Baños de Chimborazo

Baños de Chimborazo in Ecuador are sulfated and magnesium-rich springs associated with the geothermal activity of the Chimborazo volcanic massif — Ecuador's highest mountain and, measured from the Earth's centre, the farthest point from the Earth's core on the planet's surface due to equatorial bulge. The springs emerge in a páramo (high-altitude Andean grassland) environment near the Chimborazo Fauna Reserve, where vicuñas, Andean condors, and giant hummingbirds inhabit the cold volcanic slopes above the treeline. The thermal waters provide a warm refuge in an otherwise cold and wind-exposed volcanic landscape, offering hikers and climbers approaching Chimborazo a natural recovery soak after acclimatisation in one of the world's most geographically extreme thermal settings.