Anyone interested in a group trip to Rio Caliente?

It was originally Rae Vynn's idea, but since she seems reluctant to start a thread, I'll do it.

Rio Caliente is a spa 20 miles outside of Guadalajara (the city I would most recommend for anyone who wants to experience Mexico -- it is not filthy like Mexico City, or especially dangerous like some of the border towns, and it has the real flavor of Mexico). Rio Caliente has hot springs and appears to have the usual spa stuff, plus hiking. The food is vegetarian plus dairy, and white meat once a week for those who want it. There is no alcohol served. The cost is a fraction of Rancho la Puerta, where I have gone three times. There appears to be a small discount for groups, and we'd get rooms all together.

This thread is to gauge whether there is actually interest in a Prius Chat get-together there. It looks to me that the best time of year would be late March - early April. No rain, no humidity, warm daytime temperatures and cool but not cold nights.

This is a serious poll. Please avoid frivolity in your poll answers. We'd like to find out if this is an idea to pursue or if too few would be able to go and interested.

 

Check their web site for prices and your favorite travel site for air fare. I would not go for less than a full week, but there's no reason people could not go for as long or as short a time as they choose. E.g., Wednesday to Wednesday with people who can only manage a weekend dropping in for that, or some variation on the theme.

But we'd need a lot more interest for it to happen as a group thing.

After I research it some more, I could conceivably decide to go myself, then post my dates and anyone who wanted to go at the same time could do so. Of course that would nix the group discount.

Let's see if anyone else jumps in to express interest. Guadalajara is a major city, so should be easy to schedule flights to.

 

Their web site says they have an association with La Primavera village. If you plug "La Primavera, Jalisco, Mexico" into the Google Earth search box, you should be in more or less the general area.

Guadalajara has had earthquakes, but I never felt one during the semester I lived there. You're probably safer in Guadalajara than in Los Angeles.

I think the nearest volcano is some 50 miles (???) away.

 

Though I know you are just being silly, I will say for folks who might actually be interested, that the "group" merely gets us a discount. Everyone can take advantage of whatever spa activities they like, and we'd get to meet each other and spend whatever time together we like.

 

I'm really not familiar with the area. I lived in Guadalajara for a semester and Santiago de Queretaro (commonly refered to simply as Queretaro) for several years. I visited San Juan del Rio (referred to as simply San Juan) as well as both Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende several times each. There's an airport between Leon de los Aldama (known as Leon) and Guanajuato, and though it has far fewer flights than Mexico City, it's a much easier way to get to Queretaro than flying into Mexico City (known as D.F. -- pronounced Day Effay--, for Distrito Federal).

But the famous volcano is way down near Puebla, to the south east of this map. It's called Popocatepetl, and known as El Pope -- pronounced Ell Popay--. I'm not familiar with any of the volcanoes in the Guadalajara region. But I guess the entire pacific rim is volcanically active.

Come to think of it, the reason the spa has natural hot springs is that the area is volcanic. But then, Yellowstone is the largest known dormant volcano, and when it blows it will end civilization as we know it, if we have not done that job ourselves first.

 

Their web site says it's mostly popular with the ladies, but men are discovering that they can enjoy it also. Rancho la Puerta (very high-end and very expensive) has far more women than men, but the men who were there (including me) liked it as much as the women did. I have no interest in facials or other "beauty" treatments (none of which make a woman one whit prettier than she was before the treatment), but the fitness classes, the hiking, and the food, were all great. I'd imagine that this place, being much cheaper, would be a lot less luxurious, but still could be as enjoyable for men as for women. But then, I don't eat meat. And while I'm not vegan, I am perfectly happy with a vegan diet, and sometimes request a vegan diet when I feel it would be too complicated to explain my food taboos in detail.