The first thing everyone says about Cartagena is that it is hot. And they are right. It is hot. Swelteringly so. It is not designed for English folk.

Thank god we went for a decent air conditioned hotel just outside the old town. Money very well spent.

Cartagena lives up to the hype. The old town is incredibly beautiful. It hasn't been completely renovated yet and so there is a mix of beautifully restored and still decayed buildings throughout. Top end restaurants next to street vendors. All in all, stunning.

Despite the piecemeal renovation, there is still a stark constant to the lack of wealth (poverty may only be slightly too strong a word) in the area just outside the old town, where our hotel was located. This area is a mix of some hotels, many hostels, bars and restaurants (mostly local but welcoming to all), locals' houses and parking lots. Guide books would probably use the word "colourful". Here Cartagena's past decay is even more evident, with some absolutely beautiful old colonial buildings in a state of complete disrepair. Despite the 'interesting' characters around, we never once felt uncomfortable, a common theme so far in Colombia.

It will be interesting to see how far the restoration and tourist-ification goes, and how quickly. Given Hyatt and the like are in the process of building ultra luxury hotels over in the Miami-like new town, this city is going places.

I'll upload photos to give a flavour of the city. What else?

Colombian youth are a political bunch. The weekend we were there saw concerts and rallies in a square adjacent to the old town. We weren't quite sure what it was all in aid of. There were a lot of communist youth groups around, flags in hand, but I don't think this was their sole presence. Interestingly, thousands of youths but not a hint of trouble. In the UK this kind of event would no doubt have cumulated in much drunk disorderly-ness, but not here. Possibly because they can't afford the alcohol, but also maybe because of the massive armed police presence!

There's only so much culture one can take and so the next day we headed for El Totumo. This is a mud volcano. Google it for more detailed information, but essentially it is a small volcano with mud in the crater rather than lava. Allegedly great for the skin, they pile tourists into the 3m square crater for a mud bath. You float Dead Sea-like in warm mud 2km deep - a very odd sensation indeed. It is impossible to sink.

A bit of local flavour is added : they pretty much insist on you receiving a massage in the crater, which basically involves a local man manhandling you for a couple of minutes then pushing you into the mosh pit that is rest of he crater. After getting out you go down to the adjacent lagoon where a toothless old crone washes the mud off - and insists on you removing your swimwear so that she can wash this too. OK these 'treats' cost just over £2 for both, but still....

We were also treated to a mini-tornado afterwards. Even the locals were panicked as great chunks of palm roof came crashing down.

We met up with Katalyn (the Swiss girl we met in Santa Rosa) for a drink that evening as she had rolled in from Salento (via a Viva Colombia flight too, with the same tales of inflight hilarity). She's becoming a theme here - she pops up again before this trip is out.

And that's Cartagena. Far less eventful than Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas's visit, but then you didn't see them covered in volcanic mud did you??