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..."

My tribute to my loved ones......xoxo!!

So the tradition in Mexico is to light candles for your loved ones that have passed away so that they can see the light and find their way back to you. I decided to take part in this tradition and I lit four candles of my own for my loved ones who are no longer with us: Grandpa Len, Grandpa Heidi, Uncle John, and Cousin Sara. When you light the candle you say a prayer and thank God for the time you were able to have with the person and then you let the candle burn all the way down. Once the candle has burned all the way down, you blow them out and say another pray for all people who have passed away and thank God for their lives.
I thank God for the time I was able to have with each of my four loved ones, however short, and I cherish the memories I have with each of them. I know that each of them follow me around and look over me with care. I can feel their presence near me and I know they are all here with me in Mexico. I miss Grandpa Len, Grandpa Heidi, Uncle John, and Cousin Sara very much, but I am so thankful for each of their lives and the time I was able to have with them. All four of them taught me something special about life. I miss them, but I know that each of them lives on through each of their children and their children's children. I love you, Grandpa Len, Grandpa Heidi, Uncle John and Cousin Sara! xoxo

Dia de los Muertos - Nov. 1st - Cemetary

On Saturday night we visited the cemetary after visiting the different houses and alters. I'm not gonna lie at first I was kind of freaked out about walking around a cemetary at night...which was only lit by the light of candles. It ended up being so cool. The grave sites were lit by candle light and we were able to walk through the cemetary and see all the different graves. Most of the pictures that I took are full of orbes, but these are the ones without any. As you can see the cemetaries in Mexico are a lot different than the ones in the U.S. There is no organization and each grave looks different from any other grave and everything is individualized. It was so neat!

Dia de los Muertos - Nov. 1st

After a fun day of costume making and celebrating Halloween we have spent the last two days celebrating and learning about the Mexican tradition of "Dia de los Muertos." These are pictures from one of the houses that we visited on Saturday night. We went to a small town close to Cuernavaca where the people celebrate Day of the Dead in a traditional manner. Anyone and everyone is invited to enter the houses where you can see the alter that the family has created for their deceased loved ones. After viewing the alter the family offers you food and drinks (inculding wine, cerveza, and tequila). To the families it is an honor to serve you food and drinks to honor and remember the people who have died. As you can see in the pictures, the families elaborately decorate the alters and spare no expense in doing so.

One of the increbile things about this whole celebration is that these families don't have very much money and they save their money all year long for a celebration that lasts only 2 days. An alter like the one pictured above would cost about $300 to put together. It would cost about $700 to $1,000 to feed all the people that come through the house as well. I can only imagine the sacrifices that these families make throughout the year so that they can honor their loved ones in a proper manner.

I don't even think these pictures can begin to explain how beautiful these alters are. You can tell that these people were loved very much. The amazing thing about this whole celebration is that the people aren't sad. There are no tears or sad faces becuase everyone is happy to celebrate the life of the people they love. They believe that on this day their loved ones come down to the alters to eat the food and drink the drinks, so they are happy to be in the presence of the spirits. I was blown away by how welcoming and warm all the people were. It was clear that we weren't some of their neighbors coming to visit and still they welcomed us with open arms and spoke with us about their loved ones. I hope the pictures do justice to all the hard work the families put into the alters.

Halloween and Pirates...a great combination!!!

Jodi, Ashley and I decided to show Mexico how we celebrate Halloween in the U.S. of A. We went shopping down in El Centro all day on Friday and then went to the girls' house to create our wonderful costumes! We bought t-shirts at the store and then cut them up and created individualized shirts. We had so much fun dressing up and going out. As if we don't stick out enough, our costumes made us stick out even more, but everyone got a kick out of us. It was such a blast!

Me making Ashley's shirt....I think I might become a fashion designer.

Man, I am such a good designer! You can find my collection at: http://www.katiesawesomeclothes.com/!! HAHA! Just kidding!

The girls and I in our costumes. You can call us the Tres Piratitas (the three little pirates)! Don't we look so cute!!

We had so much fun! I am such a lucky girl...Thanks be to God for all things!