Day 224: Mexico & Home!

We had breakfast and took our last minute pictures of the beach and resort.  As we piled into the cab Ally started bawling because Greg was staying for another week.  This got Kelli crying because she didn't want to be without him for a week, and then I started crying too just from seeing everyone cry.  What is wrong with me?!

It took us forever to get on the plane - check in went quickly and we had loads of time to shop in the duty free zone.  Deb bought a ton of packages of japanese peanuts, and Eric and I spent our last 100 pesos on a sandwich, fries and a drink.  The air conditioning in the airport was broken, so we were thankful when it was finally time to board the plane.

I ended up having the worst seat - a middle seat with a broken recliner and a scratch across my TV screen.  I spent the whole flight watching episodes of House on my iPod, Eric watched the first two episodes with me and then watched Chris Blue on Comedy Central.  Once we landed, we made it through customs in less than 5 minutes - very easy.

Paul, Deb, Krista, Randy, Kelli, Alli, Eric and I took our hotel trolley back to our hotel from last week to pick up our respective cars and head home.  Paul and Deb dropped Eric and me off at Mom and Alan's house - and Ashley wasn't ready to leave yet so we watched a bit of TV and hung around.  Once Ashley was ready, the two of us took off for Hays, KS.  She drove the first three and a half hours and I drove the last 30 minutes.  She meant to pass it off to me an hour earlier, but kept driving past gas stations and rest stops.

The hotel was really good for only $42!  An overly friendly (read: creepy) guy checked us in, and then we left again to explore the town.  We found her new church and then campus.  I played photographer as we ran around campus - giving her instructions like "throw away the trash" and "study hard" for photo inspiration.

My high expectations and Eric's low expectations (obviously a joke!)

Compromising and meeting in the middle!

Mexico 2011!

Our last shot on the beach, goodbye Mexico!

Panoramic shot of the pool at the resort.

Messed up pano shot of our beach

A much more comfortable cab ride back to the airport!

An antelope on our plane - just in time for the 150th anniversary of Kansas becoming a state

A few of my favorite things!  Dr. Pepper, House, and my husband!

Eric's hand, Kelli, Ally, and me on the way back to our cars at the hotel.

We're riding bikes at Ft. Hays State University!

Day 223: Mexico, Day Seven

We had a quick breakfast this morning before heading out on our second solo adventure (the first being going to the mall and walking home by ourselves).  We caught a cab to a gas station in Jarretaderas, which was only about 10 minutes from the hotel.  We needed change to pay the cab so I ran inside and bought a soda for each of us.  I thought I got a Sprite for Eric, but it was actually a grapefruit flavored Fresca, oops!  A van from the canopy tours company met us at the gas station and took us the next 40 minutes south of Puerto Vallarta.  We couldn't take our camera on the zip lining tour with us - which was a bummer because some companies will let you.  This group wanted to charge us $55 US to have a photographer come along with us - no thanks!

We had 2 really friendly and funny guides, and we were the only people on the tour!  That was a surprise because the guy at the hotel said they were all booked.  Then I asked if there was any way to fit 2 more in, he called, and said we were in.  Hmmm...  We started with two pretty short lines and Eric really liked it.  This was his first time zip lining.  Next, they hooked us up backwards and we flew blindly.  Then came the really crazy tricks - we each had a guide ride with us and we got to flip upside down.  It was pretty scary looking down from the tallest zipline...dangling from just a harness.  We rode with our instructors two more times, this time in Superman position!  We took off our harnesses and put them on backwards and, while the guides held our feet for balance, held our arms straight out in front like Superman.

The second to last line was pretty impressing.  A double line, and our guides hooked a walkie talkie to me, hooked us up, and told us not to jump until we head from them.  Then they left us on the platform by ourselves and we got to race to the other side at the same time!

As is standard practice, any activity in Mexico must be accompanied by tequila tasting.  Salud!  After tasting, the guide told us that if we didn't have cash for it then they could drive us all the way to the hotel (instead of just to Puerto Vallarta) and we could run in for money and pay the driver for the tequila.  Seeing as a taxi from Puerto Vallarta, back to the hotel, would have cost us at least $20, we decided to buy a $35 dollar bottle of tequila and take the free ride home.  We had enough money to pay him up front, but we also got a free ride home!

We were pretty tired so we decided to lay in the sun and read for awhile.  We had planned on going swimming, but both the ocean and the pool were far too cold.  Eventually, we went up to the First Club to play Uno with Ali, and then Mom, Alan, Paul, and Deb came in and Paul & Deb joined in the game.

I chose to go take a nap before dinner while Eric stayed in the First Club with everyone.  He ended up feeding a piece of bread to birds and soon had more than 20 birds on the porch because of it.  At one point Greg shot a bird with a spit wad, hit it, and it fell off the porch (and flew away).

We did the fancy dinner tonight with Mom, Alan, Paul, and Deb, tonight's menu was Mexican.  None of us were terribly impressed with the selection or implementation of the food.  But it was a good chance for all of us to eat together on our last night in Mexico.  After dinner we went up to the First Club to have our last drinks of the trip.  Eric found that one of our Canadian friends, Donna, had forgotten to log out of Facebook once again - so I updated her status to say "How many times do my US friends have to tell me to log out of Facebook?"

We spent the next thirty minutes organizing and packing and then went to play some late night cards with Paul and Deb.  While grabbing the cards from our room, Eric walked right into our chandelier and hit his head.  Here is a sample of our hysterical conversation that evening...

(While playing Euchre)
Eric: I have all of them!
Jessica: You have to be missing 2...
Eric: No I don't, this is only one deck
Jessica: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, ten, nine - you can only have 5!  Or are you talking about suits?
Eric: Yes!  What you talking about?
Jessica: (looks at my hand) I know what you have all of!
Eric: No you don't!
Jessica: Yes! I do! (I have King, Jack, ten, and nine in my hand and Deb had played an Ace)
Paul: (plays his hand) Play your Queen of Diamonds.
Eric: Damn it.

We had a wine bottle painted to say "Eric & Jessica, Puerto Vallarta 2011" for our bottle collection

We weren't allowed to take pictures of ziplining, but this is what the area looked like.  We're on a rock dam in their creek.

This critter visited our pool today.  I would guess him to be about 25-30 inches long

Playing Uno in the First Club

At the fancy Mexican dinner

Paul & Deb

Mom & Alan - haha!

Day 222: Mexico, Day Six

Today we woke up early, and I ran to see room numbers because I had promised to make wake up calls to everyone.  We had to leave the hotel by 7 to catch a water taxi to the pirate ship!  Before we left the hotel I made dinner reservations for me and Eric, and Paul, Deb, Mom and Alan.  When we got dropped off at the pier someone looked at our pamphlet that said breakfast on the pirate ship was from 8-8:45...he told us that was for people in Puerto Vallarta (we were in Nuevo Vallarta) and that the water taxi would be there to pick us up at 8:45.  So we were more than an hour and a half early...nice.  So we walked over to the mall and everything except Starbucks was closed, so we hung out there for the next hour or so because it was pretty cold outside.  We got back just in time to see three pirates ride up on a tiny little motor boat.  They alternated between threatening to throw the crying toddler overboard and using sweet voices asking if he wanted to see an iguana.

Once we got on the pirate ship and settled into our seats, they ushered us downstairs for a pirate breakfast buffet of ham and eggs, a fruit biscuit, and cereal.  Once back upstairs, they taught some men, including Randy, the Macho dance!  They taught us some dances similar to what they did by the pool every year at the Occidental resort (arriba, arriba!  abajo, abajo!), and then made a train of all the ladies... when the train stopped, I had two pirates try to throw me off the ship!  I know they wouldn't have dropped me, but the gate was open and everything!

We stopped at a private beach where we thought about going swimming until we realized how coarse the sand was and how cold the water was.  Eric and I went kayaking with Krista and Kelli, and a pirate followed us with Ally aboard.  A pirate chopped open a coconut for me and I shared the milk with Eric and Ally, yum!  Then Ally and I boarded a banana boat.  Ally was excited until it started moving and then wanted to get off.  About 2 minutes into the ride we capsized and I think I had Ally's lifejacket gripped in my hand before my head made it back above water.  It would have looked pretty bad if I took her out and let her drown.  I spent the last 20 minutes at the beach laying in the sun, which made me super tired.  There was more dancing and a contest where some kids fed baby food to their moms.  We said goodbye to our personal pirates - Viking, Stinky Boots and Pete, and boarded a pontoon boat back to Nuevo Vallarta.  Eric and I both napped in the sun during the ride back, getting ourselves some bad sunburns.

Eric and I stayed at the mall by the pier to finish some shopping, while everyone else taxied back to the resort.  Eric his red linen shirt, and I got some necklaces for myself and Ashley.  We couldn't find a cab straight away, so we decided to sneak through the Occidental Hotel's vendor entrance to the beach, and walked back to our resort.  We were both exhausted and burned, so we made the long walk in about an hour.

We showered and got dressed up for dinner, but couldn't find anyone.  Eventually we found Grandma, Grandpa, and Greg at dinner and found out that there was some confusion about the reservations at the Italian Restaurant and that Mom, Alan, Paul, and Deb were already at dinner, and our reservation was still at 8:30pm.  We had some iced tea and stayed to talk for awhile before going to our dinner.  If was quite a fancy affair - with small portions, fancy plating, and some really delicious food!  At the end of the meal they made us a flaming coffee drink which was fun to watch him make and yummy to drink.  After so much sun and such a busy day, we went to bed pretty much right after dinner!

Waiting for the water taxi 

Eric taking advantage of Alan's electric razor 

Aren't we cute? 

Everyone crammed into a tiny motorboat, with the pirate ships straight ahead! 

Breakfast in the ship 

Randy participating in a "Macho" game 

Poor Eric! 

Argh!  He is hanging me and about to sword me! 

On our way back from the beach 

At our fancy dinner 

Our Italian Menu

Day 221: Mexico, Day Five

We scheduled our activity for the afternoon today, so we could enjoy a morning at the resort.  What ended up happening is that we slept until 9:30 and grabbed breakfast.  Then we changed and walked down to the ocean where it was too cold to swim - so we laid out with our books.  That was short lived because the skies were cloudy, so it didn't really warm up.  We went upstairs to change into our ATV clothes and then wandered around the resort talking to various family members.

Last night Eric left his library book at the dinner table, and we had to ask around to find it this morning.  Grandma Judy let us know that we can't have kids until we stop losing things!  Because yesterday I left my camera in a cab and Eric lost his book.

Next we got some water from the First Club and snacks from the hotel gift shop, so we wouldn't have to pay for the lunch provided at the ATV tour.  We met Krista and Randy in the lobby, and they waited in the sun while we booked our zip lining tour for Friday.  Zip lining is something we've both been looking forward to since we were invited to Mexico, but everyone bailed on us and we'll be going alone.  We're both a bit nervous to venture out of the hotel, 45 minutes away, on our own - but I'm sure we'll do fine.  Taxis are a pretty standard experience for us these days.

Speaking of which, a dingy little taxi picked us up a few minutes later and dropped us off at the ATV place just minutes later.  We were a little worried because the ATV's seemed to be on the street...where all of the Mexican drivers are crazy, and the tour guide took our ticket, but was ignoring us even as we approached and passed the departure time.  It turned out that the group ahead of us was just being difficult and we left a few minutes later.  If you forget your drivers license, you can just pay them $20 US; and if you forget a credit card, you can just pay them $5 US.  I found that amusing, but we had all of our cards on hand.

We got instructions on how to ride - including "these don't have reverse...well, they do...but don't touch it!" and "even if you are a professional and own 20 ATV's, you will follow our rules!"  I rode on the back of Eric's ATV and Krista & Randy each rode their own.  We doubled up just to save money ($65 US for a single and $75 US for a double), but ended up really liking being together and being able to talk the whole way.  We were going to switch drivers halfway through, but I really enjoyed just bumping around and enjoying the view, so I stayed on the back.

The ride was really interesting - we had helmets, goggles, and bandanas to protect ourselves from the dust.  We started off riding through the town of Bucerias and then detoured into the jungle.  It was dry at first, but then there were about a dozen little creeks that we ran through, including one deep enough that we had to run one at a time in case an ATV got stuck.  At one point the tour guide said "okay, don't touch the monkeys up ahead!" and the lady behind me said "don't worry, we'll keep our hands off of you".  But then he climbed a tree and started hooting like a monkey, so that must have been what he meant.  There were also cows all over the place!  To the side of the course and right in front of us.

After about 30 minutes of riding, we ended up at the restaurant/bar/tequila tasting.  I don't think I could tell you how many shots of tequila we've had in the last week!  We ordered our food and beers and then went upstairs for the tasting while everyone's meals cooked.  The first two were straight tequilas - 1 and 7 years old... both terrible, in my opinion.  I learned that white tequila is for mixing and yellow tequila is for sipping.  That's because yellow tequila is more expensive and has spent time in an oak barrel for flavor, and all of the flavor is lost if you mix it.  We also tried almond (good, but not enough residual flavor), sour apple (very good!), peach (eh...), pina colada (our favorite!!!), coffee (delicious), and cappuccino (too creamy, not enough flavor).

When the demonstration was over, we went downstairs for our lunch.  Krista & Randy, and Eric & I ordered the chicken nachos, which serves two.  They were the most delicious and satisfying $12 US nachos that we have ever had!  They were great!  We had time to relax and chill for a few more minutes before they called us back to the ATV's.  Unfortunately the ride back was a little shorts and not quite as scenic - we rode in an empty drainage ditch.

They made sure we all had taxis when we returned - and we got to ride in a new Nissan Sentra, which is the nicest cab we've had so far.  We decided to get in either the ocean or pool to rinse off the dust that had coated us...and quickly decided the both the ocean and pool were too cold.  We were rinsing off in the beach showers and decided to give the pool a second shot.  So we cannon balled in, so there would be no second guessing, and made our way to the stairs out of the pool as fast as possible!

This led to some more reading by the pool and everyone split up, deciding to meet at dinner.  So we read up until just after six and then showered and changed before meeting up at dinner.  Grandma, Grandpa, Greg, Kelli, and Ally didn't join us, because they went to the mall and had Dominos.  We ate with Paul, Deb, Mom, Alan, Krista, and Randy.  We sat around talking for a good while before heading up to the First Club, where everyone continued with their sitting around and talking until we were kicked out at 9pm because they were closing.

We came back to the room and watched some Kevin Costner movie about the death penalty, and I ended up scratching Eric by and ON his eye when I reached across him for something on his night stand - ouch!

Picking up our towels! 

Bird in flight! 

 Panoramic shot off our porch

Panoramic shot of our room 

Ready to ride some ATV's! 

Krista & Randy at the ATV place 

Eric and I at the ATV place 

Ready to roll out in our dust gear! 

And there was plenty of dust!

Day 220: Mexico, Day Four

We had a late start today...waking up at 8:30 and then Eric puttered around the room and read his book while I working on getting the blog updated.  When we went to breakfast, I learned that Eric was a little hungover from his personal drinking challenge.  On Saturday evening, he had 6 drinks (it was only a half day), on Sunday he had 12 drinks throughout the day and resolved to one-up himself every day.  Yesterday, he had 14 drinks...and today he was feeling it.  But he was back to usual by an hour or so after breakfast.

I set up the Pirate Ship tour for Eric and me, Paul and Deb, Mom and Alan, Krista, Randy, Kelli, and Ally.  Then Mom, Alan, Paul, Deb and I went out in a cab to the mall at Paradise Village, which is the one right across from the Occidental hotel.  We did some window shopping and ended up buying a Dr. Pepper and Pepsi Kick (+ caffeine and ginseng) at the grocery store.  Then we had lunch at a Mexican McDonald's - which tasted just as good and cost a little less.  They have 4 chicken nuggets on their value menu!

We did some walking after that.  We visited the pyramid bathrooms and walked by the Occidental, where a security guard shooed us away.  Then Alan hailed a cab which was the nicest we've ridden in so far.  He gave us a business card and invited us to call him for any tours.  This was nice because Mom, Alan, Paul, and Deb have been talking about doing a tour f the cities and cemeteries.  This was highlighted by the fact that he would also take you through the jungle and to see waterfalls, all for $30/person for 6 hours.

The beach was calling our name when we got back to Samba, so we headed up to our room to change.  This is when I realize my camera is missing.  I conclude it was left in the cab and manage not to panic because the man seemed really nice and we had his phone number.  This was unreal because we haven't had a cab driver do that before.  I took his number to the front desk and asked for help calling and asking about the camera.  I hear a blur of Spanish sprinkled with "verde", "camara", and "pesos".  The desk clerk nods and speaks some more, keeps nodding, and give me a thumbs up - my green camera is on its way back to the hotel as we speak!  While we waited for him to get back, Krista, Randy, Eric and I scheduled our ATV tours for tomorrow afternoon.  The van pulls up in the circle drive and I run out - he opens the back door and gestures to the camera...exactly where I'd left it.  I give him $150 pesos and thank him profusely!

After this, we are ready to relax.  We make our way down to the beach and find that Alan has gotten boogie boards for us.  Paul, Deb, Eric and I spent the next hour riding waves in the ocean.  Eric was nervous about it at first, but this was quickly outweighed by how fun it was.  He started getting ballsy and said we should hold hands as we ride a wave it, because most times we ended up elbow to elbow the whole wave anyway.  We waited for a huge wave and took off...but one of the backward waves hit us at the same time and drug our boards under and they hit the sand.  This threw both of us off the boards and we simultaneously lost our $5 Wal-Mart sunglasses as we tumbled underneath the salty waves.  Luckily, this didn't deter us - we all had a blast riding the waves right up until they had to be turned in at 4:30.  Mom and Alan stood knee to waist deep in the water watching and taking pictures, Mom even got a video of our wipeout.

Then everyone showered and met back down at the beach for sunset couples pictures.  Mom took pictures of Eric & Me, Krista & Randy, and Paul & Deb, then I took some pictures of Mom and Alan before we went to dinner.  Eric and I sat with Krista and Randy, instead of with our families, because we wanted to also sit and talk with Grandma and Grandpa.  But when Grandma and Grandpa got back from the buffet, they decided to move to the "grown-up table" and dubbed us the "kiddie table", sad story, but we got to talk more with Krista and Randy.  Then Greg, Kelli, and super tired Ally joined us shortly after.  There was a cute cat meowing incredibly loudly at dinner - who ended up scratching both Ally and Kelli when they tried to pet it without giving it food.

After dinner we met Paul, Deb, and Kelli in the First Club and taught Kelli how to play Farkle.  We said goodbye to Ramon, he'll be off of work until after we leave.  Then we finished the game in Paul and Deb's room - Paul won with Eric, Kelli, and Deb close behind...I wasn't even close.  Tonight was another early night - straight to bed after we finished the game.

$7.30 pesos for Dr. Pepper!

$58-60 pesos for McDonald's meals 

This pyramid actually houses a set of bathrooms. 

Om nom nom!

Day 219: Mexico, Day Three

We weren't the first ones up tonight, but we slept really well.  Breakfast was good and then we met up in the First Club for mimosas.  Then everyone except Krista and Randy puled into a van and headed out to Puerto Vallarta for shopping and lunch.  All the way there we played slug bug between me, Ally, Eric, and Alan.  At one point Ally saw 3 in a parking lot and rapid-fire hit Eric and me saying "slugbugwhite!slugbuggreen!slugbugpurple!"  When we got out of the van we started walking down the edge of the beach and saw some really great sand sculptures and then saw the Mexican pole dancers, where they swing upside down off of a pole that is probably more than 40 feet tall.

We spent some time looking in the flea markets, but didn't buy anything yet.  Then our group split up and we went to Bubba Gump Shrimp with Grandma and Grandpa, Greg, Kelli, & Ally.  Paul, Deb, Mom, and Alan went to Burger Paradise.  Everyone ordered a soda, except Eric who got a margarita.  The margarita game with the entire staff singing "Shake it, Shake it!  Get down, get down!  Back up, back up!  Around, around!  Shake it!!!"  I think Eric blushed...  Then when they brought the check, Grandpa said "This is in pesos, right?!" because the total was $1326.

After lunch we met up at Mom & Alan's favorite jewelry store in Mexico.  I skipped over the gold, diamonds, and gemstones and went to the tables of stainless steel.  I found a really awesome chain link rink for $6 that became my "it's okay if it falls off in the jungle or ocean" Mexican wedding ring, because we left our wedding rings at home in the safe.  Grandma, Grandpa, Greg, Kelli, and Ally headed home after this - Ally with her new Mexican wedding ring, with a "real" diamond, wink-wink.

Our first stop back on the street was an artist creating the spray paint art pieces for $15!!!  Eric and I showed him the three designs that we already have (the eye in the pyramid, a scene of Atlantis, and a beach scene), and asked for something different incorporating red, blue, and black.  He made us a fantastic scene that doesn't look like any of the others on display.  Then Paul and Deb had him make a waterfall scene just for them, and we bought a premade all seeing eye for Brian & Jen.

As we walked on, Deb and I found ourselves ready to haggle and purchase some things for ourselves.  She got a blue purse that started at 300 pesos and I got 4 headbands that started at 40 pesos each.  We ended up paying a total of 250 pesos - woo!  Then I got a 200 peso bottle of vanilla down to 170, but we found the same bottle around the corner for only 100 pesos - blast!  Eric had his share of haggling and got a 40 peso cigar for 20, but then found better quality ones for the same price a while later.

I missed out on a lot of pictures from this excursion because I'm not used to having to charge my camera every day and it was dead most of today.  Mom got some good pictures of the swinging bridge, which I took full advantage of rocking it back and forth.

Our favorite stop was a tequila shop where the guy gave us shot after shot of straight and flavored tequilas.  We ended up getting a bottle of tamarin flavored for me and a bottle of blackberry flavored for me, $28 dollars each.  We paid and as we were leaving, the guy selling to us asked us if we had ever had Corona straight from the barrel.  We said no and he gave us three bottles for free!  We hit another tequila shop on the way out of town where they had a buy-one-get-one-free deal on flavored tequilas for $28 dollars each - blast us finding a better deal around every corner!  So Deb bought 2 bottles and we got a bottle of Vanilla tequila, after splitting the difference and a tip this one was only $19 dollars.  Eric asked the guy at the second tequila place if he sold zip lining tours, because it seems like all shop owners are also tour guides, and this guy offered it to us for $40 dollars each!

We were waiting around for a van cab to pull up and I actually hailed one off the street!  Then he got pulled over and ticketed one block later... He is a white cab and is only allowed to pick people up in the state of Nayarit.  We were in the state of Jalisco, where only yellow cabs are allowed to pick people up.  But he was still allowed to take us home, so it was all good.

After we got back, we found out that the guy who sold us the ATV tours was a sham, and that Krista and Greg had to take 5 security guards with them to get our $200 dollars back from him.  Luckily, the money was returned and there were no problems.  Then we changed and headed to the ocean with Mom, Alan, and Ally. We jumped in the huge waves, I found a sand dollar, and we took some fun pictures with my waterproof camera.

We showered and headed to dinner, which was immediately followed by Toy Story in Spanish.  Kelli and I grabbed out laptops and played on Facebook while watching.  Then Eric and I joined Krista and Randy on the beach where the boys smoked their Mexican cigars.  When they finished, we met up with Paul, Deb, Mom, and Alan in the lobby bar and talked for a good long while.  Mom and Alan headed to bed and the rest of our crowd went down to watch the show - dancing and tequila shot yelling contests.  Eventually, it was just Eric and I talking with Krista for an hour before the disco started.  That was really cool, because Krista and I have been cousins for 11 years, and have never gotten to know each other.  We spent about a half hour at the disco before calling it a night and heading to bed at about 11:30.

Mimosas in the First Club to start the day! 

Crazy sand sculptures! 

Mexican pole dancers! 

Eric's Bubba Gump Margarita 

Making a wish in the wishing well 

He's painting that for us! 

Kelli and I on our laptops while watching Toy Story in Spanish 

Randy and Eric enjoying cigars 

Everyone in the lobby bar 

End of night Pina Coladas!