Have you ever... (Article for Real Travel magazine)

Have you ever...had a mud bath in Costa Rica?

Sitting out on the porch framing our room, my friends and I discussed the spa session we had booked in. Anticipation filled the air as we watched the sun set, taking in the expanse of colour that flooded the sky. The evenings were a welcome relief to the heat of the day, although still an almost claustrophobic humidity, it was relaxing to sit and listen to the cicadas evening chorus, a subtle clicking that never ceased.

    The next day we were loaded into an ancient looking mini bus, eager for the pampering to begin. Tightly clinging onto our seats the bus rattled its way up a bumpy dirt track and we felt more than a little dubious about what was waiting for us at the other end.

     Clambering out of the bus moments later I felt a bit nauseous, but was intrigued by the ‘spa’ before me. There seemed to be something resembling a bird bath proudly standing in the entrance and behind it were two clear swimming pools. A man greeted us and pointed us in the direction of two wooden changing cubicles. Rather tentatively we each changed into our bikinis and huddled together. We were then led into a large wooden hut, which turned out to be a steam room. It was heavenly, the steam seemed to penetrate ever pore of my skin, soothing my muscles and sending me to sleep.

     Twenty minutes later the little man with the permanent smile returned and ushered our sleepy bodies out into daylight. Standing out in the open, we felt more than a little exposed. He walked over to the ‘bird bath’, scooped up a handful of mud and handed it to me. Let the mud bath commence!  We giggled as we each rubbed handfuls of mud over every part of our bodies. The mud stuck to us and formed a secondary layer of skin. We had been successfully transformed into mud monsters, but the best part of all. We had to let it set...

     For the next ten minutes we became human sun dials, rotating ever few minutes for the sun to settle on a new area of skin. My skin became tight as the mud began to dry, encasing me inside, like a living mummy. When we were sufficiently dry it was time to take a dip. One by one we jumped in the steaming hot swimming pool and felt the mud melt away. It was an amazing sensation, and I imagined my skin letting out a sigh of relief. Next was the turn of the freezing cold pool. Building up the courage I leapt in and shrieked. My body tensed and I jumped out making a dash for the changing cubicles.

     It was an exhilarating experience and one I’ll never forget. Although not quite the pampering session I had envisioned, the day I visited a Costa Rican mud spa was the most memorable and hilarious thing I’d ever done.