I'm planning a trip to Rio Caliente this spring with the intention of writing about their exquisite food.
As I began to think about watching the colourful birds through the windows of the tree-house style eating area or riding horseback into the mountains along the steaming river or hiking under a star-congested sky breathing air sweetened by the wild anise plants and the faint aroma of wood smoke, I wanted to share this place with you.
It's a magical place nestled in the valley of the Primavera State Forest in the Jalisco State of Mexico. It's far from swine flu and there is no drg gang warfare. The wild dogs yelping from the hills is about all the racket you'll need to put up with during your stay. The workers ride in on horseback from the neighbourhing village. The bread is baked daily in a large woodburning oven situated in the middle of the expansive vegetable gardens. It's that sort of place.
The use of the word spa here refers more to the classical European style - reconnecting to yourself in a natural environment; receiving enough solitude to rest and enough collaboration to connect; enjoying traditional body treatments with ingredients like volcanic mud and eucalyptus; eating delicious food; sleeping in rustic but charming villas. Everything about Rio Caliente is high quality but nothing about it screams obnoxious. There are no high maintenance manicured leotard-wearing members of the chattering calorie-counting classes. It's more thoughtful than new agey, more holistic than militaristic, more quirky than staid. It's also supremely affordable which helps it to keep its charm (and its eclectic range of guests). The last time I was there I met a nurse who worked with the Peace Corps as a mid-wife in the small villages scattered in the mountains of El Salvador. It's that sort of place. You meet people who inspire you in small but significant ways.
Their official website has everything you need to know -- spa treatment specificities; the mineral elements of the hot spring pools; how to get to and from the Spa (Guadalajara International Airport is 20 miles; Puerta Vallarta is 200 miles); the weather through the seasons; massage and bodywork; accommodation; and food.
Meals are buffet style and you eat at communal tables. You can talk or not talk. Nobody minds. Makeshift bird feeders swing by large chains from the tree branches and attract all sorts of interesting characters - the squirrel-tailed cuckoo and the Motmot, for example - who sit and feed on the colourful chunks of watermelon. Breakfast has coffee and tea and fresh squeezed juices. There is always homemade bread, granola and oatmeal, as well as traditional Mexican beans, eggs and potatoes. And loads of fresh fruit: melon, papaya, mango, banana plus fresh yogurt and honey, muffins, and breads. Specialties include cactus with eggs, potato pancakes, french toast.
Lunch is always a colourful fresh display of an assortment of salads (brown rice with pecans and beansprouts; jicama, nut and parsley; bell pepper with chihuahua cheese; cucumber and mint with alfalfa; grated carrots with raisins; white bean with roquefort; lentils; beets; etc.), a hot entree (cabbage rolls; zucchini and corn casserole; stuffed chayote squash; eggplant parmigiana; almond, carrot and nut loaf; red rice with lentils, chickpeas and mexican sauce; white rice with corn and sesame seeds), sides of raw vegetables, homemade seed bread, tortillas, seeds, and more fruit.
Dinner is a less extravagant meal and more than often consists of a hearty soup (black bean; split pea; zucchini and fresh corn; chard and barley; carrot with apple and ginger), tortillas, bread and various salads.
It's all delicious and abundant.
Day trips to the cultural city of Guadalajara are available. I recommend it. Take the day, wander the old town of cobbled streets and contemporary public sculptures, visit the hundreds of small private gallery spaces, eat lunch in a colonial style courtyard, have a margerita, then a Mexican beer, and pay attention to the interesting architectural style called churriguerresque which combines Spanish architecture with the skill of the Indian craftsmen and results in detailed stone facade decoration and ornamentation. Visit the large central food and crafts market -- a byzantine place of one-stop shopping.
**All photographs are the copyright of Rio Caliente Spa. They were used in an article I published in the spring of 2009 in various CanWest Global publications about the spa.
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