Day 136: Cuenca, Ecuador
A land of volcanoes, Ecuador is well known for its thermal pools, hot spots of water warmed by the earth.
While Banos is most famous for them, it was overcast and rainy most of the time we were there so we decided to go to one while in Cuenca.
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Cuenca has a few pools just outside the city, which are easily accessible by public transit and frequented by locals.
When we arrived in the suburb some women told us to walk up the hill to go to the best one.
We approached one of them and the entrance guard asked me if I wanted to have a look first.
I wasn’t sure why but I saw lots of kids in the pool and decided that maybe we should choose something more relaxed.
He pointed us down the hill but warned us that the entrance was more expensive at $2.50 a person.
There were two pools at the location and we learned quickly that we had entered the wrong one as it wasn’t warm at all and in fact freezing under the overcast sky.
After a few minutes of doing water aerobics to warm up I checked out the other pool which was like hot bath water.
Everyone jumped in and we hung out for a while.
It was a nice relaxing afternoon but it wasn’t quite what we had expected as it felt a bit like the public pool at home, but warmer.
I would love a thermal pool right now…
hmmm…i like the idea of a thermal pool but yeah, this kinda seems like a swimming pool – not the same experience i would have imagined it being! ah well, still sounds lovely in its on way 🙂
@Kay
Yeah it wasn’t what any of us had imagined in our minds but fun all the same.
I could go for the freezing pool now, it’s so hot here.
I’m in a cold AC environment right now, wishing to be in that thermal pool. When I was in Ecuador, I spent an afternoon at Banos and had a great time!
It was very similar to being in a community pool and swimming next to the kid that peed in the pool 🙂
I thought it would be a hole in the ground with steaming water…but that would just be a mud bath!
FUN! Bookmarked it and need to remember to check it out when we travel there. Can’t wait – looks like there are great photo ops!!!
i was actually i there the same spot is good but then it gets to hot the reason its hot is b/c its right next to a volcano and if u wanna know its on ecuador where i was born lol you should try it
We are heading to Cuenca at the beginning of 2015. I’ll have to remember to check these out!