A Day At Indulgence Spa -- Barbados

Several years ago Nora Roberts converted me into a massage addict. I used to attend a local chapter retreat that featured seated massages. Since my utter distaste of having a stranger touch me so intimately, she suggested the seated massage as a warm up. Well that took two years of convincing. I was mildly horrified when the man slid his hand down my back and over my hips. Then I took the plunge when I went to a fabulous spa at Sawgrass, Florida (that weekend was awesome because I got to see Tiger play live). Anyway not only did I take the plunge, but I had a male masseuse. Talk about the horror of it all -LOL. But within five minutes, he had me relaxed and he was so darn good. I'll never forget him.

Fast forward to my trip in Barbados: On the second day, my sis-in-law raved about this wonderful spa near Suga Suga beach, so we took the long drive up the western side of the island to make the appointment. Well management had changed, but the new manager Brigette was so cool. She looked like she could be a poster model for Barbados and she allowed my 13 year old daughter to have her first back massage- that's was really cool and under the category of how many ways to spoil a girl.

I ordered a deep tissue massage (although the hot stone massage is my absolute favorite, but they didn't feature that), pedicure with paraffin (another part of my body that I don't like strangers messing with) and a facial (sorry, hate people touching my face too). But my sis-in-law was excited, so I decided to take the plunge knowing that my personal space was going to being violated.

On the day of the appointment, after stuffing our faces at Hilton for breakfast, we had about 15 mins to make it to the spa. Then the rain fell and fell and fell. Remember the narrow street, the buses, the people walking in the street if there wasn't a sidewalk, the bikes...well those 15 mins turned into 30 mins. I was sure that I'd lose my breakfast as my husband tried to keep up with my brother who drove at the speed of light. Finally we get to the spa and my sis-in-law and I are running into the place.

Now, like any spa, the place is quiet and calm, soft music wafting through the air. Oh not, when my entire posse is there. We'd start out whispering and then it was as if there was a big party in the lobby. Then one of us would try to be mindful and shush everyone. That would last a quick second. My brother, the extrovert, soon had the receptionist chatting and laughing with us.

My masseuse at Indulgence Spa was phenomenal. I've never had a deep tissue massage and you must speak up when it gets too hard. She started at the feet and pounded, kneaded, stretched my muscles into submission. I had to squeak a couple times for her to stop as my eyes moistened from the intensity. I had paid to be tortured. After an hour, I took a quick shower because I was an oil slick. My body was tingling and quite awake!

The facial was next. I got a taster facial because I of our late arrival instead of the full blown facial. I was thinking "wonderful" because I didn't want a facial at all; meanwhile the masseuse was all apologetic. But I confessed to her that I didn't like people touching my face. And she was so kind and gentle that by the end of the facial, I thought - this wasn't so bad. She predicted that I would have changed my mind :-)

Then it was time for the pedicure. I got a compliment on how well managed my feet were. I glowed. Just flatter me and I'm like putty. My feet were dipped into water with some milky stuff, then nails cleaned up, then oiled up, massaged, buffed. Then the paraffin came and I put in my feet. I sat there reading magazines where nothing in it I could afford. I picked out a shimmery wine color for the toes. And I was grinning like a silly thing because I'd been pampered for 2 1/2 hours.

Throughout the day, my daughter would touch my face because it looked soft and I looked younger.

Flatter, flatter...don't stop.

http://www.royalwestmorelandholidays.com/spa.aspx