Nowadays every other renovated hacienda is advertised as a spa even though there may be no mineral-rich spring anywhere near it, and, of course, the rates for hotel/spas can be sky-high.
That makes Los Hervores a real bargain because, for only 15 pesos you can spend all day soaking in pools of deliciously hot water, that hardly anyone else knows about. The ambience may be rustic, but a spa it is nonetheless.
Los Hervores, which could be translated as The Boiling Waters, once featured two tall, wispy geysers, whose height kept dropping every time I visited the place, which, by the way, is located off highway 17, between Tala and Ameca, about 50 kilometers west of Guadalajara.
Last week I went to revisit The Boiling Waters to find out how those geysers were faring. A mere five-kilometer drive on a decent dirt road brought some friends and me to a rather dilapidated-looking structure housing four swimming pools, where I had proposed we take a dip. My companions’ eyes bulged. “The water in those pools looks stagnant and dirty, John,” every one of them grumbled. But I must give them credit for being willing to get out of the car and look a little closer.
First, we walked to a little stream which comes from Los Hervores and runs straight into the pools. Well, all admitted that the water was pleasantly hot and perfectly clean. “But those swimming pools are dirty, that’s for sure,” they persisted.
I figured the best strategy to coax my friends into the pools was to get them all hot and sweaty. So I didn’t tell them it was possible to drive to the geysers (500 meters away) and off we went on foot, following the stream.
Even in the dry season, this little brook is truly picturesque and practically glowing, thanks to the bright green algae covering its bed. That color indicated the water temperature was around 50 degrees celsius (122F), and the more we walked, the hotter it got, until finally we could hear an ominous sound, a simultaneous seething and rumbling coupled with the smell of sulfur, that somehow awakens an ancient dread of danger embedded in our genes. This hellish brouhaha came from a hole in a low wall, out of which water was ferociously bubbling. So, something is still boiling at Los Hervores, but, this day I discovered that its landmark geysers are no more.
Also dried up were several pilitas or natural cauldrons, which had been filled, in the past, with rapidly boiling water in which people used to cook corn, and where I boiledmy breakfast eggs while camping here many years ago.
Just a meter from the one and only spot where the water is still wildly bubbling forth, I placed two potatoes which, an hour later, provided us with a healthy and tasty snack ... and, no, they did not smell or taste like sulfur!
After a hike back to the balneario (water park) in the hot January sun, it was easy to convince my friends to try out the now-deserted pools.
First, we discovered that the water was at just the right temperature: hot, but not too hot. Secondly, we quickly found out why the pools look “dirty.” Every inch of the floor and walls is covered with algae, giving the pools a dark look, even though the water itself is transparent and perfectly clean.
Although we couldn’t help joking about the crude architecture of the rustic buildings around us, we came to common agreement that Los Hervores is a rather unique spa and one of Jalisco’s best-kept secrets. Go there any weekday and you’ll have the whole place all to your self. And don’t forget a few potatoes to boil in the waters of the ex-geyser!
I hope to camp at this site in the near future and to report on what the Boiling Waters look like early in the morning, when the steaming river is lit by the first rays of the rising sun.
How to get there
Take Highway 15 (Nogales and Tepic) 25 kilometers from the Periférico to Highway 70, heading southwest towards Ameca. After 17 kilometers, you’ll pass the Tala sugar refinery. Keep going straight another 15 km where you’ll hopefully see a sign saying La Vega. Turn right here (N20 34.448 W103 51.411) and go through the town of La Vega and straight on until you come to the cemetery (panteón), 1.3 km north of the highway. Turn left, pass over a cattle crossing and drive 2.6 km NW, following rustic, beat-up signs to the final turn. Here, at N20 35.846 W103 52.919, where a sign is really needed, there is none, but you’ll see “Los Hervores” as graffiti on an electric power pole. Turn right here onto a dirt road heading north. After only 831 meters, you’ll reach Los Hervores Balneario. You’ll find the source of the hot water 500 meters to the west, at N20 36.257 W103 53.137. Driving time from Guadalajara: about one hour. For the route, see Wikiloc.com under GuadHikes - Los Hervores Geysers.