Xote Hot Springs

Xote Hot Springs

Today we took a 20 minute taxi ride out of town to Xote Hot Springs. There are several Hot Spring baths near San Miguel, and we chose this one as it seemed the most kid-friendly. As you can see from the photo, it has several water slides, as well as various pools - all kid friendly. Bryce in particular had a blast.



Here's a little video of Sue and Bryce doing the "racer" slide:



Apparently the hot springs in this part of the world are created by very warm radioactive minerals that live below the surface. Here's an explanation I plagiarized from another web page:

Unlike the hot springs of volcanically active zones like Michoacán, those of San Miguel owe their warmth to a different phenomenon. According to Trujillo Candelaria, the kind of rock underlying Mexico's northern mesas, extending from the state of Guanajuato to the U.S. border, is classified as riolithic, composed of the hardened ash of ancient volcanoes. It's the same pink and brownish stone that paves the streets of San Miguel de Allende. This rock contains small quantities of radioactive elements such as uranium, potassium and thorium, which produce heat as they disintegrate at a very slow rate. As rainwater trickles under ground, it penetrates this permeable rock, absorbing its heat to around 40 to 42 degrees Centigrade, slightly higher than body temperature. In the process, the water is enriched with a slew of minerals, chiefly fluorine, iron and silica, though unlike the often smelly springs of Michoacán and Morelos, San Miguel's balnearios contain no sulfur.