St. Simon's Island!!!!

Well, to really sum up our vacation, I made a pretty awesome video. Check it out below!!

My mom rented a beach house in East Beach on the tiny St. Simon's Island, Georgia for the week. Courtney and I drove up from Florida to meet with my mom and younger brother and sister (Adam and Brenna came with her, Chris couldn't make it.) Also along for the ride was my aunt Debbie and Mom's friend Monica (who fits in with us as one of the kids).

We spent all week hunting for wildlife (sand fleas, sand dollars, crabs, hermit crabs, horseshoe crabs, etc) riding bikes and rollerblading, kayaking, paddleboarding, sunbathing, and shopping.

One of the highlights was when a fisherman near where we were playing on the beach actually reeled in a juvenile sandbar shark. We all crowded around to look at the fisherman struggled to hold the shark still while trying to get the hook out of its mouth without getting bit.

Someone in the small crowd called out, "You need some help?" I debated jumping in there, but I was manning the camera like a champ, but suddenly my mother comes busting out of the crowd, practically shoving over the people in front of her, and grabbed the little shark by the tail as the man used a pipe to hold its mouth open and pliers to get the hook out. He then dragged it back to the surf and off it swam!

Another highlight was the driftwood beach that we always go to on Jekyll Island. It is absolutely beautiful!

This is how we rollllll.

Sista!

Bow to him!

Dumb Adam.

Chillin on the pier.

I'll leave you with just a few more pics!!

horseshoe crab!

Courtney managed to take a tumble while rollerblading.

I love this pic of Mom

Beautiful litter

Florida with the Grandparents!

I flew back to Virginia for the summer and literally the next day headed out to Comfort Zone Camp to volunteer for the weekend! (If you don't know Comfort Zone Camp is an amazing camp that works with children who have lost a parent, sibling, or caregiver. It's like a fun, camp-y group counseling weekend. Click here to check out the website! I've been going there/volunteering with them for 13 years now.) Courtney (my sister) came along too!

Courtney and Grandma

After camp we came home and then left the very next day to drive to Fort Myers, Florida to hang with our grandparents on our father's side. It was something like a 24 hour drive and it was pretty intense. Courtney and I took turns driving. We only got lost once so it ended up being a pretty good trip.

Grandma and Grandpa live in a condo situated around a small pond and a pool. Grandpa likes to hang out in the apartment and read his newspapers, do puzzles and watch the news. Grandma likes to socialize around the neighborhood and take care of all the plants.

For the 4 days that we were there, Courtney and I rode bikes, sunbathed by the pool and hung out on the couch with grandpa. I got a lot of computer work done. (they don't have internet, so there were wayyyy less distractions.)

One day, Courtney and I drove to the beach and just happened to be there during a migration of cow nosed rays. They was a swarm of them swimming back and forth in the shallows. We went out to dig up sand dollars to play with and ended up being brushed against by the rays. It was really cool! There was a local news crew around to document the rays and Courtney is convinced we were on TV, but I'm not so sure.....

Sand dollars!! Don't worry, we threw them all back. 

Me and the rays!

After a few days at the Grandparent's place, we hopped back in our car and drove back up the coast to meet up with my mom, Aunt Debbie, Mom's friend Monica and most of the rest of my siblings in St. Simon's Island, Georgia!

Back to Salvadorean Beaches!

Literally a week after getting my tattoo done, Vanessa and I took our personal days and hopped on a bus to go back to Playa El Tunco in El Salvador. We were initially hesitant about going there because right before we were supposed to go there was news of giant waves (the result of some 70 year weirdo wave cycle) slamming the beach. We called the hostel and they said they were still open so we decided to brave it and go anyway.

The bus ride was uneventful, although Jesus was travelling with us (at least on the ticket). I LOVE riding on Del Sol (the bus line) because their stopping point is literally across the street from my apartment and the serve you a meal and multiple snacks when you ride with them. We took the morning bus and arrived in El Salvador some hours later before grabbing a taxi to El Tunco.

When we got there, the beach looked VERY different than it did last time! For some perspective here are pictures from 2014 when I went.

A bit dirty, but there was beach. Here is exactly the same spot only this year. 

Notice how that little beach bar was shredded! The round rocks are ubiquitous at El Tunco but usually they don't cover everything. A few of the beachside, more exclusive, places were closed down because the big waves had pitched in a crap-ton of rocks (a few places even had their swimming pools filled with rocks)

Here is one of those places pushing out the rocks with some construction equipment. Vanessa and I went out on the beach one day, but you really run the risk of breaking an ankle trying to climb over them in flip flops. Also, my tatto was still new so I couldn't let it see too much sun or put it in the water.

But don't worry we still had a blast!! Rocks couldn't turn the surfers away so they were around to talk to. And the food was, as usual, cheap and delicious (the nuns down the road make THE BEST pupusas ever!) and the nightlife was fun! Basically we drank/danced all night, slept in the morning and spent the rest of the day laying by the pool and eating food. The perfect vacation!

 This is me and my best drunk friend, Other Emily, and the guy we were calling Kevin Bacon. We persuaded him to jump into the closed pool at one bar and then the bouncer dude told us we had to leave, but he was chuckling under his breath about it so I don't think he was really upset.

 Vanessa making furry friends.

We got into some body paint....

I GOT A TATTOO!!!!

So for my birthday I FINALLY did something that I had been wanting to do for a long, long time.

I GOT A SHARK TATTOO!

Here is is right after I got it done. It took him a bit over an hour. 

I went to an artist here in Guatemala that my friend goes to regularly. He charged me 800Q or roughly 100usd for it and then I tipped him an extra 200Q. I based the design off of two Dave White acrylic paintings of a great white shark.

I was terrified before it started but it was DEFINITELY not as bad as I was expecting. The parts on my back just felt like pinching. The only time it was really uncomfortable was when he did the tail, because that part was on my side over my rib cage. (That felt like my whole rib cage was vibrating and it was odd.) I didn't cry, but I did hiss a little on the tail. 

Here's a picture taken more recently. It was taken with a better camera, so there's more detail too. 

Hooray!!

Mah Birthday!!

Sooooo I know my birthday isn't really me travelling and so reallllly it doesn't belong on my travel blog, but hey my birthday was fun and it was in Guatemala, so whatever. haha. I turned 27 in April and we had a fabulous 1920's themed party!! I loved the restaurant we went to, it was all brick and in one of the older but up and coming zones of the city. Later, we went out dancing!

                    

 

The Rest of Acapulco and a day in D.F.

The last few days that we had in Acapulco were spent laying in the sun, drinking beer or (my fav) pina coladas, eating delicious food, wandering the streets and dancing at night. It was great fun.

 

Overall a great vacation! On our last day we all headed back to the bus station for our 5 hour drive back to D.F. We had one day there to hang and basically explored all over. (We tried to go to the aquarium but it wasa  Mexican holiday too and so they were full to capacity and weren't letting in any more people that day. Which is a shame cause I've heard it's a great aquarium.) Instead we ate out and went to a big old street fair and watched some really cool acrobats basically unwind upside down off of a pole before grabbing some late drinks and wings at an awesome little 80's themed eatery. 

After one more night we headed back to the airport and flew safe and sound all the way to Guate!