A brief pit stop provided a golden opportunity to capture this Kodak moment.
The car was quite full, but it was a pleasant ride, nonetheless. At one point, we reached an altitude of over 4,000 meters (about 2.5 miles/13,000 ft.). For comparison, Quito is about 2,800 meters (about 1.7 miles/9,200 ft.). My sinuses could feel the difference. :)
Ahhhhh....so nice! There were around 10 pools of varying temperatures to soak one's weary bones in or to take a quick refreshing dip in. Surrounded by tall mountains covered in vegetation, one could just lie back in the water and ponder the sheer beauty of nature. A good investment of a $7 entrance fee.
Ugh! This pool was less than appealing not only because of the "natural" greenish brown color of the water, but also because it was like dipping your entire body into a watery ice chest. Sooooo cooooold! It was actually painful to submerge yourself in this water, but my friend Alex assured me that it would be "refreshing" to take a dip and then head to a steamy pool. NO! It hurt going into the cold water and it hurt going into the hot one afterward! Thousands of pins pricking your body inside and out upon entering a hot pool with a frozen body is not my idea of refreshing. ;P Ah well, at least I tried it!
The sounds of the river flowing beside the hot springs almost lulled me to sleep as I reclined in the pools. The river, the source of the water in the cold pool, was just as frigid as I'd expected it to be.
A few of the "Calaveras."
The chicas of the group (with wet hair in the cold mountain air, no good ;) )
Marcelo, Angel, Sylvie, Alex, Ansy, Yo, Sarah
After the hot springs, we ate at a restaurant nearby. The grilled trout was divine! So tasty!******************************************************
Another spectacular weekend excursion!!!!
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