Saving the Best for Last: Tolantongo

As was the case with visiting the Monarch Butterflies, I wanted to go to the hot springs at Tolantongo, but sort of let go of the idea when I realized how difficult it would be. Taking public transportation would involve a seven hour bus ride to Ixmiquilpan by way of Mexico City, a place we really don't want to go. From Ixmiquilpan, we would find a colectivo to take us across town to catch a shuttle that leaves maybe every hour and a half for Tolantongo. Coming and going would each take a whole day and just sounded like too much hassle.

Fortunately, we got the brilliant idea of asking at the tourist kiosk near Jardín Zenea whether we could hire a private guide to take us to Tolantongo. Within seconds, we were talking to Josué, who would be happy to take us there for $100 each. This was to be at least a 12 hour tour, and he had to rent a car, pay for the expensive gas, about $4 per gallon, and our three park admissions, about $6 each, so we went for it. 

So, on our last full day in Querétaro, we began the three hour drive east to Tolantongo. This place can be overrun by thousands of people from Mexico City on a summer weekend, so we were lucky to be there on a weekday in November. 

As we drove through the chaotic village of Ixmiquilpan, we passed dozens of booths well-stocked with zapatos acuaticos, the water shoes we searched for in Querétaro. There are three pair of zapatos acuaticos in Querétaro but we passed thousands here, offered for less.

We arrived at Tolantongo, changed into swimsuits and stowed our excessive gear in a locker. Josué walked us down to our first event, the cave. We have never seen anything like it. Above the cave, water trickled across the moss-covered rocks. Poinsettia trees flourished in the spray. 

That's us in the middle of the photo, wading into the stream that's gushing out of the cave. It got deeper inside the cave, and we swam. Lovely warm water poured out of the cave ceiling at hundreds of gallons a minute. We swam up a tunnel to a grotto and the current was so strong we had to hold onto a rope on the wall to keep from being washed away. We love hot springs, but in the western US, water is scarce, so the hot springs we've seen flow at a trickle. Just to see this much water is always a shock to us desert rats no matter where we are, but for it to be warm and in a cave--well, we couldn't believe it. So lovely. We could stand under warm water pouring out of the wall and get a massage. We could look at the stalactites on the ceiling and marvel that so much mineral-saturated water could just keep flowing without stop. So much fun.

When we came out of the cave, I yelled to Josué over the roar of the turquoise water, "Is this is the best place in México? Or is it the best place in the world?" He agreed that it was pretty amazing. 

Then he directed us to the nearby tunnel. We walked through cold water running off the face of the mountain and into a long, deep tunnel. At one point, we needed to climb up some slippery rocks and were about to give up when some Mexicans kindly boosted us up. Without their help, we would have missed some of the tunnel. The water in the tunnel was even warmer than in the cave, and the air was steamy. Luckily for us, the other visitors, who all seemed to be Mexicans, had lights on their phones, which were in waterproof cases. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to see anything. 

I don't know how we tore ourselves away, but Josué had promised that the pocitas, the hot spring pools, were even better, which was pretty hard to believe, so we had to see for ourselves. He drove us back up to the entrance to the park and down to the river, which was a sight in itself. 

At the bottom of a deep canyon guarded by tall hairy viejtios (old man cactus), the river is about 100 feet wide with pools of clear turquoise water created by check dams of white boulders making little water falls. 

We were the only patrons in the only restaurant open at this time of year. This shoulder-season travel is really working out well for us. Steve had a bony whole fish covered with roasted garlic. He said it was good. It looked so scary I took a picture.

We went to the river while we waited for Josué to change into his swimming trunks. The river was sort of warm, maybe 87 degrees F. We could float along in the current, but the check dams prevented us from being carried too far. We quickly decided we wanted to go to the really warm water in the pocitas. Unfortunately, Josué did not return in a half an hour as we had agreed. There we were with no clothing or money. Steve had given Josué the key to our locker so we wouldn't lose it in the cave. After 40 minutes, I told Steve to wait in the river while I went to look for Josué. Maybe there was a misunderstanding about where we were to meet. I went to the restaurant. He wasn't there. I walked up the hill back to the parking lot. As I feared, his car was gone. I checked our locker. It was still locked. I hoped our clothing and money were still inside. This all took at least half an hour. I walked back down to the river to give Steve the bad news. To my great relief, Josué had appeared, but only 10 minutes before I did. In other words, almost an hour late. He said he had moved the car down closer to the river so we wouldn't have to walk all the way back up to the parking lot as I had just done. 

By the way, this wasn't the first time we freaked out over the thought that our guide had made off with our clothing and money. The same thing happened at a mud bath at Los Azufres, Mexico a few years ago. Once again, our guide had moved his car from where we last saw him and had been watching us the whole time we covered ourselves with mud, went into the steam tent and then into the lake. When we were finished and ready to get dressed, he appeared immediately and all was well. 

Okay then. Take us to the pools.

Wow. Warm water pours out of the side of the mountain in man-made pools constructed of masonry. That would be wonderful enough, but what's really great is this water is full of calcium that coated the masonry pools with calcium carbonate, giving them a soft pinkish orange cast. The water of course is clear turquoise and soooo warm and relaxing. And no sulfur smell as you sometimes find at hot springs. 

The ultimate infinity pool. The river is about 1,000 feet below. 

You can just barely see the turquoise river.

Just a channel next to some steps. 

The warm water never stops flowing and depositing colorful minerals.

What a glorious end to another delightful Mexican adventure.

As he dragged his roll-aboard across the six-inch tiles in an old part of Terminal C at DFW, Steve asked me, "Do you hear what my luggage is saying? ZAC-a-tec-as-ZAC-a-tec-as-ZAC-a-tec-as." Even Steve's luggage wants to go back to Zacatecas. I guess we know our next Mexican destination.