Find Serenity -- High in the Mexican Desert
I'd always wanted to take a spa vacation , but didn't think I could afford one. And then a friend told me about Rancho La Puerta, North America's original organic health resort, which offered a good deal for the price (there's a reason it's been called "the most affordable spa in America"). Before I knew it, I had packed my bags, flown to San Diego, and was boarding a bus for Tecate, Mexico.
Snuggled in a broad valley at the foot of mystical Mount Kuchumaa, Rancho La Puerta is only an hour's drive from San Diego airport, and three miles from California. Founded in 1940 by Deborah Szekely, "the Ranch" offers a bevy of early morning hikes and a schedule packed with a huge variety of fitness classes, health and nutrition lectures, arts and crafts, and yoga and dance classes. It also offers tennis, volleyball, swimming pools, exercise gyms and Ahhh -- if you'd rather relax -- massage, herbal wraps and health and beauty treatments.
I visited during December, when the mornings were brisk and cool, the days, balmy. Just being outside in the pure, fresh air, full of birdsong and the sweet scent of wildflowers lifted my spirits.
At Rancho La Puerta, relaxation remains paramount. Yet while one can simply visit the Ranch to relax by the pool, sit in the whirlpools and enjoy a slew of massages, facials and other treatments, most of the guests were quite active and took advantage of the Ranch's smorgasbord of classes. You name it, they have it: yoga, pilates, Feldenkreis, sculpting, NIA, strength training, cardio challenge, cardio cycling, and stretching, just to name a few. Plus they offer meditation practice, dance classes, and unique workshops such as "rhythm and drumming", which I found immensely entertaining. A typical day's schedule is so packed with choices you'll have trouble choosing what to do.
In fact, each morning I faced a dilemma. Not whether to get out of bed at 6 a.m., as you would think, but which hike to choose. Or should I take wake-up yoga instead? Like a kid in a candy store, I wanted one of everything, and packed my schedule with exercise and dance classes as well as hikes, and woke up with sore muscles on my third day. So what's a girl to do? I scheduled in two extra massages and an herbal wrap. Problem solved.
If you're into hiking, there are different hikes scheduled each day, such as the 4-mile Organic Garden Breakfast Hike, in which the group treks over rolling hills to Tres Estrellas, the Ranch's organic vegetable farm, where guests enjoy breakfast and a tour of the garden with their resident horticulturist, or a guided hike on the foothills of Mount Kuchumaa, or perhaps, a slow, silent Woodlands Meditation Hike.
Guest accommodations are in rancheras, haciendas, and villas scattered throughout the grounds, all handsomely decorated in Mexican Colonial style, accented with vibrantly colored Mexican folk art and weavings. My ranchera had tiled dressing rooms and bathrooms and a private terrace offering a sensational view.
At the time I vacationed at the Ranch, they allowed you to request roommates if you were traveling solo (they don't do this now), and I was delighted to find that I had a lot in common with Ange, a student of Ayurvedic medicine from San Francisco, and Sonia, from corporate Los Angeles. A 7-day, Saturday to Saturday stay is required to encourage the camaraderie the Ranch is famous for.
Renowned for their freshly picked produce and nutritious natural foods, the Ranch serves nutritious and healthy -- and surprisingly tasty -- food in their communal dining room. While it was a change from my normal, less-healthy diet, I shook my head no each time Ange whipped a salt shaker out of her purse (she'd been a guest at the Ranch before). I did, however, nearly pounce on the cookies offered by the chef on Wednesday, cookie day.
By the end of the week, my muscles felt stronger, my body healthier. It had been one of the most soul-satisfying vacations I'd ever taken, and I didn't want it to end. In fact, I would have happily ditched my return plane ticket, my job and my house if I could have taken up permanent residence.
Unfortunately, reality has a way of creeping up on you. But I did bring the Ranch home with me -- fitness tips, peace of mind, and a copy of "Vegetarian Spa Cuisine from Rancho La Puerta and Deborah Szekely", which I purchased in the Ranch's treasure-filled gift shop on my final morning. Three things, I hoped, that would keep me healthy and at peace until I could return.
Photos courtesy of Rancho La Puerta.
