They may be so over as of this week's "Gossip Girl," but co-stars Penn Badgley and Blake Lively are nothing like bitter exes in real life--they recently took a vacation together to the Paraiso de la Bonita on the Riviera Maya, where they smooched in the pool like Dan and Georgina in Queens.

The much-bandied-about fact that Badgley and Lively were once home-schooled together is not the only thing that makes this photo creepy.

If you're worried about going into "Gossip Girl" withdrawal after next week's season finale, mark August 8 on your calendar and catch Lively in "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2," a flick about four best friends in the 'burbs whose preceding film she made long before the CW got her. It also costars former Gilmore Girl Alexis Bledel, Amber "Joan of Arcadia" Tamblyn and America Ferrera of "Ugly Betty"--a veritable television Who's Who.

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· Spotted: G. Making New Friends in First Class on VA [Jaunted]
· Gossip Girl coverage [Jaunted]

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Calling itself the "best kept secret in the Riviera Maya" Freedom Paradise looks and seems like any other three-star hotel outside Cancun. It's got 112 rooms, palm trees, a private beach...yada, yada, yada. Until you look around at fellow vacationers who are likely pushing 400 lbs. Freedom Paradise emphasizes a "live large, live free" slogan and features supersized showers, extra-big beds and reinforced hammocks. It's known as the world's first fat-friendly resort.

It's certainly not an adult fat camp per se, they don't have any special diet restrictions, chefs or weight loss miracle cures. They aren't pushing the overweight to work out or walk every day at 7 a.m. They just want them to feel comfortable at the beach and as one visitor puts it, "tell visitors about their beauty on the inside." They've really thought of everything:

They say we should not wait until we lose the weight to do the things we long to do. They make it easy to try the things right now. I weigh well over 300 pounds and was completely relaxed on the beach there, as I have never been anywhere else. The sand is easy to walk on for a heavy person: your feet do not sink 6 inches with every step.

Hm. 6 inches. The resort's rooms start at around $300/night and they offer packages with airfare and also do weddings and honeymoons. It is an all-inclusive resort--so, not surprisingly, food doesn't cost extra. And the scuba class offers extra weight belts for underwater diving.

Related Stories:
·   Holidays for Fat People [Sunday Times]
·   Freedom Paradise [Official Site]
·   Heavyweight fun just part of the experience [Indepedent Online]

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