Floundering in the Muck! By Calvin Conroy, 5th grade
"Wow, just look at it!", I exclaimed as we climbed out of the car into the scorching hot, super sunny Colombian countryside. We were outside the walled city of Cartagena, Colombia. There was a slight warm breeze, but I still had sticky sweat clinging to me as I stared in awe at the little volcano. It was small, volcano-wise, but it was still a good twenty feet taller than me. We had come here because not only was it a volcano, but at the top instead of lava there was mud, volcanic mud that people floated around in. So, as quickly as I could I started to change into my bathing suit.
"Can I climb the steps now?" I asked eagerly. "Yes" my mom finally said. So Jack, Cecilia, and I ran over to the steps and started climbing. We quickly realized the steps were much steeper than they looked from down below and were hard to climb with our short legs. My mom quickly caught up to us and now we were all at the top of the volcano. "I can't believe we're literally about to have a mud bath!" I thought excitedly. The mud looked silvery and thick. I got in first. I was a bit hesitant because I thought "Uggh, it looks so yucky and gooey!" But when I got in I found it relaxing. It was so weird you didn't have to tread or anything you just sort of floated. After floating for a couple of minutes in the lukewarm mud we saw a bunch of people arrive and start walking up the volcano. Then, they all got in! Now, it felt like human-mud soup. So, we decided to get out because it was so crowded. As we got out a man helped get all the loose mud of us but for the rest of it we would have to use water to get it off. "Wow, that was crazy!" I said as I walked down the steps towards the lake. "Agreed!" Jack said in awe.
written by Calvin, as a 5th grade school assignment
Read Calvin's mom's account of their trip to Colombia: It's Colombia, Not Columbia