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La Posada de Santa Fe Resort & SpaSanta Fe, New Mexico
Signature Treatment: Corn Dance Purification ($100). I got in touch with Native wisdom, beginning with a gentle dry brushing of the skin as Indian flute music wafted from the CD. Jenny then put a warmed cornmeal-oatmeal-bentonite mixture all over me; it felt nourishing to be transformed into a sort of girlish baked good. An in-room shower and moisturizer finished off the Corn Dance. Most Relaxing: Renewing Botanical Pedicure ($75) and Renewing Botanical Manicure ($60). The two hours flew by in the salon with Audrey, who placed a luscious clovelavender heated neck pillow on me, then used the splendid Naturopathica line of products for my pedicure (mint foot soak, paraffin dip, tea-tree-and-peppermint balm massage, polish) and manicure (milk bath, aloe vera softening soak, paraffin dip, lemon verbena hydrating massage, polish). Most Restorative: Arnica Muscle and Joint Massage ($110). Mountain arnica blended with warming rosemary and bay laurel makes Accommodations, $209-$2,000 nightly. House Drink/Dish: Settle onto a Victorian sofa in a
quiet nook at the Staab House anytime after noon for tapas and red wine.
Sample the delicious hummus with flatbread($9), tasty almonds with cured olives
($6) (see recipe), green-lip mussels in saffron sauce ($6), gambas with
orange and peppercorns ($6). This is old-time Santa Fe where local artists, real
estate agents, and gallery owners hang out — sometimes to mingle with hotel
guests like rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd and country songbird Emmylou Harris. Bedding Down: No two rooms are alike at La Po, but most have walls and fabrics in rich autumnal shades like burnt oranges, squash, and reds, with wrought-iron furnishings, Saltillo tile, and wood-beamed ceilings. Room 233 near the spa has a gas fireplace and ochre walls. The cozy room 168 is adorable with a real wood-burning fireplace. Number 133, one of the original Pueblo Revival rooms, has lower ceilings, vigas, latillas, and wood-burning kiva fireplace. Only Here … can you get an Eye and Lip Treatment ($60) with Rosie, a former crane operator from New York who’s reinvented herself as a healer — and what a touch she has. Using micronized collagen and ginkgo biloba, Rosie worked magic in just 25 minutes — she actually soothed me to sleep while pressing on the collagen mask. This was my favorite treatment here! Unforgettable Moment: Admiring newly plumped-up lips after a spa afternoon — and before a barindulging evening. Guys’ Pick: Deep Tissue Massage ($100). Although the spa has a 75-percent female clientele, the guys come for deep muscle work. In a Nutshell: Luxurious. Getting There: Fly into Albuquerque International Sunport Airport and drive an hour north on I-25. Contact: (505) 986-0000 or By Wolf Schneider and Ellise Pierce This article originally appeared in Cowboys and Indians Magazine June 2005 |
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All-adobe-all-the-time could be Santa Fe’s motto, and at
“La Po,” as the locals call it, you’ll find what may be Santa Fe’s prettiest
downtown resort with 157 adobe rooms and suites interspersed between landscaping
that’s in bloom from May until November. Avanyu Spa, in the midst of the resort
near the heated pool, boasts a posh waiting room with a five-foot fountain
including waterwall, delicious cucumber water (see accompanying recipe), purple
orchids, abstract contemporary paintings by Kit Reuther and Miani Carnevale,
rattan chaise lounges, a brightly striped Mexican rug in pinks and oranges — and such regulars as Santa Fe locals Gene Hackman
and Ali MacGraw. “We have more than 400 years of experience in our therapy
staff,” says spa director Ilene Stevens. “They have a mental clarity and
intention to their work. Most of them say affirmations to themselves during the
massage to stay in the moment and — it sounds a little la-la woowoo, I know — to
channel the universe. They are truly healers.”