At about 60km from Quito, the winding road reaches the quiet highland town of PAPALLACTA . Water is the town's greatest resource, with the hydroelectric plant here providing power to the region, while the pure waters from the páramo and nearby lakes is piped by gravity to Quito. Above all it's famous for its hot springs , highly ferrous pools reputed to relieve numerous ailments from kidney trouble to ganglions, and Quiteños pack themselves into the steaming waters each weekend. The town itself isn't of much interest, a string of buildings huddling the Baeza road, but lying in a green valley at 3200m, the surrounding scenery is stunning.

 

The best spring is Las Termas de Papallacta , a two-kilometre, twenty-minute uphill slog north of the town in the crook of a steep valley. Buses running between Lago Agrio and Tena via Baeza should drop you off at La Y de Papallacta (ask the driver), the junction at the head of the village, from where you walk up the signposted track to the left. There are two complexes here, run by the same company, each with a restaurant and accommodation . The one on the left has some of the country's finest baths (daily 6am-10pm; $2), designed in gentle terracotta curves and natural rock, while the heart-stoppingly cold Río Papallacta itself offers a serious cool-off. Don't miss the three secluded little pools up the hill to the left of the restaurant: the top one is over 40°C and is perfect for supine gazing at the mountain ridges. The Jambiyacu springs (daily 7.30am-5pm; $1.20), the complex to the right, is the poor relation, a charmless concrete place playing loud pop. At the lower end of the town proper, downhill from the main road, the large municipal Coturpa baths (Mon-Fri 7am-5pm, Sat & Sun 6am-6pm; $1) get particularly crowded at weekends, and have four hot pools and one cold one, including a proper swimming pool.