Native Ingredients and Rituals Distinguish Mexico's Top Spas
 Christine Delsol - SFGate.com
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Once known mainly as cheaper alternatives to U.S. or European destination spas, Mexico's spas now offer thoroughly unique experiences that combine sophisticated treatments from all over the world with indigenous rituals such as the temazcal sweat house and native materials like nopal cactus, volcanic ash, chocolate, vanilla and honey — all from Mexico's tropical forests. Here are 10 of Mexico's most outrageous spas.
Spa at Rancho La Puerta, Tecate, Baja California Norte. The granddaddy of fitness resort spas mixes nature hikes with body treatments and maintains an organic farm that supplies your meals. Men have their own separate health center. The spa claims to have originated the now-ubiquitous body wrap, using native herbs, seaweed and aromatic oils.
Treatment to try: Customized Healing Therapy, using "trigger-point therapy, myofascial release, neuro-muscular release and muscle-energy release" to rid your body of pain wherever it may occur.
Spa at Las Ventanas al Paraiso Hotel, Los Cabos, Baja California Sur. Widely recognized as one of Mexico's best spa resorts, its treatments incorporate therapies from Baja (nopal cactus, desert sage) and around the world that promise to soothe everything from jet lag to cellulite. Each day begins with a Crystal Tones Sonic Meditation ritual.
Treatment to try: Wireless Relief Massage, counteracting the ills of nonstop computer and cell phone use with warm lavender, mint and eucalyptus wraps, acupressure, aromatherapy, eye compresses and scalp and facial massage.
Apuane Spa at Four Seasons, Punta Mita, Nayarit. Set in the new luxury development north of Puerto Vallarta, this spa will scrub you with tequila, salt and fresh lime juice, balance your chakras with warm and cold stones, slather you in black volcanic mud or tone your body with Mexican green coffee.
Treatment to try: Hakali Massage, using spine-free cactus paddles to massage in a rejuvenating meringue of nopal cactus and pulque, a liquor made from the agave plant (a predecessor to modern-day tequila).
Away Spa at W Hotel, Mexico City. If you need respite from the lively bars and restaurants of the hip Polanco district, the W offers local therapies such as temazcal steam rituals guided by a shaman, chocolate masks or a purifying scrub of volcanic sand, papaya, cucumber and eggs — all in vividly colored treatment rooms with fresh flowers and bright murals.
Treatment to try: Monte Alban body wrap, a skin-rejuvenating concoction of jasmine, rice and cinnamon in organic milk, in an application set to the music of a rain stick.
Hotel Spa Ixtapan, Ixtapan de la Sal, Mexico state. This quaint, 50-year-old hotel and spa, a popular destination for locals, uses thermal water and volcanic minerals from the immediate surroundings, and herbs and fruit picked fresh daily, in its menu of reflexology, shiatsu, Roman baths and mud wraps.
Treatment to try: Invigorating Body Treatment, combining a vibrator massage, acupressure, hot towels, hot and cold gels and a blanket wrap to relax and firm the body and promote circulation.
Posada del Valle, Tepoztlán, Morelos. In the middle of a heavily indigenous farming region steeped in mysticism, Posada del Valle has photos of UFO sightings in its bar and a menu of medicinal temazcal steam baths, chocolate facials, chakra rebalancing treatments and flower remedies for depression, insomnia, stress and other ailments.
Treatment to try: Barro Treatment, a medicinal mud wrap followed by a chocolate massage to detoxify the body and stimulate the skin.
Hosteria Las Quintas, Cuernavaca, Morelos. Surrounded by the mountains of colonial Central Mexico, Hosteria's spa offers a mix of temazcal rituals, fruit-based peels, cryotherapy using frozen items to improve skin texture, electroimpulses for muscle tone and weight loss, and astral meditation — plus sightseeing trips to local archaeological sites.
Treatment to try: Parafango, a body coating with volcanic mud to detoxify, oxygenate and remineralize the body and relieve muscular pain, and paraffin, used to hydrate and firm the skin.
Thalasso Center Spa at Paraiso La Bonita, Bahia Petempich, Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo. The only certified Thalassotherapy Spa in North America incorporates warm seawater full of living organisms in a method dating back to ancient Greece that is supposed to correct depression, obesity, rheumatism, circulatory problems and even dental problems. It also offers temezcal rituals for good measure.
Treatment to try: Balneotherapy, using a computerized hydro-massage tub filled with seawater, micro-blasted seaweed and customized aromatic oils and toning salts.
Maya Spa, The Tides, Playa Xcalacoco, Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo. Treatment begins with a copal-steam cleansing ritual outside the circular, Maya-inspired spa. Signature treatments among many created from ancient tradition are the Maya Crepuscular (stretching, herbal purification and volcanic clay massage) and the Maya Bath (exfoliation, reflexology and aromatherapy in a steam room, finished with an infusion of milk, honey and herbs); other treatments use aloe vera, mud, honey, chocolate, pumpkin, wine, mezcal, lime and lemon.
Treatment to try: Hammock Massage, allowing you to float above a therapist who works from below on pressure points on the head, back, hands and feet.
Maya Spa at Cabañas Copal, Tulúm, Quintana Roo. This holistic resort on the sublime sands of Tulúm specializes in pre-Hispanic techniques administered by a Maya shaman. Visitors can also purify themselves in a temazcal, relax in a floatation tank or take a jungle adventure tour.
Treatment to try: Chocolate Wrap, using cacao bean and almond oil for exfoliation, chocolate cream and a banana-leaf wrap to draw out impurities, an ocean or fresh cenote water bath, and massage with chocolate cream. |
Vallarta Weddings
Health & Beauty | June 2008 
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