The water temperature is a balmy 33C, with a few degrees of difference between the top and the bottom so you can choose your preferred warmth. We arrived early, to beat the tour parties, and soon found the pool at a temperature to suit. We lounged about in the clear water, looking up at the surrounding vegetation that contrasted with the red rock canyon walls.
Following a tip-off from a couple of other spa-goers, it turned out that there was a second, hidden pool through a small tunnel behind ours. Here there were two waterfalls, one that offered a soothing hydromassage and a second that threatened to pull you under. It had eroded a huge hole beneath it, but after a couple of attempts to plumb its depths with our legs both Ignacio and I got too scared.
With only a trip to the airport beckoning we stayed there for hours. Hannah, sitting in a natural jacuzzi in a higher pool, declared this the best day of her life. So that wedding and everything...? Eventually I had to physically drag her away and, after a final stop to say goodbye to the desert, we regretfully (for many reasons) returned to Calama at the end of a FANTASTIC trip that has exceeded each and every expectation I could have possibly had.
On the way we finally found some cacti in this desert! Very exciting.
Sustainable, so Hannah was happy.
An oasis in a high, arid plain.
Oh yeah, that's what I want.
I've never seen Ignacio look so happy.
Ultra-relaxation.
Silvi poses.
Why did we bother to go anywhere else on this trip?
It doesn't matter how old you are, making fake beards and moustaches out of river weed is always funny.
Spanish surrealist painter?
And some of that painter's rock art.
Hydrotherapy.
One for the tourist brochure.
Silvi and Ignacio model two of our gifts to them. They were asked at the airport if they were English, and quickly put on extra layers claiming to be cold. Hmmm.
Taking the long walk into the desert for a final goodbye.
