After putting forth a solid effort securing a job and an apartment, I decided I deserved an afternoon of pampering. Not to be confused with the white-water rafting center of Ecuador, this Baños is a mere 8K from Cuenca. There are at least four different establishments with soaking facilities, but I was feeling like a good splurge and headed to the most luxurious of them all Piedre de Aqua. The entire place is built from lava rocks giving it a unique feel, but torture to walk around.
Ten bucks gets you an all-day pass to the bath-water warm swimming pool, a cold plunge pool and a hot pool. Plus the Japanese bath area, which quite frankly I didn't understand as the hot pool was hot enough to scald skin and the relaxing pool was filthy.
I opted for the $30 day which basically gave me free run of the property. I started with the eucalyptus steam room and, in a word, it was sublime. Branches of new growth from a nearby tree filled the room with a very pleasant eucalyptus steam.
There wasn't really anyone around to direct me, so from the steam room I just started wandering. I ended up in the grey mud bath, which was apparently out of proper order and got the attendant all worked up when she found me.
She basically forced me to move to the red mud bath. The one I wanted to avoid because I was wearing white swimmers...they are now a not so pleasant rust color. The red mud also gave me the appearance of having been victim of an 80s self-tanning product. It took a whole lotta scrubbing to fix that!
Venturing down some stairs I located the subterranean hot pool with polar plunge. The water was just right. Not so hot that I couldn't hang out a while, but hot enough that the occasional plunge into the frigid water was exhilarating.
Lastly, I was stuck into a steam box. Like one of those weight-loss-torture-devices of old, I was seated inside a wooden box with a hole for my head. The attendant wrapped my robe around my neck to ensure I felt 100% claustrophobic. For a control freak like me it was a great opportunity to practice my breathing!
After all of that relaxing I was famished! While the spa has a restaurant I was in the mood for
something a little less froufrou. Thankfully they were some locals roasting up a piggy that was scrumptious! I'm not sure where the heat-source was and I've learned it's best not to overthink street food no matter what country your in.
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