Cartagena (Colombia)

The day we arrived in Cartagena was a bit of a blur.  We were all massively sleep deprived from the boat, and starving and dehydrated, as we had run out of water and food (did I mention this was the boat ride from Hell?).  After getting off the boat, we all cabbed from the port to the hostel area we had heard about to walk around and look for the best deal.  We found a great place called Hostel Marlin that has...wait for it...AIR CONDITIONING!!!! AND it was cheaper than the rest.  Shocking.
Basically our whole group from the boat stayed together, and we all settled in and showered for a much needed lunch.  We found a yummy place around the corner, and spent almost the entire lunch sharing our terror stories about the boat and having a good laugh and cheers over the whole debacle.
After lunch, Nicole and I headed out to catch a few sites in before she had to head to the airport.  We walked over to the Castillo de San Felipe, the largest fort the Spanish ever build!  It was pretty neat with an intricate tunnel system with an acoustic system that allowed the Spanish to hear the footsteps of approaching enemies from anywhere within the system!  Pretty neat.
                                            
After our quick tour, we headed back to grab a couple beers with our new boat friends before Nicole hopped into a cab to the airport after a tearful goodbye :(
I was insanely exhausted, and after setting up a rendezvous with everyone for dinner at 9 pm, went to bed for an epic nap that ended...at 5am.  Woops, missed dinner.  Turned out everyone else did too!
The next day in Cartagena, everyone was out and about doing touristy things.  Jared still wasn´t feeling very well, so we got a late start, but did end up being able to walk over to the old town, and walk all the way around the murallas (protective walls surrounding the city), and snap some photos.

                                                

 After a few hours of tourism, we headed back to the hostel for showers.  We got all dressed up for our new friend Alex´s birthday and walked much longer than expected to end up right back by our hostel for a delicious dinner in her honor.  We had all planned to go out crazy and dance the night away to salsa tunes (we are in Colombia), until to everyone´s elation, the birthday girl said she was too tired to go out anymore, a very much shared sentiment!!   We all headed back to the hostel exhausted and passed out straight away.
This morning, we woke up and grabbed a quick breakfast before our tour to Volcan Tutumo...potentially the weirdest tourist experience       we´ve had thus far!  What we had read about the "volcano", a complete misnomer, was that it actually spewed mud instead of lava, and the mud had very curative and rejuvinating qualities with 55 minerals.  When I spoke to the tour guide, she said we could get mud massages inside the crater, and it would be very relaxing!
What we got, resembled more of a pig sty, than a spa bath.  The "volcano" was an ant hill.  When we approached the top, well really the pictures are a better description, but what we saw was a hole maybe 10 feet deep jam packed with people crawling all over one another.

  It was more hysterical than anything else, and many people had a hard time keeping it together.  As we climbed down a ladder into the mud pit, a man grabs you from behind and forces your head pack into the mud: "relax relax! It´s ok! Relax!",  before sliding you off into the pit to be grabbed by a new man who tries to give you a full on rub down...aka massage...aka gross!  It´s literally just local guys who try to make a couple bucks by rubbing tourists legs and backs, no thank you!  After refusing several times, he basically tried to kick me out of the pit.  Movement was so weird, not sure if anyone has ever been stuck in mud, with a massive amount of people rubbing up against one another, without being able to touch the ground.  It is impossible to move!!  Luckily, our whole gang went, so we were able to pull one another through the throngs.  My mud experience ended when Jared jokingly dumped a load of mud over my head, which ended up in my eyes...with no way to wipe it off, because everything is mud!!!  But fear not, the experience doesn´t end there.  We hopped out of the mud pit and walked down to a lagoon, with possibly the warmest natural water I´ve ever felt, as women drag you in and force you to your knees so they can "help you wash"...aka molest you!  A woman started dumping water over my head, pulled up my entire bathing suit top and proceeded to help herself to my female mammary organs.  Then, just to make sure she hadn´t missed any spots, shoved her hands down my bottom to check for that last bit of mud.  The entire time dumping water over my head, so I couldn´t open my eyes.  Honestly, I was just laughing hysterically the entire time, there was really no other reaction I could think of at the time.  After that whole experience, we headed back into our bus to head to the beach for a bit of lunch and some fun in the sand before going back to the hostel.
When we got back, Jared and I had to snap back into travel mode and get some to-do´s done for the car.  We headed to the office of the shipment broker with our passports in hand to fill out some forms.  The car still hasn´t arrived yet, but tomorrow we have a load of papers to get notarized and insurance to buy, so we can head out as soon as the car is ready.
Tonight we are cooking dinner with our friends and having some beers, before probably calling it a night!