Feriado in Papallacta

A feriado is a holiday. And Papallacta (http://www.papallacta.com.ec/termales.htm) is a hotsprings resort in the jungle. Here in Ecuador, we have many holidays. Besides the usuals like Christmas and Halloween, we have a holiday for each main city in the country. And no matter which city it is, the entire country has that day off. Cool, huh? We've been able to take advantage of these Feriados, as our friends always have the day off, so we use them to make day trips to some amazing places. Remember that as diverse as it is, the entire country is only a bit bigger than Oregon.

This last feriado we went to the jungle, or the "Orient" as they call it here. Here in Tumbaco, we are just on the edge of the mountains and the jungle, so the drive to Papallacta, which is not too far in, is about an hour and a half. The scenery, no matter where you go here, is amazingly beautiful, right out of a movie.

Papallacta, like Mindo can be described as a town in the clouds. It is not on the coast however, and the climate is frigid y moist with clouds and rain. It is celebrated for it's thermal baths, and people come from all over the country to soak in the natural hotsprings. Supposedly, the minerals are wonderful for your health, although with so many people, I think the man made minerals might out do the natural ones. Just a theory...

The baths were very nice. As we sat in the pools, we were surrounded by clouds, a mix of the steam from the water, actual clouds in the form of fog, and very drizzly rain all day long. I would have liked the water to be even hotter personally, but it was very relaxing. There is also a freezing cold pool to get your circulation shocked into action, as well as the river that you can go in, which is even colder. Hannah and I dipped in the river as quick as we could and then felt the tingly burn of submerging back into the hot pools. Exhilerating! When you are out of the pools, it is hypothermia cold. It couldn't have been warmer than 45 degrees outside, so standing around in swimsuits was a little loco. All in all, it was fun day. On the way home, we went "fishing", which consists of renting, for a dollar, a piece of wood with a string tied to it and a hook, and casting it into a man made 20'x10' pool. We watched the men continually throw the fish in, as people fished them out. Dad, is that what you had in mind when you said you'd like to get some fishing in while here?

Good job Esteban!

These girls were excited to see I had a camera, but too shy to come any closer.

Below is a lovely lake we ran across on our way home. Don't remember the name, but we had fun throwing stones as far as we could to see who could make the biggest splash down below.

This photo, as pretty as the background is, is to highlight my scarf. I made this scarf last week and I am very proud of my first knitting creation.