As the new editor of Casa de Campo Living, I am of course massively passionate about all things Casa de Campo, I am however, above all else English and very new to life in the Dominican Republic, or the DR as I’ve learned to call it. To this end I have decided to start a new series of articles ‘Adventures in Casa,’ which could be more aptly named ‘trials, tribulations and disastors of a foreigner in the DR.’ Read on and you’ll discover why.

I’ve always been a bit of a sucker for freebies and so when Pilar Rosario, manager of the Cygalle Healing Spa in Casa de Campo phoned and offered me a free hot stone massage and facial, I jumped at the chance, the only catch was that in return she wanted me to ‘model’ for them.

In the UK when someone ‘models’ for a hairdresser or even a spa, it doesn’t mean modeling at all, it means you get a free haircut, massage, whatever, but the reason its free is because the person administering the treatments are being trained. Great opportunity I thought! I did have a slight niggling feeling that maybe she really did mean ‘model,’ but at the very worst, I thought, that would only mean a photo of my back with some stones on it, not a problem.

Of course, I was wrong! When I arrived I met the cameraman – not a man with a photo-camera as I’d feared, but rather an actual video camera! What followed was an afternoon of me being filmed – prancing around in my bikini, which I was TOTALLY unprepared for – I had NO makeup, not even my best bikini and worst of all I’d just eaten a large lunch!

We started filming in the Water Ritual Room; a series of short sketches, of me taking of my robe and then showering and entering the steam room, lounging in the sauna, showering in the outside shower and some more lounging in the hot water pool. Each ’shot’ had to be repeated numerous times, because apparently I looked scared (unsurprisingly!)

Following that I was filmed as a sashayed (yes sashayed, I was getting quite into it) out of the Water Ritual Room and into a treatment room, where I was filmed being given a facial and a bit of a massage, which wasn’t that good at all, due to the fact it was fake!

The afternoon finished with a real hot stone massage and facial, which was beyond all doubt heavenly, but I couldn’t quiet relax – I couldn’t shake the image of me as the Dominican Republic’s next top model (not quiet thin enough and with NO make-up!) Ha!

Please send all fan mail to: info@casadecampoliving.com

For those who are curious, the ‘commercial’ was filmed over 2 weeks ago, and as of yet I have not heard anything either from the company who filmed it or from the Cygalle Healing Spa – if/when I do, I may or may not share the result with you (obviously depending on how mortifying it is!).  If you happen to spot it in the wild, let us know!

If you would like to share one of your “Adventures in Casa” stories with us, we would love to hear them!
Email us at info@casadecampoliving.com