No trip to this region would be complete without a trip to the thermal hot baths spring things (official name).
With a good recommendation from Alain at our hostel, we found the perfect quiet ones, a little drive outside Pucon, Los Pozones. We had heard great things about these natural baths, and couldn’t wait to try them! They have many benefits to the skin, and the insides – a well-known example is the supposed healing water that comes down through volcanos and mountains in the area, where researchers have found measureable improvements in arthritic and skin conditions. Among other reported health benefits of hot springs are various forms of relief from fibromyalgia, skin diseases like psoriasis and eczema, and high blood pressure. It’s also known to be a great relief from any aches and pains from sporting – incoming Michiel!
Since these hot springs contain sulfur, we did get some whiffs of hydrogen sulfide, the one responsible for that rotten egg smell (don’t worry, you kind of learn to love it).
There are many other minerals in the waters, too. Calcium, sulfate, magnesium, iron, chloride, potassium, zinc—to name a few. There are arguments on how effective bathing in these minerals is to our actual health, and whether the body absorbs them at all through the skin, but even if it’s nonsense, who doesn’t like to bathe in a naturally warm bath in the sunshine, surrounded by rocks & waterfalls – that alone has to be good for our health… right?
