After the gym I talked on the phone with my friend Jay at home, and it was great to catch up with him. My earbuds had died right as I started on the treadmill (only one side worked, and no, it was not my device and not me, I tried both iPhone and treadmill jacks, and both of my ears). My goal was to make a run to Best Buy and get new ones. I walked to Aimee's studio, and ran into Amy and Myriel (they share the same space), and I found out Amy was leaving after lunch, so I told her I'd meet her out there. Aimee was not in her studio, but I did run into her at the kitchen, eating a slice of flourless chocolate cake, and it was a hillarious scene. We both got our stuff and off we went.
Because the exit from SFAI and the SFUAD are a pain in the neck (you need to make a left turn to get to the main drag, crossing three lanes on each side with no middle holding lane), I turned right and hoped that, by making a bunch of rights, we'd get to where we wanted to get, to a road with a name starting with a Z (not Zia, the Zaparafara-whatever Road). We drove around the campus until we hit Zia and the Rodeo and we actually landed right at the strip mall Best Buy was at. We went in the store, I bought the $15 replacement I hope it will last as long as the other set (7 years), walked over to the Aveda store (running out of shampoo, bought a new kind to see how it goes), then crossed the street for an iced coffee from Starbucks. After 4 weeks of no television and basically eating salads and toast for almost every meal, it actually felt good to indulge in some of the anywhere-USA comfort a strip mall offers (I know, weird, I never thought I'd say or write something like that).
Headed back to the institute and made a salad, went to the courtyard, where Cobi, Rita and Ellen (they had gone to a taco truck and brought food back, I think they are trying to hit every single one they can, a commendable effort) and later by Amy and Myriel. It was great seeing Cobi, he'd been gone for the whole weekend, we missed that guy! Their food looked beautiful and fresh. Ellen made precious face expressions while trying different kinds of sauces they got, most of them too spicy. After we finished I stayed a bit with chatted with Amy. She told me some stuff about SFAI that really made my jaw drop. These guys do not know they have a good thing going, and the way they treat us all just bring the place down a notch too many, which is really annoying and disappointing, to say the least. If people could only be more organized and professional.
I could not get much done in the afternoon, so I coated some paper, and read blogs online for the majority of the afternoon. I could just not get into the frame of mind, I fell into such a morose headspace that I even wrote Chris and Carmie canceling our spa trip for the evening. An hour later Chris walked into the studio to plan for the trip, and I am so glad he did, because I decided I just needed to bite the bullet and get out of the house. We left at 5:45 from here and got there an hour later. I barely remember the drive there, as we all talked the whole time, first thinking about ways in which SFAI could be a better place, and then we just plainly bitched about it for quite some time (even though we talked about all kinds of stuff, including movies, future plans, etc). In a way it was a good thing we let all the negative stuff out, because when we turned into the Ojo Caliente Spa Resort, it was the most beautiful and understated experience ever. The place was so nice, much nicer than 10,000 Waves, a huge campus with many buildings (most different kinds of lodging). We walked into the main lobby and checked in to get our towels and pay our fee ($15 plus $5 for one lock we shared in an external locker). The receptionist lady, in a whisper, explained to us where everything was, and off we went.
Chris and I went to the men's locker room to change into our bathing suit and met Carmie by the lockers. The place has one mud pool area, one large Arsenic pool with 87 degrees, one small spa with arsenic water at 107 degrees, one iron pool with a pebbles ground at 108 degree, one soda pool (covered, all others were open air) at 105 degrees, and two attached pools with 107 degree waters that mixed iron and arsenic waters. We started at the mud pool area, which was officially closed, but along with another couple, we jumped the chainlink (as the website said it closed at 8 pm, and it was barely 7), wetted our bodies in the outdoor shower, covered ourselves in mud (thanks Carmie for getting my back), laid out to bake and dry until we all looked like violet-beige clay statues with tons of crackling, and later jumped into the pool to let the mud soften. The look on our faces was amazing, as we immediately looked so relaxed. that area had a beautiful view of some of the cliffs nearby. My skin never felt so smooth my whole life, it was pretty amazing (we were with the mud for less than 20 minutes, I'd say, truly miraculous). We decided to go to the big pool, the arsenic at 87, because there were lounge chairs and hammocks surrounding it, and we wanted to get some sun before it went down... we stayed there for a bit, then went to the spa next to it that was very hot and stayed there for a while. A group of people, men and women, that had muslim or sunni hair (forgive me my ignorance, I do not know exactly which group they belong, I guest maybe even Bahai, men with extremely long hair on buns on top of their head and beards to their bellybuttons and women in full body bathing suits) surrounded us there - there were about 20 of them at least - so we decided to go to the next pool. We wanted to do all pools before settling back on the hammock area before dinner.
But everywhere we went this group, which was very nice but very rowdy, they had such beautiful smiles and eyes, seemed to follow us. And they were not observing the whisper only rule. We still do not knowSome other spa goers were annoyed, but most just smiled. Even when the pools were full and the people were noisy, it was still a great experience. We really let all our worries melt away. I really began understanding why people are so fascinated with this region. It is truly beautiful, and the relaxation and oneness with nature (even though this place was not rustic at all) was pretty amazing. One of the last pools we went to was right net to a Kiva stove, and the smell in the air was just beautiful. Eventually we all made it to the hammocks and sat there for a while. I almost fell asleep at a couple times, so I decided to go back to the hot arsenic spa for a bit to relax my back before we all went to the steam room and sauna, before ending our spa experience and heading for dinner.
At the steamroom we were joined again by the guys from that large group. They were really funny and apparently very uncomfortable being there (the only woman in the room as Carmie), as they made pretty common and borderline homophobic comments about a bunch of men sweating together in a room. In fact, they sounded a lot like a group of frat brothers, which was very insightful and still fascinating (the ones that let their hair down had incredibly beautiful hair too, almost pre-Rafaelite - half of the men had reddish hair too). We went to the sauna, where some woman was doing yoga stretches, and when she left I was able to lie down and stretch my arms and legs a bit too, which was pretty nice, to be so warm and so relaxed. It was almost 9 pm, when (we were told, the website does not have accurate info) that their restaurant stopped serving. We took showers quickly and changed, I was done first, so I walked over and grabbed us a table at the wine bar (their menu was cheaper than the full restaurant, though they served both menus). While waiting for Carmie and Chris, I checked my phone for the first time in over three hours, which was a nice thing. I ordered a beautiful spinach salad to start, C&C ordered new mexican pot-stickers, we shared. I got a Buffalo burger with sweet potato fries, and they ordered an everything pizza, with veggies on one side for Carmie, and meat on the other for Chris. I ordered a glass of merlot that was very yummy, Chris had a red wine of some sort and Carmie had a house sangria (though she was not crazy about it). The food was pretty great, and we leisurely enjoyed out meal.
Eventually it was time to come back to our temporary home. We all fantasized about coming back before we leave and actually spending the night there (which I hope to actually make it come true). By the time we got back it a but after 11 pm. The house was completely dark, everyone seemed to be asleep. I went to my room, undressed, and fell asleep rightaway, and woke up around 4:30 am, which was fine with me. My skin is still smooth this morning.
- posted via iPad
Location:Cerrillos Rd,Santa Fe,United States
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