Hott Springs

 

Hot springs in Andes Mountains

Deciding on going to the hot springs instead of hiking Aconcagua began when…

Naïve thinking.

Not only is Mendoza the home of wine but it’s also the dwelling place of the Aconcagua--> the largest mountain in the Americas. Since hearing about this mountain, I decided when I go to Mendoza I’m going to climb it. Well, clearly, that was wishful thinking. The day was approaching and Lena and I were getting pumped about climbing it. After inquiring about the hike, the hostel told me we need to get a license to climb it, which takes a few days to get, and aside from that- the actual hike can take days (meaning, we weren't able to do it in one day). So that explains that.

Hot springs here I come!

Of course we were late when we wanted to sign up for the package deal for the hot springs---the only advantage of going through the company was the door-to-door pickup. We originally thought, big deal; who cares about the convenient transportation, we’ll figure it out on our own. After a few hitch hikes and bus rides we finally made it to the springs. Well, at least we thought we did. We ended up at the public springs instead of the private ones, oops. I think on any day we would have been happy with the public springs but that day happen to be one of Argentina’s many redundant public holidays. We contemplated on going to the public springs but there were heaps of people and it kind of had that grimy, unpleasant feel to it. So we nixed the idea. Going to the public springs probably would’ve been one of the worst hygienic decisions of life. Seriously.  The decision was made, and on we went to search for the private springs in the hotel.

Let me remind you--> since we didn’t do the group deal and got dropped off at the wrong springs we came across an unexpected adventure. We trekked through fields upon fields and train tracks upon train tracks just to get to the hotel. All because we didn’t sign up for the package deal. Oh well. Next time. After our tired legs arrived at the hotel…the aura of the hotel was the kind that infused a relaxation spell all around (dunno if that makes sense, but you get the point...). We were in complete awe. The type of awe we related to Heaven (ok, maybe not Heaven, but something like it). This epic spa included: natural springs in the Andean mountains, pools, mud rooms, saunas, sauna-caves, massages, and more. What could be better?

Aside from the natural springs, which were amazing, my favorite part was the mud room. The point of the mud is for you to smear it all over your body and let it dry. Once it’s dry you wash it off and magically have smooth skin. Legit. I got a little carried away and poured bucket-size gobs of mud all over my body…lets just say, it took an extensive amount of time for it to dry. One guy, who was more extreme than me (didn’t know that could be possible), rubbed mud all over his body; including his hair…seriously. Either he was very excited, didn’t know what to do, or acquired true dedication to his body.  Probably all three.

The amount of time we spent in the springs was unfathomable. Later that day we got massages. At that point I was so relaxed I couldn’t even feel my limbs. Someone could have easily mistaken the amount of oil that was rubbed all over my body for the oil that’s served with bread in a restaurant. It took a lot of showers that day for all the oil to come off my body…kind of gross.

So even though I didn’t end up hiking Mt. Aconcagua, I had the best time in the springs….I felt like I was 50, but it was fantastic!

trekking to the private springs along train tracks