Aileen Friedman

15th November 2015

So on the way to Puerto Cayo as I mentioned in the previous post we stopped off at Agua Blanca. A sulfur pool and mud bath.

We are so very grateful to Matthew and Michelle Tupy for inviting us to join them in there hippie kombi.

This was so much, so much fun.

From the entrance of the resort it is about a 5km drive till you get to the museum and gift stall. There is a church here too. Very quaint and cute.

The museum has artifacts from ruins of about 600 structures. Probably houses, community meeting building and ceremonial temple. They also found these pots that held the bodies of people. Some held two. They also contained the family heirlooms such as jewellery and precious stones etc.

     

The stalls sold curios all for $2. I bought a stone with the Agua Blanca name on it.

From here we went on a 2km walk to the pool. It was a lovely walk through beautiful trees and passed the most beautiful horses. Even a few pigs and goats. The huge river bed you see in the photos is dry now but apparently all the water goes into underground springs. The rain season is Jan to March and the river comes down here two to three meters high. Looking at this dry river bed it doesn’t seem a possibility.

       

And then came the best part!!

We got to the pool and a distinct smell of awful filtered our smelling sense, something like eggs. This was the sulfur pool. We quickly changed into our costumes and began with the smearing of the mud..haha what fun. Ali got great delight in smearing it in my hair and on parts that did not need it!!

Once you look like a mercenary you wait until the mud dries on your body and then you get into the sulfur pool. Fortunately the water doesn’t taste like eggs. It was also a very nice temperature. The center of the pool was at least 3m deep. We swam about for a bit or at least  a little after all the mud was off then hopped under a shower and changed back to our walking clothes.

Our walk back took us along the road and this seemed so much longer than the way there.

Honestly it was such a tremendous day and again thank you to Matthew and Michelle for letting us join them in their hippie kombi.

     

 

 

A wonderful and such a worthwhile visit to Agua Blanca. If you are ever in this part of the world it is a must see.

So did you get the pronunciation of JipiJapa … Here it is – replace the J with an H = HipiHapa. Easier than you thought??

Keep a look out for further posts as we continue to journey along. Keep us in your prayers for safety and for boldness to spread God’s word.

God bless