There's a little island in Galicia, off the coast of Spain called La Toja. (Lah Toh-HAH) I have never been. But I know it is there. And I dream about it.
One of the items on my Bucket List involves visiting the legendary health spas in this beautiful spot (I've seen photos). The actual line item on my list begins like this: "When I am wealthy…." but that's not important right now.
My fascination with this spot began years ago when, as a kid in Cuba, I found a bar of Magno soap in our bathroom.
Ah, the fragrance. It is the smell of my Cuban youth. Of abuela. Of opulence. Of pampering. Of abundance.
Magno, for the uninformed in matters of Spanish bathing, is an amazing black soap that makes the most incredible white, frothy, it-could-be-whipped-cream lather. And that fragrance! It has an intoxicating woodsy smell like nothing else I've ever known.
It's hard to come by Magno. They don't sell it at any of our local stores, although a few years ago there was a snooty, way-out-of-my-price-range bed and bath shop in Newport Beach that carried Magno. I made the pilgrimage to this shop about once a month to stock up and to buy bars for each of my sisters.
And now, they make a surely-I-have-died-and-gone-to-heaven Magno Bath Gel.
I go out of my way to get Magno for my dearest friends and of course, my family. One drop is all it takes to make that are-you-kidding-me-with-this foamy white lather and to perfume the bathrooms in the house in the most delicious way.
"You found Magno?!" They cry with excitement and delight. (Seriously, it's almost a religious experience for us.)
So, back to La Toja and My Bucket List…
I continue to dream of that far away day when we can get to that tiny island and its health spas and amazing lathering black soap with the incredible, inimitable fragrance.
Until that day, I have to console myself with the internets and the beauty that is Online Shopping and just step into my shower and close my eyes.
I'm back in Cuba when she was still the Pearl of the Antilles. When crisp linens and laden tables were the norm. When my family was very extended. When there was abundance and wealth and all those other lovely perks of capitalism. 😉
Magno and islands. It all works out in my head.
"Magno, take me away!" (<—a reference to an old Calgon commercial, but that's not important right now.)
Is there a fragrance in your memory that makes you remember and dream? Tell me.
Your story reminds me of my favorite smells. The smell of sandalwood, or in Spanish, Sandalo. I don’t know if you have ever smelled it, but you know those small sandalwood wooden fans that come in a small box with a glass lid? That’s the smell I grew up with because my grandmother had given me her favorite wooden fan and it smelled like sandalo. I kept it in my sock drawer and when I would open the drawer, the smell would remind me of my Grandmother.And the smell of Violeta Royal. I grew up with this cologne. My mom would change the sheets and sprinkle Violeta Royal on the pillow cases. Ahhh….brings back memories.
Thanks for the memories. 🙂 Beso!!!
Michele, yes! When I smell Old Spice, I think of my dad.
My dearest Cuban friend,I know of this simply fabulous Haunted House Preview and Party, themed “Killer Klowns KarnEvil”, on Saturday October 24, 2009. Plan to arrive between 4-5pm, when restless KarnEvil spirits will be wandering the cul de sac in search of new souls; some may be on their unicycles, while others may be walking the tightrope. (Beware of clowns with chainsaws) Get your pre-mortem poloroid photo snapped inside of a real coffin (ala memento mori), with the backdrop of a classic, albeit rusty, 1969 Cadillac Hearse. Once inside, view the collection of authentic memento mori. Observe the collections: gothic dead dolls, skulls, day of the dead, bats, masks, and pumpkins galore. Enjoy a casual dinner with old friends and make new ones. Finally, take a sneak peak at the haunt “Killer Klowns KarnEvil” before it is open the the public Friday October 30 and 31, 2009. For those intrigued by the motto “Don’t let you first ride be your last”, the owner may be coaxed into giving hearse rides!
It just wont be the same without you!
Wendy
You can find this soap on Amazon and on Ebay
You can also find it here: http://jbktrading.stores.yahoo.net/magnoclassic.html
Every time I smell mothballs, I am taken back to my grandmother’s house. Granma Sylvia would give us each a dollar and take us to ShopKo. We would stop at Hawkeye Dairy on the way for ice cream. At her house, we would run around and play at the gas station she owned, where the mechanics would open the pop machine (that old-fashioned kind that dispenses bottles) to give us free Coke.I love that smell.
when i smell violetas or pinesol..that takes me back…but especially when i smell that after bath splash…jean Nate…it makes me think of My nana and my Tia Clara (two of my favorite people!) also, when i smell someone smoking “un Tabaco” and drinking whiskey (which has a distict smell depending on how good it is…i think of my childhood (my abuelos and my tio!) when i smell homemade cake…i think of my mom and anteus(men’s cologne) i think of my dad…and oddly enough when i smell the medicine that they put into breathing treatment for kids…i think of my lil sister who had one almost everyday of our childhood! poor kid!
As with class factotum, whenever I smell Old Spice I think of my dad. Every Christmas I would take the money I had saved over the year and buy my mom and dad small presents. Can you imagine the surprise I got on the first Christmas when I was in college when I bought mom and dad a different gift and dad said, “well, I guess I have to buy my own Old Spice this year!” I never failed getting him that again EVER! I miss him so much!Y la otra.. Siempre que hubiera una celebración con mi familia, usted podría caminar en el cuarto en donde todo las tias preparaba el alimento y usted tendría que disfrutar de los fragrences maravillosos de los perfumes y de los aromas increíbles del alimento.
Ay dios mio!
And then the other thing that kills me is that Aunt Conchita and Aunt Beba made KILLER arroz con pollo. The fragrance (yes fragrance) of a great arroz con pollo will make me go back. So far I have not been able to duplicate their’s… I got my mom’s down though!
I’ve got to get this soap. From your post, I can smell it, I can feel the soothing luxurious frothy soap foam. Marti you should be writing ads! My smell is violets, as my Mother loved the fragrance. To me Violet represents love and comfort.
I didn’t know the history of Magno, but it definitely reminds me of when I was very little. Henio de Pravia (another Spanish soap) is what my abuela loves so that smell always reminds me of her. So does the smell of Vicks. Even when I’m NOT sick, the smell of “bibaporu” (Vicks Vapo Rub) is comforting to me.The mixed smell of cafe with a good cigar always reminds me of Papi (my grandfather). I LOVE that smell.
Obviously, I love Violetas Royal because I wear it all the time. But the smell that makes me dream . . . the one that takes me to another place . . . is suntan lotion. Usually Banana Boat or maybe Coppertone, but that coconutty-mixed-with-sandy-and-salty smell is what makes me wonder what life in Cuba was like B.C. and what it would have been like without a revolucion.
P.S. Ed,
I love that you posted in English Y Español. =D
Ahhh Magno, every Cuban household knew that smell. That and Maja products too. Maja reminds me of Abuela. She used the soaps and the face powder.Let me know when you go, my roots are in Galicia as Papi was from Lugo and his maternal side of the family from La Coruña. It is definitely on my calendar, to go show Alan where the heck I come from (and why my skin is so pale). Also on the calendar Scotland; so we can find out where he comes from and how on earth he is paler than me.
Now to buy some Magno!
@ KikitaCuando mi hermana vivía en Madrid al oído su grado en la universidad de Madrid I aprendió la fragancia de Heno de Pravia. Me recuerda ella. ¡Era también el jabón que tenían en el hotel en donde permanecíamos! ¡La fragancia me retira muchos años!
The smell of Maja soaps and face powder remind me of my mom. I still pick it up in the store to take a whiff and think of her…