Mexico's hottest spa treatment

GWYNETH Paltrow, Pete Sampras, the Blairs and Prince William are alleged to have tried one: today's clued-up visitor to Mexico seeks an ancient healing treatment known as a temazcal (Aztec steam bath).

This native ritual combines herbs, music and massage with a cleansing sweat bath. Long known to cure headaches and muscle pain, it is also used to combat stress.

Mexicans like to have a shaman perform the ritual in a small, dark, adobe building. Herbs are put on hot rocks which, doused in water, create a steam that detoxifies and cleanses lungs and skin.

Marianna Emilia Arroyo, a shaman from Oaxaca in southern Mexico, describes a temazcal as "a womb-like place of rebirth". She treats patients using home-grown herbs. Under her care, the temazcal is a one-to-one ritual during which the bather's body is pummelled with warm herbs to soften the skin.

Lasting up to 30 minutes, the temazcal is often followed by a soothing massage.

This more basic, treatment costs about $76, while at the Orient- Express-owned Maroma Resort and Spa, near the beach town of Playa del Carmen, you pay $135 for a less formal treatment.

. Marianna Emilia Arroyo at www.mexonline.com/temazcal.htm; for Maroma Resort and Spa, visit www.orient-expresshotels.com.

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