Sunday, July 08, 2007 Sun.star Essay: Spa up, spa down By Erma M. Cuizon Sun.star essay
WE took a bath some years ago in a hot spring and it was an intoxicating experience. There is a reflective tie between man and nature at its most alluring moment which urban wellness services try to copy in the absence of the natural encounter.
Thus, the growth of the spa-going aspect of the tourism attraction in Cebu is welcomed.
Spa comes from the Latin word which means “Salute per aqua” and you know what they are in the language of spa ads in the papers. It has something to do with water as water is life’s natural balm. It’s like a condition of being loved and coddled so that you’re invigorated, or even rejuvenated, in a sense, through just a remedy of water in steam baths, hot and cold water contrast, aromatherapy plus music.
It’s truly from nature that we get back our strength again and again. Think of how lucky the water nymphs were in times past in their watery paradise. No office stress, no unhealthy living.
A recent trip we took with a couple of friends to the coastal towns south of Cebu was a heady spell; it was probably like getting an expensive spa treatment, with the scrubbing.
With the road well-paved this time, the trip was comfortable and the scenery along the way guilelessly attractive, like an ad copy, with Cebu intending to be a spa center in the tourism Visayas belt which is GMA’s tourism Super Region plan.
Even just the sound of soft waves rolling, gurgling and then slipping into the marshland in some areas in the south, and the sight of an egret or two, would already be a good source of rest and coolness.
The plan to turn Panay, Cebu, Bohol, Samar, Leyte, the southern parts of Bicol, Northern Mindanao and Palawan into a special tourism cluster will work for everybody concerned.
If you have no time for a drive out of town to get the wellness you think you deserve, Cebu City and, perhaps some towns, hope to offer visitors specialized health spas and wellness centers. Spas are starting to sprout nearly everywhere within just a few kilometers away from each other.
We can probably use the hot springs for medical tourism, like in the Edipsos spa resort in Greece today where senior citizens go to revitalize themselves in the curative touch of any one of about 80 hot springs. The spas in Edipsos island are more than 20,000 years old, a hill close to ancient Rome.
Listen to what Plutarch (46-120 A.D.) said about the place, “the village of Edipsos on the island of Evia is a place for pleasure and entertainment, full of elegant buildings and entertainment centers providing luxurious stays.” This sounds like an ad in a Sunday magazine.
In the past, there were “social baths” in Homer’s time or ancient Rome’s large-scale spa where men met to discuss politics, philosophy and life as a whole.
There were women, too, in the same places for “social bathing” who listened to the men converse. But they were considered “forward” women and they knew more facts of life than the wives who correctly owned private steam baths at home, bathed alone served by their personal slaves.
Both sexes bathing together was not allowed, so that there were separate facilities or different bathing hours.
In the home front, while spas are attractive and profitable for Cebu to foster, the government must watch out to make certain that spas are not actually fronts for prostitution, says the health department. The Filipino’s warmth could lead to a wellness seduction which could both be an attraction and a cause for concern, says the medical tourism office.
