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The Search for Paradise

Posted by Iberostar Hotels & Resorts in Mystery Guest - (0 Comments)

We want you to win a trip to Paradise!

Again we want to give you the chance to win a 7-night stay at the hotel you find. Plus, you’ll also win a GoPro HD photographic camera to take pictures!

We want you to win so, we’re making it easy! We are giving you clues throughout the game.

How can YOU win?

  • You’re not a facebook fan yet, “LIKE” us HERE

  • Click on the contest tab The Search for Paradise

  • We’ll give you some clues. It will be on the left side of your screen.

  • You can move & zoom in and out of the map to search for the hotel.

The 1st person that finds the hotel WINS!!!! You have two chances to win per day.

Good luck!

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Vanilla Flan (Vanilla Custard)

Posted by Iberostar Hotels & Resorts in Mystery Guest - (0 Comments)

“Flan” is the Spanish name for vanilla egg custard, topped with caramel sauce. Flan makes a great finish to any meal because even though it is sweet, it is a light dessert.

  Ingredients for 4:

2.5 cups of milk
 100 g of sugar
 4 eggs
2 vanilla beans

 Caramel Ingredients

 150 g of sugar
1/4 tsp. of water

Directions:

Put a heavy skillet or saucepan over medium heat. Add the sugar. With a wooden spoon, keep the sugar moving constantly in skillet until sugar is completely melted, and of a rich medium brown color (caramelized). Pour the caramel into dish. 

In another saucepan boil the milk with the vanilla.  Meanwhile in a mixing bowl add the eggs beat slightly, Mix in the sugar. Stirring constantly, gradually add hot Milk. Pour the mixture into the dish that already has the caramel.

Place the filled casserole dish into a larger pan and add 1 inch of HOT water to the outer pan. Bake at 150 ° C for about 25 minutes.

Bon appetit!

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PIÑA COLADA

Posted by Iberostar Hotels & Resorts in Mystery Guest - (0 Comments)
Photo by: DeaPeaJay

Pina Colada

The piña colada Cocktail was a drink created in San Juan Puerto Rico.  Piña colada is the official drink of Puerto Rico. It’s a sweet, rum-based cocktail made with rum, coconut cream, and pineapple juice, usually served either blended or shaken with ice.  

The secret is to choose the best ingredients to have a great refreshing drink.

Ingredients
8 people

  • 1 liter (4 cups) of fresh pineapple juice
  • 250 ml coconut cream (Rum)
  • Ice
  • Rum (Optional)

 Optional: Add a few drops of vanilla.

 Preparation:

Put the ice, pineapple juice, coconut cream, and the white or dark rum into a blender. Blend until smooth and frosty. Pour the drink into the glasses and garnish the rim with pineapple slices.

Photo | DeaPeaJay on Flickr

A sip of the delicious authentic piña colada may have you booking one of the Iberostar Hotels in the Caribbean before you finish the drink!

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Interview:Wedding Planner in Jamaica

Posted by Iberostar Hotels & Resorts in Mystery Guest - (0 Comments)


We’ve asked Janielle Feurtado to share some of her insights on Destination Weddings in Jamaica.

For people who may not be familiar with you or your work, can you share a bit about yourself, your background, and how you came to be the wedding planner for Iberostar in Jamaica.

 My name is Janielle Feurtado I am 22yrs old. As a child I always found great joy in making people happy.  Hence growing up I realized that the hospitality Industry was the place for me.  After working as the assistant wedding coordinator for another chain of resorts I established that I could make it my career. After all I do possess the profound ability of interaction. Since assuming the my position at the Iberostar Grand Rose Hall, I have grown as an individual and have better been able to fulfill every feasible request for my brides and grooms even their  knack for fine detail.

Tell us about the “Grand Promises” package. What does it include, what are the options?

The “Grand Promises” Is a legal ceremony package and is considered as an upgrade from the basic “Promises” package. It covers from 2-10 persons. In taking advantage of this package you will receive amenities upon arrival as well as the day of your wedding special bridal services at the Spa are also included. Please see attached package for further inclusions. How many couples take advantage of the package each year? At least 50-60 couples per year.

Would it be possible to ask a couple of questions of a recently married couple? 

Yes it would be possible to contact a pass couple.  You can contact Mr. & Mrs. Whannell (mandykmuse@gmail.com  for Amanda or mwhannell@gmail.com for Micheal).

How far in advance do you recommend couples book to get their chosen date?

I recommend that as soon as a couple has a specific season or month in mind they start shopping for their desired dates. As “dates go real fast “time which is the most popular month for weddings at the resort?  The month that I would say is the most popular month is July.

How many wedding venues are available on property, what are they, and which is the most popular?

Here at the Grand we have 4 Wedding Locations;

  • The Beach-accommodates up to 200 persons, most popular location
  • The Lobby Terrace- accommodates up to 80 persons. This area is mostly used by brides who want to have the ocean as the back drop in their photos, but not having to deal with sand in their shoes.
  • The Garden Terrace- accommodates up to 20person. This location provides a naturistic atmosphere for those brides who love the “green feel”
  • The Dome- accommodates up to 100 persons. This location is used as a backup location for our weddings in the case of rain. Overtime we have had an influx of brides choosing it as their wedding location. It is ideal for those brides who desire a cathedral feel.

 What’s the most unusual request you’ve had for a wedding package?

The most unusual request…I would have to say would, to have our “Grand Promises package used as the complimentary package. To built a board walk from the stairway leading up the Ach on the beach in order for the couple not to walk on the sand.

Can you share with us a particularly special moment you remember from a wedding on site? And/or a memorable quote or thank-you note you received from a happy couple?

The most memorable moment for me at a wedding was on Oct 21, 2011. When the bride broke in tears after cutting her cake and realizing that it was her favorite cake. The most memorable quote would be “ Janielle laid every petal on the aisle as if each petal had its own place and had to be perfect.”

If you’re planning a Destination Wedding at the IberoStar Hotel in Jamaica don’t hesitate to call Janielle Feurtado. She’ll go above and beyond to make your wedding day perfect!

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The Pirate’s Daughter: Errol Flynn’s Jamaican Love Affair

Posted by Andy Jarosz in The View - (0 Comments)

Errol Flynn's Zaca

In Like Flynn

It’s not easy to create a work of fiction and drop into it a character who was not only real, but so well known that many critics claim a first-hand knowledge of the personality of his character. Yet when Margaret Cezair-Thompson wrote The Pirate’s Daughter and told the story of Errol Flynn and his time in Jamaica, she took on precisely this challenge. That the reviews of her book are generally positive is perhaps the highest compliment of her success.

The Pirate’s Daughter starts with Flynn shipwrecked on his ship Zaca and arriving on a Jamaican beach near Port Antonio. He is keen to lie low, escaping as he is from legal proceedings against him in the United States for sexual misdemeanors. He soon has his own house in Jamaica and promptly falls in love not only with the island, but also with its attractive inhabitants. Ida, a beautiful young girl of 13 and the daughter of Flynn’s driver Eli Joseph, has a serious crush on Flynn. He however ignores her attentions, at least until she reaches the age of 16.

Growing up on Jamaica

Soon enough, Ida is pregnant to Flynn and gives birth to May. The book then follows the life of May as she battles her way through a harsh childhood. Errol Flynn doesn’t stick around (he dies when she is still a child) and May and Ida face various prejudices due to their mixed-race heritage. Ida goes to work in the US while May is left to fight alone, displaying more than a few of the headstrong and reckless character traits of her famous father.

The book has been well received in Jamaica. As she spins out the story of May and Ida, Cezair-Thompson weaves into the tale a rich and colourful depiction of her native Jamaica; of its varied and often spectacular landscapes, of its multi-layered and complex history and most vividly of all of the diversity of the island’s people.

Flynn’s Jamaican Legacy

Some folks in Jamaica would also have raised a wry smile at the theme of Cezair-Thompson’s book. Errol Flynn was a renowned womanizer and there are more than a few middle aged folks on the island who claim to be the offspring of Flynn’s dalliances with local women. If Flynn is a very real character in the story, May is someone with whom quite a few people on the island might identify themselves!

Photo: Donan Raven via Wikimedia Commons

Just like Errol Flynn fell in love with the Jamaica; you too can experience love at first sight with the island when you visit one of the Iberostar Hotels in Montego Bay.

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Phase 2 Winner – Walk of Fame

Posted by Iberostar Hotels & Resorts in No category - (1 Comment)

We completed the second phase! Finally got the 14,000 stars!
Thank you for making this happen!

Winner Phase 2: Kyle Dubourdieu
Winner Phase 1: Johane Lavallee

Don’t worry you still have two more chances to win. So let’s get 15,000 “likes”!
Remember the more you share, the faster we do the drawing!

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Quinoa Salad

Posted by Iberostar Hotels & Resorts in Mystery Guest - (0 Comments)

For all who want to enjoy restaurant food at home, today we’re giving you another recipe: “Quinoa Salad”. A simple recipe, light and above all very, very healthy.

We hope you enjoy it.

Serves 4

100 g of quinoa
25 g of goji berries
1 leek
1 red pepper
1 carrot
70 g of oyster mushrooms
100 g of sprouts varied
½ dl olive oil
Sesame oil
Soy sauce
Pepper and Salt

Directions:

  • Cook the quinoa in a pot with water and salt for 25 minutes.
  • Once the quinoa is cooked, drain and add refresh water in a strainer.
  • Put the olive oil and sesame oil in a skillet and sauté all the vegetables cut into squares (except the berries) you want to leave them al dente.
  • Put the quinoa in a bowl and add the vegetables and berries.
  • Season it with soy sauce and some pepper.
  • To place on a dish, you can put the quinoa in a pan mold and garnish with sprouts sprinkled on top.

NOTE: The Goji Berry is a small red berry produced by the Lycium Barbarum plant, which is native to certain remote regions of China, Tibet, and Mongolia. Goji fruit is one of the most beneficial and nutritious for the body. You can find them in health food stores.

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Reality Bites: The Sharp Truth About the Piranhas of Brazil’s Amazon

Posted by David Paul Appell in Snapshots - (0 Comments)

A couple of months ago I found myself face to face with a school of piranhas, and lived to tell the tale. OK, the little buggers were in a tank at Parque Explora in Medellin, Colombia, whose unusual aquarium is devoted to Amazonian fauna. Common throughout the Amazon and its connected rivers – most of which of course fall within the borders of Brazil, the silvery shapes flitting by were mesmerizing but didn’t look particularly threatening  - but then I remembered a souvenir my mom and dad brought back from a cruise similar to the Iberostar Grand Amazon: a piranha skull with some mighty wicked-looking toothies.

Indeed, it’s those pointy little choppers that have fueled piranhas’ legendary rep as vicious predators that can strip a cow (or person) clean in a matter of minutes. A lot of that, It turns out, is myth. Most of the 20 or so species swimming around out there are pretty shy and rarely attack humans. Many, many Brazilians swim and wade in Amazonian waters without incident, and most of the bites reported tend to be around docks where fishermen are gutting their catch, spilling blood and guts in the river. In fact, the scary rep is pretty much singlehandedly (singlefinnedly?) the doing of one particular species, the red-bellied piranha (above). Having said that, every once in a while stuff does happen – last month in Caceres, in the western Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, piranhas suddenly started showing up at a popular river swimming beach and taking nips — well, sometimes entire toes and such ; authorities are still trying to figure out was behind such unusual behavior. A friend of mine who was in the area recently says that local fishermen have shrugged it off as an isolated incident.

But on the whole, experts say, piranhas are pretty much just regular ol’ fish with slightly larger teeth, and a necessary part of the food chain in parts of South America (including landing on humans’ dinner plates; my aforementioned friend tells me they’re absolutely delicious broiled, grilled, in soup, and so on). If you do venture into Amazon waters, you can even take some effective precautions, such as not swimming or wading with a bleeding cut or during the dry season (when waters are low), and keeping splashing and thrashing around to a minimum. Not that I’m suggesting swimming with piranhas, of course, just saying that locals have found ways to coexist with these little buggers for centuries.

photo |  Jonas Hansel

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Man vs. Wild: Bear Grylls in Mexico!

Posted by Nellie Huang in Local Characters - (0 Comments)

He’s known for his gut-wrenching survival skills and daredevil stunts. He’s sliced open carcasses of wild animals, eaten deer droppings, wrestled alligators and used the corpse of a sheep as a sleeping bag – all in the name of survival. He’s the face of extreme adventure – he’s Bear Grylls, the host of survival TV series, Man vs. Wild.

Born Adventurer

Grylls’ Man vs. Wild show has become one of the most watched shows on the planet, reaching approximately 1.2 billion viewers around the world. Born and raised in Northern Ireland, Grylls was taught how to climb and sail by his late father. Trained from a young age in martial arts, Bear then spent three years as a soldier in the British SpecialForces. It was here that he perfected many of the skills that he pits against Mother Nature. In 1998, Grylls achieved his childhood dream and entered the Guinness Book of Records as the youngest Briton, at 23, to reach the summit of Mount Everest, just eighteen months after breaking his back. Grylls has since led numerous record-breaking expeditions which have raised over $2.5 million for children around the world.

Adventure in Mexico

In each episode of Man vs. Wild, Grylls strands himself in the inhospitable wilderness and demonstrates impressive survival techniques along the way. The show has featured Grylls performing incredible stunts like climbing cliffs, parachuting from helicopters, balloons, and planes, ice climbing, running through a forest fire and wading through rapids.

One memorable episode saw him navigating Copper Canyon in Mexico, one of the up-and-coming hiking hotspots in the country. The overall canyon system is made up of hundreds of deep, twisting gorges and it’s larger and deeper than the Grand Canyon. Parts of the canyon are so remote that they are still unmapped – without a guide, getting lost is almost guaranteed.

At the start of the episode, he gets dropped off at the top of the canyon from which he overcomes numerous obstacles to find his way down to the bottom. Along the way, he jumps into the intimidating canyon rivers, encounters flash floods and eats scorpions for energy. You’ll also see him climbing sheer cliffs, catching trouts with a makeshift needle and thread and setting up camp fires by night. In the episode, you are treated to the beautiful landscapes of Copper Canyon and the verdant greenery of Mexico that you rarely see elsewhere.  If adventure is what you’re looking for in Mexico, then you know where to go next!

Photo | RHTraveler

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Pirates of the Caribbean: The True Story

Posted by Andy Jarosz in The View - (0 Comments)

Under water Ship Wreck

A little over 300 years after it was scuttled and left to lie at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, the Quedagh Merchant was recently discovered just off the coast of the Dominican Republic. This famous shipwreck is now being opened up to the diving public as an imaginative new attraction, the Museum of the Living Sea. The story of how it got there is a real life tale of Pirates of the Caribbean and one of which Captain Jack Sparrow himself might be proud.

The Rise and Fall of Captain Kidd

Captain Kidd had arrived at Catalina Island in 1699 in the Quedagh Merchant, a ship he had recently ‘acquired.’ Kidd worked for the English government as a privateer, his task being to keep the seas clear of pirates to allow the Crown’s trading to carry on safe from attacks. Unofficially his task was also understood to include taking possession of enemy ships and it was this element of the job that landed him the prize of the Quedagh Merchant. Having been a successful privateer for many years he saw the treasures on the ship as just reward for his hard work.

His exploits by this time had caused anger and concern back in London, and having left his newly won treasure at Catalina Island he was arrested and taken to London for his trial. Despite his defense that he was only carrying out his duties, Captain William Kidd was convicted as a pirate and hung in 1701, with his corpse left on display in an iron cage for several years as a warning to others.

Shipwreck

With Kidd out of the way, the ship was quickly stripped of its gold, silver and other precious materials and cut loose to break up and fall to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.  It sailed barely 70 meters from the shore of Catalina Island before sinking, yet for some reason it lay undiscovered until 2007. Several cannons and anchors were still attached, and while the marine life had grown around the wreck it was still easy to identify it as the Quedagh Merchant.

Living Museum of the Sea

The government of the Dominican Republic has collaborated with Indiana University to open up this unique underwater museum.  Visitors can follow plaques that guide them around the wreck and offer information on the rare corals that are found at the site. It seems that after a three centuries-long pause, the Quedagh Merchant is attracting interest once again.

Photo | SeRVe Photography

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