Wednesday, April 30, 2008
The Womb of the Earth
Last week, with friends Warren, Al & Jim, I spent several days at the Grutas de Tolantongo, about a four hour drive southeast of here. Don't visit Mexico without going there! It's one of the most amazing places I've ever been. (If you're looking for it on a map, it's near Ixmipilquan.) The place is in a steep river valley surrounded by huge volcanic peaks. It's like a state park, but is privately owned by the local community (ejido). The attraction: a series of pools, waterfalls, caverns, tunnels, fed by steadily flowing hot water springs. We stayed in very comfortable lodge-style rooms, ($80USD/night), with a stunning view down the river valley, surrounded by huge trees (their roots bathed constantly in flowing water) which attracted an endless stream of brightly colored songbirds. Each morning, after coffee and pastries, we walked about 80 steps down the hill to our own private soaking pool and waterfall. Thoroughly relaxed and prune-like, we then enjoyed a light snack before driving down to the main attraction -- a huge cavern with an unbelievably powerful cataract of water spilling into it through a hole in the ceiling. (If you could keep from being knocked off your feet, it provided a neck-shoulder massage you'll never forget.) Then lunch, a few beers, a long siesta, another soak, cocktails & dinner, cooked on a nice little grill right outside our door. Two days of this and we were mellowed out to the point that our unanimous response to any issue we encountered was "Fuck it!" Life doesn't get any better than that.
# posted by goots @ 12:36 PM 
