|
| |
Green Valley Spa - Part 3
Written by: Dominick A. Miserandino
Photography by: Margherita Miserandino
Who would go to a spa to relax and yet still hike in the mountains every day?
It was a simple, but clear, message and therefore my stable marriage was on the line. Although it wasn’t my fault that Russ was that fast, we’re together for good and for bad, and clearly she was feeling bad.
Sam took the wifely-bull by the horns. Sam radioed to Russ (who was now climbing up a tree or some other youthful activity) and said, "We’ll split the group."
Then it was me, Sam and Margherita, traversing the mountain as God intended it. My genitals were intact and not ripped off by my wife. We saw the mountain at a safe pace. We smelled the dessert sage and we even saw Native American pottery. It was a great day.
But anyway, I’ve covered two employees and I’m nearly at 1,000 words which might get you a tad-bit bored, but I have one more hiker to mention. Lisa the Nurse. I’m sure she has a family name or the such, but that’s irrelevant right now. She was on two of our hikes and always had a smile. "You can do it," she would say and that seemed to give us the extra push. When Margherita was getting tired, she stuck Margherita with Audrey, an incredibly kind, tall, British dominatrix who kept Margherita happy and in order. I was free to run ahead.
Oh wait, there are more employees involved with hiking, I said one more, but there’s one more after that one more. Next would be Linda and Melinda. Not only do their names rhyme, but they did this new-age crazy stuff that tastes great and is less filling. Linda is a woman who cannot possibly frown if you surgically forced it on her. Her face would simply reshape back into a smile. She has an easygoing, soft speaking way about her that makes you want to relax just a tad bit more than you’ve ever done before.
That next day we had switched back to the easy trail and, although I was getting bored, our marriage was again in harmony as we walked together. Linda upped the ante and actually got everybody in the group to do some new-age, tai chi, yoga thing on the top of the mountain. Clearly, I’m a skeptic; however, I admit it was one of the highlights of the trip.
Here we were, on a cliff, with red mountains all around us. It was a crisp 60 degrees and nature was all around. Linda had us twisting and turning in slow motion akin to a lethargic Chubby Checker. We thanked mother earth or something like that, but we were stretched, relaxed, and my heart stopped its usual palpitating.
During the hike, I didn’t interact with Melinda as much as new-age Linda, but we talked a lot about plants and other nature related things. I remembered her, she remembered me, but it was a hiking relationship that had a healthy social space.
Then I went for my massage that day. Yes, the usual daily massages. And yes, Margherita liked the fact that we had a massage or a facial or another spa treatment every day. She thought this was a rather good trend and should continue even upon our return to the real world. She was also happy that I tried other things besides massages and even tried a girlie facial, but she said that I’m not supposed to say that they were girlie.
| | |
Reaching the top and looking down | |
I was led to the spa's shower by the assistant in the nightgown type of throw-over robe. She set up everything, including giving me the natural elements soap. This was okay.. Sure, I was bathing with soap made of sand but after a while, it felt natural and seemed to be better than soap. I walked into the massage room and felt the usual degree of awkwardness one might feel after not only having bathed with sand, but having been led into the room by a woman dressed in a what appeared a cross between an angel’s costume, a nightgown and a burka.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
|
|
|
|
|
|
