random pictures

Mud Volcano

We arranged for a trip to the mud volcano today, not knowing what to expect. In hindsight, I haven't had any idea of what to expect this whole time, so its nothing new. The hotel made the phonecalls and at 8:30 this morning a girl in a tourism vest showed up. We followed her out and hopped into a little hatchback and started off.

Wierd, I thought. I was expecting a bus. The girl and the driver seemed nice though so no worries and soon enough we stopped at a bus and switched vehicles.

They had an attendance sheet to sign in, and being near the back of the bus, I noted that nearly everyone else on board was either Australian, Spanish or from New Zealand.

After an hour long drive along the coast, passing tons of dilapidated villages that made me realize how fortunate we are to live in the states. I mean, unless you're homeless, you live probably a better life than can be found in living in a shack made out of trash, with a floor made out of trashbag wrapped boards, on top of septic looking pond.

But back to the point. After a long, long drive through nowhere, we pulled up to the mud volcano. it's like 80 feet high, with the most dishevelled set of stairs. And have i ever mentioned i hate heights? But up the stairs i went, to the top of a bottomless pool of mud, and then in we all went. So wierd. It's impossible to sink. I mean, it takes all your effort to stay partially submerged rather than just bobbing back up to the surface. So we all played in mud for a while, and went to the river to clean off. A few other tourists asked for pictures with us, since they hadn't made it into the mud. One of them's actually blogging about her south american tour, so i told her where this is on the internet, and i rather hope she finds it, so that i can get copies of the pictures she took!

the mud volcano, all 80 feet tall of it

I'm terribly afraid of heights. Just saying.

Entry into the mud.

Danielle, joining the pile of muddy bodies.

Entry to the mud, part 2

Just so wierd!

End result

After the mud, we drove back to a dilapidated old fishing village. Hung out in the ocean, ate a meal and continued home. All of this (travel, mudding and food) for the price of $25 a person for 5 or 6 hours of activity...

dinner, outside the city walls

At the hotels suggestion we walked outside the confines of the old city to just regular cartagena, in search of a sea food restaurant. Once you're outside, there's only a few small differences. A, a noticable lack of fellow gringo's and gringa's. B, though there's still the older architecture, it's mostly more modern buildings. C, though the police presence is much less, it still feels completely safe.





Dinner was tasty, as usual. I'm don't recall the types of fishes that we got, though I did cheat and search them out on wikipedia. Whichever one I got is a popular fish around the world, but isn't serve or sold in the states. It was breaded and baked in cheese and milk. Very good. Had some chilean wine to go with it.

Danielle got the other fish we'd never heard of, but had it coated in bland herbs. Though still good, I think mine was a bit better.

yesterdays lunch

In between museum tours and taking a walk a top the wall that surrounds Cartagena's old city, we happened upon a cute little courtyard restaurant. Really, there was no way to tell, except for the sign out front which I'd paused to take a picture of. It was then that the front door opened and the waiter stepped out and invited us in, as they were opening in 15 minutes.


Inside, i didn't expect it to very nice or big. Yet it was. I guess nearly every building here has an expansive courtyard, so even the most unassuming front side of a building could house a beautiful layout inside.









Again, and as is usual, the food was amazing, the service was great and the price was more than right.

Aside from police and torturers, we also happened into a huge church today. The pictures I took can't give it the proper sense of scale, as I believe that the seating areas are laid out in the shape of a cross and we were just in one of the ends of the cross. There seemed to be a baptism taking place in the center, and worshippers all around (it is sunday, afterall), and then tourists like me wandering around the periferary with cameras. There was also a homeless guy passed out the pews, who was woken by a police officer. There seemed to be almost a skirmish about to occur, but then the man woke up and realized who he was punching and pushing, at which point he stopped, and was led out of the church by the smiling police officer and sent on his way.

Instruments of torture

Went to the museum of the inquisition today. Fascinating place. Like everywhere else here, full of history. It just so happens that there's no pleasant memories to be found here. Instead, you walk in and you're confronted with the madness of humanity.

A painting, depicting the prisoners awaiting their fates

Put victims head in place. Then tighten.

Headache, guaranteed. Death too probably.

Just your organic garden variety head crusher

This would get gouged into someones stomach.

And this? Heated up and applied to womens breasts. Because
the inquisition wasn't just about the catholics going after the
protestants. They went after witches, and i guess everyone else.

Insert head. Close and lock. Game over.

The stretching rack. The two ropes at the far end
attach to the victims arms. The two shorter ropes
at the nearer end, his feet. Want to guess where that
last rope got attached to?

It's like, who thinks these things up, even?

Finger crushing. Just because.

And of course, the guillotine (never used in cartagena actually)

The day consisted of much more than just this, I just figured this was the most interesting place to start from.