Soaking at Ojo Caliente

Our final stop on our two-week four corners Thanksgiving tour was at Ojo Caliente Resort and Spa in Northern New Mexico. About an hour north of Santa Fe and 60 miles south of the Colorado border, Ojo Caliente sits in a small valley on the Rio Ojo Caliente.

The prehistoric people of the land that is now New Mexico bathed here and a Pueblo village of about 1,000 Native Americans was built on the riverbanks overlooking the springs. The Tewa hero P’oseyemu allegedly traveled through these pools and springs to visit the underworld. Back then, the place was named P’oseuinge or “village at the place of green bubbling springs”. When the Spanish arrived in New Mexico in the 1500s they renamed it Ojo Caliente (hot spring). A bathhouse was constructed by white settlers here in 1860, and people came to soak seeking cures for rheumatism, kidney and skin problems. Later, they came to treat their tuberculosis-filled lungs both with the dry air and the healing waters (interesting, unlike other spas and hot springs of the era those “suffering” from “consumption” were not welcome at Ojo Caliente).

“The practice of using natural mineral water for the treatment or cure of disease is nothing new. Known as “balneology,” (defined as mineral water spa treatments including soaking, massage, and movement), springs found in natural environments receive the “qi” (life-force energy) of all five elements: earth (the ground in which the spring is held); metal (the various minerals in the spring-water); water (the water itself); wood (the surrounding trees, and/or the wooden benches etc. surrounding the spring); and fire (the heat of the water, and the sun overhead).” (1)

The water chemistry here is allegedly unique in the world being the only place where lithium, arsenic, iron and sodium springs exist together. Water temperatures range from 80-110 degrees Fahrenheit. The water is heated by a volcanic aquifer and produces 100,000 liters of water daily.

Today, the Resort and Spa attracts overnight guests and day pass users from the surrounding area and those just passing through. We were actually surprised, before our visit, at how many of our Colorado friends (and others) had been for a soak. The resort is rustic luxury with a bar and restaurant and adobe rooms complete with kiva fireplaces. Hotel guests have access to private pools not accessible to day pass-ers. Ojo Caliente is a perfect place to heal your aching bones and get in touch with nature and your inner spirit while listening to the New Age Music Choice channel on your television and smell the burning piñon in your roaring kiva fire on a cold, clear, starry, quarter-moon December night.

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