Viva Mexico!

It has been quite the busy week! Clint is studying for finals and I've been playing "catch up" at work to make up for the time we spent in Mexico! But I finally have a little bit of time to post some details about our vacation.

Vaccacion...(as they say in Mexico)

Ahhhh! Time to relax...far, far away from it all. Cabo was the perfect place to be!

It was a bit stressful getting to Cabo. (I would suggest NEVER routing through Mexico City if you can...it was a horrendous experience which I would prefer not to share again because I get angry every time I talk about it...Let's just say that if it hadn't been for Jon and Briana's skillfully stubborn tactics at the gate, Clint and I might not have made it on the last plane to leave Mexico City that night!)

Here we are in line at Immigration at the airport which is so evil I will now refer to it as "the airport that must not be named." (That's a Harry Potter reference for those of you who are not as nerdy as my husband and me.) As you can see from this picture, I still look relatively happy and don't yet realize the horror we are about to go through. Clint, on the other hand, must have had a premonition of what was about to come.

But once we finally made it to our resort, things were GREAT!

We were staying in what they call a "Presidential Suite." It was awesome! We had a great view of the ocean and also had our own private hot tub on our balcony!

Monday

So here we are, in some lovely tropical land, far away from reality. We can do whatever we want! And what's the first thing we do???

We go to Wal Mart.

(How's that for escaping from every day life?)

Because our suite had a kitchen we thought we'd try to save a few pesos and make dinner a few nights at our suite. And as a result of our nasty flight troubles at "the airport that must not be named," our bags did not get on the plane with us. So we also had to buy a few necessary supplies...toothbrushes, contact solution, etc. until our bags arrived.

Later on we explored the resort and went down to the beach below our hotel. We could not actually swim at the beach because our resort is located close to Divorce Beach where the waves are very dangerous. (I discovered this when a lifeguard whistled at Briana and I to get out just as a huge wave came upon us...whoops.)

Tuesday

The next morning we went to the pier where we boarded the Pez Gato and sailed to a little bay to snorkel. On the way there we saw two whales! It was one of the most exhilarting moments to see the bodies of these huge creatures rise above the surface of the waves and then watch as their tails gracefully disappeared back under the water. If you want to see a great picture, check out Jon and Briana's blog. Jon caught a great one of their tails. Unfortunately, I only had a water proof camera (with no zoom) so I didn't capture the moment as well.

FYI. Although snorkeling is fun...I have to admit that actually being able to see the fish poop I was swimming through (with the use of my lovely snorkel mask) was a little gross.

Wednesday

We decided to find a beach the next afternoon to just relax in the sun. We were approached by a vendor who talked us into parasailing. I had been parasailing at Lake Tahoe but Clint had never done it so we decided to give it a try. When it was finally our turn and we were all hooked in and the sail was pulling us out above the boat, Clint admitted that he hated heights and that he really didn't want to go parasailing in the first place. At this point, we were VERY high up and it was too late to tell them to reel us back in. And then we heard CRRRREEEEAAAAAKKKKK! That's when Clint said, "Uh, we're going to fall! I just want this to be over." I tried to remain calm and remind him that I was pretty sure the creaking sound was normal but I didn't even believe myself. I kept looking up at the harness, trying to imagine how, should the harness break, I was going to find the super-anti-gravity-power to spring upward and grab hold of the sail itself and avoid the long, deadly plummet into the water. It seemed like the longest 10 minutes of my life!

Here we are celebrating being back on firm ground!

Thursday

On Thanksgiving we took a tour bus into the mountains for a "canyoneering" activity. We got to rock climb, ride a few zip lines, and rapel. It was a lot of fun!

Yes. I know I look incredibly geeky with my hat on under my helmet. I thought it was going to be very sunny and I didn't want to get sunburned. Turned out to be a very cloudy day!

Briana and I made a fantastic Mexican-style Thanksgiving dinner that night! It was a little weird to not be around family and I must admit I missed the turkey and mashed potatoes. But our steak and rice was still pretty good! And I was definitely very Thankful to be in such a lovely place with my hubby and our fantastic friends!





And you've got to be Thankful for a view and sunset like this:

Friday

We lounged by the pool until the afternoon. Notice how nice and tan Briana is looking?

Clint and I were in the hot tub and a man and his wife sat next to us. They took one glance at our pastey white skin and the following conversation ensued:

Old Guy: Wow! You guys must have just
arrived!

Clint and Emily: No, actually. We've been here
for almost a week.

Old Guy (with a very shocked look now): Really?
Where have you been hiding???

It is pretty sad to return from a week long trip in Mexico almost as white as when you left! Where's the fun in coming home to the freezing cold and not having any proof that you were in fantastically warmer weather than everyone else???

Yes. This bee actually crawled completely inside my straw! Good thing I was finished...

...and then we wandered the vendor stands and shops in town. I did my best to haggle but those guys can be pretty hard core! Bri and I ended up folding and bought some bracelets for $7.50 each! We were trying for less than $5. But hey! We did get him down from $25 each!

Saturday
Happy Birthday Clint!

On Clint's birthday we ordered room service for breakfast and ate out on the balcony.

Then we went down to the glass blowing factory...

...and to the pier for a Glass Bottom Boat tour. Our guide was great! He explained names of the fish, pointed out different rock formations, took pictures of us, and took us very close to the sea lions. He even pointed out Sylvester Stallone's vacation home!

The famous arch...

It's a TURTLE!

Forgive my super-high-pitched voice in this video. I tend to squeak when I get excited about something:

When we got back to the pier we saw this place raising money for the wildlife in Mexico. They had a baby tiger and african lion for people to see. For $20, they would let you hold it for a picture. That was probably the best spent $20 of our entire trip.

Later that night we went to dinner at a place called Rafael's. I tried Lobster for the first time and loved it! We got a 15% discount for paying with cash...hmmmm....sounds a little fishy to me. Clint also got a nice Mexican "Happy Birthday" treat as well from the servers!

El FIN
(The End)