Termas Geometrica!
We finally arrived! Our goal was to arrive by noon, but I guess it is better late than never.
The thermal pools were everything we had hoped they would be! The pictures don't begin to do it justice. There were 20 thermal pools. We were provided with towels and locks for our things. By every pool there were rustic changing rooms, with wooden lockers to store our things as we moved between the pools. These geo-thermal pools are all located in a narrow ravine, naturally cut into the mountain about 500 meters deep.
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| Finally arrived! Scoping out the situation. |
These beautiful board walks took us between pools all the way back into the ravine. Lush foliage, the mild smell of sulfur, the sound of mountain streams bouncing over the rocks below and the contrast of steamy pools with the cool evening mountain air was refreshing and invigorating.
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| A pool can be seen on the right side of the pictures by the towels. They varied in size and shape to fit the contour of the mountain walls. |
Our girls were enthusiastic participants and patient with us as we "explored" Chile longer than expected.
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| A small water fall. Its water was collected in a pool below holding at about 8 degrees Celsius. |
As was suggested, we followed the board walk all the way to the back of the ravine before changing and getting in the pools.
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| So exciting! |
At the back of the ravine, this icy waterfall from snowmelt fell, forming the babbling stream that ran out the length of the ravine under the boardwalk and around the geo-thermal pools.
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| Jason and the slightly dramatic girls |
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| I guess 8 degrees Celsius wasn't warm enough for them. Burr! No swimming there. |
Finally!!! Jason and Callie were the first to jump in. The temperature in the pools was always posted. Callie counted down the pools, this being the 20th and her favorite, though the 19th wasn't bad either :) This pool held at about 36 degrees C, which was perfect for Callie. The pools were lined entirely with natural slate/marble/? and ranged from 2-3 feet in depth. They had crafted seats and natural stones to sit on while relaxing, while maintain the natural beauty of the area.
We didn't take many pictures while navigating the pools, because...we were wet and relaxed. We could have spent the whole day here! Watching the shadows grow longer in the valley and the sun give way to darkness with the mist rising in the dimly lit ravine while relaxing in hot springs was a delightful way to end our long day.
We only mildly regretted staying so late as Jason had to navigate the dark, single lane bumpy gravel roads on empty stomachs at 11pm, but the good news is our 3 hour attempt to find this place took us only 90 minutes to get back to the hotel. Definitely worth it.
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