It’s Friday, soon finishing my wellness week at Rancho La Puerta. The door to my bungalow (circa 1950) is open, and a cool desert breeze is rustling the trees, and the yards of flowering bushes and …. dust, lost of dust. Sun rays stream horizontally through any space that is not a flower or tree, and a staff member is calling for a cat to come in, “Leo, kitty kitty kitty, Leo.”
I had two treatments today- both wonderful, one was a massage and the other… was not so much a treatment but a down right necessity… I had my hair washed and blow dried.
This place is a bit funny, in the sense that when they get things right, wow, they really get things right, (food, art, instructors, landscape) … and when they miss, it just makes me sad. I have had a 1000 massages, (you know what I mean) and being a spa consultant and developer, I do have a “cranky eye” for touches that make a nice room/treatment… into great space.(with very little money or effort attached- easy)
For example, the massage rooms at Rancho la Puerta have the most gorgeous Mexican tile on the floor, walls, sinks, you name it, there is tile. However the massage table, has a faded maroon wrinkled sheet on it with a bath towel folded at the end, the face cradle is a pillow case that does not fit, so your face is half on the plastic head rest the other on a crease. OK, now hear me out… Mexico has the most beautiful bright tapestry and material… why not that on the massage table, that would be “wow”? I swear it looks like someone slept on my sheets. My massage was great, but ya’know, it is the little touches here.
Now for the beauty salon, let me first say,is too, like my bungalow is circa 1950, which is fine, and makes an authentic statement. The beautician did a great job on my kinky curly hair, however at a five star destination resort- drug store cheap shampoo and conditioner, really don’t cut the cake. It really would only take about $200-300 to buy “back bar” professional products, even if it is just Paul Mitchel, or Revlon, Aveda for goodness sakes, Aveda … the products they use are so bad, they put them in a generic pump top container. Oh dear.There are no fancy gels, mousse, spray or even a flat iron. There was a guest putting rollers in her own hair!
Now that I am done with my “inner judgment”- tonight is the Fiesta, and it will be great, as they always are, especially if some guest gets drunk and sings. There will be losts of dancing, great food and a bit of Tecate beer… with hair blowing in the breeze and a bright shaw, I will not disappoint, as I am usually that guest who drinks too much and sings!! Oh I love I Rancho la Puerta!
Susan Gwaltney, www.essentialspaconsulting.com with travel spa blog
