Your Villa Magazine - Desert Cities - August-September - 2023

AGUA CALIENTE CULTURAL PLAZA AND THE OASIS TRAIL The Agua Caliente Cultural Plaza in downtown Palm Springs will be a cultural heritage destinationwhere Tribal members and guests celebrate the history, culture, traditions, and modern life of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. This 5.8-acre complex features the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum with an education garden and The Spa at Séc-he, a state-of-the-art spa fed by the ancient Agua Caliente Hot Mineral Spring. They are joined by the Gathering Plaza and Oasis Trail, which is activated with owing water, Washingtonia lifera palm trees (the only palm tree native to the California desert), and stunning rock formations that capture the essence of the Indian Canyons and Tahquitz Canyon, the Agua Caliente people’s ancestral home. While the Plaza connects ancient and contemporary life, the Oasis Trail re ects the sequestered nature of the canyons—water- lled areas that provided the ancestors of the Agua Caliente people with cooler living conditions in the hot desert summers. Agua Caliente Cultural Museum The Agua Caliente Cultural Museum will be a cultural heritage attraction and an educational institution with a mission to share and celebrate the story of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. The 48,000-square-foot Museum features Agua Caliente art, artifacts and media to animate speci c pieces of the Tribe’s story. Galleries focus on the Creation and Migration stories, the Indian Canyons, Tahquitz Canyon, archaeology, and artistic expressions such as ollas and baskets. Many artifacts, such as manos, metates and projectile points, were recovered from the Plaza site during construction in 2018. Many of these items will be displayed to demonstrate the Tribe’s enduring habitation of the region. Some items radiocarbon date as far back as 8,000+ years. The Spa at Séc-he For the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, no site is more signi cant than the Hot Mineral Spring on its ancestral land in what is now downtown Palm Springs. Its pure mineral water provided a place for ritual bathing, social activity, physical healing, and spiritual connection. They have called the spring Séc-he, the Cahuilla term for “the sound of boiling water,” since the beginning. The Agua Caliente people have been sharing the healing water with visitors for more than 130 years, making it the area’s rst tourist attraction. The Palm Springs village eventually grew up around it. The Spa at Séc-he o ers 22 private mineral soaking tubs, two genuine halotherapy salt caves, two zero-sensory otation pods, grounded earthing anti-gravity chairs, cryotherapy, tness center, saunas, steam rooms, hot tubs, and two outdoor pools, one of which is fed by the Agua Caliente Hot Mineral Spring. The café at the Spa o ers fresh, health-conscious choices, including vegan and vegetarian options that highlight locally sourced ingredients. The cold-pressed juice bar features smoothies, juices, and spirulina blue-green algae “superfood” shots. The Spa at Séc-he Agua Caliente Cultural Museum Courtesy of Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians Ethan Kaminsky/Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians Courtesy of Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians