Mud Volcano?

December 7th, 2009: Today I made it to a well known mud volcano outside Cartagena. This was a kid’s dream – and an adult’s dream who might still think they are kids. Looking at the people next to me I said with a straight face, “I hope nobody else peed in here besides me.” I just implanted in their head that…people might actually go pee in here and other unspeakable things. With no known way to clean the mud, I could somehow see the thinking that was going on in their heads…as they questioned what the milky mud is actually composed of.

The Beach

December 6th, 2009: Please note: “No gracias” translated into English means, “No thank you.”

Making it the tourist mecca of Colombia, I sit on the beach that rests beneath the shadows of the manmade structures that rise from the ground to great heights. Within the first 3 minutes I was swarmed by the walking salesman. No time to relax, I laughed as I heard myself say, “No gracias (no massage), no gracias (no bracelet), no gracias (no crab), no gracias (no oyster), no gracias (no freestyle personal rap session), no gracias (no whatever that is), no gracias (no painting), no gracias (no sunglasses), no gracias (no cigarettes), no gracias (no photos), no gracias (no necklaces), no gracias (no candy), no gracias (no beer), no gracias (no carved turtles), no gracias (no carved dolphins), no gracias (no hat), no gracias (no soda)…”

Overlooking the beach between the salesmen, 100’s of people stand like bowling pins lined up in the ocean, looking like a poor attempt of people trying to join hands across America.

Needing to consume so some required calories, I headed over to McDonalds for a Big Mac to complete my mental confusion on where I was, feeling as if I was no longer in Colombia.