly was going to happen.
As my fellow tour member entered the pit, he was instructed the lie on his back (the mud is so dense you float very easily) and the man started massaging him from the legs up. That’s when the laughs started and they didn’t stop until we were washed free of the mud. Despite what we saw, all four of us proceeded to get in one by one down the wooden stairs and took turns getting leg and arm massages.
I preferred to just float rather than get a massage – the massage bit was a little weird and felt a little uncomfortable as I tried to keep my ears out of the mud.
The mud was really warm and relaxing once you just float in it. But watch you don’t get any mud in your eyes or mouth – it’s pretty hard to get it out once you’re in the mud pit. One of our group got mud in his eye and had to get an incoming tourist with mud free hands to wipe his eye for him!