Chachimbiro

I had accepted the assignment to write about our activities of Friday, Nov. 23, but being a complete novice at writing blogs, I somehow deleted it instead of postinng it! I will try again.

This was the awaited day to go to the hot springs in the town of Chachimbiro, an hour and a half drive from Otavalo.  On the beautiful drive, we passed two of the volcanoes in this land of hot springs and volcanoes.  The constantly changing cloud formations were so tantalizing, sometimes showing us a glimpse of the tops of the mountains and then quickly obscuring all but the beautiful, green bottom slopes.  As we left, we could see how Otavalo has  houses spread over a wide valley and running up the mountain sides.  After about an hour and a half, we reached the resort of Banos, which is a series of naturally heated pools of water.  Paying at the entrance, we were given locker keys and shown into little cubicles.  We changed into our swim suits and donned the obligatory swim cap despite protesting that Sara and I had shorter hair than the men who weren´t required to wear them.  First we tried the big pool with two spouts of water pouring into it.  You could choose which one to sit under and get a hot or cold shower.  Next we tried the Turkish bath which was vry hot and steamy and then another room with a shower straight on one´s back--good massage.  There also were a spa with jets of hot water, bath tubs in which one could soak, and finally a large pool with tile couches that had big stones for pillow, all of which we took advantage of.

Thoroughly relaxed, we ate left over Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches at picnic tables overlooking a green valley and distant purple mountains.  We left, feeling as Sara said, "as limp as cooked spaghetti" and as happy as one could be.  Great day!

Helen