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The Romans mined lead and silver in Mazarron, and set up factories making 'Garum', a fermented fish sauce, the tomato ketchup of their Empire. They enjoyed the thermal hot springs, which were channelled into baths, tiled and tidy, at several sites in Murcia.
The hot springs at Saladillo are less regimented. A sucession of visitors have shaped and reshaped the pools, and there are half a dozen camper vans nearby, having carefully negotiated the dry river bed which gives access. The water gushes out at about 50C, I'm guessing, certainly too hot to bear. Salts crystallise out on the surface of the pools, setting a hard crust over the clay sides; bamboo grows an effective windbreak. The mud is rumoured to have therapeutic effects - certainly the sulphurous smell remains after showering. We had the additional benefit of exfoliation by numerous tiny sharp stones. I'm surprised no-one has packaged the mud for sale; with 50% of under 24s unemployed there would be no shortage of labour.
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