Bear Trails Resort – Couples Only – In Ontario, CanadaWritten by Joanna Niebler
Bear Trails Resort – Couples Only – In Ontario, Canada Read Jetsetters Magazine at www.jetsettersmagazine.com http://www.jetsettersmagazine.com/archive/jetezine/cabinweb/couples/couples.htmlMagical moments happen.at Bear Trail Couples Resort in Whitney, Ontario, Canada, tucked away in incredible Algonquin Provincial Park. This cozy and posh get-a-way for "couples-only" allows opportunities to re-connect and celebrate life and love. I learned very quickly after speaking to a few guests on a weekend in November that resort caters to couple that never gets any time alone. The couple that sees each other for five minutes in morning and maybe just and hour at night. The opportunity to spend 2-3 days alone to rejuvenate, re-energize and rejoice sounds nice, don't you think? Well hang on to your hats, my story gets better. There are times in everyone's life when you wish you could slow down time or even stop clock to make a special moment last just a little bit longer. Whether it's sitting in front of a warm crackling fire on a cool Northern Ontario evening or standing on a high and windy lookout point gazing into an ocean of endless colored terrain. Life seems perfect and thought of being anywhere else on earth unimaginable. It's these short-lived moments that make harsh realities of day-to-day life worth it all, even if it is only for a brief moment in time. The ever popular 7,725 square kilometers Algonquin Provincial Park has been enjoyed by travelers, voygeurs, and scouts since mid-1800's. The park was inhabited by bands of native Indians and later logging pioneers. Today Algonquin is most important area in Canada for biological research. The adventurous possibilities are endless: Camping, canoeing, hiking and biking are few activities that lure both Canadians and non-Canadians to visit this natural wonder. Imagine hearing sorrowful howl of a wolf, echoing call of a loon, or sound of your paddle gently cutting through water during a canoe trip on a quiet, misty morning. Whatever your experience is in Algonquin Park it is guaranteed to be memorable. Please be advised that although Mother Nature can be beautiful, she can also be dangerous. So before setting out for you adventure be certain of necessary precautions one must take. For more information, visit park at http://www.algonquinpark.on.ca. A $10CND/day permit is required to visit any of park's museums or trails and can be purchased at park office. The Algonquin visitor center is also a must to appreciate park's natural and human history—a theatre presentation helps to better understand Algonquin's story, along with many life-like exhibits. The park is a perfect destination to get-a-way, get rejuvenated, and get back to nature. Thirty-five years ago Fritz Sorensen, a foreman in a manufacturing plant in Toronto, decided upon retirement to follow his dream and open a couples resort with his wife, Gertrude—in beautiful Whitney, Ontario on Galeairy Lake on East Gate of Algonquin Park. Over years whole Sorensen family has become actively involved in business. Their three sons, John, Mark and Paul, daughter Evelyne and John's wife Annica, have all played roles in making resort what it is today. Originally land was used as a fishing lodge equipped with only seven basic cabins. But over time resort has emerged from its cocoon and has been transformed into a majestic butterfly, now occupying 48 rooms, suites, and cabins, due to Sorensen's hard work. Amongst rooms resort also offers six villas, three chateaus, and 20 bridal rooms of choice.
| | Mundo Maya Classics in Cancun, MexicoWritten by Edwin Ali
Mundo Maya Classics in Cancun, MexicoRead Jetsetters Magazine at www.jetsettersmagazine.com To read this entire feature FREE with photos cut and paste this link: http://www.jetsettersmagazine.com/archive/jetezine/globe02/Mexico02/cancun/mayans/mayans.html While Maya civilization no longer exists today in its original culture, many of its traditions and lifestyles are still being practised today by descendants of a people who have gone to great pains to ensure that their history and environment are safeguarded against onslaught of modernization and expansion. The Maya have shown skills in writing, astronomy, and mathematics, and have devised one of most accurate calendar system up to this day. They settled in area known as Mundo Maya: Yucatan. Campeche, Quintana Roo, part of Tabasco, and Chiapas, in current countries of Belize and Guatemala, and western part of El Salvador and Honduras. (Opening Photo: View of La Peninsula restaurant and palapas in solarium area at Xcaret theme park.) The Maya of Quintana Roo left an impressive legacy, which included art and architecture, proof of which are imposing pyramids in forest of Dzibanche and Coba, site of tallest pre-Hispanic building in north of Yucatan Peninsula and temples of Tulum, on shores of Caribbean. The Preclassic period (500 BC-250 AD) saw emergence in Quintana Roo of ceremonial centers of Coba, Dzibanche, and Kohunlich, which also florished during Classic period (250 AD-1000 AD). During this period, in south of state as a result of use of wells, irrigation, and raised fields to increase agricultural production, cities of Kohunlich, Oxtankah, Chakanbakan, and Dzibanche, and surrounding villages eventually housed over one million inhabitants. Quintana Roo is gateway to Mayan World. The major archaelogical sites in this region inclulde Chichen Itza, Uxmal (Yucatan), Calakmul (Campeche), Palenque (Chiapas). Tikal (Guatemala) Lamanai (Belize), and Copan (Honduras). The Maya have preserved a deep respect for nature and their ancestors. They live in small rural communities and have maintained age-old customs, such as cultivation of milpa or plot of land where they grow maize. Coba was once inhabited continuously for over 1,000 years. Surrounded by five large lakes, only ones in Norhern Yucatan, researchers think Coba was largest concentration of humanity in pre-Hispanic America, containing at one time over 100,000 inhabitants. Excavations have been going on for over three decades with a discovery estimated at uncovering some 20 percent of city. Whether solitary temples, modest villas or sprawling cities, all Maya structures have one thing in common; they all are set high up, triumphant over their surroundings, as this is regarded as an instinctive position. As a vantage point, pyramids become essence of Mayan architecture. There is probably no other place in world where pyramidical structures are used as extensively and deliberately as in Cancun. In Cancun's case, identification is of a visual nature. Emphasis lies on slanted angles reminiscent of pyramids, not in their reproduction. No structure in Cancun even resembles classic description of a Maya-built pyramid. Still evident today are straw huts and palaces crowned by thatched roofs. Unchanged for over 2,000 years, straw hut is rectangular with rounded extremities. Walls are made using sticks covered in mud or plain stone, and serve to support structure for a steep double incline roof made of straw. The frame of these buildings is prototype of Mayan edifices. These people reproduced design of their humble dwellings in stone, greatly refining esthetics in process, and up to today straw huts are almost an identical to those built in first century. The secret to these amazing strutures lies in most versatile component of hovel, its double incline, steeply slanted roof, called palapa in Mexican. Although fragile in appearance, this design is weather resistant (such roofs have been know to survive a hurricane), good thermal insulators, cheap to build and maintain.
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