Lauren: Oh, the spa. Aneya found a natural "thermal" hot spring spa that, again, was in the middle of the preAndes and I was intrigued. Thermal spa in the Andes? "All-natural"? Count me in.
Aneya: Of course I would be the one to suggest a day at the spa. But really, with all the strenuous activity we'd been doing (white water rafting, drinking gallons of wine) a nice, relaxing day at the spa sounded perfect. Plus, it was all natural, I knew Lauren would love that.
Lauren: Like everything in Mendoza, it was incredibly affordable. We got a full day at the spa, which included the choice of rubbing mud all over yourself and letting it cake on, and about ten different naturally heated pools, and a rock-covered, honest-to-goodness cave sauna! A sauna. in. a. cave. It was so hot in there, even the rocks were sweating. And there were little plants growing! It was incredible.
Aneya: Like the rest of our activities a bus came to pick us up from our hostel to take us to the Termas Cacheuta, deep in the pre-Andes. I could tell this was a different group than the people we usually rode with. It was mostly middle aged women, all Argentinean. We appeared to be the only Anglos on the bus. Once we got there, the entire place was filled with old ladies! There were a few couples, a few young women like ourselves, but mostly older folk, who looked like they were having a ball.
I was a little skeptical when we first got there- bounding down a dirt road, in the middle of nowhere. But once I saw the place, I was in awe. Pool after pool filled with natural water (ranging from scorching hot to cool) both inside and out, showers with crazy strong jets spraying you from every direction, even a cave/sauna! That was so cool. The entire place was just so damn beautiful, it didn't seem real.
Lauren: This photographer happened to be at the spa shooting for their next brochure, and asked to shoot us and of course we said yes. Why not?
Aneya: It was so funny! We were lounging in one of the many pools when this guy came up to us, asking if he could take our picture. We're like, sure! He positioned us on some lounge chairs and told us to pretend to be having a good time. Ya, like that was a stretch!
Lauren: We were paid with massages, which was a nice surprise since we offered to do it for free. Lunch at the spa was amazing. Maybe 30 different plates, tons of sauteed veggies, pastas, fresh bread, and a lot of asado. At least 12 different pastries. At the end of the day, we ended up spending eight hours at the thermal spa! And we thought we wouldn't know what to do with ourselves.
Aneya: The owner of the hotel came up to us later and offered free massages for posing for the shoot. I mean, we were happy to do it for free, but what the hell! Free massage? Yes please! The whole day was just amazing, my skin has never felt so soft, my entire body so relaxed. My legs were like jelly by the end of the day. Oh and the lunch! Argentina's all about lunch, apparently, cause every place we've been to has offered amazing, huge meals. This was probably my favorite day in Mendoza. If anyone is thinking of going, I'd highly recommend it!
-- Aneya & Lauren
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