Thermas de Papallacta

As compensation to Mary for hiking with me and to Eve for practically finishing her writing, we decided to spend Thursday at the Thermas de Papallacta, reputed to be the finest thermal baths in Ecuador. Packing our bag, we took a taxi to the Terminal Terrestre, from where we caught a bus bound for the village of Papallacta, on the east side of the Cordillera Oriental. The bus was comfortable, but left late. We then literally drove around Quito in circles for nearly an hour, stopping only once to pick up a single passenger. This seemed rather pointless, and I still do not understand what we were doing. Anyhow, we were soon in Papallacta pass (4100m) and from there it was a short ride to our stop and the entrance to the thermal baths.

We got off the bus and hired a ride up the road one mile to the baths themselves. Mary was gracious and paid for our entrance fee. Inside, there were a number of large pools filled with hot water. The water was steaming and the cool air, low clouds and lush vegetation of the valley made the baths seem especially enticing. We changed out of our clothes and into our bating suits, storing out belongings in baskets. Slipping my sore and tired body into the warmth of the water was a pleasure too rich for words. We soaked for a long while, occasionally dipping briefly into a pool of frigid river water before returning to the pools fed by the hot springs, making our skin tingle and burn.

After a long while, we eventually gave in to our hunger and dressed for lunch. There was nothing outstanding about the food at the restaurant. The lemonade (I had three glasses) and the desert however were outstanding.

After some debate, and figuring we had another hour, we put our bathing suits back on and walked over to another section of the Thermas. Here we found more pools and to our delight, one small pool of exceptionally hot water. Mary and I slipped in, letting the residual soreness in our legs melt away. Eve soon followed and was equally pleased she had decided to bathe again following lunch. It was getting late, but before leaving, I tried out the grotta de vapor (steam cave), which was little more than a room with hot, steaming water running under the floor boards. I did not find the air in the “cave” hot enough to really enjoy and so soon found Mary and Eve again, changing in preparation for our departure.

Reluctantly, we readied our things and walked back down to the highway. Here we waited with an Ecuadorian couple for quite some time. We drank a bottle of Coke from a restaurant on the corner (named “La Esquina,” no less) and still no bus. As it got darker and began to rain, Eve began to flag down passing cars to ask for rides back to Quito. Eventually, a couple in a pickup stopped. They explained that buses back to Quito do not stop at the same place as buses dropping people at the Thermas. They were nice enough to offer us a ride to the correct place to catch our bus and, along with the other couple, we hopped in the bed of the truck for the short ride through the village. Standing in the rain in the fading light of the coming night, we soon flagged down a bus headed to Quito. The bus was crowded and we were fortunate enough to get the three remaining seats. The Jackie Chan movie “Maximum Betrayal” was already playing and we settled in for the long ride back to Quito, feeling happy and relaxed from our day at the Thermas.