Women are grabbing the last few hours of Indian summer before the holidays hit with three fun in the sun weekend getaways.
This weekend marks the third annual Bliss Weekend in Palm Springs, Calif. Puerto Rico, usually known as the “Isle of Enchangement,” will temporarily be transformed into the “Isle of Lesbos” twice this year, first with Valhalla (October 20 – 23) and a month later followed by Paradise in Puerto Rico (November 17 – 20).
“We are committed to putting together a weekend for women who don’t necessarily go on vacation,” says Christine De La Rosa, co-founder of Movement Productions.
Texas born and raised Christine has created a sanctuary for women, in particular women of color, throwing a variety of popular parties weekly throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. She also produces the annual Eden in the Bay, San Francisco Pride’s women’s weekend event.
Seeing a void in fall getaways for women she created the annual getaway for women, in particular women of color, in the California desert oasis in 2009.
Christine hopes that women will go on vacation. She created Bliss specifically as an affordable three day weekend. Resort rates range from $89 to $159 a night and day passes are $25 – $75 depending on the event. All weekend passes go for $125 – $150 for the all access pass.
While Christine is best known for her smash up parties, Bliss is truly a getaway to the California desert perhaps better known to lesbian and bisexual women and lady golfers as home to Dinah Shore Weekend.
“Palm Springs in October is so nice, [it’s] not too hot and not too cold and Dinah Shore was far enough away,” she said about the event that has attracted up to 250 women from all over the world to the desert resort during the past two years.
This year the Bliss women are taking over the Canyon Club Hotel. Nestled up against Mt. San Jacinto State Park and enclosed by eight-foot walls, this resort offers great outdoor (there is a giant maze with gazebos) and indoor adventures (there’s a dungeon with a sauna steam room) along with a plethora of amenities making a secluded getaway like none other, according to De La Rosa.
Unwinding and relaxing doesn’t equal boredom. De La Rosa doesn’t leave the entire party in San Francisco. This year she’s lined up comedian Saundra Valls, burlesque performer the Lady Ms. Vagina Jenkins, and DJs Lady Ryan and Val G to rock the pool parties and the annual White Party.
“This is more of a vacation. They are coming in to relax and they want to have fun,” says De La Rosa excited about the entertainment. While it’s a party, guests will get to relax and refresh. “It’s going to be a great weekend.”
Party in paradise
Unlike Bliss, Thomas and her pals are pulling out all of the stops to design a weekend to “impress” and “inspire” women with the Paradise in Puerto Rico.
The weekend is luxury all the way at the Rio Mar Beach Resort and Spa, with beachside golf courses and national parks, knockout parties, inspirational workshops, and activities to bring awareness to and support Lupus.
A chronic inflammatory disease, Lupus can affect various parts of the body, especially the skin, joints, blood, and kidneys, according to the Lupus Foundation of America’s website. The disease is two to three times more prevalent among women of color than white women, according to the organization.
The luxury four-day weekend in the Caribbean starts at $380 in the “pin up” package to $1,165 in the “Paradise” package per person with a percentage of the proceeds donated to Lupus research. The packages don’t include airfare.
“This is an opportunity for us to support some of the strongest women that we know,” says Thomas, about raising awareness of the disease and working with the Puerto Rico Convention Bureau to support local Lupus organizations.
Seriousness aside, this trip is about feeling good inside and out. Rio Mar Beach Resort and Spa offers El Yunque National Park as its backyard with hiking, golf courses, and more alongside the Atlantic ocean for sipping cocktails and napping in the sun.
A lot of women are “still looking for that celebration that is going to couple all of their desires, whether it’s a vacation to have a lot to do or a lot not to do, and to just really integrate women, period, on other levels besides their sexuality,” said Camille Thomas, producer of LezPlay Radio.
Thomas is producing the all-girl island getaway with Ms. Theresa “Queen of NJ” Randolph and Keeke “Keerocks” Lucas. The trio makeup some of the East Coast’s “most influential women” who garnered the support of the Puerto Rico Convention Bureau to sponsor the first annual Paradise in Puerto Rico weekend, says Thomas.
Guests will also be able to revel in Puerto Rico’s biggest annual festival Día del Descubrimiento de Puerto Rico (Discovery of Puerto Rico Day) on November 19.
“This vacation will take them to an intersection of all of their passions,” Thomas says about the variety of events from outdoor activities, parties, workshops, volunteer opportunities with local Lupus organizations, and more planned for the weekend.
Learn more about Bliss and Paradise in Puerto Rico, visit: http://www.blissweekend.com/2011/ and http://www.paradiseweekendpr.com/PARADISE-WEEKEND.html.
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