A Load a Lodo

September 24, 2011

Well, one way that Todd and I decided to handle our recent frustrations and busy agenda was to head over to the San Vicente thermal/volcanic mud (“lodo”- "low-doe") bath, and a warm herbal mineral springs yesterday for a day of relaxation and rejuvenation.

We’ve been planning it for the couple weeks, but this easy trip (“viaje”) from our Olon place was delayed for one reason or another. What a treat!

The “Banos Termales de San Vicente” is about 45 minutes south of us by car (and unless on a particular tour, not a trip to take on the chicken buses, since they don’t go there). It is not a fancy place, but I was amazed at how clean it was kept, considering all the people walking around caked in mud (“lodo”), relaxing on the cement, or sitting in nearby lawn-chairs, while waiting for the lodo to dry off on the skin after slathering their body with it (one of the recommended ways to enhance the healing benefits).

The entrance fee of $2 per person includes unlimited access to the mud pool and mineral bath, and a couple of indoor pools (crowded with kids when we were there). For another few dollars, one can also opt for a 15-20 minute volcanic mud (“barro volcanic”) or aloe vera (“sabila”) massage (“masaje”) for another $4 each. 

One of the
massage tables

One other thing that is offered is a steam bath of eucalyptus (for $3 each), which Todd and I didn’t try, only because we were too relaxed after the mud bath & sun, then a shower; a mud massage & time to relax in the sun for it to dry, and another shower (“ducha”), followed up by an aloe vera massage/sun time/another shower before heading to the warm healing mineral bath for a soak…And no matter how many times you’ve already showered between these treatments, another rinse off in the outdoor shower nearby required before getting in the mineral pool.

The mud pool smells a little like petrol or sulfur (or a little like both). On top of the mud is about a 2 to 3 foot layer of lukewarm mildly bubbling water. First stepping into it requires a bit of overcoming some squeamishness, because as soon as your feet hit the bottom, the floor of mud (lodo), you sink to about your shins in it…with occasional “surprise” spots that are deeper, gloppy, and be prepared to go head first into the water if you can’t catch your balance.

Which isn’t that bad, since the water has healing properties too. Many folk just float or tread on top of the shallow water to soak up it up.

We met one older Ecuadorian guy who goes there regularly to heal some type of internal stomach issue (not quite clear on which problem, since he was speaking in medical Spanish) on the advice of his homeopathic doctor, and he was enthusiastic about the benefits regarding the improvement to his health.

We also met just a ton of great, friendly, mostly Ecuadorian people from as far as Quito and Houston enjoying the mud baths and other amenities. We all took pictures on each others’ cameras to record (depending on who had the cleanest or driest hands to do it).

Wear an old bathing suit and cover-up. Take towels, a couple of wash rags, small change (nothing bigger than a $5-10 bills and lots of change), a few bottles of water, some toilet paper and/or wet wipes, a few plastic bags for wet stuff, and a spirit of adventure. There is a place where you can store all these in the main office, but we wanted to keep our camera around us for the rounds, and other than keeping an eye on that during our experience, never felt like anyone was going to rip us off.

Everyone we met there were wonderful.

It was an extremely relaxing day. We stopped at one of the cabanitas in San Pablo (on our way back to Olon) for a delicious (if kinda pricey) late lunch/early dinner around 6:30 PM, and blessedly collapsed into bed shortly after arriving home and slept like babies.

PS- I will add more post-scripts to this post about links/info/pics/directions/road-signs on how to reach this these mud baths as soon as I can. *

* Nancy Levin, who writes the blog "Finding our Paradise in Ecuador" wrote a fun post about their trip to Banos Temales San Vincente (the above link will take you to that post).