Why is traveling to Ecuador blissful?
What an extraordinary place Ecuador is. It never seizes to amaze me. Friday night when the four of us arrived in Papallacta at around 8:45pm I figured we would check into our hostel and head to bed, besides, what would possibly be open in this tiny little town tucked away high up in the mountains? And yet, Ecuador proved me wrong once again. Once we arrived we headed straight to the Termas hot springs and gazed up at the full moon, clear starry night and soaked in the heat from the hot springs. It was absolutely phenomenal! They had a freezing cold pool (which reminded me of the ocean back at home – only the canadian could appreciate that cold of water!) and then ran right back into the hot springs – it was exhilarating. I was so completely awe-struck by how gorgeous the night was and how stunning everything was even at night! Imagine it during the day! We were surrounded by mountains, volcanoes, stars and the blissful comfort of good friends. It was beyond perfect.
After we were fully satisfied with the hot springs for the night we went and checked into our hotel and it was SO adorable!! All I could think was “wow what an amazing place for a honeymoon!” Only a girl would think like that. We had a little room with 2 beds, a massive stone fireplace and a HUGE soaker tub that uses only hot spring water! It was beautiful! We settled in, unpacked our dinner – which consisted of a store bought oven roasted chicken, bread, veggies/salad, snacks, wine, coke and beans! Yum! We set up our dinner on a tiny table in between the beds, chowed down and chatted till we were completely exhausted.
The next morning we woke up bright and early for our continental breakfast and got ourselves all preped and ready for a long hard day at the SPA. Diana and her boyfriend decided to go hiking around the spa – unfortunately I left my hiking boots back at the Animal Rescue Center (dang!) so I HAD to go to the spa with Frances. I know, I am soo hard done by!
Frances and I booked massages for 1:45pm so until then we enjoyed their private hot springs, refreshments, and a nice book by the pool. We also tried something new! While we were waiting, the spa had a free water aerobics class at 11:30 – perfect! Just what we needed (after all, we BOTH had been complaining about how “were getting fat”, and we miss exercising). It was my first water aerobics class and it was in spanish. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing but I was doing it! It was a blast!
After our massages we tanned a bit more and I got completely burnt to a crisp – head to toe… only the canadian! I was your typical gringo for sure now. So on that note, we showered, paid and headed back to Quito feeling (somewhat) refreshed – minus the 3rd degree burn.