Adventures in Rest

For the past few days, all of Ecuador’s highways have been shut down due to nationwide strikes. I’ve been riding out the paro nacional in Baños, a charming-yet-authentic adventure town nestled in the portal between the Andes and the Amazon. There are worse places to be stuck.

“Baños,” in this context, doesn’t mean bathrooms. It means baths. Due to the town’s proximity to the Tungurahua Volcano, the valley is bubbling with thermal springs. I can certainly appreciate a good soak in a hot spring, but I’m not exactly a “rest and relaxation” type of person. Hot springs are nice. But that’s all I really have to say about them. Unless they are natural pools that I have hiked a significant quantity of miles to reach, a relaxing hot soak will never be anything more than “nice.” Not spectacular, not amazing, certainly not adventurous or transformative. Just nice.

According to Brendon Leonard, there are fundamentally two types of people: Soakers and Non-Soakers, i.e. those who enjoy a relaxing hot soak and those who don’t. This is just a hot-springs-themed way of saying “low sensation seekers” and “high-sensation seekers,” or “people with high levels of serotonin” and “people with high levels of dopamine.” While serotonin deals with the world of sensation, emotion, contentment with the present moment, and the simple pleasure of being, dopamine has to do with longing, anticipation, pursuit, achievement, the interminable magic of doing. I’m sure you can guess which category I fall into. Sorry, but I find relaxation a bit… boring. Being present and content with physical sensations—especially pleasant sensations—is very challenging for me.

But the irony is, I love a good challenge.

Sure, I’m perfectly aware that I’ll never be a “Soaker.” No amount of meditation and mindfulness practices is ever going to alter my fundamental brain chemistry, nor would I want it to. But I do think it’s healthy for us dopaminergic, high-sensation seeking, “Non-Soakers” to practice tapping into our serotonin systems every so often. Afterall, if I’m incapable of being happy with my current reality, I’ll never be able to be happy once I accomplish what I want to accomplish. (In my opinion, the opposite is true as well. Looking at you, my soak-loving serotonin siblings.)

The other day, someone at my hostel mentioned that he got up early to go to hot springs right when they opened at 5am. An alpine start for a morning of relaxation? That was a strange prospect. But hey, getting up uncomfortably early is a great way to make a relaxing experience a little more masochistic—I mean—adventurous. This guy just might be onto something, I thought to myself. Besides, I was stuck in Baños for an indefinite period of time. Why not?

As soon as I made up my mind to get up early for the hot baths, I suddenly felt… excited. Excited? For R&R? That was new. I packed my towel and swimsuit, borrowed a swim cap from the hostel, apologized to my dormmate for the fact that I would be getting up early, and set my alarm for 4:45.

Termas El Salado is situated at the very end of the road in a narrow valley. I enjoyed a tranquil pre-dawn walk, just as the local markets were beginning to wake up. When I arrived, there were only five other people at the baths—all elderly locals. The facilities were charmingly rustic, the showers all stained and corroded by the mineral-rich waters. There were several pools of varying degrees of heat, plus a few cold pools (now that’s a little more my speed).

I practiced breathing into the sensations. In the sulfur-sour heat, I could feel my skin prickling in an oddly delightful way. In the clear cold, I could feel my heartbeat pulsing through my entire body, all the way down to my hands and feet. I chatted with the others about the strikes (there was no way I was getting out of Baños anytime soon, they assured me). I listened to the sound of the stream as it babbled its way down the valley. I watched the sky fill with morning light. I felt, deep in my entire being, the sensation of pause that held the entire nation in its grip.

It was nice.

And it was out-of-the-ordinary. And it was memorable. For a morning of relaxation, that’s pretty impressive.