Mexican Riveria Cruise!

We got to meet Richard!

McKay, myself, and my whole family went on a week long cruise to the Mexican Riviera. Were we stopped in Puerto Vallatra, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas. Our friends the Zollinger's came with us too. We left on Sunday April 27th and flew to Long Beach California. We took a fun and crazy taxi ride to the boat dock. We had to wait in line for 2 1/2 hours to check in! I felt like cattle in a concentration camp. I was excited to get on the boat. This was my first cruise so when we finally got on the boat, I couldn't believe that I was finally there. My family booked this cruise over 8 months and thinking about sitting on the beach in Mexico was the only thing that me going the last few weeks in school.

The ship was so decadently detailed and rich in furnishings I felt like I was on the Titanic. We walked up to our rooms and it was small but the balcony overlooking the ocean made the room feel so big. I loved the bathrooms they were very small but it had so much storage!

The first three days it was fun day at sea. My family and I engaged in miniature golf, eating all you can eat ice cream and gourmet food, going to comedy shows, swimming, sun bathing, and taking long naps. By the third day I was ready and excited to get off the boat. Our first stop was Puerto Vallatra. My family was going to go zip lining through the jungle. We had to take a boat to this beach, where we got on a bus up to the camp, when we got there we took mules up the mountain to reach the zip lines. On the way up there I had a couple of the guides tell me, "Senorita, you the whitest person I ever seen." Some of the zip lines were over 600 feet tall! It wasn't scary at all! We repelled, went over rope bridges and went over suspended platforms. One of the funnest parts was zip lining through a waterfall. One of our guides, named Carlos was ridiculously flirting with my sister Melanie. He asked her if she had a boyfriend and how she had eyes of a doll. Also he told her that she was the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. It was fun and cute watching him. When we finished the zip line he went up to Mel and asked her to leave her e-mail address. I can say that Melanie has a "Latin Lover." Later that night Dad, Melanie, McKay, and I went to the Wal-Mart across the street from the port. It looked just like the Wal-Mart in Orem because it had a lot of Hispanics there.

That night McKay and I got to meet and mingle with Richard Simmons. He was on the boat to help motivate obese and overweight people how to lose weight on a cruise. It was called "Cruise to Lose." A cruise would be the last place where I'd go to lose weight. By the way, I ate so much on the cruise. I brought some capri pants that were way baggy before the cruise, after they fit quite snug. I've never ate so much rich food in my life. If you haven't been on a cruise you eat almost every two hours. I wasn't use to eating so frequently. The whole week I felt grossly full. Probably the best thing I ate on the cruise was their steak salad. Of all of the things I loved that the best. The best dessert was their melting cake, a chocolate cake with chocolate sauce inside the middle, with a scoop of ice cream. McKay ordered one of these every night!

The second port we went to was Mazatlan. We were able to negotiate and bargain and got a good deal for a tour guide to take us around the town and show us the sights. We went to the old part of Mazatlan, and I liked it a lot. It was very authentic looking, I don't like the touristy part. We went to the flea market where I got a purple Mexican dress and McKay got a soccer shirt. After shopping our tour guide drove us around to see the newer part of the town. We stopped and got some real Mexican nachos and guacamole. It was so good! We sat in this restaurant that was right on the beach. I liked going to Mazatlan because we got to see and experience the authentic part of town.

The third and final port was Cabo San Lucas. Cabo was very beautiful. It was rocky and more desert looking, but it did have the clearest water out of the two ports. We walked to the market and shopped and I bought a hand carved and painted porcupine. We took a boat taxi to get to the famous "Lover's Beach." It's a beach on the most southern tip of the Mexican Peninsula. On one side of the beach is the Pacific Ocean and the other the Sea of Cortes. The Pacific side was very dangerous and the waves were big. We saw a bunch of sea lions chilling on the rocks. It felt great to finally get on the beach. The water was very warm and the sand was white. We played on the beach for a while and then sun bathed. McKay and my Mom got sunburned, and of course my bangs were crazy looking. When we were at the market I was walking around in my modest one piece swimsuit and this local kid came up to me and said, "Oh, senorita you so sexy!" Then he asked me if I had a boyfriend. I told him that I was married and without any hesitation he asked me if I would want a second husband. I have a hard time keeping track of one. Then he told me that I was perfect and that I was very beautiful. I laughed about it because whenever you're feeling ugly, go down to Mexico, the men will make you feel like a model. Mexican men are so forward, I find it really interesting how they are so blunt about their feelings. I guess it's their "machismo" to blame.



The last day and a half on the cruise were very chill. We ate, slept, went to a lot of comedy shows, and made fun of the cruise director Butch "Pack the suit case" and "Tanzanite Tamara" (inside jokes). I'm going to explain why we made fun of these two people, and I hope it makes sense. Butch is the cruise director. He is tall, skinny, has big hair, and has a voice of a sports announcer. In the beginning of the cruise he taught a disco dance class where they taped it and it was replayed on the TV. One of his dance moves was called "packing the suitcase." It was so stupid looking that we started to do this dance move whenever we saw Butch on the boat. Caitlin and I dared Melanie to go up to him and say, "Hey Butch, pack the suit case," while performing the dance move. She failed and never did it. The other person we made fun of was Tamara. Tamara was the port shopping expert and she held a couple of lectures about where to shop in the ports. We went to one of her lectures and all she talked about was Tanzanite (a bluish gem) and how rare and beautiful it is. It was a huge advertisement/publicity stunt and all we heard and saw at the ports were signs that said "Tanzanite." It was so annoying that we started to call this chick "Tanzanite Tamara." This sounds really dumb and immature but making fun of these two people kept us sane when we were at sea.

My fabulous sister Caitlin has an amazing voice. She entered into the karoake contest and won for the best impression of Aretha Franklin. There was this drunk guy that would come and karoake everynight. One night he asked if Caitln would want to do a duet with him. He ended up in the production too, and was hammered. We saw him allover the boat that week and everytime we did he was drunk. Anway, Caitlin was in the final show on the cruise called Carnival Legends, where she sang her rendition of R-E-S-P-E-C-T. She looked so hot in her black wig.

Overall the cruise was a blast! I loved it. I never slept so well in my life. The best part was waking up every morning and having the ocean outside your window and balcony. It is hard for me to take naps because I can't turn off my brain so I can relax and sleep. On the cruise I took a nap everyday. It was so relaxing. Just what I needed to start my two internships and work. Thanks mom and dad for inviting McKay and I to come! We love you!