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 Travel & Outdoors | February 2008 
Resorts' New Spas Spread the Massage
 Jo Matyas - The Star
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| | Grand Velas All Suites and Spa Resort is in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. The 50-minute Holistic Grand Velas Massage is $125. GrandVelas.com. | 
| | Villa del Palmar Flamingos Spa is in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. The 85-minute Sea Escape Stone Facial and Body Treatment is $180. 877-845-5247, VillaGroupResorts.com. | | |
Riviera Nayarit, Mexico – The coastline around Puerto Vallarta has experienced more than its share of miraculous transformations. In the early 1960s, it was a sleepy fishing village until director John Huston breezed into town with Richard Burton and Ava Gardner to film The Night of the Iguana. Things haven't been the same since.
Puerto Vallarta has boomed but it's only recently that things have started to sizzle for the up-and-coming tourism mecca of Riviera Nayarit, just a stone's throw north. The explosion of five-star hotels and time-shares here means luxury-thirsty tourists cannot be far behind. And it seems that the resorts have take up the challenge and are poised with new spas stocked with every treatment imaginable.
Treatments at the beachfront Grand Velas Resort began with the signature Grand Velas Ritual. A smiling Spanish-speaking hostess placed a gentle hand on my elbow, leading me through the four-step preparation of herbal steam sauna, cool rain shower, eucalyptus steam room and a final cool rain shower aimed to detoxify and relax before the masseuse takes over and gets down to the nitty-gritty.
The simple Holistic Massage offers 50 minutes of kneading and stretching tired muscles – with a little hot-stone therapy thrown in for good measure – to relax shoulders tired from carrying a heavy camera bag. A long soak in a gentle footbath was followed by a foot massage.
Even a regular massage at the Grand Velas is bookended between simple touches, like warm, scented neck pillows and cups of cinnamon-apple tea.
With the knots in my shoulders taken care of, I steered toward the signature Sea Escape Stone Facial and Body Treatment at the beachfront Villa del Palmar Flamingos, part of a new, gated development combining hotels, condos and homes.
The Sea Escape treatment is a weighty affair – no less than several kilos of deliciously warmed, smooth river stones were used to gently massage in the exfoliating cream, cleanser and moisturizer.
While double layers of facial seaweed masque and mineral masque were working their rejuvenating and toning magic, my masseuse gently rubbed my tired limbs using more hot stones. Throughout the treatment, additional stones – ranging from palm-size to small pebbles – were placed at tender points underneath the joints, in-between my toes and under my back. This was the perfect napping time.
Before and after treatments, the bliss time can be extended in a sauna, mint-infused steam room or in a large, infinity-style whirlpool.
I showered and dressed, then hoisted my camera bag back onto my shoulder and began the long process of again knotting up my now-soothed muscles.
Information about Riviera Nayarit is at visitnayarit.com
Jo Matyas is a Kingston-based freelance writer whose trip was subsidized by the Riviera Nayarit Convention and Visitors Bureau. |
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