Popayan, day four part two Coconuco

At this point in my trip I was settled, relaxed, and ready for more.  Having first experienced hot springs in Mexico last December, I was eager to try them in Colombia.  Jose and Elsa had mentioned this as a possibility before so we decided to take the trip from Silvia back through Popayan to Coconuco.  There are two types of hot springs locations there, one is Aguas Herviendo which is 'boiling water' and the other is Agua Tibia, where we decided to go.  Jose and I enjoyed the two springs there.  One was about 5.5 deep and lukewarm.  It was transparent so that you could go underwater, see across to the other end, and not feel salt or chlorine.  The other spring was a brownish tinged water, warmer and shallower.  Both were enjoyable in their own way.

Coconuco is 2850 meters above sea level and near Purace National park.  Located in the central Andean range, it's a small town the relies heavily on the tourism to the two hot springs.  The views from the springs are as nice as the water.

I find with hot springs that the benefits are temporary.  It feels so relaxing to be in this special water but I've found that the buzz wears off within hours.  Nevertheless any day that I could be relaxing in a hot spring would be better than most.  I highly recommend Aguatibia and will definitely go back if I ever return.

Popayan, day three, part three, frailejones and Termales San Juan

In riding through Purace I started to to notice more the hundreds of thousand if not millions of frailejones throughout the paramo.  The flower slightly resembles a sunflower but that is where the similarities end.  The flower is mounted on a tall, thick, dead looking stalk.  There are different varieties but this web picture shows the one I saw the most.

Eventually we reached a trailhead that lead to Termales San Juan.  The trail was paved my some stones which finally made the walking easier.  There was so much vegetation and such to observe along the way but by this point I was overloaded and focused more on walking to another unique site.

Termales San Juan contains sulpur pools that are a byproduct of a ring of nearby volcanoes.  Upon arriving you get a double dose of sight and smell.  Some of it looks apocalyptic and most of it smells like sulphur.  That's not to say it's repulsive, only strange.  The three of us came upon a large family from Cali and chatted and took pictures.  Talking with the young, energetic children who were fascinated with my iPhone re-energized me.
People actually used to wade into the bubbling pools but now that is prohibited for conservation's sake.  Here are two of my pictures.

As we took the mile or so walk back to the trailhead I realized I was about done.  We still had some more rough driving to do, I had to pay my entrance to the park, and then the long winding ride back to Popayan. 
I'd slipped a few times and was muddy, wet, and tired.  A warm shower and a nap in my stiff bed were starting to sound better than trudging around in this spectacular park that I'd somehow gotten used to in 6 short hours.  It was time to return to La Plazuela.

Popayán day three, part two - healing waters and enchantment

After viewing the Andean condors, we continued to see more of the páramo in the Puracé National Park.  The weather changed from sun and wind to clouds and rain.  The first stop was the Laguna de San Rafael.  Due to my lack of proper footwear we could not approach as close as we could have through the thick, muddy brush between the road and the lagoon.  Here's a picture from the web.



My guides told me that indigenous medicine men bring people suffering from ailments to this alpine lagoon because of its special healing powers.

We went back to the jeep and drove a few miles on the rutted-out roads to the Cascada Bedón.  Here's a photo I took.

Thankfully this was a short walk from the road and we could take time to look it over.  Waterfalls are always at once puzzling and charming.  The logical thoughts of its geological history are overrun by just staring at them and listening to the rushing water.  My guide Cristian told me a local legend of a couple that visited the pool of water at the base.  The woman looked about and suddenly realized that her man was missing.  She returned to her village and enlisted help to find him.  A search party returned but he was nowhere to be found.  They decided he had become enchanted by the waterfall, sucked into it, and was unable to leave regardless of his desire to or not. 
On the ride to our next destination I thought about legends from my ancestral Ireland and how they likely exist in all corners of the world.  Joseph Campbell wrote about this subject extensively.  I'd like to think I found a place that he'd never heard about but would find of interest.