Termales (Hot Springs) of Santa Rosa de Cabal

We visited this delightful place last year, and many of you have seen photos from here, either in an email we sent last year or at one of the presentations we did at home. But the place is so incredibly beautiful we had to visit it again and you may view the pictures if you wish. The pictures do not do the site justice as it is one of the most beautiful places we have ever visited. It is at the end of a very narrow valley, or at least as far as the road goes and is very high in the mountains so it is not warm. The temperature this morning was 10 degrees C and yesterday it was even cooler. And even when the sun shines, which isn´t very often as it was pretty cloudy, it could only reach the pool area between 10AM and 3PM as the valley is so narrow. The hot pool in the daytime provided us with warmth and as did the abundance of wool blankets at night.

This was our means of transportation to the hotsprings and unless you have a car or hire a taxi (which many people do) is the only way there. It goes three times a day, the trip is 12 km, mostly up, and takes an hour. It not only services the termales but all the local people on the way there. It is old and rickety but got us there and back.
This was one of our fellow passengers and this is the smile we got when we gave her two candies. She immediately shared one with her mother.
And these are some of the other 40+ passengers on the chiva. Nancy took this photo by just pointing the camera over her shoulder and clicking. The joys of a point and click camera.
Closer to the beginning of our journey there were many beautiful homes. This is one of many and the photo was taken from the imaginary window of the chiva.
And the country side. It is such great cattle country and it seems to rain a bit each night and it is so incredibly green.

We have arrived at our home for the next two days and this picture was taken from the 2nd floor of the changing rooms. It was Sunday and was very busy.
The falls in this picture is pouring out ice cold water and the brave at heart (or maybe dumb) would stand underneath it and then jump in the hot pool. All the pools are fed by a number of falls, some hot and some cold.
This one to the left of the picture is hot.
This is the balcony of our hotel room. It is a bit expensive, $130 Canadian a night, but that cost includes our deluxe room, acess to both the upper and lower pool complexes, and three excellent and very large meals each day. We loved it and felt it was worth every penny. Needless to say, not all Colombians can afford this so the people who are there are wealthy.

The lower complex is about 1 km down the mountain from the upper complex and is an easy walk down. When you reach the entrance there is still 500 m to walk to get to the pool area. It is a scenic walk and the above photo was taken on that walk. The fingers in the top left corner are mine (Ron).
Here we are nearly at the pool area and the water falls in the background is a very famous photo all over Colombia. It is in many travel brochures and on post cards as well.
The above is a photo of part of the lower complex. It has 4 large pools and a couple of smaller ones. It is mostly used by daytrippers and food and drink is available at both places for those people.

We have been in this area for a good long time and tomorrow we are leaving but still to an area we have visited before. So as to trade some books and maybe speak to another english speaker besides to each other, (we have met only one tourist so far on this journey), we are going to stay in a hostel and even out our expensive hotel a bit.