Temazcal massage

While rereading through some old posts, I've thought of a few other stories (surprise, surprise!) that somehow didn't make the cut when it came prayer letter time.  This one I wouldn't have dreamed of writing to the general public.  Oh, yeah, that's what blogging is.  I don't know, it's just different somehow on a blog and totally inappropriate in a prayer letter.

Several years ago Lila and I helped organize a ladies retreat for local missionary women.  It was interesting how God directed us to the hotel where we would be.  We had searched all over the city, but the prices were too high, or the place was too large, or not comfortable enough, or not lovely enough.  We really wanted someplace close by, but that would feel like we were out in the country someplace.

This is the place we discovered.  It fit our wish list completely, even offering a few extras like bathtubs and even a spa.  The view was gorgeous, and the garden was covered with zinnias and all sorts of native flowers and plants like the web page boasts.  It was just the right size that we could fill every room in the hotel and have complete privacy.  If you scroll down to see the photos, you can see a cute little chapel where we held our meetings.  It was really nice.

The interesting part was the temazcal massage that they offered during our free time.  This website explains a little better what that actually entails.  We explained to the woman that we didn't want any of the spiritual components, but just the simple massage and steam bath.  It was an interesting experience, not for the modest or prudish.

I only did it just to say I had.  And then I never did.  (Which is the purpose of this blog.)

The massage itself was divinely relaxing if you could get over the fact that you are lying basically naked with another missionary right next to you in the same condition.  The worst part was crawling into a clay oven, which is the best way I can describe it, where we sat together with the temascalera (the woman who gave the massage), and basically steamed all the impurities from every pore in our bodies.  The woman poured water over hot rocks occasionally to create more steam.  That helped to hide what I couldn't hide with the small towel I was provided.

So now you know the rest of the story.  You can see why I didn't admit to any of this in a prayer letter.

Here's another website with more information about temazcal massage for those who might be fascinated by this topic.  It looks like you can even get training to be a temascalero if you want.  I suspect it is too closely tied to pagan religion and practices than most of us would be comfortable with.  I'm in no way endorsing or recommending this procedure.  Just reporting.