161218: The eye of the Inca

So today is Joan's birthday.  Of the many things she loves, volcanoes and hot springs must be somewhere near the top.  About 20 km outside of Potosi there are the hot springs of Miraflores.  We asked at reception if we could hire a taxi to take us there, but the lass on reception said it would be cheaper to catch a micro from the Mercado Chuquimia which is on Avenida Universidad and a short walk from our hotel.  Sure enough we found the buses easily -they have Miraflores written on their windscreens.  They leave when they are full which did not take long.

The seats were rock hard and small and reminded us of the trolleybus journey from Simferopol to Yalta that we once did.  Our posteriors were numb when we arrived 30 minutes later at Miraflores.  For the two of us the journey cost 10 Bolivianos - just over a pound.

Our carriage

 Just before leaving Kevin had read  a blog which suggested that, for some locals, this is the only hot water they get all week, and suggested that you go on a work day and early so the water is cleaner!!

We've been to a few thermal spas before, but let us say these were the most basic.  Hot water gushed down the hillside and was guided by aqueducts into big, basic concrete pools, full of happy children.  Not quite the exclusive spa experience that we had in Costa Rica last year.

Exclusive spa!

It was all a bit shabby and not quite what we expected.  The litter was awful which is a shame as it is a spectacular location.  That said there were plenty of folk there having fun.

So we caught the bus back to Tarapaya.  The driver pips his horn to say he is leaving. It cost us 1 B each and he dropped us off at the sign for "Ojo del Inca."  We crossed the river close by to a municipal pool.  We clearly didn't know what we were doing so a local lad pointed out a steep footpath up and said it would be about 20 minutes walk.  Just as he said that a HiLux slowed down on the road track up to the pool.  Initially we weren't sure what was going on but the driver stopped and said he would drive us up.  It was a few minutes on narrow roads and when we arrived he wouldn't take any cash.

The Ojo del Inca is a lagoon in a small volcanic crater.  It's not advisable to swim in the lagoon itself as there are whirlpools under the surface which have dragged folk down.  But we found a spot and dangled our feet into the warm waters - around 30 Celcius.

We were approached by Freddy who charged us 5 Bv each to visit the pool. He told us it was 25 metres deep and advised us not to swim.  He was lovely and chatty and told us there was another small pool close by with much higher temperatures - 50 Celcius.
So we sat and dangled our feet, watching blue dragonflies zip by.

If we had known it was going to be so lovely, we could have brought a picnic.  We walked round the pool and Freddy reminded us about the other pool.  He showed us the path and said he would keep an eye out for us.

Sure enough, very close by there was another pool. The unmistakeable smell of sulphur rose from it as did bubbles.  It was very hot.

There were some ruins close by and an empty bathing pool where locals were washing their clothes.  It seemed rude to photograph them.

However, here is a a van with clothes drying.

 The geology here is amazing too.  The picture below does not capture the bright colours of the strata.

So we headed back down and the same HiLux offered us a lift. The gentleman asked where we were going and we explained that we were going to catch the bus back to Potosi.. He said he was going to Potosi too and would take us.  So far, the Bolivian people have been so kind.  When we are clearly confused, people have helped us before we asked.

Back at Potosi, the gent asked us where we wanted dropping.  We said anywhere and he said you can take a micro where you want to go.  So we wished him well and got out of his SUV.  We couldn't orientate ourselves as our map wasn't good enough.  So we hailed a taxi only to find we were within 100 metres of our hotel.  Embarrassing!

So we had a bit of a break and then headed out to town.  It seems on Sundays a lot of the restaurants do not open till 6 pm.  For some reason we haven't altered our body clocks and we are somewhere mid-Atlantic.  In the end we settled for El Fogon, a restaurant we visited on the first night.  We had veggie cannelloni which was lovely.  A quick taxi home and then tomorrow we move on.