Termas de Papallacta 

Our December hot spring Papallacta is a Quechua name, meaning town (llacta) and papa (potato) so this is the town of the potato. It is an unlikely name for an Ecuador premier hot spring resort, although unquestionably the hot springs have been in use since the Incas ruled the region. The Termas de Papallacta is located at 43-km east of Quito, Ecuador´s capital city, but by mountain roads the distance is greater. The trip to the Papallacta hot springs runs about 2 hours by auto, a bit longer in lumbering buses. One can easily visit the hot springs and return to Quito in a day. Many tour agencies in Quito offer daytrips. These hot springs are on the eastern flank of the Volcán Chacana, and north of the larger Antisana volcano (5,752 m, the fourth highest mountain in Ecuador). The hot springs surface from near the base of the volcanic section, close to the unconformity with basement rock composed of sheared granite. The geothermal fields around Río Tambo have reported elevated arsenic values between 1090-7852 ug l^-1 (Cumbal et al., 2009). The springs vary in temperature from 36-70°C.

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The most developed hot spring resort is at Hotel and Spa of Termas de Papallacta, which has double or single rooms and cabins with prices between US$129 and $149. Tel: 232-0621. Entrance day use fee is US$17 with towel and bathing cap included (open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.). The many hot spring pools are well designed, but surrounded by the hotel rooms and their wooden balconies. If you are staying at the hotel the pools make for a convenient soaking right outside the room, in-room Jacuzzis are also available. The hotel has the best restaurant in the area, although the neighboring small restaurant serves local trout. The Spa is tastefully designed with Andean rustic style. It offers everything from mud baths to massages. Their 30-minute back and neck massage for US$30 was worth the price.

Adjoining the complex is a set of hot spring pools beyond the dirt parking lot, charging only US$7 for entrance. Despite the lower price, they have appealing Andean rustic design to the facilities. The paths and pools are integrated around mature Quinual trees with distinctive papery reddish bark and using native stone boulders. The restaurant here has a more basic board of fair than at the hotel. There are plenty of changing rooms, outdoor showers, and many pools to select from. The lowermost pool sits off to the left as you walk in and has some of the hotter water. An adjoining small cold pool allows you to mix it up. Many of the pools features small cascades, but most of these have water too hot to touch. The uppermost shallow pool is built up against some andesite boulders alongside the rushing mountain stream, but provides nice views, and refreshing dips into the cold stream.

As published in Hot Springs of the Andes

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ResearchGate: James M. Wise 

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