Our last full day in Hawaii, and we were set to max relax! We ate chocolate muffins at the hotel cafe, and then it was off to our spa day. Though the couples spa thing was my idea, I was still very nervous about doing it. I'd never done anything like it before, except for a couple short chair massages back in the good old days, when money was flowing a bit more freely at my office. On the agenda for the day was the following string of (to me) nonsense syllables: Natural Sugar Cane Body Polish, 'Ala Lani Signature Body Wrap, and Kea Lani Customized Facial. It all sounded girly and weird to me, but I've always had the policy that you should try (almost) everything once. You can try something and decide you don't like it, but if you don't try it you can only regret not doing it.
We were greeted at the temporary "spa", which was two rooms at the end of the hall that had been converted into a massage room while their new digs were under construction. We were offered water and fresh fruit, and then we received (gasp) another orientation. We were shown into a dimly lit room with soft island music playing. We instructed to strip down as far as we were comfortable, then given privacy. I did a bit of research on massage etiquette before going in (in classic nervous-Branden fashion, lol -E), and apparently it is normal and even recommended (though not required) that you are fully nude for a full body massage. If you're going to do something at all, you may as well do it right! So Elly and I ditched our skivvies and laid on the message tables, face down, sandwiched between two towels. We told our masseuses that we were ready and they came into the room.
The sugar scrub was exactly what it sounded like. They had scented sugar that they used to exfoliate our whole bodies (minus bathing suit areas, of course). Initially I found this quite unpleasant, but once I got over the initial shock it was actually kind of nice. My masseuse kept me mostly covered by the towel the whole time, tucking and folding the towel strategically as she individually exposed all my limbs, and rolled me around to get the other side. When the sugar scrub part came to an end she even swapped the moist drapery towel for a fresh one in a ninja move I didn't quite follow. Somehow, without ever being exposed, both the towel underneath me and the one above me were swapped for fresh ones. It was kind of awesome.
With the top layer of my skin now flayed away (I kid) it was time for the 'Ala Lani. This was a full massage, using a rich body butter. It was pretty awesome! 80 minutes of rub down! (For the record, the whole thing - scrub and all - was 80 mins. But who's dividing? -E) At the end of it, with my skin positively greasy from the body butter, we were cocooned in heavy blankets to allow the body butter to soak in. With that, the masseuses excused themselves, leaving Elly and I alone for a while until the facial specialists arrived. We both pretty blissed out and looked so silly cocooned in our wraps that we basically spent the whole time just smiling and laughing at each other.
Still wrapped in our wraps, the facial girls arrived to do their thing. Apparently the facial thing is customized to treat our specific skin type. My masseuse explained each step as she went, but I basically spent the whole time on the verge of napping, so I couldn't begin to tell you what all I went through. It was pretty similar to the body massage, though: exfoliate, moisturize, and then wrap. The wrap, in this case, was a clay mask. So there I lay, wrapped in a big blanket, with circle pads on my eyes, wearing a clay mask. This was the pinnacle moment of girly stereotype in the whole experience. At the time it didn't make me at all uncomfortable, though. The whole spa thing was executed with such professionalism that it felt much more like a medical treatment than a girly pampering. Not that I didn't feel relaxed and awesome! And not that they weren't friendly! It just never felt uncomfortable or emasculating. I don't think I'd probably do this kind of thing alone, but I'd definitely be interested in doing a spa day again with Elly at some point in the future.
My mask was wiped away, and I had a few more goops applied. All the while, I was receiving a pressure point massage on my face, neck, shoulders, and scalp. It was pretty awesome. When the whole thing wrapped up I felt like I was made entirely of jello. I don't know that I've ever felt so relaxed! We were granted privacy again, enrobed, and settled our bill. By then, we were starting to get hungry.
We didn't feel like doing a big ordeal for lunch, so we headed to the most casual restaurant in the place (except for the deli/bakery): The Polo Bar and Grille. This bar has tables on one side of the bar, and a swimming pool on the other. We had a sit-down lunch on the table side of things. Elly had a bento box that was really delicious, and I had a teriyaki burger topped with a pineapple ring. I was in heaven! I'd been craving this specific burger since we landed on The Big Island, and it hit the spot perfectly!
We had absolutely nothing planned for the rest of the day until our dinner reservation. We wandered around the resort grounds, laid in a hammock for a while, and watched a show on Netflix from the comfort of our room. I also swam up to the pool-facing side of The Polo Bar, sat down on a fully submerged bar stool, and ordered a beer. I drank a Maui Mana Wheat and snacked on the mixed crackers and nuts cup the bartender gave each customer. The beer was pretty good, but in that context I think it was the best beer experience I've ever had.
As the sky began to darken a horn sounded, and a fit, grinning Hawaiian guy with a long, burning torch ran around the resort yelling "Aloha!" to everyone he passed. Soon this torch-lighter had a long procession of giggling children following him and aloha-ing their heads off. I scrambled out of the pool and snatched up my camera. I got a few blurry shots as he ran towards us, but as he was about to pass me he stopped, Aloha-ed, and gave me enough time to snap off a picture. Then he was off down the path again to complete his circuit. In the distance we could hear that this torch-lighting ceremony had some kind of a finale, but from the comfort of The Polo I missed it.
Elly and I capped our night with an excellent dinner at Nick's Fish Market. We didn't realize this beforehand, but the restaurant was participating in the local Restaurant Week, which meant you could get a 3 course meal from a reduced menu for a little less than half what it was normally priced at. This was a pleasant surprise for us, but it did mean that the place was absolutely packed! We made our dinner reservation before noon but the best time we were able to get was 8:30. This wasn't a problem, though, because our day was running late anyway. At Nick's we each ordered an appetizer, a fish entree, and dessert, all of which was quite delicious. We had told the resort when we checked in that we were there celebrating our anniversary: we had originally planned this vacation for May, but due to some scheduling problems we had to bump it to October. Apparently this tidbit of information got filed away somewhere, and when our two desserts came out, they were accompanied by a third with "Happy Anniversary" written on the plate in chocolate drizzle. This unexpected third dessert definitely put our already large dinner into the realm of over-eating, but it was still very appreciated.
By the time we were out of the restaurant, it was almost 10:30, so we changed into our swimsuits and went to take advantage of the 24 hour pool. Despite our full day of relaxing we were both feeling too lazy for much of a swim, but we spent 10 minutes soaking in the jacuzzi before bed. Back at the room we watched another show on Netflix, and then fell immediately asleep.
I knew in advance that our lazy day would not produce many photos, so I made it my job of the day to snap a picture of any statuary we passed. In the course of my quest I came across a horse statue that looked enough like Paralyzed Horse from the show Bravest Warriors to elicit a chuckle.
Photos:
https://plus.google.com/photos/105719328153023565846/albums/5944367235887247873
No comments:
Post a Comment