VIVA MEXICO!
5-Star Luxury Down South
By Rita Cook

Heading to Mexico just got better with five-star luxury properties offering everything from the latest in innovative spa treatments to unparalleled white, sandy beaches. Here are just a few of the "best of the best" to enjoy on your next trip
Cancun/Puerto Morelos

El Cid
The spa is what stands out at El Cid with the highlight being the Temazcal, or sweat lodge. Hard to explain and even harder to forget after you have experienced it, this ancestral bathing ritual has been a means of Mayan purification since ancient times. The spa ingredients used are local too; body wraps and facials come highly recommended. Fishing expeditions and snorkeling is possible or just lay around one of the pools. If you get bored you can walk or ride into Puerto Morelos, the town offers an authentic Mexican feel. www.elcid.com

ME Cancun
Fergie and Josh Dushamel recently enjoyed a good time at this five-star property with private jacuzzi, a variety of adult amenities and one of Mexico's largest infinity-edge swimming pools. The hotel also offers free preloaded iPods and rainfall shower heads. The spa boasts 11,000 square feet and is a member of the Leading Spas of the World. Personal spa valets are big , but the spa is also the only one in Mexico to offer Ayurveda treatments inspired by the ancient Indian principles. mebymelia.com

Places to Dine in Cancun:

Captain's Cove: Voted Best Restaurant in Cancun the experience is Caribbean with a view of the waterfront. Choices are international. Breakfast is also a must if you don't stay out too late the night before.

Bogart's: Want to feel like you're in 'Casablanca'? Bogart's is the perfect place for the experience with international cuisine and a 1940's atmosphere. Piano playing every night and waiters are attentive and in costume to match. In the Krystal Hotel - you can't miss it.
Casa Dorado
Check into one of the spas or the penthouse then enjoy dinner at the 12 Tribes eclectic restaurant highlighting Israel's original 12 tribes and their eventual dispersion throughout the world. The cuisine offers an exotic mix of aromas, sensations and flavors that capture an international flair, but the property is more than the food. All the rooms offer ocean views, marble baths, flat screen TVs and state of the art kitchens where chefs prepare gourmet private meals on request. The hotel's Saltwater Spa will pamper beginning with a mineral salt ritual from which the spa gets its name. Signature treatments feature Eastern and Western techniques, from bamboo and Chinese balls to Italian hydrotherapy. Just a short walk from Cabo San Lucas' shopping, dining and entertainment, take a stroll into town or just enjoy the luxurious resort with its low-rise buildings frame courtyards and pools meandering through five acres beside the Sea of Cortez. http://www.casadorada.com

Hilton Los Cabos Beach and Golf Resort.
These days the new hotspot is definitely Cabo San Lucas located at the Southern tip of Mexico's Baja Peninsula. While Cabo itself is a good place to stay busy it's the more laid back feel of Jose del Cabo that is the better place to relax. The Hilton sits in between what is known as the corridor connecting the two towns. For a quick golf game or a spa treatment, this is the place. The Ixchel Spa offers over 7,500 square feet of space and treatments that range from simple massages to a beauty salon or a high-tech health club. Be sure and try the Ixchel signature spa treatment. www.hiltonloscabos.com

Marquis Los Cabos
With celebrities visiting Cabo often, there are many options for staying in the high-end places. Marquis Los Cabos is another beach, golf, spa and Casitas Resort that caters to the best. The resort stresses being good to the environment by planting indigenous plants and recycling all water. An all-suite property, the Casitas are another option and are situated as houses on the beach offering private butler service and Hummer airport transports. The extensive art collection is worth mentioning. The spa is a member of the Leading Spas of the World and Feng Shui design keeps mood in balance. http://www.marquisloscabos.com

Places to Dine in Cabo:

El Tapanco: Located in Casa Del Mar, this is the resorts’ signature restaurant and renowned for its gourmet Latin American and Caribbean fusion. The atmosphere is just right for romance or dining with friends and afterward the El Maguey Bar is a great place to enjoy martinis or margaritas.

Nuevo Vallarta
Grand Velas
The Grand Velas is an all-suite property and the spa is a member of the Leading Spas of the World. While the entire property is a destination that you never have to leave, the spa rounds it out nicely. The 16,500 square feet spa holds world class hydrotherapy area with plunge lagoons, Swiss showers, hydroreflexology and Eucalyptus inhalation room, all experienced before your treatment. The spa’s menu offers a wide variety with an emphasis on total body wellness. The Oxigenante Facial and SPA Coffee Contourn Treatment are highlights to include in your spa experience. To stay healthy there are bikes or you can walk into town for a shopping excursion.
www.grandvelas.com

Places to Dine in Nuevo Vallarta:

Angelos: Italian food with a menu that is both quality and
quantity.

La Porteña: Argentinean-style food with the likes of roasted steaks, like the the "arrachera" and the "vacio," which are a tender Argentinean steaks only found at this restaurant in Mexico. If you're not into meat then they also offer seafood or pasta.

Mexico City

Marquis Reforma
Not the beach type, but still want to enjoy Mexico's fabulous culture? Find your way to Mexico City and stay at the Marquis Reforma, named as a Leading Hotel of the World and offering excellent spa services and accessibility to everything in Mexico City. A hot spot for celebrities staying in Mexico's hub, the spa is a member of the Leading Spas of the World and offers both pearl and gold spa therapies as the signatures. The Pearl Spa treatment is a must - called Coyolxauhqui and named after the Aztec Moon Goddess or the Gold Spa treatment, the Tonatiuh is named after the Aztec Sun God.

A trip to the Teotihuacan Pyramids is only an hour outside of the city and promises to overwhelm the senses with their enormity. Also in Mexico City are the well-known museums the Dolores Olmedo Museum and Frida Kahlo's home and museum in Coyoacan. http://www.marquisreforma.com

Places to Dine in Mexico City:

Tierra de Vinos: This restaurant has the best wine selection with excellent food as well. Located just off the Fuente de los Cibeles traffic circle in the Roma, it's a nondescript facade, but is well worth the trip. The menu offers a large selection of tapas and full meals including salmon with spinach or breast of veal, each with suggested wines. The restaurant often hosts intimate jazz concerts.

Hacienda de los Morales: Located next to the Periférico and the space dates to the 16th century - originally a silk-producing hacienda. An oasis in the storm, this restaurant offers superb Mexican cuisine and a lovely garden. Try the chiles en nogada (meat-stuffed chiles poblanos in a cream and nut sauce), shrimp in tequila sauce, and cabrito norteño (Northern Mexican-style barbecued goat).

Mexico is rich in culture anf enjoying any number of these spas and resorts will delight even the weariest traveler.

Sailboats & Seafood:
The Dauphin Island Regatta and the Mobile Alabama Experience
By Tim Wassberg

Sailing can be a zesty enterprise. But getting there is half the battle. In a land down South that many know of but few have visited lies a bay of diverse proportions which hurricanes have battered and alligators have wandered. 225 sailboats covered the water and made their dash for an island on the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Alabama, in a race across Mobile Bay known as The Dauphin Island Regatta (www.dirace.com).

Sitting on the upper deck of the yacht Vivace cruising towards the starting line, the sails of various ships furl out and the teams get ready. "Fine Line", the front runner, quickly crosses our path, its crew uniformed in yellow.

Mobile is located on the jutting Southwest tip of Alabama (www.touralabama.org). It is ideally situated, off the beaten path and brimming with a diversity of life.

Arriving at the Battle House (www.battlehousemobile.com), the gigantic domed skylight gleams as the plumed couches welcome with open arms and glasses of red wine clink. The Trellis Room boasts a rock concert of seafood from smoked marlin topped with a honey Dijon ice cream to lobster covered scallops brimming with caviar. But the night is young. The Liquid Lounge (www.myspace.com/liquidloungemobile) is all but hidden in the bevy of flashing streetlights as the 2am hour approaches. Old Peculiar Stout with its frothy top slides down the gullet as steam rises from behind. Mingus plays over the speakers with a root of jazz. The sushi is Southwestern style. Next door, at The OK Bike Shop, the party continues at the request of a local bartender who teered your humble narrator to this motley den. She came out to celebrate the night alongside with Rolling Rock and red Hot Tamale shots. With the final call reaching to 5:30 nearly half packed, the sunlight raced quickly to the eyes.

Sitting on an open air boat into the Five Rivers Delta (www.outdooralabama.com/outdoor-adventures/5rivers/), the wind buffets the travelers . Our Captain is behind the wheel as the trail corridors become more and more narrow and old deserted forts come into view. Water sprays as the reeds sway.

Alligator Alley (www.gatoralleyfarm.com/), a diamond in the rough, hidden away, is an awe-inspiring transportation of the deep swamp and jungle. Wes, the owner, took over a 20-acre piece of land previously held by his family and populated it with hundreds of alligators for us to see. His big one nicknamed Captain Crunch, is a 13-foot behemoth that was responsible for eating nice furry little critters. Thus he had to be relocated. A problem to be sure, but when we stand over him on a boardwalk during mating season when the entire place is echoing with prehistoric grunts, this old school dinosaur raises himself up and utters a guttural roar without opening his mouth. It makes everything shake. All the other gators quickly zip up because Crunch is the King. Wes later feeds a collection of these gators on the bank of the canal only a few feet and a small amount of fence from us. The reptilians crawl from the dark black of the canal over each other to get some kibbles. Granted they can be man-eaters but grabbing for pieces of raw chicken they act like dogs.

Alligator bites breaded at the Original Oyster House (www.originaloysterhouse.com) actually made the stomach feel the victor but over course of the meal, the hefty salad bar helped us along in spectacular fashion. Felix's Fish Camp (www.felixsfishcamp.com) overlooking the bay continued the soiree with its multiple integrations of soup as well as a lobster dip that threatened to scorch the tongue in the most beautiful way. Seafood is the ruler of this region. Roussos (www.roussosrestaurant.com) continued this tradition on the other side of the bay.

The race was on for Dauphin Island. The Grand Marriott (www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/ptlal-grand-hotel-marriott-resort-golf-club-and-spa/) in Fairhope welcomed us with open arms and an encompassing view as the waves slowed to a whisper. The party that night was a festival of sorts at the Fairhope Yacht Club. The beer flowed freely as a mound of steamed shrimp occupied our plates. The race teams wandered through the dark as a Bushwacker cocktail filled with Kahlua and vanilla ice cream touched the lips of all present. Dancers, young and old, boogied down with the Tip Tops as red lights pulsed in the open air.

As the boats arrived at the docks on Dauphin Island after the race, the ropes were tied and the Sam Adams made its presence known. The Key West Band played against the bright lights as a buffet dinner of pulled pork and fried fish at Barnacle Bill's brought together the community with lively spirit. "Fine Line" had emerged victorious. Later that night, the Oar House Restaurant kept the fuel coming with tales of Alabama girls, mind erasers and hurricanes past as a blues guitar wailed inside the bar.

Wintzell's Oyster House (www.wintzellsoysterhouse.com/) back on Dauphin Street in Downtown Mobile closes the proceedings with a virtual army of oysters any way you can take them, "fried, stewed or nude". With a companion in the guise of Bloody Mary, raw became the way while parmesan and prosciutto topped the baked brilliance and dill pickles, deep fried and dipped, got the train moving. Later that night, Veets (www.veetsbarandgrill.com), a roadhouse in the best way, cranked their style with a wooden bar, dancing in the dark and a newfound Vegas Bomb shot to rock the schoolgirls into the late night.

Mobile is a taste of down home where the seafood jars the soul and the local dance moves hard into the early morning light as the sailboats of the Dauphin Island Regatta race back at full speed, hoists at the ready.