I dont even know where to begin on this story. Maybe I should start with a picture so you guys will understand.
This past May, my girlfriend, friend, and I made the best decision of our lives and decided to splurge to go to these hot springs in Chile. We were already in the lakes district of Chile which, as you might guess, has a lot of water.
Like this.
We were staying in Villarica, the sister town to Pucon on Lago Villarica (see map above). The town is known as a hotspot for adventure tourism (think trekking, skiing, rafting etc.), but we were there during the off season, and really exclusively for the insanely beautiful hiking. (like this)
But I digress, I promised hot springs
So the area around Villarica has a bunch of different hot springs because that part of the continent has a ton of geothermal activity. "Great", we thought, "us weary travelers can soak in some hot water and all will be right with the world."
My god we underestimated these hot springs
Being near to the end of our approximately 6 month journey, we decided to go splurge and go to the expensive ones, which cost approximately 24,000 chilean pesos ($40 USD). The journey there was almost as fun as the springs themselves. Coming from Villarica, transfers to and from the hot springs (about 50 km away) would have cost 10,000 chilean pesos ($15 USD) per person. Having already splurged, we decided to bus as close as we could and then hitchhike.
Having come to the closest town, and already having been propositioned by many enterprising locals for a "cheap" round trip, we found our way to the road to the hot springs and settled in for the wait. Luckily , in less than 15 minutes we had managed to hitch a ride from a group of four elderly locals who agreed to take us most of the way there for free (while simultaneously providing us with what we thought was beef jerky (it was horse jerky.)) We had a very comfortable and beautiful ride in the trunk, feeling much closer to our surroundings than we would have in the back of a van.
After a 30 minute drive, complete with 10 minute stop to chat with some friendly neighbors and farm dogs, we thanked the drivers and stepped off. We still had a 2 km hike (with horses!),
but that was already far better than the 17 km from the closest town. And then we were greeted by this holy, amazing, and absolutely confounding sight
Theres even a waterfall at the back!
The water temperature ranged from 35 degrees Celsius (which felt rather cold since it was about 5 degrees outside) to 45 degrees, which was heavenly. We arrived at around 12, and stayed until it became dark. And then....
In the night chill, with steam rising into the air, and with lights on the pathways springing on, the view felt like a fairy tale, a wish from a dream come true. If you ever find yourself in Chile and in need of relaxation, you will never find a deeper peace than in Termas Geometricas.
Easily one of my favorite spots in Chile. It's a three hour drive from Valdivia, where I live. Here are a couple shots I took there last year. :)
Beautiful shots! Im surprised you managed to get such clear pictures, we had trouble getting the cameras to focus well because of all the steam.
Ha! Yes, an automatic focus would get confused easily. Have to focus manually in there ;)
Amazing place, amazing country, can't wait to go someday :-).
CG
Those views man! Thanks for sharing!
If you keep on posting these thing, you will have earned back your trip in no time...
Good job! Thanks for sharing
Great shot of the hike! Stories like this put so much meaning into the pictures.
Keep posting. Keep sharing.
I plan to! Still so many other stories from that trip I want to share.