Oh, Mexico

James Taylor, Kenny Chesney, Roger Clyne, and so many others have penned songs about locales south of the border. There's just something about sitting on a beach in Mexico. Shannon, Lindsey and I enjoyed our trip so much two years ago we decided it was time for another. Sarah and Rachel joined us on this one. Jenn, lost her passport and became our first casualty. We thought we were going to lose Sarah too when she missed her flight Thursday morning! Luckily, she got another and found her way to the house. Jose let us use his home in Puerto Vallarta for the weekend. We had a fabulous time, even with karma's wicked sense of humor.

We kicked off Friday morning with a zipline canopy tour . This was fun. It was much better than the one I did few years ago in Vallarta. Rachel made more than a few boyfriends on the zipline. Being a group of five girls was not a bad thing! After resting up from our zipline adventure, i.e. laying in the pool all afternoon, we headed out for a night on the town. Some other friends were in P.V. for a wedding that weekend as well. We met up with them at La Bodeguita del Medio, a.k.a. the Cuban restaurant. Our zipline boyfriends were supposed to meet us there, but much to Rachel's disappointment, they never showed (or we were late?).

Um, yes, Lindsey, Shannon and I all wore the exact same color of orange. Weird.
After spending most of the morning not feeling so hot, we headed to Las Animas for an afternoon on the beach. You can only access Las Animas via water taxi. The water was a little rough and we had to load and unload on this, what I would call, dilapidated dock. I much preferred the beach loading technique. I think everyone just about lost some fingers or other body parts trying to get back in.
That day Lindsey made a new friend. Shannon and I got a real kick out of it! I swear, I think it's the same dog that befriended Lindsey two years ago! See:

After two nights of cooking we decided there was no way we were eating salmon and chicken again (I may never eat chicken again after my recent conversion to a vegetarian- we'll see how long it lasts). We headed for dinner at a local Italian restaurant on the malecon. Below is a picture of Shannon and Rachel "hugging" John Travolta. He was having dinner a few tables over from us. He's on Shannon's "list". I was going to say she "about" cried when she saw him, but no, she did. Sorry, Shan. We had the nerve to say hello but not to ask for a picture. He was about a foot away. Rumor was George Clooney was there. Too bad we didn't see him!
We spent Sunday at another beach, Yelapa. It was much more beautiful and calm. We had a good day until we got a visitor.
This guy, according to Rachel, was "...everything she hates about Texas plus some." He was rather ridiculous.
Sunday night was the last night we were all at the house. We had dinner at La Palapa on the beach in town. We decided to check out the night life one more time before we left. Just as we were settling in, the lights went out. I mean, all over town. There was no electricity. After sitting in the dark for thirty minutes we decided to call it a night. We went back home.

Monday was sort of crazy. We woke up to no running water in the house. Luckily we got the problem solved- I called the house keeper. Sadly, there was no running water before Rachel and Sarah had to leave to get on their planes. I think it was the warmest day of our trip too! Sorry girls, I hope it doesn't deter you from going next time!

Well, Linds headed back to the house with Sarah and Rachel, Shannon and I shopped and signed the three of us for a cruise on the Marigalante, a.k.a. the pirate ship. I must admit, I was not very excited to go. I had been a few years earlier. But begrudgingly I went. I had so much more fun than I anticipated. It was a really good time.
Tuesday was sad. We were most definitely not ready to leave. I easily could have finished out the week relaxing by the pool or on the beach.
We decided to have a little adventure on our way back to the airport. We took the bus with all of our luggage back to town instead of a taxi. It was quite the sight to see, three American girls with an ungodly amount of luggage on the $0.60 bus. We got a laugh out of it anyway. Thanks for coming girls. I had a great time!