Friday, October 3, 2014

Hot Spring near Queretaro with El Arca Community

Hot Spring Pools – There is a blue hue to all the pictures because all the pools were covered above with blue tarps casting an air of azul.


Olivia the Psychology Teacher, supporter of the Taller ( Workshop) has gone here  with her husband for many years. She has visited many hot springs but these are the best and are quite helpful for all the aches and pains.  Great timing for the pilgrims as we are all a bit sore from the hike up the Pyramid of the Sun.






Tecotzautla

Located near Queretaro is a wonderful day trip for balnearios seekers. This unique spot features a geyser known for its' spouting waters which are diverted into nearby soaking pools. Since there are no hotels in the immediate area you do need to plan for a day excursion only.

We arrived early, not before we maximized all potential spaces in the cars – This is to say if the car held 6 there was 8, if it held 4 there were 6, you get the idea, it was a grand exercise in sharing and space coordination.  I can give you one guess who you think got the front seats.  Somethings are cross cultural in all communities in L’Arche. 
Xavier also drew the driving straw as he was the largest of his car, he did quite well managing the roads to the pools.  I kept seeing his face in the rear view mirror in front of us and his smile said it all.  We all had some fun rides.










Upon arriving it reminded me of a waterslide park from the 80’s in the off season, none  of the food vendors were open but the pools were and they were caliente.  There were only three other people at the pools once we arrived.  We staked out our spot and then began the process of changing, going to the restroom, changing, moving our stuff, getting better spots and then we all enjoyed a dip.
The water was various temps of hot, nothing super hot but all enough that Patty was our hydrator making sure we were drinking water at all times.  Didn’t really come to our attention until we got out and sawy how much we had been sweating.
It was a fun time to bond in the water.  Doug had a great time swimming, a usual activity in the week and the rest of us also enjoyed it. 













Memo raced Xavier and myself and I barely beat him trying my hardest, granted I was doing freestyle and he was doing butter fly.  Then we matched strokes and he passed me like a fish away from a net.  Xavier challenged Memo to swimming underwater, also a gift of memos.  He is a fantastic swimmer and part of the special Olympics in Queretaro.  He had a mean flip turn and could move from breast to back to freestyle seamlessly.   In the spirit of play and building relationship he also raced a few other fellows and it was so great to see them try their hardest and memo again showed them we all have different abilities and gifts.  

It was a soothing day for Maggie, it took her almost an hour to get close to the water and then finally it was all in clothes and all, she had a smile for days. 
Juana too enjoyed it, Olivia almost had her asleep so tranquil and relaxed .








We had some scares with the number of hoses, tubes and other obstacles around, also the bathrooms were a bit interesting as some were for small kids and well lets just say we have a heads up on where not to go next time.  Ouch, quite the goose egg memory.  








By the time we left it was quite hot outside muy calor and the cars were almost unbearable. The ride back seemed a bit roomier; maybe because we lost so much water weight, who knows, it was nice, we rocked out in our car to some 80’s rock and enjoyed listening to the planning for the big event on Saturday. 

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