We had signed up for the short hike around the property at 9.40am. So we got up, got into our hiking gear and went downstairs for breakfast. After breakfast we went to the lobby and waited for Miguel, our guide.
The tour started in the hotel- Miguel was explaining that the hotel had been built 100 years ago during the height of Argentina's wealth. The hotel was one of the Trans-Andenian railway's favorite stops, and was allegedly only for the elite. Originally, there were over 150 rooms and 150 pools, but rises in the river and a tragic glacier rupture 500 miles into the mountain washed most of it away. Reminds me a little of the Titanic- how pride indirectly sank the boat. According to legend, the spirit that's supposed to roam this area is particularly cruel to greed and arrogance.
Now all that's left of the original hotel is the pool and the white pedestal fence on the edge of the hotel grounds.
Miguel, our guide showed us the pictures on the wall displayed in the hotel and told us the Termas de Cacheuta story. Then we went on our hike. There was this one other lady that was staying the hotel with us also took the hike- so she's in a few of the pictures we took. The weather was really nice. Miguel took us around the hot springs and up a big rock. All the rocks here are pure granite and supposedly the reason why the hot springs were there was because Granite was continuously in formation- keeping the water on top of the freshly made rock hot.
Miguel translasted enerything in English for Frankie. aww. He did a really good job, he says that not too often does he get a non-spanish speaker on a hike.
We pretty much stayed near the hanging bridge as Miguel explained that there was an aqueduct carved into the mountains. Most of the caves you see on the side of the mountain are water release holes. They built a damn in Potrerillos in 2006, that was done to prevent another devastating flood like the least one that destroyed the hotel.
Towards the end of the hike I noticed that we were at the water-park. We hadn't realized that access to the waterpark was also included with our package. If you're into screaming kids running around wet- this is the place to be. They had a cool geyser at the edge of the park, you can see it from the hotel. (I was wondering what that was!)
We walked through the waterpark- it also had hot and cold pools. Screaming kids and gushing water all over the place. It was Friday around 10.30 am and there was considerable line at the ticket booth, can you imagine the weekend?
There are activities that you can only do at the water-park like rafting, horse-back riding, hydro-speed and a bunch of other water activities. Most of these are optional, the most expensive is the horse back riding at 120 pesos.
These little buses are called traffics- it's 20 pesos to get to the park on one of these and they leave from the terminal. They have fixed scheduled so if you missed yours you'll have to find another way home.
Or you can stay at one of the many cabins they have around the area. There are a bunch of them all around the water park- I'm sure making business of the stranded day tripper.
The tour started in the hotel- Miguel was explaining that the hotel had been built 100 years ago during the height of Argentina's wealth. The hotel was one of the Trans-Andenian railway's favorite stops, and was allegedly only for the elite. Originally, there were over 150 rooms and 150 pools, but rises in the river and a tragic glacier rupture 500 miles into the mountain washed most of it away. Reminds me a little of the Titanic- how pride indirectly sank the boat. According to legend, the spirit that's supposed to roam this area is particularly cruel to greed and arrogance.
Now all that's left of the original hotel is the pool and the white pedestal fence on the edge of the hotel grounds.
Miguel, our guide showed us the pictures on the wall displayed in the hotel and told us the Termas de Cacheuta story. Then we went on our hike. There was this one other lady that was staying the hotel with us also took the hike- so she's in a few of the pictures we took. The weather was really nice. Miguel took us around the hot springs and up a big rock. All the rocks here are pure granite and supposedly the reason why the hot springs were there was because Granite was continuously in formation- keeping the water on top of the freshly made rock hot.
Frankie and Miguel.
the bridge
No way would I ever cross that.
We pretty much stayed near the hanging bridge as Miguel explained that there was an aqueduct carved into the mountains. Most of the caves you see on the side of the mountain are water release holes. They built a damn in Potrerillos in 2006, that was done to prevent another devastating flood like the least one that destroyed the hotel.
Towards the end of the hike I noticed that we were at the water-park. We hadn't realized that access to the waterpark was also included with our package. If you're into screaming kids running around wet- this is the place to be. They had a cool geyser at the edge of the park, you can see it from the hotel. (I was wondering what that was!)
We walked through the waterpark- it also had hot and cold pools. Screaming kids and gushing water all over the place. It was Friday around 10.30 am and there was considerable line at the ticket booth, can you imagine the weekend?
There are activities that you can only do at the water-park like rafting, horse-back riding, hydro-speed and a bunch of other water activities. Most of these are optional, the most expensive is the horse back riding at 120 pesos.
These little buses are called traffics- it's 20 pesos to get to the park on one of these and they leave from the terminal. They have fixed scheduled so if you missed yours you'll have to find another way home.
Or you can stay at one of the many cabins they have around the area. There are a bunch of them all around the water park- I'm sure making business of the stranded day tripper.
the main road behind the park
There was also a bunch of old rails from the old Andinian Railroad. You will see a lot of these rails in the construction of the hotel itself.
stack of rails
Then it was pretty much the regular from there: lunch - nap - hot springs - massage - wine- dinner. The next day was going to be a big one. We had scheduled rappel and zip lining (both included in the package) with Miguel. How adventurous of us :P
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