Thermal baths of Papallacta

I set the alarm for 7 thinking we had to get up early to catch a bus out of town. We had breakfast on the roof with consisted of yogurt with fruit, bread and jam, watermelon juice and of course coffee. We wanted to catch the bus to Papallacta where the thermal baths are. The damn bus only leaves at 530 and midnight so we had to think of another plan. We decided to hire a taxi to drive us there.

Marcello drove us 2 hours to Papallacta and the views were incredible. We drove up and over 12,600 ft and finally down a bumpy road to the thermal baths (my bladder wanting to explode the whole way). Marcello agreed to wait for us to take us to Baeza after we had fun for several hours. We paid our $7 each, locked up our huge backpacks in a large Spanish-styled dog cage, then changed and headed to the pools. The water was warm but not too hot. It didn’t smell like sulfur like I thought it would. We soaked for a while in a pool sans Gringos, until we saw a cold bath and Andy of course decided he was going in. Andy jumped in the cold bath and ran down to the warm water where I was still relaxing. I thought what the hell, I might as well give it a try, how bad can it be? I barely touched my foot in the water and I was already freezing. I went for it, didn’t put my whole torso in the water, but I ran in and out the other side. It was refreshing to say the least. Andy jumped in again (full body submersion) and we immediately jumped in another warm bath. My skin tingled for several minutes and I wanted to do it again. It’s amazing how quickly you forget how damn cold the water was. The river was flowing next to us so we checked out the water which seemed colder than the bath. Back into the warm water to relax and try to get a spot near the hot water waterfall. A nice patch of black hair rubbed up against Andy’s hand and he asked if his mustache fell off. Not 5 minutes later I accidentally got some water in my mouth. Andy commented on how disgusting it must be to have skin cells and fecal matter in my mouth. What an asshole. It was time for the cold water again, then for a 3^rd and final time for me (4^th time for Andy). After the last jump we headed straight to change our clothes. The outside air wasn’t warm so getting out of the cold water into slightly warmer air was the way to go. We changed without a towel and got some food. I had the friend trout with fries, Andy had the pork with fava beans and corn on the cob, and of course dos cervesas. Andy’s meat was a bit overcooked (better than under out here). He tried to eat a piece but it wasn’t working so he put it on his plate and said I’m saving that for later. After the last piece he freakin put the previously chewed piece back into his mouth and finished it. I’m always impressed. We met up with Marcello and headed for Baeza.