Jungle Spa

[lm123]

This is a repost of a post I made in July after returning from our June trip to Pearl. It was lost as part of the forum crash. Fortunately I had a local copy saved, so I thought I'd re-share

This might feel a little bit like an advertisement. I don’t often speak in such glowing terms about part of a vacation experience, but this is one I just needed to share.

As part of my wife and my stay at Pearl (trip report posted shortly), I checked out what sort of activities there were to do around Puerto Morelos. The highest rated activity on TripAdvisor by far was the Jungle Spa. Given that we both love massages, and this would provide us with a chance to see a few things off resort, I made the booking.

The cab driver at Pearl knew exactly where to take us. I think the price was around 150 pesos and around 10 minutes. I’d guess you’d be looking at 20 minutes and ~200 pesos to go from Desire RM. It really is off in the jungle, but the road out to it was decent, and it’s not that far off the beaten track. At the time we went, we were the only two customers, though they can certainly handle more at one time.

Having read the reviews, we already knew to expect the 30 minute or so of history and background from Sandra – the lady who runs the place. As expected, she was somewhat of a left-over flower child, but also an extremely nice person. We listened to the story of how the spa came to be, the women who work there and what it means for the local community. She offered us a local licorice-based drink, but we declined – my wife was 4 months pregnant, and I’m not a huge fan of alcohol and am definitely not a fan of licorice.

Then she described the menu of services. They included from a one hour massage ($40 USD) and 1.5 hour ($60 USD) as well as a 105 minute “work out every kink you have” ($80 USD) massage. For the 1.5 hour massages, there was also a choice of $20 add-ons of being wrapped in chocolate or aloevera for 30 minutes after the massage. I think they offer facials and manicures and things as well.

I opted for the full work-out massage and opted for “firm” (having a pretty good idea of what I was in for). My wife went for a 90 minute massage followed by the aloevera wrap. She was looking more for relaxation, so selected soft/medium.
The massages themselves are done in a couple of large huts with thatched roofs and netting on the sides. The hut is divided by hanging sheets and barriers into different sections. The massage tables were professional tables with clean sheets and towels. It felt a little odd getting undressed in front of the screen window, but I found after that while you can see out from inside, you can’t really see in from outside.

The massages themselves were amazing. I’d say they were heavenly, but I’d voluntarily chosen to add a bit of hell into mine as “firm” translates into “work out knots in your back and legs that have been their for years”. My wife on the other hand felt like she was floating half the time. These ladies definitely knew what they were doing, carefully reading the body and then rubbing, kneading or doing whatever else was appropriate to deliver the desired massage experience (relaxation or working out the kinks).

I’ve had massages of many different styles – shiatsu, reflexology, Swedish and a few others by many different providers. This was by far the best I’d ever experienced and for less than half the price I’d expect to pay a regular masseuse (let alone what I’d be charged at the resort). And three quarters of the money plus all tips go directly to the woman providing the massage. You can tell from their gratitude when tipped just how much of a difference this money really makes.

After our massages and getting re-clothed feeling somewhat dazed and very relaxed, we went back to the main area to say thank you to Sandra and browsed through some of the crafts on display, picking up some souvenirs that were definitely locally hand-crafted, not imported from Taiwan.

Overall, we took about 3 hours and it formed one of the highlights of our trip. (This from a trip to Desire which tends to have more highlights than the average vacation . . .) Whether you’re looking to support the local community, experience something unique, or just experience the best massage you’ve ever had, I’d urge you to try it out. For anything other than the Desire erotic massages, I expect you’ll find this a better deal and experience, even with cab fare.
Not sure if links are allowed here, but if you Google “Jungle Spa Cancun”, you’ll find it.

(Apparently they offer some sort of a jungle market during the peak season with food and more crafts and entertainment and things as well. However, we didn’t see it, so can’t speak to it.)