Wandering Tourist - Mainit Hot Springs, Anahawan, Southern Leyte

Wandering Tourist – Mainit Hot Springs

Being a volcanic island area, we thought there should be some hot springs in the area to soak in.

After a little research we came across Mainit Hot Springs located in Anahawan. It is about half way between Hinundayan and Anahawan and about half hour south of where we live. It is also about half way between where we live and where we sell copra which is in San Juan.  Copra is coconut meat either sun-dried or smoked.

After selling a load of copra a couple of weeks ago, we decided to check out Mainit Hot Springs. There was a sign on the highway showing it was 3 kilometers (about 1 1/2 miles) up the barangay road into the mountains. We headed up the road and the sign on the highway was the only sign. We asked directions at a sari sari store (convenience store in a house) and got some directions that included a turn off of the barangay road. After driving a little further the road turned into a goat path (or 4 wheel drive path). Once again we asked for directions at another sari-sari store where the hot springs were. The hot springs were another 15 minute walk down the goat path that turned into a sort of road that went steeply down into a mountain creek bottom. If we had a good 4 wheel drive vehicle, we probably could have drove down the road.

The hot spring facility is a nice facility with changing rooms and nipa huts that can be rented for 100 pesos (about 2 dollars US). Entry fee was 10 pesos (about 20 cents US). There is a communal cooking area.

 

Past the huts is a spring fed mountain creek. 

Above the huts the creek splits with one side going over a fissure that heats the water to about the boiling point. There is sulfur in the fissure so it does smell like rotten eggs.

The heated water then goes to several pools and cools off. The water is bearable in the pools. Our thought was to enjoy a soak in the hot mineral water. However, the water that flow through the pools is not sufficient to flush out any debris in them. In fact, one of the lower pools had fish bones floating in it.   Needless to say, we did not soak in the pools.

Below the pools, the heated water rejoins the creek and continues down the valley.

The hot springs is run by the barangay. It looks like they clean around the facility and a little bit of maintenance. We think there is a lot that can be done to improve the hot springs. First is to clean the hot pools. It would be nice if they cemented in one or two of them for ease of cleaning. On a side note, the people that were there did not seem to mind the debris in the pools. It is probably just our Americanization that finds it offensive. The pools may get flush towards the end of the rainy season. We may go back at that time and check it out again. But until that time, we will not be going back.'