Armenia, Colombia - Seismic Activity

Bathing in the Hot Springs
The Andean central range rises close to 15,000 feet and was pushed there by plate tectonics and volcanic activity.  Once every 20 years a huge earthquake flattens the area - the last big one was in 1999.  In the intervening years it has its advantages - specifically outdoor hot springs that one can luxuriate in.  Our host offers door to door hotsprings transportation but since we're cheap (ok, I'm the cheap one) we went local.

Transportation here is a patchwork affair, if you don't have a car or a scooter you are hopping from one mode to another to reach your destination.  To get off the farm into Armenia, we took a ride from a neighbor who has a sideline as a taxi driver.  Once in Armenia, we took a van that goes from Armenia to Pereira and then onto Santa Rosa de Cabal.  You can only figure out what van is going where by reading the sign on the front of the windshield.  It's bewildering.

We were dropped off in Santa Rosa de Cabal on a dusty street at the bottom of the hill.  It isn't exactly obvious how to get to the hot springs, another 11 kilometers outside of town.

We walked until we reached a colorful plaza and as is usually the case when befuddled, we sat for a coffee.

There was a rooster sitting nearby, content to huddle on the cool tiles.  I asked around and was told that there is a bus to the hot springs somewhere over there, up that hill, take a left, etc.  We finished off our coffee, kept walking, asking one stranger after another.  At a bigger plaza we saw a bus and asked the driver.  "Yes, this is the bus but first I do a big circle around the town and then I go to the hotsprings - you can jump on now or wait for me to come around."  We gave up and took a cab.

The hot springs looked pretty inviting from afar.  There is a beautiful water fall and lots of greenery.

The falls are the cold part of the equation - you soak in the hot water for 20 minutes then plunge into the cold, either in these falls or in one of the cold showers near the hot spring pools.

We went on a Friday hoping it wouldn't be crowded but there was still a sizeable crowd of mainly Colombians.  There were three of four pools which varied in temperature.  They were fed by a giant pipe of steaming water coming straight from the side of the mountain.

We tried the hottest of the pools - one in which you couldn't stay for more than 5 minutes.  Dodo did the cold plunge - I managed to get one foot in before changing my mind.  The Colombians know how to do it - they were laughing and soaking, drinking shots of Aguardiente - the local hooch.  We went in and out of the pools a few times then called it a day.  After just ten minutes I could feel myself getting sleepy.

After exiting the hot springs there were no cabs to be found so we starting walking.  We'd spied a restaurant on our way up and were headed there for lunch.  Luckily, Dodo was on the lookout and must have given that "help me" luck to a passing car.  We negotiated a price of 90 cents for a ride to the restaurant and hopped in the back of the jeep.

In 1946, the Colombian army began importing jeeps but the farmers saw their true potential  They began using them for things that they used to use mules for.  The "Willys", as they are known, are now used to haul crops and people, they can stuff up to 13 people in one of these, 4 or 5 standing on the tailgate, holding onto the rollbar.

As we continued down, a young girl hopped on - a local who clearly knew the driver and begged for him to change the radio from the oldies to salsa.  He laughed and turned the dial.  I asked him how old the jeep was - it was a 1953 model.

We were a bit late for lunch - we were the only ones there.

The view was beautiful - the Colombian countryside is quite breathtaking.  It's almost perfect - situated near the equator, plenty of sun and rain but at 5,000 feet it's neither too hot nor too cold and there aren't any mosquitoes.  After lunch we took another Jimmy into town.  We shared it with a young couple with a baby and a leather-skinned cowboy who was taking three large drums of blackberries to the local soda factory, called Postobon.

We then reversed our trip.  Bus into Pereira, another into Armenia, a call to Don Hernando, the neighbor with the taxi to come take us back to the farm.  By the time we got home it was dark.  All day for an hour's worth of soaking.