The Mud Baths

  Cleo, my friend Hazel, her dad and I

(try to figure out who is who)

My friend Hazel and her family came to visit us after my grandparents.  On the first day we showed them the fort and took them around town, but the second day was a real hit, we went to a volcanic mud bath!  We hired a driver to take us there and back, and we arrived at the village that was appointed official caretakers of the baths, just in time.  We bought tickets and climbed the rickety stairs up the volcano, the volcano might be called a volcano but it will never explode, it’s just hot enough to melt the mud inside of it into a liquid but no more.  

We waited in line at the top of the mountain/hill until we finally caught sight of the mud, it was far down in the volcano and looked exactly like gray soup, explaining how the people coming down the other side of the hill all looked like they were clay statues that had gone in the microwave and were melting down to the core.  My mom told us to get partners and I grabbed up Hazels hand and squeezed it, she  smiled back at me and adjusted her bathing suit.  farther along in the line Cleo and Ruby were holding hands and talking about what it would feel like, “It probably will make our skin really soft,” I said to Hazel, “It’s mud after all.”

The line slowly curved around the edge of the pool and anticipation piled high in my throat, finally it was our sisters turn and Cleo and Ruby climbed down the ladder, they slid in together and we asked the temperature and they said it was not warm but not cold, soon it was our turn ad we slipped into the mud.  They were right it was in between, but it felt so good!

From the outside it had looked like there was some kind of floor on the bottom but it tuned out it was bottomless! At first I thought I was going to sink but it turned out that the mud was so thick I couldn't sink!

It was so fun! After the bath we washed off in the lakes and changed in the van, then had lunch at a road side stand and headed home.