MEXICO

WARNING: This post is most likely going to be very long and boring for anybody but myself and my family. So if you don't like it, you don't have to read it. I'll never know and I won't be offended if I find out. Promise.

Anyways. . . I have been home from Mexico for a few weeks now but I'm finally getting around to posting about it! We had a lot of fun and I'm so glad I had the chance to spend such a great week with my family. 

  Saturday, December 11, 2010:

We woke up and left the house at like 2:30 in the morning. I was SOOOOOO tired!! I fell asleep as soon as I got in the car. When we got to Las Vegas we were a little early for our flight and we had some time to kill before my aunt Denise came to pick up our car for the week. So we parked in some random parking lot for like a half hour to take a little nap. Haha it was so ghetto. It was like 3:30 Vegas time and people were out in the parking lot! Like what the heck? I thought they were gonna bust a cap on us or something! Then we finally met my aunt at the airport and got checked in and everything. I slept a little on our flight to Denver and then for some reason got WAY sick when we were landing! It was awful. Like I got the little barf bag out and everything haha. But no worries, I held it in and everything was fine after that. When we finally arrived in Cancun I was so happy to feel warm air!! 

(Sorry no pics from today!)

Sunday, December 12, 2010

After sleeping in a little and trying to catch up on some sleep, we all had breakfast and got ready for church. We drove around all over and asked a few people for directions which finally lead us to church after about an hour of driving. The streets and the drivers there were INSANE. Anyways, we made it to the last like 20 minutes or so of sacrament but it was alright because we couldn't understand anything they were saying ha. There were lots of really cute kids though and we got to talk to a few of the members and the missionaries after. They were so nice and so happy to see us there! 

After church we went to go check out some of the little markets near our hotel. We were stalked by a man named Felix for seriously 20 minutes. He tried to sell us everything and was driving us crazy!! It was really funny though. After we checked everything out we went back to our hotel's beach to play. We bought some tubes to ride the waves on and we had a blast! The sand was super pretty and white but it was full of crushed up shells and it hurt so bad when it rubbed your skin. But we'd get knocked around and sucked under the waves and we'd all just laugh our heads off. It was a fun day!! 

Monday, December 13, 2010

It was really really cold and windy when we woke up that morning. We went down to the dock where we were supposed to get on a catamaran that took us to a little island to go snorkeling and stuff but they canceled it because of the weather! We rescheduled it for another day and decided to go explore the ruins and beach at Tulum. It took almost 2 hours to get there! Once we finally arrived we ate some yummy tacos and watched these guys do this cool ceremonial thing. They all start at the top of the pole and strap their ankles in. Then they all lean backwards and start spinning upside-down to unwind the rope from their leg! They go way slow and just spin forever until they reach the bottom. It was so crazy! 

After watching these guys make it to the ground, we made our way over to the ruins. We decided not to go on a tour so we could just look at what we wanted to see and then go play at the beach. While we were walking around we saw these big nasty iguanas all over. Eww they were so nasty. After looking around the ruins for a little while we went to one of the most gorgeous places I have ever been to. This beach was AMAZING. We just relaxed and had fun there for most of the day!

On our way back to the car, there was a man carrying this GIGANTIC, nasty iguana named Tarzan. He let people hold it and take pictures with it but we were all too scared and grossed out. My dad told us he'd pay 100 dollars to whoever held it. So Brady and Katelyn decided to both do it and split the money. It was soooooo gross and it honestly made me gag but they were pretty brave for doing it! Haha we sometimes like to mess around with people and we asked him if it was poisonous. He obviously didn't understand us because he shook his head and said yes! 

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

It was still pretty cold today but we weren't going to let that ruin our fun! We got to go on a jungle tour in these mini boats out to this reef to go snorkeling! It was a lot of fun driving in the boats and we also saw some cool fish! We split up into two boats. My mom, Brinley and I in one and my dad, Katelyn and Brady in another. My dad told us that our guide said that about every 4th group that goes out there to snorkel spots a shark so we were all pretty nervous about that! Then after we got back in the boats he told us he was lying! What a dork! We were FREEZING driving back in the little boats but we still had a blast. Especially when my mom ran into and almost broke three other boats while trying to park back at the dock!! It was so funny and this guy was getting pretty mad at her!! 

After we got back to our hotel, we packed up a few clothes and drove over (about 2 hours again) to Playa Del Carmen (Beach of Carmen) to shop and ride the ferry over to Cozumel. Everyone (but me) got sick on the ferry because it was windy and the boat just sways around in the waves. We were very happy to step off of that thing!!  We took a taxi to our hotel and went to bed! 

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

We all woke up and ate breakfast and then jumped in the car with our snorkeling gear until we ended up at Alberto's. My dad arranged a snorkeling trip on a glass bottom boat for us with Chala as our guide. It was cloudy and cold but probably the most fun I had on the whole trip! The whole time we were riding in the boat we would look through the glass and spot tons of different things! Our first stop we made, Chala called "Creature Island". He would have us follow him and then he'd dive down to the bottom and grab different things for us to hold and to look at! He called them all his pets. We saw a sting ray shark (it was only like 8 inches long) and a sting ray (it was soooo cool!!). We got to hold starfish, a spider crab, grass crab, red shrimp and a little lobster! We also saw a king crab, eel, and a pretty angel fish. It was so neat! Our second stop was at a reef called Columbia. We saw a lot of pretty and colorful fish and Chala kept throwing bread around us so all these silver fish were swarming around us!! It was so cool to have them surrounding us the whole time. We also saw a really cute sea turtle there! When we were done we ate some really tasty food and played some volleyball. 

After we got cleaned up at the hotel, we went to the shops in downtown Cozumel and we also went to this really cool grocery store! There was a little mini mall on the main floor but the actual grocery store was on the top floor. They had a magnetic conveyer belt that you'd get on to take you up to the second floor and the magnets kept the carts from sliding down and killing everyone. It was actually pretty cool! On the way into the store I slipped in this big puddle of oil and almost ate it but I caught myself! It was really funny and I was flopping around for like 7 seconds before I caught my balance haha. 

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Another slightly cloudy, coldish day! We drove out to a place called Punta Sur (South Point). We played on the beach for a few hours. Dad went snorkeling but it was windy so the current made it hard to get out to see anything. We played and relaxed on the beach and my dad threw me in!! They also had a bunch of hammocks that we all laid in and tried to jump over. Katelyn about broke her neck when her foot got caught in one and it was soooo funny. My mom, Katelyn, and I also were spoiled and got massages on the beach!! It was so nice! 

       

After we were done playing at the beach, we climbed 133 steps to the top of this lighthouse!! It was really steep and tiring but there was a way cool view once we were up there! I had never been in a lighthouse before!

Before we left Punta Sur to get some lunch (we were starving!!) we had to check out the crocodiles! We walked out on this old wooden dock type thing over this nasty, stinky swamp and spotted 3 of the 200 crocodiles they have there. It was kinda scary because they're not really fenced in!

After the crocs we went back to Alberto's to eat because they have the best food! We also played another game of volleyball and my team lost :( we were pretty close though and it was a lot of fun because we're all uncoordinated and do some interesting things!!

When we got back to the hotel we relaxed by the pool and packed up and got ready to take the ferry (bleh) back over to Cancun! The ocean behind our hotel was incredible and lots of people snorkeled there and saw some cool things! I love how bright and clear the water is!

Friday, December 17, 2010

Today we woke up to the sun!! It was an amazing sight after all the clouds we'd experienced! Because the weather was so nice we got to take the catamaran over to Isla de Mujeres (Island of Women) to snorkel and have fun! It was a lot of fun soaking up the sun on the boat and looking at the amazingly beautiful water! When we got to a lighthouse we jumped off and went snorkeling. The water was choppy and I was nervous of Brady getting thrown into the rocks but it went ok! My family STILL teases because we had a little flamer named Jerry filming us and they said I was trying to look all cute when I told him "I saw a baracuda!"

Then we jumped back on the boat and drove over to the actual island. It took us about 10 minutes to walk to the other side of the island. It was really small! After we walked around the shops and relaxed on the beach we jumped back on the boat and headed over to Club Med where we ate lunch and kayaked and played around. On our way back to the boat I got into this little blocked off area and held a shark!! Her name was Monica. Her skin had a weird texture and she was way strong!! Brady was so impressed that I held her haha. 

On our ride back to Cancun, the boat got a little crazy. Most of the people there were taking advantage of the free drinks and were getting a little tipsy. The crew on the boat tried to make it fun for everyone so they got different people to dance and do crazy stuff. Even though I didn't have a single drop of alcohol in my system, I was somehow the first person to get up and dance! I looked like a dork but it was fun and it got others to come up too! He eventually even got MY DAD up to dance! Which is incredible if you know my dad.  They also were passing out shots of tequila and Katelyn and Brady chugged down some virgin shots haha. 

Later that night we ate dinner at Outback and did some last minute shopping before we had to leave the next day! SAD!!!

Saturday, December 18, 2010

For some reason the day we had to leave was the most beautiful day there!! No clouds or wind! Just our luck I guess! We packed up all of our stuff and went down to our hotel's beach one last time. We played one round of volleyball and barely got through it before dying of heat!! After my team lost again we all went to play in the waves. Then we decided to go jump in the pool! We hadn't been able to the whole week because the water was pretty cold and it wasn't ever hot enough outside. It was a great last day in Mexico!! I was really excited to get home and see my friends and Sam but I was also sad to leave!! I'm so glad my family and I were able to have this experience together! It was so much fun and it's something we'll all remember for the rest of our lives! 

If you made it through that whole thing then there is one word to describe you.

Endurance.

Haha I seriously don't think I could go through and read that whole thing again! So congrats and sorry that it was so long!! I did warn you though!! You should probably go take a nap or drink a protein shake or something to build up your energy again.