Fiambala

In my drive north from Mendoza, Argentina, about 800km away through a beautiful drive on Ruta 40, I finally arrived at Fiambala.

Along the way, I saw many beautiful mountains, plains, valleys, rivers and canyons. There were several wineries and bodegas on the route as well.

Malbec, Torrentes, Cabernet Franc, Syrah and many other grapes were well represented, with entire bottle of wine priced from $3 and up.

Enjoying sweet wines, dry wines, those with low tannins, sparkling wines, Rosé wines, I had a wonderful time.

People along the way were so friendly and even more when they saw I was from US and was trying to speak with them in my broken Español. Someone told me that Argentinians have a soft corner for Americans.

In the outskirts of town, I found a cottage to rent, and it was facing a vineyard and the Andes Mountain range.

The wooden cottage was cute with an outside patio to sit and enjoy the nature, and to strike up conversation with other residents.

About 20km outside the town were the well-known geothermal hot springs that was a draw for many visitors. Tickets for $12 a piece were to be purchased for 4 hours' time slots to visit the springs and the slot I got began at 8:30pm.

It was pitch dark when I headed to the springs and the road alternated between paved and boulders strewn dirt path. It sometimes climbed steadily and sometimes abruptly.

A guard stood at a gate a mile before the springs' entrance and opened the gate allowing me to pass.

About 15 cars were already parked when I arrived. I was glad to have brought a change of clothes and especially a towel as there was no check-in counter, locker room or a rental place that I could find. However, I was told that there was a 24-hour buffet somewhere on the premises.

Changing into swimming trunks, I went to the first pool, which was marked 30° and it was very shallow. I did not feel like going in and I skipped it. So far, I was underwhelmed.

Walking further uphill was the next pool, which was marked 32°. it was a little deeper and a bit pleasant. I did not know how much time to allocate to it. After spending about five minutes wading in it, I continued to the next pool further up.

The next pool of 34° and 35° where deeper, warmer and more enjoyable. Each pool downhill was fed by a pool uphill that had 1° or 2° higher temperature.

One could also stand underneath the stream of water from the pool uphill, which fed the current pool. A bath under that small waterfall was indeed delightful.

There were many people from different parts of Argentina who were visiting Fiambala and when any of them talked to me, they were very happy to hear that I had come all the way from the US to this interior part of Argentina to experience their thermal pools.

Carefully walking on the stone surface, ensuring I didn't slip and fall, I made it a game to go to each pool, spend 5-10 minutes and go to the next.

By the time I was at the 45-degree pool, the water was hot enough for me that I could not stay in it for more than two minutes, even though I had experienced steadily rising temperature from 30 degrees at 1 degree interval.

The 45 degree was the last pool, and it had a nicely paved pool floor with water inlet coming directly from the geothermal source.

There were picnic tables for people to enjoy the food they had brought along and in the dark, I could see the surrounding granite mountains.

By the time I got out of the last pool and dried myself, I had spent over two hours in the various pools and felt pretty relaxed. At the end of the night, I was glad I made the trip to these pool and experience turned out to be worthwhile.