This has to be one of the weirdest places on the planet. It is a spa created using the output of a geothermal plant. Somewhere a couple of kilometers below the surface, volcanic processes heat sea water to a temperature higher than its boiling point, and the pressure prevents it from turning into steam. The superheated water runs turbines to generate electricity, then after that it gets used to provide the heat for a municipal hot water system, then it gets expelled into a giant pool in the volcanic landscape.
A big section of that pool has now been converted into a spa. You can float around in the hot seawater, you can get a massage while you lie on a partially submerged air mattress, you can buy very expensive blue slushies, and most of all you can coat your face in white silica mud. What that means is that this surreal pool of bright blue water surrounded by black heaps of volcanic rubble is full of people floating around in whiteface makeup, like a bunch of kabuki dancers embedded in blue jello. What a weird world we live in.
There is also some interesting science involved, I think. There is minimal information posted at the place itself, just enough to make me disbelieve everything they say about all the healthful and rejuvenating properties of the silica, the dissolved minerals and the algae. Yes, it's true, I'm very cynical, but if dissolved minerals were automatically good for you I could open a spa in a discarded hot water tank.
However there is more info on their website, apparently they have had good results treating psoriasis, and they are studying a number of species of microorganism that only exist in this one place on earth. They have a research institute attached to the spa, and although their focus is on creating skin care products, they actually have downloadable pdfs of their research papers online. So real scientists elsewhere can look over their shoulders if they want, and if they are talking rubbish, tease them at conferences and give them insulting sciency nicknames. So, who knows, maybe it is more than the marketing scam I initially assumed.
In any case, my knee jerk skepticism prevented me from smearing any mud on my own face. Consequently I have missed out on the chance to be rejuvenated, and continue to look as decrepit and scruffy as ever. My loss.
A big section of that pool has now been converted into a spa. You can float around in the hot seawater, you can get a massage while you lie on a partially submerged air mattress, you can buy very expensive blue slushies, and most of all you can coat your face in white silica mud. What that means is that this surreal pool of bright blue water surrounded by black heaps of volcanic rubble is full of people floating around in whiteface makeup, like a bunch of kabuki dancers embedded in blue jello. What a weird world we live in.
There is also some interesting science involved, I think. There is minimal information posted at the place itself, just enough to make me disbelieve everything they say about all the healthful and rejuvenating properties of the silica, the dissolved minerals and the algae. Yes, it's true, I'm very cynical, but if dissolved minerals were automatically good for you I could open a spa in a discarded hot water tank.
However there is more info on their website, apparently they have had good results treating psoriasis, and they are studying a number of species of microorganism that only exist in this one place on earth. They have a research institute attached to the spa, and although their focus is on creating skin care products, they actually have downloadable pdfs of their research papers online. So real scientists elsewhere can look over their shoulders if they want, and if they are talking rubbish, tease them at conferences and give them insulting sciency nicknames. So, who knows, maybe it is more than the marketing scam I initially assumed.
In any case, my knee jerk skepticism prevented me from smearing any mud on my own face. Consequently I have missed out on the chance to be rejuvenated, and continue to look as decrepit and scruffy as ever. My loss.
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