Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Garden of the Sleeping Giant & Sabeto Hot Springs

The second day we rented a taxi to take us around to some of the sites that weren't so accessible by bus. We got a great driver named Luke (Loo-kay) who acted as a tour guide as well and gave us a narrative as we drove along. Even though this is considered the dry season, everything was so lush compared to Southern California. It was nice to explore some of the backcountry.

We drove up into this mountain. It is called the Sleeping Giant because it looks like a man laying down on his back sleeping. Can you see him?


They have a park with trails that takes you into a bit of the jungle. It looked just like a scene out of a Disneyland ride. I kept expecting to see monkeys jumping around the trees, but this guy was as wild as it got.





Afterwards, we headed a little further north just outside a village called Sabeto. We had heard there were some hot springs there and never being ones to pass up sitting in steaming hot water on a humid tropical day, we wanted to try them out.

The hot springs turned out to be just a giant mud hole. But at least a mud hole in a beautiful location.



We rubbed slimy, leafy mud all over ourselves and our guide wrote our names on us since covered in mud we look practically identical.





After we got all rinsed off and sat in the springs for as long as our bodies could stand, we were asked by one of the men from the village if we would like a massage. Nate had never had one before, the price was incredibly cheap, and the place we were in was so lovely, we both decided to get one. The man led us to the "massage area" -a giant tarp spread on the ground. Our masseuses were two wild-looking jungle women.

Nate told me later that the entire time he was getting his massage he would try to picture a beautiful woman rubbing his back, but then he'd crack open one eye and see two giant hands with black fingernails and feel her callouses against his skin and he just couldn't keep up the illusion.

Thirty minutes and ten dollars later, covered in stale coconut oil, we were back in the taxi ready for more sights.

1 comment:

  1. I can't believe you got to go to Fiji!!!!! I need to call you. Those hot springs look like the ones in the Bachelorette this week. They were in Fiji. Wonder if they were the same ones. So jealous!!

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