Sunday mornings have a new meaning to all Cabo San Lucas residents. It is an opportunity to enjoy quality time with friends, family and even with your pets by strolling along the beautiful streets of the Marina Blvd. The Ciclovia Recreativa Familiar Cabo San Lucas is a project that aims to have an open space for families and sportsmen to ride a bike, scooters or roller skates and to promote a healthier lifestyle in a clean environment.

What started as a project by the Club Cactus Bike, it is now a reality where everyone can enjoy a sunny morning in the streets of Cabo. And to complement the fun, people can bring their dogs and treat them for a long walk along with other kids and pets.

The Ciclovia was created for all the residents of Los Cabos by Club Cactus Bike with the help of Asociación de Amigos de Cabo San Lucas, and it is really important to acknowledge the support of Humane Society of Cabo San Lucas, Cabo Angels, Public Services, Civil Protection, Traffic Police, volunteer students and other private organizations. Everyone is welcome to participate! Just keep in mind that no motorized vehicles are allowed, dogs must always be with a leash and for the delight of everyone, you must clean after your dog at all time.

So instead of waking up late (as I usually do every Sunday), I took my friend’s dog Petey and enjoyed the many smiling faces past Sunday morning at the Ciclovia. I was personally delighted to see all the families congregated: many were sitting by the cafe’s enjoying the morning and having breakfast, others were proudly applauding their kids at how well they rode a bike without any help, while many were just walking their dogs. The ambiance was the one of a fiesta. Early-walker tourists were also part of the people enjoying another face of these streets, especially since the past Sunday’s event was to honor the Bicentennial of Mexico’s Independence. Attendants were asked to participate by decorating their bikes or dressing up their pets with the proud colors of the Mexican flag: green, white and red.

I also enjoyed seeing some of the dogs available for adoption by the Humane Society of Cabo San Lucas: they all were walked by a volunteer and had a really cute Mexican handkerchief around their necks!

Each Sunday there will be different activities open to the public, and this past morning was no exception. There was an invigorating spinning class, courtesy of High Evolution Gym, which the participants left with lots of energy feeling eager to enjoy the rest of their day.

It is important to stress the cooperation of anyone driving by the area when seeing some of the most important streets temporarily closed.

The hours of the Ciclovia are: every Sunday morning from 7.00 am to 11.00 am from Vicente Gerrero St corner with Marina Blvd (almost by the Diamonds Int store), and up to Paseo de la Gaviota St corner with Lazaro Cardenas Blvd (by City Club); it only comprehends a 2.5 km path.

My last note is to congratulate everyone behind this open space for children and grownups alike: their care for a better community is an example that we all should consider and support… and what a better way to support it than by attending or inviting friends and family to participate! Petey and I left with a big smile in our face; it was definitely a fresh start of our day!

It’s good to have your feet firmly on the ground. But every time I am flying in or out of Los Cabos, while in the air, I am amazed watching the magnificence of the Baja California Sur desert.

Some facts on Baja California Sur desert:

This ecoregion is located on most of the western side of the Baja Peninsula and contains varied habitats such as mountains, plains and coastal dunes. This desert is one of the largest of best preserved in Mexico, and due to its isolation, contains a high level of species richness and endemism. The largest protected area in Mexico is located within this ecoregion and provides habitat for a number of endemic species such as San Quintín Kangaroo Rat, Baja California rock squirrel, as well as a wealth of spider, scorpion, and bee species. Unfortunately, cattle ranging and unregulated hunting have taken its toll on much of this habitat.

The Baja California Desert ecoregion occurs on the western portion of the Baja California peninsula, and occupies most of the Mexican states of Baja California Sur and Baja California Norte. Elevation is variable, ranging from mountain ranges on the western central part (1000 – 1500m), plains of median elevation (300 – 600m), and vast extensions of coastal dunes.

A series of ophiolytes – formations of gabrum, ultramafic rocks, and volcanic lava – surround the most prominent orographic feature: The San Andres mountain range. Overall, the climate is dry with variable temperature. The isolated nature of the peninsula, and its proximity to the sea, maintains a certain degree of humidity, and is responsible for keeping temperatures more or less stable throughout the day.

The main vegetation associations are composed of xeric scrubs, which have been subdivided in diverse categories according to dominant species and the ecological conditions in which they occur. Thick-stemmed trees and shrubs, growing on rocky volcanic soils, cover the highest parts of the mountain ranges. Dominant species are Ambrosia camphorata, Erodium cicutarium, and Astragalus prorifer. Fouquieria columnaris can be also found up to 1200m. Many species of cacti are present. Dominant species vary with elevation. Epiphytes like Tillandsia recurvata and Rocella tinctoria grow in low, humid areas, and account for a majority of the perennial vegetation. Areas previously submerged under the sea (in the Miocene) are now covered by highly salt- and alkaline-tolerant species (e.g. Ambrosia magdalenae, Agave vizcainoensis, Yucca valida, Stenocereus gummosus, and Muhlenbergia porteri). Dune vegetation includes Larrea tridentata, Atriplex barclayana, Asclepia subulata and Nicolletia trifida, among other species.

One of the largest and best preserved deserts in Mexico, the Baja California Desert is home to many endemic and endangered species. The peninsula’s isolation is largely responsible for the high levels of endemism and diversity. Close to 500 species of plants, 4 amphibians, 43 reptiles, around 200 birds and over 50 mammals have adapted to difficult ecological conditions – from almost inhospitable hot and dry sand dunes, to nutrient-deficient soils in the mountains. Twenty-three percent of plant species in Baja California are endemic. In particular, the families Lamiaceae and Fouquieriaceae show considerable radiation within the eco-region.

Endemic mammals include San Quintín Kangaroo Rat (Dipodomys gravipes), and Baja California rock squirrel (Spermophilus atricapillus). A high number of bee species are also endemic to the ecoregion. In addition, scorpions and spiders show marked radiation here. The close relationship between animals and cacti in the Baja California Desert is recognized as an important ecological process for maintaining the diversity of both groups. Important sites for conservation include the Ojo de Liebre lagoon, along the pacific coast, which is home to millions of overwintering ducks and geese.

Bird species include such rare ones as golden eagle (Aguila chrysaetos), peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus), crested caracara (Caracara plancus), osprey (Pandion haliaeutus), and burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia).

The Baja California Desert remains partially intact, despite intensive human activity. There are two federal protected areas, including El Vizcaíno, the largest protected area in Mexico. A number of areas important for bird conservation have been identified ithin this ecoregion, including San Quintin, Bahia Magdalena-Almejas, Complejo Lagunar Ojo de Liebre, Complejo Lagunar San Ignacio, Sierra La Giganta, Sierra San Pedro Martir.

Livestock ranching, salt extraction, and hunting are the principal threats. Cattle have effectively displaced populations of mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis). Puma (Felis concolor) populations have been reduced as a result of over-hunting. Salt extraction, the main industrial activity of the region, has a negative impact on the breeding and migration of gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus) along the coast. An acute threat is the continuing loss of native grassland habitat due to intensive cultivation of buffel grass for feeding cattle.

Information source: Wild World

Photographs: LA76 Photography

Couple of weeks ago, ESCAPES team was invited by Andres Orvañanos to experience Temazcal at his property on the Pacific side of Baja California Sur, some 20 minutes drive from Cabo San Lucas towards Todos Santos. Andres has years of experience with temazcals, he created them for some of the hotels & resorts in Los Cabos.

the journey began...

And the journey began. A group of 10 people and 3 cars headed towards the property, driving through Baja Sur’s dirtroads, and enjoying beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean expanding into the horizon.

As Dr. Horacio Rojas Alba from Instituto Mexicano de Medicinas Tradicionales Tlahuilli A.C. explains in his article , a renewed interest in the ancient sweat bath (or also called the house of heath) sprang up in Mexico some twenty years ago. We share with you most of his article below:

dessert all around...

“It’s a part of the movement, now so widespread in this country, to return to the healing practices preserved in indigenous medicine. These sweat baths, still a living tradition in many parts of the country, are usually small round stone or mud structures looking rather like old fashioned bee-hives. Many more began to be constructed everywhere, and more and more often, people who are ailing will turn to them for relief from their complaints,” Dr. Rojas Alba explains.

conquering Baja's dirtroads...

The traditional Mexican sweat bath, however, differs in several ways from the other famous sweat baths around the world. It is not primarily used for ceremonial purposes, as is the sweat lodge of our indians, nor for relaxation or bodily cleansing or for general well-being, as are most of the other sweat baths. As Dr. Rojas mentions, “It is and was, as far back as we can trace it, a therapeutic instrument, an arm of the medical practices developed in what anthropologists like to call, Mesoamerica, that vast area that now includes Mexico, Guatemala and Belize. We know it best, in its ancient forms, through the Aztecs, and Temazcal, as it is still called in contemporary Mexico, is a Nahuatl word, taken from their language.”

Andres's property with temazcal offers beautiful views to the Pacific Ocean.

“When the Spanish conquerors arrived in the New World, it was an integral and important part of the medicine which they found here. If was, as best we can make out from the sources still left to us, used in the healing and easing of almost all kinds of medical conditions, including, as we shall see, pregnancy and child birth, and still is.”

Traditional Temazcal

“The Spaniards were appalled and outraged by what appeared to them as barbaric practice. Not only was it inextricably interwoven with pagan beliefs and ritual, as is all ancient traditional medicine, but, most shocking of all, the bathers entered into these small, dark chambers, all sexes and size together, naked as the day on which they were born. The Spaniards were convinced that some sort of unspeakable orgiastic rites were taking place, and so they set themselves to forbidding the practice and destroying the baths wherever they found them. In the Penal Code and Order for Governing of the Indians, proclaimed by Charles the Fifth, the emperor of Spain, it was declared that “Indians who are not sick shall not bathe in hot baths under penalty of one hundred lashes to be followed by two hours bound in the marketplace…” Later, the proscription was extended to the sick as well.”

natural landscaping

“But there were some among the conquerors who were impressed more favorably by this practice and, fortunately for us, recorded their impressions of what they had seen. It is from these accounts that most of what we know of ancient practice has come down, and it is worth quoting some of their observations. In the Magliabechi Codex, one of the few books which come down to us from those days, a caption under a native drawing of a Temazcal observes, “This is a drawing of the baths of these Indians which they call the temazcalli. At the door of the bath there is an Indian who is the advocate for the sick, and when a sick person goes to the baths he makes an offering and stretches his body on the ground in veneration of the idol which they call Tezcatopocatl and who is one of their principal gods. They used in these baths other Infamous reliquaries and many naked Indians bathed and committed great ugliness and sins in this bath”.”

4-legged inhabitant of Orvañanos residence

Temazcaltoci: The grandmother of the baths

“The name Temazcal, or temazcalli is made of two Nahuatl words, temas, which means bath, and calli, meaning house. At the time of the Conquest, they were found everywhere in almost all of central and southern Mexico. They were so common that the same Clavijero was led to remark that “…there is no town, however small it might be, that does not have many of them.”

Although the Spanish did their best to wipe out this custom, they failed. The battered Indians preserved the custom secretly in remote places, as they did with so much of the their traditional medical skills and practices. In this way, the Temazcal has come down to modern times, and on the basis of the knowledge so carefully preserved, the contemporary revival of this healing sweat bath has taken place.

In the Nahuatl culture of central Mexico, the goddess of the sweat bath was Temazcalteci, “the grandmother of the baths”. She was, really, one of the manifestations of the goddess Teteoinan, “the mother of the gods”, or, as she is also called, “our grandmother”, the principal goddess among the higher Nahuatl divinities. Sahagun says of her that “…this goddess was the goddess of medicine and of the medicinal herbs; she was adored by doctors and surgeons, and bleeders, and also by midwives… She was also adored by those who had baths, or temazcals in their houses. All placed the image of this goddess in their baths”. The cult of this goddess of the Temazcal extended throughout Mesoamerica and it is found in the other great cultures of the region –the Mixteca, the Zapoteca and the Maya. It was in great part because of this close relationship between the worship of a goddess and the Temazcal that the Spaniards found it so important to ban the use of the bath.

The Temazcal not only involved the worship of a goddess, but it incorporated all the elements of the ancient cosmology, both in the manner of its construction and the way in which it is used; and most of these concepts have been preserved in traditional thought and practice down to our own day. The Temazcal is a microcosm reproducing in itself the characteristics of the universe, the macrocosm. So we find in the Temazcal all elements of the different eras or cycles (known as suns) throughout which, according to Aztec mythology, the world has passed and continues to pass: earth, wind, fire and water (we now live in the fifth ‘sun’) and through whose constant movement and life is manifest.

More, the Temazcal is oriented according to the cosmic directions: the fire which heats its stones is placed towards the east where our Father, the sun, the god called Tonatiuh, arises; he is the light or masculine element which comes and fertilizes the womb of the mother earth (the chamber of the Temazcal itself), and so life is conceived. The doorway through which the bathers enter and leave is oriented toward the south, “the pathway of the dead”, which begins with birth and ends in death, to the right of the path of Sun. In this way, the ever present duality of traditional Mexican thought is manifested. Just as there are mother and father, sun and earth, hot and cold, so we are born and, in being born, we begin our path towards death.

Aztec cosmology presents us with several different levels of the heavens, and these are considered to be present in the different levels of temperatures found inside the Temazcal: the highest in the upper part of the chamber where the temperature is the lowest.

When we enter the Temazcal, according to this ancient doctrine, we return once again to our mother’s womb, presided over by the great goddess, Tonantzin or Temazcaltoci, the great mother of both gods and humans. She is our beloved mother, concerned with the health of the children and she receives us into her womb – of which our own mother’s womb is but a microcosmic manifestation – to cure us of physical and spiritual ills. The entrance way is low and small, and through it we enter a small, dark, warm and humid space, in this way recreating the uterus, cutting off the outside world and giving us a chance to look inside and find ourselves again. Our re-emergence through this narrow opening represents our rebirth from the darkness and silence of the womb. It is no wonder that the Spaniards were so shocked by what they found!

Orvañanos residence with a necessarry hammock to enjoy the ocean view

Temazcal produces a series of physical reactions

Physical cleanliness has always, and still continues to be, a matter of great importance to the people of Mexico. When the Spaniards arrived, the people of Mexico bathed daily when it was possible; the Europeans of those days, on the other hand, placed little importance on personal cleanliness and it was not uncommon for a month to pass between baths. Andres de Tapia observed that Motecuhzoma (or Moctezuma) washed his body every day two times.

Clavijero noted that bathing in the Temazcal “was only a little less frequent” than regular bathing among the Mexicans.
The practice of inducing sweat has long been known to be beneficial in sicknesses of the skin, liver and circulation, in problems of rheumatism, arthritis, gout, and other chronic diseases, as well as acute problems like muscular pains, colds and congestions, and sweat baths are but of the ways used to bring about healthful sweating. The Temazcal, because of its special methods, is perhaps the most effective of this kind of curative technique, certainly the list of conditions for which it has been used in the course of centuries is the most extensive.

Overheating of the body (during the bath, the body temperature may reach one hundred and four degrees) produces a series of reactions: it stimulates both the superficial and the deep blood circulation, accelerates the frequency of heartbeats, as well as increases their force, calls into action the mechanisms of thermal regulation, activates the metabolism, and promotes sweating. All of these effects produce a great internal movement of energy and liquids, somewhat similar to the way in which strenuous exercise does, bringing increased circulation to all the muscles, organs and tissues. While all sweat baths produce these effects, the Temazcal, because of the way it works and the precision with which it can be regulated by the healer in charge of the bath, controls these body reactions to high heat to maximize the curative effects of the bath.

Its basic advantage as a sweat bath consists in the way high heat and high humidity are combined. The sauna, for example, reaches much higher temperature but the bath is drier and consequently, its curative capacities are lower. Other types of steam bath also combine heat and humidity, but the Temazcal surpasses them in effectiveness for two reasons: the person in charge of the bath can adjust -increase, diminish or direct- both heat and humidity to meet the specific needs of the patient he is treating, and the vapor is made from herbal teas, the herbs chosen for their effects on each individual patient.

Temazcal, at the Pacific corridor of Baja California Sur

The high heat and the high humidity, taken together, produce their healing effects, basically, through reducing or impeding the body’s mechanism for cooling itself. The heat, higher than normal body temperature, induces sweating; the high humidity inhibits the evaporation of the sweat, the chief method through which the body normally cools itself, and thereby, blood circulation is increased, sweating is increased, and the elimination of toxins is maximized. It is said that every liter of sweat lost in the Temazcal is equivalent to a full days’ work by the kidneys!

There are two others special characteristics of the Temazcal as a sweat bath that must be mentioned. The first is that every bath is directed by a specially trained healer, most often a woman (called in Mexico, the Temazcalera). She examines the patient, makes her diagnosis, chooses the herbs that are indicated, decides on the levels of heat and humidity that are to be used, prepares the Temazcal, and then enters the chamber with the patient to oversee and manage the course of the bath. She can raise or lower the intensity of the heat during the bath through ventilating the chamber using the entranceway or the vent that is in the roof of the Temazcal, or by fanning with the fan made up of branches of a suitable herb that she has chosen, or raising or lowering the height at which the patient is placed to do the bath (heat rise, and the Temazcal is much cooler at floor level than it is towards the root, and with all gradations in between).

A good Temazcalera is amazingly skillful in handling her herbal fan; she can bring down heat for the upper parts to the lower parts of the chamber at will, and if she wishes, direct currents of heat to whatever part of the body wants special attention. Extra heat can be put on your leg, for example, to deal with sciatica, or on your back to get rid of back pain. She will use her fan to beat gently on any part of the body to increase circulation at that spot, should it be necessary. She is, by the way, trained to do massages using a variety of traditional techniques, in the Temazcal, for any condition that might require such treatment.

Found only in the Mexican method of using sweat baths for curative purposes, when the patient comes out of the bath, he is carefully wrapped in a sheet or blanket, and made to lie down and rest, usually in a room or place specially prepared for this purpose, until the body completes its cycle of sweating. This period of mandatory rest varies very much from individual to individual; it can range from half an hour to more than an hour. The patient is given a cup of herbal tea, normally made from an herb chosen for his precise condition, to help replace liquids lost in the bath, and then left to rest. Most people fall sleep during this rest period, and awaken feeling refreshed and strengthened; no patient is permitted to dress or to leave until his body has dried itself completely through its own action.

These two special features of the traditional Mexican sweat bath - the skills of the Temazcalera (or in our case Temazcalero) and the mandatory rest period after the bath - may go a long way in explaining its impressive curative powers.

The practice of the Temazcal as we find it today, has carried with it almost all of the conceptions, beliefs, methods of using it, ways of constructing it, and the like, and it is almost impossible to talk about the Temazcal or understand how it works with out invoking these ancient concepts. Chief among them and essential for comprehending almost all aspects of the Mexican practice of the sweat bath, are the terms, ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ as they are used by traditional healers. It is interesting to note that these terms are used in quite the same way and for quite the same purposes in traditional Chinese medicine, as well.

The selection of the stones for heating

The selection of the stones for heating is very important. These will be heated to red hot and then doused with water, so they must be stones that will withstand such changes in temperature without cracking or exploding. We often use volcanic rock, and always avoid stones from the river. The construction of the interior wall of the fireplace must be carefully done so that construction of the interior wall of the fireplace must be carefully done so that cracks do not form with use, allowing smoke to enter the Temazcal.

It is important to remember to leave a vent hole a couple of inches wide in the ceiling for use in airing the Temazcal. This is used sometimes during the bath to lower the temperature, to clear smoke if some should have entered, or to clear out the ‘humors’ left behind after a bath.

Temazcal, as seen from the back

Preparation of the Temazcal

If the Temazcal is the type that has a fireplace on one side, the fire is made there. Otherwise, the stones are heated in a pit by placing them on firewood, covering them with more wood, and stoking the fire until they are as hot as possible. Meanwhile, the Temazcal is prepared by placing leaves, mats or low benches inside for the people to sit or lie on. A tea is prepared with which to make the steam. Herbs that may be used for purpose include eucalyptus, rosemary, mugwart, or other warming or stimulating herbs and the bucket of tea is placed, still hot, inside the Temazcal along with a cup with which to dip it out. A couple of buckets of cold water are also placed inside at the last minute, along with a dish with which to dip it out and pour over the bathers to bring down body heat and make possible several cycles of sweating. An herbal tea should be prepared for drinking afterwards. This may be a tea selected for a specific condition or may be a general tea for all, such as chamomile, sassafras, horehound, or milfoil.

Aloe juice spread on the body and face just before entering the bath does wonders for the skin and should be made available if desired.

Finally, herbal branches must be gathered to be used inside the Temazcal for directing the heat. The choice depends on the season and region, but eucalyptus, mullein, or the leaf of the castor bean plant are some examples of plants that may be used. A vegetable or chicken soup may be prepared to be eaten after the bath and rest period. Sheets must be gathered and placed near the entrance to the Temazcal to receive the bathers and the resting place must be prepared, with blankets, if necessary.

When all is prepared, it is time to arrange the stones. In the case of a Temazcal with a fireplace, the remaining fire is usually removed in order to prevent any smoke from entering the Temazcal through cracks that might exist in the internal wall, and the entrance to the fireplace is covered to prevent loss of heat. If the stones were heated outside, they are picked up with a shovel and carefully placed inside the Temazcal in the hole that was prepared to receive them. Often, a piece of resinous incense (copal is traditionally used) is dropped on at least the first stone to ritually purify the inside of the bath. When all this is done, the Temazcal is aired to remove any vestiges of smoke that may remain. This is done by opening the air-hole at the top and leaving the door open while someone enters and fans the upper part in a circular motion.

Now, with the teas prepared and in place, the bunch of herbs and buckets of cold water inside, the fire put out and the stones in place, the Temazcal aired out, and sheets at hand near the door, the Temazcal is ready to use.

In preparation for the Temazcal, we often fast for a day, or half a day. Certainly, one must not enter the bath until a couple of hours have passed since eating, and never after a heavy meal. The Temazcal is entered naked. Cotton underwear may be used for modesty’s sake, but it does prevent the heat from reaching the covered parts with the same intensity. Inside, the bath may be taken sitting on a low bench or lying down. The floor of the Temazcal may be covered with a woven straw mat (known as a petate) or leaves such as banana leaves.

Temazcal & the place for heating up the stones

Inside of the Temazcal

When the bathers have settled down and have begun to feel comfortable with the dark and the warmth (and not until then), the temazcalera will throw a cup of hot herbal tea on the hot rocks to create a blast of fragrant steam which deliciously envelops the body. Those who had still not begun to sweat now begin. Initially, it might take more than one cup tea on the rocks to create and maintain the heat and level of humidity of the Temazcal. Once this is reached, the temperature and steam are maintained or manipulated in the same manner with more occasional dousing of the rocks. It is important to wait for steam to abate a little before throwing more tea on the stones, both in order to gauge the temperature and effect attained, and in order not cool the stones too much.

There are some who feel uncomfortable at first with the reduced space and the heat inside the Temazcal. Usually a few deep and relaxing breaths will help to allay this initial reaction. Lying down also helps, in part because the floor is cooler than the upper parts and in part because the prone position helps to relax. It is the job of the Temazcalera to put bathers at ease, but it is strongly recommended that the Temazcal be a quiet place where one is drawn back into oneself.

After a short time has passed, the Temazcalera begins to manipulate the heat with branches of herbs. By passing the herbs near the ceiling, he or she can bring down the heat in order to make it uniform throughout the Temazcal or direct it towards a certain part of the body by fanning. Or the herbs may be used to do what is called a ‘leafing’, where the bather is gently beaten with the herbal branches. The heat that these herbs bring to the body is remarkable! Although it already felt very hot in the bath, these gentle herbal beatings bring much more heat. In the case of aches and pains, this additional heat feels very soothing. In this way, the affected area of the body is treated specifically by directing more heat to it.

Sometimes an herbal tea is used to wash the affected area, or a massage may be done. Cold water may be used over the body, including the head, while inside the Temazcal. This may be done therapeutically to cool off the outside of the body, shrinking superficial blood vessels in order to exercise them, and allowing them to swell again with the heat. It is often recommended that this be done just before leaving a Temazcal that has been very hot. It helps to assure that the heat does not rise to the head afterwards. This ‘closes the pores’ while at the same time facilitating intense sweating afterwards.

The length of time spent inside the Temazcal varies greatly, depending on the heat of the bath, the constitution of the individual, and the condition that is being treated. It is entirely an individual matter, and even may vary from bath to bath for same person. When one feels impelled to leave, it is best to do so.

Temazcal

After the Temazcal

Traditionally, one leaves a Temazcal by crawling out backwards, to be received by a cotton sheet and led to a place to lie down and rest, well covered. Now, one of the most therapeutic parts of the Mexican sweatbath beings. While the bath may have lasted twenty minutes (or ten or thirty), sweating may continue for another hour, thus increasing the therapeutic detoxifying effect of the bath. As much warm herbal tea as is desired may be had at this time.

Only when the body has stopped sweating should one get up and get dressed. Here, it is important to be well covered and to avoid ‘aires’, as the Mexicans say, or drafts (open car windows, for example). As the ‘pores’ of the body have been opened, care must be taken not to get cold during the succeeding twenty four hours. It is also important not to eat or drink cold foods nor to eat too heavily. Finally, some recommend not bathing for a day after wards, while others say that it is permitted as long as it is done with warm (no scalding nor cold) water and care is taken with drafts afterwards.

Special thanks:

Thank you to Dr. Horacio Rojas Alba, Instituto Mexicano de Medicinas Tradicionales Tlahuilli A.C. , for his text on Temazcal; to Andres Orvañanos, for an amazing Temazcal experience in Baja California Sur (Pacific Corridor, between Cabo San Lucas and Todos Santos) – for an appointment and more info you can contact him by mail: andres@bcsmx.com or phone: 624 14 772 55, to ESCAPES team and friends for a great company at this unique experience, and to LA76 Strategic Design for accompanying photos for this article.

We’ve finally got it! The fresh new issue of ESCAPES magazine! We will be launching the on-line version on Monday, 29th March, so don’t forget to come back then.

I’m also very pleased to announce new contributors to the magazine, so we’ll be offering you more great reading in the area of home design & decor, wellness & well being and more.

And now get ready for the weekend, get your beach bag done, bikini, SPF 100 factor, towels, umbrella, water & cookies for the dog, sandwiches for you, some cool drinks, and off we go! BTW – if you happen to pass by Pescadero, stop by at Chile & Fresa festival. You’ll not get away hungry!

It’s time! When the time of preparing a new issue comes around, I’m excited! We are always thinking of themes and topics to share with you, but when the deadlines come tight, then is when the ‘party’ begins

So, by now we have two more photoshoots down, and some more to go. It’s nice to see the colors of the new issue coming up. The image on your right was taken yesterday, when we were packing our stuff to leave, while people were sitting at the beach and waiting for sunset, and some fishermen waiting for a catch. Nice end of a great day!

It is no secret that I just adore Capella Pedregal. If possible, I’d move my office there, and if even more possible, I’d live there. So far, I am always excited and satisfied when having meetings at Capella. The place itself, the decoration, the special friendly feeling that one gets when he’s there, is just amazing. If possible, go try it. At least for a dinner at Don Manuel’s fine dining restaurant or in Auriga Spa. You will be enchanted.

And then you will understand why from every meeting and visit at Capella I end up with bunch of photographs.

Baja California Sur is one of the rare places in the world, where you have such a remarkable ending of the peninsula as the famous Land’s end in Cabo San Lucas; where Pacific Ocean and The Sea of Cortez playfully join together; and where you have vast harsh desserts and exotic tropical gardens together in less than couple of miles.

Add to this warm Mexican hospitality and sincere joy of people from all over the world who have made Baja their home or regular vacation retreat.

One of my personal favorite places in Baja are – of course – beaches. There is a vast variety of beaches to choose from, and each of them is unique. My latest discovery was playa San Pedro next to beautiful colorful village of Todos Santos. The beach is very pristine, and what was even more amazing to me is that it seems like an oasis in the middle of the dessert. It has long plam trees and other tropical plants, and it makes your beach trip very private.

Nov 5, 2009 – Romana

This morning we discovered this colorful waste basket at The Shoppes at Palmilla or Las Tiendas de Palmilla. It is so cute that we don’t even feel saying ‘trash can’. If waste baskets were like this around Baja, we’d have a much prettier and cleaner place. It coloured our day

Rick came rapidly and unexpectedly, but with the same force and speed he turned from a Category 5 Hurricane to a Tropical Storm. He brought us plenty of much needed rain. Whole Baja will bloom because of him, and we love it! These last couple of days were one of those rare rainy days in Baja, where you actually can stay at home, cover with a sheet (it is still too hot for a blanket), watch a movie and listen to the raindrops on a roof or a window. We love sunny Baja climate, but from time to time, we do miss rain. Maybe it sounds a little bit pecuilar to those of you who live in places with ‘normal’ climate with regular rain drops here and there, but in Baja, when it rains, we jump out of happines. We love rainy days, because it feeds the soil and because after the rain comes the sun. After he left, Rick drew an amazing sunset to Baja sky yesterday (the reason for a blurry image is trembling of my hand because of an excitement). And Baja has undoubtedly The BEST sunsets in the world!