Chachimbiro

Since I´ve arrived in Ibarra I´ve kept hearing about these hot springs at a place called Chachimbiro. It´s about a 45 minute drive from the city, or 2 hours in a bus. Probably because I´m from the northwest, I pictured a very natural setting. A swift hike through a lush forest, perhaps with some man made dirt paths, and then a serene opening into a series of ponds with steam rising into the air. A little like the ones in the movie Dantes Peak.

Last night I finally went to Chachimbiro. There were six of us, Jenn, my host sister Evelyn, her boyfriend and two more of her very entertaining friends. We hopped in the car at 9:00pm because everyone says it´s better at night. Finally after a few detours..beer...tequila...limes...we arrived at Chachimbiro at 11. In the dark, it reminded me of the Enchanted Forest. You can imagine how thrilled I was. Of course everything was closed; there was not a single person there but the 6 of us. We even awoke the poor dueño who took our entry fee, a rather steep $3.50 given our budget. We made our way, in the dark mind you, through the paved paths and bridges to a series of large pools. Despite the darkness I could still make out the giant dragon slide winding around the area. The pools were surrounded by very calculated rock formations and giant stone mushrooms painted with polka dots. There was a large statue of a ceramic pot acting as a waterfall of steaming hot water. And a rather odd statue of a man making yarn. The only thing I had imagined correctly was the steam. But the water...was...marvelous. I mean, it was really just a giant hot tub. Before I got there I kept hearing my Dad´s voice telling me not to go into Ecuadorian pools because I will get parasites. But hey, I´ve already had them, and it was totally worth it. And then, you look up. It reminded me of that room they have in OMSI with all the stars, only better. I saw 5 shooting stars. And I´m pretty sure I spotted aliens...but that could have been the tequila. I truly have never seen a sky like that in my life. And every few minutes, the whole sky would light from lighting in the distance. Somehow, we stayed until 1:30.

It was the best night I´ve had in Ecuador so far. But that´s because we had the entire place to ourselves. I vowed to never, ever go during the day. It would be like the Disney land hell of hot springs. A million bodies overcrowding every inch of every pool. Pee. Infections. I could go on but I won´t. The good news is, they have little bungalows. So whoever comes to visit me, be sure we will pay a midnight visit to this splendidly bizarre place.

I managed to find a picture of the pool we were in....unfortunately the rocks and mushrooms didn´t make it in the pic. But as you can see, the slide is quite something. And yes, I did go down it. But since it wasnt wet it took me about 45 seconds to push my way down. And of course, there is the man making yarn.