Thanksgiving On A Beach

This year for Thanksgiving I spent the day working and at night started the long 10-hour bus ride to Puerto Vallarta. This bus ride was a lot better than the last 10 hour long one because the seats were a lot more spacious and we were driving all at night so it was easier to comatose myself. It was so awesome the first movie they played when we left was Father of the Bride… and they played it in English! It was a good Thanksgiving.

We arrived to Puerto Vallarta at 6am. We took a cab to the good old Holiday Inn. This trip was awesome for me because 12 years ago I was in Puerto Vallarta with my dad and sisters and we stayed at the same Holiday Inn. The city has changed SO MUCH!!

He's kind of hard to see, but I almost stepped on this crab!

We tried to watch sunrise on the beach but it was coming up over the mountains so it was kind of hard to see, plus it was pretty foggy over there.

Catching the early morning fish

Here are some pictures at sunset:

This was the hottie that his job is to get hotel guests to play in the pool, play volleyball, go out at night - drink lots. I definitely went to water aerobics earlier in the day!

That night we had dinner at the hotel and a few of us headed out towards the boardwalk. I didn’t have my camera so I don’t have pictures right now. I’ll wait for some other peps to put some up on facebook. Dad, the boardwalk is so different! It is now a paved street that you cannot drive on and there is no actual boardwalk it’s all paved. There are still the classic sculptures there, but you would not believe all the new restaurants, clubs, and shops. I’m glad we got to see it before it became what it did!

On the very right is the Holiday Inn and the hotel in the middle and to the left are new since I had been there last

The next morning we took a stroll down the beach and I saw two AWESOME things!

1)   We saw dolphins!! It was so cool… I even climbed up the lifeguarding chair to get a better look

I see them!

I figured out I would not make a good lifeguard at the beach because it took me way to long to get down from here

They're they are!! Real dolphins!!

It was SO COOL!!

2)   I saw a Guinness look/act alike!

This dog had a water bottle it was chasing, and it would run into the ocean to get it!! It was so cute because it was like he could go nowhere when the surf was sucking him out but he would ride the wave in and that’s how he got back on the beach. He was super cute! Can’t wait to see Guinness when I get home!!

Here's the little guy riding the wave in

He's thinking: Wait were did my water bottle go?!?

Found it! Can I go again?!?!

A view from the top of the lifeguard stand

Another crab

There was a lot of laying on the beach, taking the sun and taking in a few drinks! We even played a little bit of beach volleyball. I watched for a while but then I finally tried playing… I think it might be a little easier than playing at the sandbar.

Reading on the beach... I LOVE MY LIFE!!

Everyone else playing

Me coaching and taking picutres

I finally played in the next round

It was an awesome trip! We got back at about 7 this morning, so I’ve already taken a couple naps today, cleaned the house, and put up my mini Christmas tree!! Only about 3 weeks until I’m homebound!! I hope I still have some of this awesome tan when I come back!!

First Timer in Mexico City

 

This past weekend I finally go to go to Mexico City! Beto is from there so we got to stay at his family’s house and he showed us the awesome place he calls home.

Just to recap… my BFFs here in Mexico are Maya and Jo, Beto is my other awesome friend who I know though Maya. 

Maya, Jo, & Beto

Me, Maya, & Jo

We left on Friday night for a long weekend, because we did not have school on Monday because of Revolutionary Day. We got to Beto’s house late in the evening and we were lame and called it a night after a nightcap. We had a busy Saturday in store.

Saturday we started off the day by going to Parque de Chapultepec. It is this awesome park that has a bunch of museums, a zoo, and all kinds of restaurants/vendors. Jo and I decided to go to the Anthropology Museum. After a couple of hours we had only made it through half of the place. It was cool to see some of the things from the places I have been. Here are a couple highlights.

The squirrels here are crazy.. they are very tame. AND they look funny!

Museum of Anthropology

Next years Halloween costume

This was really interesting

Here are the paper figures

Like this section because I was there a month ago!!

Stone of the sun... this is commonly mistaken for the Aztec calendar... to find out more read the next pic!

A cute turtle in the pond at the museum... this little girl in the reflection really want to take my picture of me and the tortuga

Chapultepec parque

After that we headed towards Coyacan, which is this little city/square that is truly amazing! We found the best coffee I’ve had down here from El Jarocho. 

After getting great coffee I had to get a great crape to go along with it. After that we did a little shopping in the giant bazaar… there were so many things to look at! After we spent a lot of money it was time to head towards home. Since Beto’s parents were out of town we had to throw a little fiesta. It really brought back some good party memories from high school. Beto, his sister and brother all had friends over and I was shown the BEST tequila I’ve ever had… 3 caballos! It taste like butter tequila and you don’t have a hangover in the morning!

Sunday morning we got up and headed out towards the pyramids in Teotihuacan. When we pulled up I could not believe how huge they were!

This is the Pyramid de Sol. I ACUTALLY CLIMED THIS!! Here we are at the different stages:

At the bottom

After the first little flight of stairs

Check out how steep these steps are!

Just in case you couldn't tell before.. this is the section that almost made me stop! But since I have the BEST FRIENDS EVER they helped me to the top and back down!!

So proud!!

Since we are on the pyramid of the sun

So at the top was this place where you could put your finger/hand and the sun would charge you up. There was a huge clump of people and while I did wait my churn to get charged up, I also found an alternative place where you could stick your whole hand!

After a lot more shopping we headed back towards home. We dropped Jo off so she could siesta and Maya and I went to watch Beto and his friends play soccer. They were awesome! After the came we decided it would be fun to go out and grab a few drinks and food… at least that was the plan.

WARNING: GOOD STORY

We left the house and all of us plus two of Beto’s friends piled into the car to head across town. At some point in our drive we had to pull over because Beto’s car was running to hot. The boys tried to fix it by running a lot of water through the radiator, but I knew enough that when all the water you are pouring into the car is on the ground that it is not a good sign. So, after cooling the engine off we decided we should change up plans and head back towards home… we’ll at least that was the thought.

Not two seconds after pulling out of our parking spot at the park we stopped at we got warned by a polica that we were going down the one way the wrong way… no worries right? WRONG after we were about to turn around the polica came back over to the car and asked Beto for his license. This then turned into Beto getting out and talking with the polica for a good five – ten minutes. The rest of us in the car pretty much knew what was about to happen. All I could think in my head was OMG we are going to have to pool all of our money together to pay this guy off. Turns out in order to get Beto’s license back it cost $100 pesos ($10 US Dollars). I still can’t believe we saw the corruption of Mexico City go down. It’s sad because Beto said it’s the first time it’s ever happened to him. I still don’t think Mexico City is a bad place to be, because there had been a huge crack down on the corruption. But, it did put an interesting twist to the night. After that fun, we tried to go to two different taco stands, but they were closed; so we ended up going to this fair. Not my favorite place to be… especially when you’re excited to eat a corn dog and in the first bit you figure out it’s a hotdog wrapped in a pancake. Now, I realize that might sound good to some people, but I HATE PANCAKES (well most of the time). It was sad. After the fair we just went to bed.

Jo with the only good find at the fair!

Monday morning we woke up and Beto brought his car into a friend to have it looked at. Turns out he needed a new radiator. But, since we live in Mexico, his friend could fix it that day for $1200 pesos ($120 US dollars). When Beto brought his car to his friends; Jo, Maya and I went for breakfast. We found this awesome stand with delicious food! I have learned that I should wait for Jo to order and get whatever she is eating!!

After breakfast we decided that we should find an Oxxo so I could put some minutes on my phone. Randomly as we were walking down the street Beto’s brother found us. (I think 3 gringas stand out A LOT in this particular neighborhood, so we were not that hard to find). He was nice enough to take us on a little adventure. We went to the plaza were I got a movie for my kids to watch this week and we got good coffee again. Beto met up with us and from there we went into the Centro of the city.

The LOCO bus in the awesome plaza!

We spend the day walking around, looking at the Cathedral, trying to get into Diego Rivera’s place where his murals are (it was closed), looking at the pyramids in Mexico City, and having a great comida in the Plaza de Garibaldi. In this plaza you can pick up a mariachis band to bring home if needed. It was finally time to head back to Queretaro. Mexico City was AWESOME and I can’t wait to go back!!! I have a lot more pics on my facebook page if you want to check them out!

Super cool building

As we were walking away from the super cool building I saw this angle thing on top and LOVED it!

The Cathedral

Inside the Cathedral

Since Mexico City is built on a giant marsh some buildings sink. This was a thing hanging from the ceiling that showed up how the church was so slanted.

If you would like to get blessed by the Indians... no worries, they're right here

I can't believe how many people where there... especially when you think of how many left the city for the long weekend. I think I have no idea how crowed it really is in Mexico City

The ruins in Mexico City

The mariachi square!

Tomorrow I head towards the West coast where you can find me on a beach with a drink in my hand! I love 3 day work weeks!!

¡¡¡PUERTO VALLARTA!!!