Steaming baths soothe nerves and muscles. They are an afternoon ritual. Gathering at the designated pools, the gentlemen share the day’s events. An underground sulfuric spring continuously supplies them with hot waters.
Gushing forth from the earth’s bosom, this hot liquid has healing properties. Taking notice of these since time immemorial, we have seen a resilient Mainit people who are utilizing to the hilt its wonders.
Fast becoming a tourist spot, it is an off-the-beaten-path location where you can easily commune with nature. As most visitors mention, trying the thermal pools reinvigorates your weary souls.
Welcome to the Mainit Hot Springs!
Chongliyan
Chongliyan hosts these natural wonders. It is easily within reach, taking about an hour from the capital town, Bontoc, Mountain Province.
The people of Chongliyan fully exploit its potential. They understand the nature of this geothermal phenomenon. Living with it since the dawn of their existence, they learned its intricacies. Hearing its murmurs is a part of their daily lives.
Renaming it into Mainit at present, Chongliyan is the settlement’s original name. Fittingly, the place’s new name in Filipino means “hot.” These hot springs come out at different locations within and outside the village.
Visiting this picturesque barangay at the edge of a vast forest is enjoyable. It is sleepy yet full of activities. Starting from where the road ends, it is about a fifteen-minute hike into the village’s interior.
Mainit is a miner’s haven, too. Gold mining is an industry in the locality.
It employs mostly local workers within its immediate vicinity, with a sprinkling of non-Cordillerans making a living from the gold mines.
Sulfur Pools
Ever since sulfuric water existed, thermal bathing pools have been established. The pools are made separately for male and female bathers.
Through the ages, the sulfuric pools have been a marvel. Ever since, locals could not exactly predict when and where it transfers in their locality. Reportedly destroying numerous houses, when and where these sulfuric outlets will appear is undecipherable. It is forever a guessing game.
Emerging at unexpected locations, the sulfuric pools and outlets have destructive tendencies.
Hosing the hot waters from the different sources, most houses downstream have private baths.
Fully harnessing its potential, it is utilized likewise in pig rearing.
Therapeutic value
As the main attraction, the hot springs are more known for their therapeutic properties. Taking it from the locals, water from the hot springs soothes the body and relaxes the mind. Additionally, dipping in its thermal waters has the reported benefits of improving blood circulation, reducing stress, and relieving muscle cramps and pain.
Soaking in hot spring waters likewise can heal skin irritations and conditions. The presence of elevated sulfur levels, which offer antifungal and antibacterial properties, can soothe and even help heal the skin.
Detoxifying, naturally, is one of the known benefits of immersing in thermal pools. Hot springs help clear clogged pores and increase healthy circulation by inducing skin pores to open.
Culture and traditions
Mainit cultural practices and aged old traditions are very much alive and well. Calling for mandatory celebrations before the planting season and after the harvest is the vegnas undertaking. Participating for the locals is compulsory, and each villager is up to the task of executing their respective roles.
During the te-er, visitors do not enter the village. The te-er is a day of rest. Disturbances from outside influence, such as unscheduled visits, are prohibited. Hefty penalties await those not respecting this tradition.
Additionally, wakes are periods of mourning and, at the same time, a reunion of sorts. They are a family gathering, each one tracing his ancestry and relations to the deceased.
On the joyful side, weddings are a public spectacle. Always a welcoming celebration, everybody attends to the occasion. Partaking in the famous watwat sharing practice will help you understand the giving culture of the Cordillera people. Gong playing, singing, dancing, and chanting with Indigenous accompaniment make the occasion lively.
Salt making history
Salt-making processes utilizing the powers of the hot springs are now an extinct tradition at Mainit. Accordingly, salt production was one of the livelihoods Mainit was known for in the past. Water emanating from hot springs has a very high mineral content.
Dissolving solids more than cold water, the overall chemistry of hot springs varies, containing everything from calcium to lithium and even radium.
Skilled old women of the village start the salt-making undertaking by putting stones at waterways where these sulfuric waters pass through. Consequently, building a simple shack over such locations traps vapors in the process. Passing sulfuric waters deposit minerals at the stone’s edges. Eventually, this hardens over time and transforms into sodium chloride—salt.
They barter with neighboring villages, eventually exchanging this once very precious commodity for clay pots, kitchen utensils, and other important farm and household equipment.
Sugar cane wine and muscovado production
Still maintaining a distilling tradition, Mainit is famous for its basi (sugar cane wine) production. In like manner, the same activity produces the muscovado (unrefined brown sugar) endeared to the locals and a readily available gift to lucky visitors.
Sugar cane milling occurs after the harvest season. The preparation phase involves the cutting the sugar cane stems and stockpiling it at a designated milling site. The whole community participates in the practice. Chopping into manageable sizes and passing through crushers, thereby extracting the juice.
The basi-making process continues with the pouring of the juice into large vats, adding water, and bringing it to a boil. Checking on the brewed liquid by expert distillers follows. Stowing it away in large earthen jars, the fermentation process commences. Adding special additives, such as ” gamu ” (the fruit of the macaranga shrub) to the brew at some point, hastens the fermenting process.
The wine is readily available within three months. Additional by-products are muscovado and vinegar.
How to reach Mainit
Traveling to Mainit is simple.
If you are going by car, motorcycle, or bike, you can always ask Poblacion, Bontoc, Mountain Province residents for directions. Inquiring at the local tourism office is a much-needed boost. They will always show you the way.
Similarly, the trip can be a jeepney ride away. Jeeps at the Poblacion daily ply the 18 kilometer route and are the major mode of transport. Direct communication with the driver or conductor and passengers eases hassles about how to get to the place.
Travel to the barangay starts in the early afternoon. Conversely, traveling back to the capital town is in the early morning.
The road network is mostly paved, but some portions are challenging. Preventive measures and safe driving practices keep you out of harm’s way.
Geston Mineral Spring Resort
Readily offering its services to weary travelers and backpackers is the Geston Mineral Spring Resort. Swim slides, pools for adults and children, picnic groves, rooms, and homestay necessities are the perfect out-of-town experience.
Checking their Facebook page and inquiring about the facility’s availability eases your travel plans. Long weekends and holidays are the favorite times of visitors, making it fully booked. Reserving in advance ensures a smooth stay in the resort.
Immersing in its thermal pools has a therapeutic effect and makes an exhausted backpacker fall asleep earlier than expected. Cogon grass thatched roof living quarters offer a taste of the local living accommodation with a touch of native ingenuity
Staying at it one time, our guests did not want to leave the heated pools, enjoying the calming effects of the hot waters.
Bringing in food is allowed. Cooking to be in one’s senses to take control of the kitchen is a guarantee. Coming in handy are kitchen utensils and cooking implements that are readily available to backpackers.
The resort is located a kilometer away from the village. Cultural events never affect the facility. At times, when the rest days are in progress, staying at the resort is still allowed.
Living atop a volcano
Is Mainit then atop a volcano? Given the fact that it has numerous hot springs in its landscape?
Emerging onto the earth’s surface, these hydrothermal springs are heated by shallow bodies of magma or by circulation through faults deep in the earth’s crust.
Since there is no high volcanic activity, heating the Mainit hot springs are most probably rocks within the earth. Generally, they occur along faults, where shattered rock beds provide an easy path for water to circulate to greater depths. Emerging into the surface, this heated water steadily supplies the pools.
Enduring through the centuries, the Mainit people never left their hot spring-laden village. Instead, they exploited its potential and became stewards of the beauty of nature that they are now sharing with the world.
Visit Mainit and meet its people. Plan your visit to Mainit and experience its beauty and rejuvenating waters.
