Semana Santa (aka Spring Break) in Acapulco Part 2

The first day, it was just me and Vanessa and we hiked down the beach a bit to find the PERFECT breakfast eatery then hung out and suntanned on the beach and later by the pool.

Vanessa and I went out on the town that night, but didn't get into too much trouble.

The rest of our friends showed up the next day and we enjoyed a few days alternating between the beach and the pool, basically eating all the food and soaking up all the sun. I loved to order the coconut water in the coconut and when I was done drinking it, they would chop out the coconut meat and put some kind of spicy red sauce on it for me to eat. It was really good!

Beer by the beach!

Eddie and Sasha!

Beautiful blue water! The ocean felt great to swim in. 

 "I got you a snail!" in Ethel voice. 

 Love it. 

 Obligatory jump picture

All of us chillin in the shade. 

One night we all took a taxi out to La Quebrada to see the cliff diving show. These crazy local dudes jump off these cliffs and fall into the water hundreds of feet below, and they have to time it perfectly because as the waves go in and out the water gets dangerously shallow. We had a few drinks at the El Mirador Hotel and watched the sunset show as the divers jumped off the cliffs. As it got darker they started jumping whole holding flaming torches.

 Lots of spectators on the left and the cliff where the guys jump on the right. 

 There's actually a guy jumoing in this pic, you just can't see him!

 This hotel was crazy popular in the 60's (as was Acapulco) and all kinds of old stars visited or stayed here. The hotel had them sign the wall all over. Many parts of Acapulco felt 60's ish from the architecture to the monuments and photos that were up. 

 A pic of the old famous divers!

After the show, we headed back to the area that were staying and found dinner (this may or may not have been the night that we ate at Tacos & Beer and Sasha and Vanessa got into a mini argument about something random and the entire restaurant ended up stopping and staring at the two of them being very loud. There's a video of it somewhere...)

After that we chose a bar to hang out it. My thoughts on the bar that was chosen can be deduced from my facial expression in the below picture. 

The balloons were kinda fun, though. 

We danced for a while and it was all you can drink so I pounded a few rum and cokes until the heat got unbearable. Eventually we headed to the downstairs part of this bar that was right on the beach (though there weren't a lot of people down there). You weren't allowed to go out on the beach, "muy peligrosa!!" and there were some big ropes up to keep you from doing so. Vanessa brings these super annoying boys down to our table and then I see Jess and Brian out on the beach, so I leap up from the table and jump the rope and run out a few feet into the ocean!! .....At which point the security from the bar comes and fetches me and puts me back in the "safe" roped area (even though I explained to them that I was part mermaid and therefore was not going to drown. They didn't believe me.) After that we all decided we were tired and headed back to the hotel to sleep. 

Spring Break in Acapulco Mexico Part 1

As you guys know last Spring Break I ran off by myself into the jungles of Costa Rica to hang with the wildlife. This year I decided to be a bit more social...

My friends in Guate decided to go to Acapulco, Mexico and so I tagged along!

Vanessa and I bought the plane tickets a few months in advance for super cheap, though we had to leave from school to go straight to the airport. Ugg! I hate leaving from school, but it did save us a couple hundred bucks. When we landed in Mexico City, a couple sho used to teach a Decroly (another school in Guate City) met us at the airport. We then went STRAIGHT to a lucha libre fight. The fight area actually held our luggage for us.

Lucha libre is straight up cheesy gloriousness. I LOVED it! (I would have loved to take pictures, but that's not allowed. You'll just have to be satisfied with me, Vanessa, Jess and Brian in our masks)

So in lucha libre there are the "good" guys and the "bad" guys and pretty much everyone likes the bad guys. (They're more fun). They all have super exaggerated outfits and personalities. (The gay fighter, the sexy guy, the rocker, etc) They are always trying to rip each others masks off. Once a fighter's mask has been taken, they can never wear it again. There is lots of bouncing off of the ropes and triple flips and all that nonsense. I had a large beer while watching and was quite happy. 

I was suuuuper happy though, when we were back in Jess and Brains apartment and going to sleep. It had been a long day. The next morning Vanessa and I woke up early, hopped in a taxi and headed off to the bus station to hop on our bus to Acapulco (I think it was about a 5 hour drive). The bus was nice: reclining seat, movie (cirque du soleil weird shit though) and snacks. 

Eventually we made it to our hotel in Acapulco. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Resort right on the water. While walking around that afternoon, we stumbled across a parade!

 

Cool stuff! While I was doing that, Vanessa stumbled into some creepy old man who insisted on massaging oil into her hands...

We escaped from him and then wandered down to the beach. There was no one else out there and people kept yelling at us that the water was dangerous and the waves were going to get us. (I mean I understand if the waves are strong and you don't want the publicity of drowned tourists, but really, we were AT LEAST 20 feet away from the surf up on the sand. And if a rouge wave gets up that high completely out of the blue, well I think that counts as an act of god or something). 

It was beautiful though and there was soooo much beach glass everywhere. We made it back to our hotel (without being swept out to sea) and settled in for the night. 

Come back tomorrow for Part 2 of Spring Break!

Free Car?!?

In dramatic international school fashion, one of the teachers got into a tiff with the school. So the school refused to let him through the gates on morning, so he promptly turned around and left the country. As one does, you know.

He had this MASSIVE black Dodge Durango that he left at the airport. The next day, after school, Jen and I are lounging about in our pjs when we both receive separate facebook messages that go like this:

"I've left the country and left my Dodge Durango in the bottom left hand corner of the airport parking garage. The keys are inside the car on the center console and there is one set in my apartment. Whoever can get there first and pay the parking fee can keep it."

So naturally Jen and I go into mad scramble mode. I called Sasha and Vanessa to join us because that car is a beast to drive on these small and crowded Guatemalan roads and Jen called Rodrigo to try and get the spare car key from the apartment.

Then we called a taxi and..... promptly got stuck in 2 hours of Guatemala City traffic. Meanwhile, we're panicking because we don't know who else got this message and might be trying to beat us there.

Finally we arrive and run screaming thorough the parking garage to the car!

  Sorry for the low quality! In our panic we all forgot to bring cameras, so we had to resort to crappy cell phone cameras.

So we get to the car, get it open annnnnd spend 30 minutes trying to get it out of the parking lot. The durn thing would start and then immediately die when you tried to move it. Eventually we got it going and I ended up being the one driving. I was basically terrified.

Ever since then we've been trying to untangle the tricky paperwork and insurance to make it legal to drive....womp womp. haha

Rachelle's Visit!

After Thanksgiving, we had a few more weeks of school until Winter Break. I flew home to the States for a bit and hung out with the family. In early January I came back and got back into school and life.

My friend and teaching partner, Lori, decided to move with her family to Nicaragua for the next school year (Boo!) so there was an opening at Maya. I sent out a facebook post about it and one of my friends from JMU decided to apply. She also decided to come visit to check out the school and in February she came!

We spent a day shopping and eating food in Antigua, naturally.

  I looove the arch at night!

The next day, me and the girls (Sasha, Vanessa and Aubry) took her to the spa for the day! We drove up to Santa Teresita, which is an interesting experience because in order to get to it you have to drove through these tiny poor podunk towns and literally drive over a river of refuse and grossness before pulling up to the spa which has super high walls so that you can't see any of the sewage and shacks. It's a bit awkward.

We all got massages and hung out by the pool and visited the steam rooms.

The next day Rachelle came to check out the school, before hopping in a taxi and making her way back to the states!

Thanksgiving at the Lake!

For my second Thanksgiving in Guate I headed back to Posada de Santiago on Lake Atitlan! Like last year, I went with Shannon and Dexter and their family and Michelle and her family. Two other teachers from my school, David and Rodrigo also came. Nick traveled from Mexico and joined us for the long Thanksgiving weekend.

It was a really wonderful time. We spent a day doing the "rotation" which is staying as long as you can in the sauna then running and jumping into the freezing lake before heading over to the jacuzzi. And then repeat...

The views from the jacuzzi/pool area are simply beautiful. 

When not hanging at the pool, we read books, played Cards Against Humanity, built cozy fires and basically relaxed. (There was some general goofiness in there too.)

Another day, we took a tuktuk into town and threaded our way through a crazy busy local market before getting to the handicrafts section and spending money on Christmas gifts and trinkets.

Of course, one of the reasons I love Posada de Santiago is the Thanksgiving dinner. It is super authentic American food and really delicious! Especially the pumpkin pie!

 Somehow we also fit in a horseback ride! The guy with the horses picked us up and drove us to his house (it was a pretty odd house. I think he'd built it by himself throughout the years.) We then took the horses up into the mountains overlooking the lake. Some parts of the trail were crazy steep and the horses had to carefully pick their way up. Unfortunately when we got to the top, it was too overcast and we couldn't see hardly anything.

Eventually, of course, we had to head back to the city, and work (merr) but I'll be back next year!