More fun in Acapulco!

On Saturday night, after a long day at the beach, the girls and I decided to get dressed up and go out to a nice dinner at a place called, Mirador. At the resturant you can view the famous Clavados (cliff divers) of Acapulco. We had a wonderful meal and a great atmosphere. I had fresh lobster and sea bass and it was incredible!

Here is a picture of where the cliff divers jump from. The divers jump into the water from the cliff on the left side, and then they swim to cliffs on the right side and proceed to climb to the top. After climbing to the top of the cliffs, they then jump into the narrow water below. It was incredible to see these guys risk their lives to entertain us tourists. Unfortunately my camera didn't capture the beauty of it all, but believe me, it was incredible! We were so lucky to be able to come to Acapulco for the weekend and enjoy the sites and the culture and the beach. I am so lucky beyond all imagination and God continues to bless me every day!

As of today, November 18th, I only have 6 days left in Mexico. I have conflicting emotions about leaving the place that I have come to know and love and the people who have become like family to me. I am so thankful for the opportunity I have had to be here. So many people wish they could do something like this but never get the chance. I will continue to thank God every day for allowing me to take part in this once in a lifetime experience. I am sad to leave my new Mexican family and friends, but I am SO excited to see my family and friends back in the U.S. I can't wait to see you and and spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with you! Thank you all for supporting me while I have been here in Mexico. Not a day goes by that I don't think of you all and pray for you and thank God for your presence in my life! God bless everyone! xoxo :0)

ACAPULCO! Fun in Sun!

ACAPULCO!!!! Acapulco was so much fun and the girls and I loved getting to relax and enjoy the sun and beautiful surroundings that God has created.

One of the great things about being girls, and girls that speak Spanish, is that people love coming up to you to talk to you. While you are laying on the beach vendors come up to you and try to sell you jewelry, dresses, hats, food, sunglasses, boat rides, jet ski rides, snokeling trips, etc. When they find out you can speak Spanish they are even more inclined to ask you to buy something, and they don't like taking no for an answer. Since we can speak Spanish we could get the vendors to lower the prices on things, so we ended up getting to go on a banana boat ride for free.

We had so much fun on the banana boat ride, except for when we would tip over and be scattered all thoughout the water. The really fun part was trying to get yourself back up on the banana boat once you fell off from it....no easy task!

Jodi and her new friend. There are stray dogs everywhere in Mexico, and Acapulco and the beach were no exception.

The beautiful view from the beach. You know there has to be a God when you see beauty like this!

Our hotel and it's AMAZING view!

We stayed in a hotel called, Tortuga (turtle) that was located along the main strip in Acapulco.

As you can see, we had an amazing view of the ocean and the beach. All we had to do was cross the street and we were on the beach. All of the bars and dance clubs are all located along the street that we were staying on so we didn't have to spend money on expensive taxi rides anywhere.

The Coca-Cola tower that is in the picture is where people bungie jump. I personally can't believe people are crazy enough to do something like that, but Ashley was very tempted to try it. During the day not every many people jumped, but at night people were going up the tower every 20 minutes to jump. I prefer to watch them jump from the safety of the ground.

We were so excited to get off the bus and get situated in our hotel room. Not to mention, we were even more excited to go down to the beach, lay in the sun, play in the water, and have a refreshing margarita.

Uno, dos, tres............queso!

ACAPULCO....here we come!!!!!!!!

This last weekend Ashley, Jodi and I went to Acapulco. We got the day off from classes on Friday, so we spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the wonderful sun of Acapulco.
On Friday morning we were up extra early to catch the 8am bus to Acapulco. We were a little sleepy, but so excited to have our girl's weekend! Ashley and I super excited to get on the bus and be on the beach. We had a nice 4-hour long bus ride ahead of us.

Ashley, the sleeping beauty on the bus. It wasn't exactly easy to get comfortable on the bus, but we didn't mind because we were just so excided to go on our trip. :0)

"Irse de Pinta" (Ditch Day) Take 2!

Here are a few more pictures from our "ditch day." As you can see, La Hacienda is absolutely beautiful!

After our coffee time and exploration of La Hacienda we went to visit a small town that is know for it's pottery work. The town was called, Tyalacapan (good luck pronouncing that...I've almost been here for 3 months and I can't pronouce it right). We walked around the town and looked at what the different vendors were selling. We also went into this one store that sells different flavored tequilas. They had every fruit flavor, along with vanilla and coffee flavors. The best part was that we were able to try them all....don't worry there was barely any alcohol content in the tequila and no one was getting tipsy of the samples.

The cool part was that we were able to drink the samples out of a traditional glass. It is a silver cup that is attached to a sheep's horn, and it wraps around your arm. It was pretty cool looking, but not easy to drink out of.

Do you like my hat??? I think I might wear it on my next date!! Good idea, huh?

"Irse de Pinta" (Ditch Day) Take 1

A week ago none of us we feeling very motivated to study for 5 hours in a classroom while the weather outside was beautiful and it was a Friday. We decided (the girls and I, AND our teachers) to "Irse de Pinta," also known as "ditch class." We had so much fun together. Jodi, Ashley, our teachers Gustavo and Lety and I all went to the Hacienda de Cortes for coffee. La Hacienda de Cortes is now a very fancy hotel. We were able to sit down and have a nice coffee and enjoy the green scenery.

Me with my AMAZING "coffee."

Me with my teacher, Lety sitting in the garden of La Hacienda.

The landscaping and views in the Hacienda were incredible. Everything is so green and lush. Ashley decided this is where she wants to get married. Everything was so beautifully breath-taking. I told her that I liked the idea, as long as I would be the Maid of Honor and get a free plane ticket out of the deal. I don't think that's asking for too much. :0)

Day of the Dead - Nov. 2nd

On Sunday morning we headed back to the small town to see what the cemetary looked like during the day. On the second day the families bring all of the decorations to the cemetary and decorate the grave sites. They spend the day around the grave and celebrate the life of their loved ones. There are mariachi bands that sing and play music for the spirits that come back. It was so amazing to see the people celebrating the life of their loved ones. There were no tears or sad faces because everyone knows that on this day the spirits of their loved ones are with them and that they are in a better place. The colors of the flowers and flags were incredible. I can't even describe the beauty and I hope the pictures can show only half of the beauty. I wish you all could have been there to expierence this with me because the feeling the surrounds the place is unbelievable. I am so lucky that I was able be see and take part in this tradition. God is SO good to me!

The enterance to the cemetary. "Lugar donde terminan las penas y comiensan los recuerdos..."---"The place where pain ends and memories begin..."