Projects have gone awry and my mind is in more of a jumble than usual. But! It’s a new day, and the hours stretched ahead of me feel like one big opportunity. Chop chop!

I dutifully head to the hot spring district for Soak #6 at La Paloma Hot Springs.

The attendant informs me that the spa is currently empty, and I choose the biggest bath, because it’d be silly to go small. I take note of and appreciate the signs around La Paloma that say “please whisper.”

La Paloma’s bathhouse is over eighty years old. The baths are artesian, meaning the water flows continuously through the bath without having to be pumped. All of their baths have pebble bottoms and signs are posted noting temperatures (98 – 113 on this day) and “no diving” rules. NOTE: none of the baths in Truth or Consequences are deep enough for diving, please don’t.

The private dressing and lounge areas for each bath have lockable doors, and are painted with dreamy yellow and pink murals of fish and waves and flowery orbs. Soothing.

A feature unique to La Paloma’s baths: a thick rope hanging from the ceiling above the water in most baths, so you can swing while you soak. I (literally) hang out for about 25 minutes. My mind churns through all I have to do today, but my tension level is tempered by the hot water and the soothing atmosphere.

Outside the private baths is a larger communal hang-out area with a massage table set up in the corner next to a row of what appear to be foot baths, circular and shallow.

As I end my soak, patrons come in who seem not to have read the signs about whispering. I’m glad I’m headed home. (Cranky factor normal, carpal and shoulder pain also holding steady.)

Leaving La Paloma’s bath house, I see guests lounging in chairs around the property. Shade structures are set up as well – summer’s comin’!

La Paloma has 9 rooms, plus The Cottage, for rent to lodgers. It’s a budget and pet-friendly facility, and I’ve met some folks who never stay anywhere else when they visit town.

In fact I’ve noticed that’s pretty much how it works at all the local spas – each has its own set of devotees, who like “their” spas for varying reasons, and they don’t really need to explore other options, because if it isn’t broke…