A soothing blend of culture flows throughout Puerto Vallarta
“Soy guerrero,” we each yelled as loudly as we could. “Soy guerrero!”
I was with a half-dozen journalists touring Mexico’s Puerto Vallarta, and we were using the Spanish phrase, “I am a warrior,” to declare ourselves “spiritual warriors.”
Dressed in our bathing suits, we stood in a circle around a small cauldron of smoldering coals with our shaman, a kind septuagenarian who bore remote resemblance to the Dalai Lama. He picked up the cauldron and walked around the circle, stopping in front of us, one by one, to let us place tobacco leaves onto the coals. After completing the circle, he directed us to pronounce our spiritual quest.
So went our introduction to the temazcal, the cleansing ritual practiced by indigenous cultures across the Americas for centuries before the arrival of Europeans. Ours was an abbreviated version of the ancient ceremony at Spa Mayahuel, which recently opened on the grounds of El Eden in Mismaloya. El Eden is a theme-park-like destination in the densely foliaged foothills about 30 minutes from Puerto Vallarta’s historic central district. Signs placed throughout the property remind visitors that El Eden was the setting for the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger action flick Predator. The facility also houses a popular zip-line tour operation and shaded dining areas. The spa consists of a cabana and secluded outdoor spaces on a quiet edge of the facility.
Our spiritual guide, who spoke in a combination of Spanish and English, explained that the temazcal was designed to relieve stress and bring a person into balance with nature’s four elements—earth, air, fire and water. Each portion of the ceremony focused on a specific element.
On a flat pad of sand, for instance, the shaman directed us to cover ourselves—and each other—from head to toe with silty orange mud that filled an urn. Duly slathered, we then lay on our backs, eyes closed, under unobstructed afternoon sun. As the baking clay stiffened into a second skin over our own skin, it was hard to not feel at one with the earth. After rinsing ourselves with cool water pumped directly from the nearby river, we proceeded to the sweat hut, a round, roughly 4-foot-tall domed structure with eucalyptus leaves burning in the fire in the center of the dirt floor. The building, we were told, represented the earth’s womb.
Inside, the shaman led us in an exercise designed to get us to breathe in the therapeutic smoke as deeply as possible as we sat cross-legged on mats. Another exercise required us to yell in rhythm as he pounded on a drum. Having successfully worked us into a smoke-breathing, drum-chanting frenzy, he then told us to assume the fetal position, close our eyes and enjoy the serenity of our womb du jour (my words, not his), where we remained in silence for about 15 minutes. Our version of the temazcal concluded with a soothing, 30-minute back massage. Clearly, this spiritual warrior business has its perks.
There seem to be two great misconceptions about traveling to Mexico these days, and I’m not sure which one bothers me more. One is the fear that the surge in violent crime along Mexico’s border with the U.S. makes it dangerous for Americans to visit any Mexican destination. True, you need to exercise caution and common sense when you travel to Mexico, and the U.S. State Department provides useful information in its travel alerts. However, most Mexican tourist destinations are far away from the areas where the violence is taking place. Based on accounts from other travel media sources and my own experiences, the resort areas are as safe as ever, which is to say pretty safe, as long as you follow the same types of precautions you would follow when you travel anywhere. Remaining aware of your surroundings, traveling with a buddy or two, avoiding traveling through remote areas after dark and refraining from wearing fancy jewelry are among the steps you can take to help protect yourself.
The other great misconception is the widely held belief that tequila needs to be consumed quickly in large quantities. In Puerto Vallarta, I was particularly impressed by the opportunities to learn about tequila in a manner similar to wine tasting. For example, the CasaMagna Marriott employs a “tequila sommelier” and even produces its own line of tequila. As the sommelier led our group through a tasting, she explained the differences in the distillation and aging processes that produce the three types of pure agave tequila—blanco, reposado and añejo. Mellowed by five years of aging in oak barrels, CasaMagna’s añejo, or aged, tequila possesses the type of flavors and body that make it a worthy alternative to dessert wines and single-malt Scotch.
Tequila tasting is particularly popular in Jalisco, because the province is home to the town of Tequila, recognized as the birthplace of Mexico’s national spirit (Puerto Vallarta is also in Jalisco). Word has it that tourism officials are getting ready to open La Ruta del Tequila, or the Tequila Route, in the heart of agave country. The goal of this initiative is to develop a network of inns and other tourism amenities that make Tequila’s distilleries more accessible to visitors. This sounds exactly like the type of thing that may lure away those otherwise inclined to visit Walla Walla or Bordeaux to rural Jalisco. I say just one thing about such a possibility: Make sure you designate a driver when you go.
Tags: CasaMagna Marriott, El Eden, La Ruta del Tequila, Mexico Travel Alert, Puerto Vallarta, Rob Bhatt, Spa Mayahuel, temazcal, tequila