Sweet Honeymoon Getaways

So you finally made it. You tied the knot and you need to get away from the overwhelming and mildly drunk relatives and the over-enthusiastic and totally wasted friends. Of course this escape has been planned months in advance and we have some pretty attractive suggestions for you, our adventurous readers. Forget about the boring and expensive Caribbean vacation or the dreary compulsory visits to the museums in Europe. Whether your honeymoon is only one week long or you managed to stretch the boundaries of your boss’s generosity and you have closer to two weeks, we will give you some tips that will want you to stay permanently off the office grounds. Yes, you are in love and the honeymoon has to be romantic and relaxing, but come on, you can pretty much make a walk in Chinatown romantic when you are infatuated. What I am suggesting is to unleash the worldly self in you and your new (and hopefully the only) spouse and explore the lands and cultures that do not exactly scream "Buy Me Now!!!" from the glossy advertorials. The following destinations are addressed to chocolate and food lovers in general, with an extra paranormal special and a dash of wild on the side.

You love chocolate and nature and you have always wanted to visit the Amazonian jungle to check out the trees, the monkeys and the rare birds. You share the same eagerness to explore the new with your future spouse. Therefore a good place to start your new life is in the forests of Ecuador. Yachana Lodge, an ecotourism project funded by Funedesin, is situated on 405 hectares in the vicinity of the city of El Coca and it’s comprised of 18 cabins that have all the facilities a Westerner tourist would require. There are plenty of things to do once you get there, like watching birds, visiting the local school, learning the healing power of local plants from natives, watching the stars from your canoe at night, hiking into the forest and learning pottery from locals, but we have inquired about the chocolate tour the Lodge offers. For those of you who are very interested in the production of chocolate, in the entire process and in the support of local farmers, we discovered a wonderful way to find out these things straight from the mouth of the wolf.

The cacao production season is from March to July, although it can last a bit longer depending on the weather conditions that particular year. After you arrive in Quito, Ecuador, you will take a short flight to the city of El Coca and, weather permitting, you will have a gorgeous view of the Andes on your way to your final destination. The first stage of the chocolate tour includes a Yachana Lodge tour during which you’ll have the opportunity to see cacao trees and visit one of their agricultural collection centers. (In order to visit the collection center, you must schedule a tour that includes a Saturday market visit.) There are many cacao trees that naturally grow in the area of the lodge, and this allows visitors to experience the fruit and see for themselves where chocolate comes from. At the agricultural collection center you can learn about the post-harvest processes necessary to produce fine cacao (fermentation and drying). The second part of the chocolate tour takes part in Quito at a production facility. Here they can show you the processes involved in making the Yachana Jungle Chocolate and the other products they offer. The Sales and Marketing Manager of the lodge, Laura McCurry, says "A visit to Yachana Lodge is a great way to learn about cacao as a sustainable agriculture alternative and a form of rainforest conservation." So, there you go. If you are into good causes, wild rides and learning about different cultures, this is a fantastic opportunity.

Now, I admit I wasn’t the first to discover the next spot, since it has been named the sexiest Romance/Honeymoon Destination in Africa & the Middle East in Recommend’s 2005 Readers’ Choice Awards. And let the drums roll, ladies and gentlemen, I present you with Cape Town, South Africa. There is nothing more romantic than lying in a ‘sky bed’ together in the jungle under the stars or having candlelight dinner on the rooftop of one of the most exquisite hotels in the area. There is something alluring about the 5-star accommodations and spas in the heart of a country that has outgrown its ugly duckling reputation to become one of the most active tourist attractions.

The choice of accommodation is varied, ranging from the lodgings in the newly developed Waterfront area right next to the harbor to more reclusive and exclusive retreats such as Bushmans Kloof, which lies a mere 270 km north from Cape Town or renowned romantic spots such as the 12 Apostles Hotel. At any of these luxurious places you and your beloved can get a massage or body treatment, such as the ‘His and Hers Moya Crystal massage’ in one of The Sanctuary Spa’s dual treatment rooms or attend a session where the couples caress each other gently with mineralized earth and sea mud at 12 Apostles resort. Or if you’re really out of romantic ideas, you can get the concierge to organize something more out of the ordinary for you. If that fun bath was no enough for the day, the sportier types can always go outside on trips to open game viewing, fly fishing, mountain biking. For dreamier couples, there are also about 130 rock art sites close to Bushmans Kloof which date 10,000 years back, a library and a research center. The simplest, yet the most successful activity this resort arranges for couples is a luncheon picnic served on Table Mountain where you enjoy delicious local food overlooking a stunning scenery. It is said to impress even the most unromantic man ever, so if you want to observe your husband’s soft side, that’s a way to go about it. Safaris can be also organized prior to your arrival in the country, but you’ll have to arrange that with your tour operator.

The Afrikaans people are known for their warmth and generosity, so you’ll feel like you’re part of the family there. If you really want to take in local culture and make most of your pricey trip (I won’t lie, all that royal treatment comes at a price), we suggest you enhance your honeymoon experience by taking cooking classes with Samp & Soufflé. For example for a four-day program, the course would take you two days around the city looking for ingredients, followed by the cooking of a three-meal course that includes unlimited wine consumption and two days outside the city. More precisely, the 6-hour experience would be comprised of "a procurement experience gathering herbs and seasonal produce from the local markets and suppliers and touring the neighborhood wine estates or designated tourist spots," as Cheryl Adamson, the manager of the program, described it. She mentioned that former participants have "done things like picking oyster mushrooms, gathering fresh herbs, picking berries, collecting olives and they also collected the famous Cape Fynbos (a shrub specific to the country) off the mountain to be used in the food, so the day is exciting and stimulating." After you have found the necessary ingredients, you go to the cooking venue where you are taught about South African dishes. Among the delicious desserts (yes, we know you’ve been thinking about them) you could taste the koeksister, which is a South African syrup-coated doughnut, the melktert, which is a custard pie with a pastry crust very appropriate for tea time, or the watermelon konfyt, which is a specialty preserve with more fruit and less juice.

So, one day you could delve into the Bo Kaap area, home to a Malay community and you would get to make the South African national dish, the bobotie (a mild baked curry of minced lamb with dried fruit, topped with an egg custard), another day you could explore Kalk Bay, a traditional fishing village and indulge in seafood when cooking time comes. Outside of Cape Town, you would visit various wine farms, olive or cheese farms in the picturesque Franschoek or Paarl area and you’d learn how to cook "Boerekos" (farmer’s food) and you would get to learn some amazing thing about South African wine and new cuisine. I think that should quench your thirst for knowledge and hunger for novelty during this trip. For more information about this great program, look into www.sampsouffle.com and you can create the perfect trip.
One last suggestion for Africa, people. I know it’s a bit in vogue now after a host of celebrities have flocked to the gates of anonymity heaven, but bear with me. Another thing you could possibly do there is take a Desert Express 2-day tour between Namibia’s Windhoek and Swakopmund cities. On the way, you will enjoy delicious local dishes in the luxury cabins and you will be awed by the most inspiring desert landscapes in Africa. In the lowdown hours, you can watch "Out of Africa" with your spouse and pretend you’re Meryl Streep and Robert Redford.

Getting back to Motherland, I discovered a lovers’ getaway that is not so widely publicized. Queen Mary ship has a long history behind it from the first trip it took in United Kingdom in 1936 to its mooring in Long Beach, California in 1967 after crossing the Atlantic Ocean 2,000 times. Now it’s a 365-room hotel spanning three decks displaying original designs and embellishments and maintaining an ambiance of high class. For those who are hopelessly infatuated with the Interbellum period and the glamorous age of the Art Deco, this is the perfect place to feel transported back in time. The rooms are uniquely appointed and keep most of the original wood paneling, although they do offer modern facilities.

The ship offers a variety of 6 restaurants which offer incredible desserts of which my chocoholic friends, I should mention the chocolate lover's delight cake and chocolate crème brulée, Normandy style, which are truly delicious and apparently they also serve a divine soufflé. Food aside, Tibbies Cabaret, one of the dining facilities on the ship, offers a popular dinner theater program which promises great entertainment for the night. If you want to do a bit of shopping when you are not taking a nap or a stroll on the Sun Deck, there is a Shopping Arcade within the ship (I know, like a self-sustaining resort almost) and a few choice boutiques right outside the Queen Mary. But what I think tops it all is the Ghosts and Legends program that is based on the numerous paranormal activity and sightings that took place on the ship throughout time. Organized groups are taken to rooms inaccessible to the greater public where sightings have been reported, the most famous being the wonderful Art Deco pool that has been emptied and closed for 30 years and it still is the site of some unusual happenings. Medium Erika Frost is the host of some of these organized tours, so don’t be afraid, the ghosts won’t bite you. They will merely scare you off with a whisper maybe. But like Martha Guzman, the PR Manager for the ship says, "there are a lot of things to do at the Queen Mary, from attraction tours, to exhibits, attractions at night, fine dining, entertainment, and special events throughout the year," so you won’t have time to get bored aboard. Unless, of course, you prefer to be locked in your cabin with your other half.

All these being said, there are so many wonderful places to discover around the world, that I think it’s worth investigating a bit and investing into a memorable trip, rather than choosing a cookie cutter vacation that you will only remember as "oh, that honeymoon."

For more information on any of the places you read about you can go to:

www.yachanalodge.com
www.sampsouffle.com
www.waterfront.co.za
www.12apostleshotel.com
www.bushmanskloof.co.za
www.getawayafrica.com
www.queenmary.com