The Baths
The man walked up the trail, feet moving in long strides, his boots raising tiny puffs of dust at each step. His chest was streaked with rivulets of sweat that formed in tiny pearls under the sparse hair of his broad chest and then ran in occasional trickles down to the waistband of his shorts where it soaked into the cloth forming a dark delta.
On his muscular back the drops of perspiration between his shoulder blades slowly ran down his tanned skin to the other soaking patch on his denim shorts.
The two patches spread around the waistband and nearly joined on either side.
The slope steepened, his stride remained the same and his chest rose and fell easily as his breath-rate increased; Keith was physically fit, used to walking long distances in mountains.
He'd been here in the
Rincon de la vieja
national park for nearly 3 weeks and this was only his second visit to the baths.
He looked forward to it; the heat of the day had been crushing, the dust on his skin was a gritty paste where it had mixed with his sweat.
What he called the baths were in fact two things: a shallow depression in which a volcanic vent had over uncounted years, churned and cooked the blue-grey clay into a thick, smooth cream. It was easily twenty yards across. It cut into the slope of the mountain, so that only one side was easily accessible. The side against the mountain bubbled with escaping steam and the other was almost at air temperature where the mud slowly overflowed the edge of the basin to ooze downhill where it set in ridged terraces. To one side of the depression was a series of flat basalt slabs, tumbled in a forgotten age, which formed giant steps leading up one side of the mud bath
The tropical forest crowded close around the pit except on the south side where the sun flooded in. Near to the entrance of the mud pit was a curious stream - two in fact; one cool clear one and the other a steaming torrent of boiling water that flowed from the depths of the volcano.
The curiosity was that the two streams, so different in nature, met and joined just above the mud pit to become one. Downstream from their confluence, it was possible to choose the temperature of bathing water as the hot and cold mixed together to gradually become tepid.
The man ran the last few dozen yards, sprinting up the steepest part of the trail to arrive at the baths, panting and perspiring.
He stripped hurriedly, left his clothes on the first flat slab of basalt and naked, walked slowly into the mud midway between the boiling and the cool areas. He sighed in pleasure as the warm cream enfolded him as he stepped into the deeper mud. He stopped when the hot semi-liquid reached the bottom of his throat and just as he stopped, he heard a soft, muffled giggle.
The two women lay sprawled languorously on a flat rock, luxuriating in the sun's rays as they filtered through a gap in the crowns of trees. They were a contrasting pair; One tall and blonde, the other shorter, with the dark hair of a
Latina
.
Bikinis tops and shorts lay, haphazardly where they'd landed, thrown by hurried, feverish hands. The women lay head to toe, a slight space between them as the sweat of lovemaking cooled.
The blonde one had blue-grey eyes and a wide sensuous mouth. Her body looked fit, her breasts were full but firm, her nipples dark pink where a mouth had suckled and playfully nibbled, her hips flared nicely and her loins were raised from the rock by the swell of her tight rear. The slightest breath of wind ruffled her fine shoulder-length hair as she lay with her face turned to face her companion.
Her friend, the dark-haired woman, was shorter. Her hair was longer, a dark brown that shone in the sunlight. She had wider hips and a bigger rump, accentuated as she lay on her side with one knee drawn up. Her breasts were a little smaller perhaps, the nipples darker. They'd looked darker still against the creamy white of the blonde's skin. Her soft brown eyes smiled at the blonde as they talked.
They talked about their trip, where they would go. They discussed their camp site hidden in the forest a little way off and how the electric-blue butterflies flickered in endless chases through the foliage, lending an aura of paradise to this place. They talked about their friendship, since way back in school and how they'd decided to holiday together and how close they felt. "Very, very close" Tania laughed as her fingers reached out and caressed Catherine's soft slickness.
Before Catherine could reply, they both raised their heads at the sound of running feet, and saw a tall, tanned man stop at the edge of the mud bath, throw down his shirt and strip off his shorts. He waded into the mud without pause. His dark hair flecked with silver glinted in the sun. They watched, fascinated as the man walked into the mud, their eyes taking in his muscled back then drifting in unison down to his cheeks just as they disappeared beneath the liquid clay.
Tania nudged Catherine and whispered "Oooooooooooohhhhhh!" into her ear. Catherine giggled; she'd been thinking exactly that.