Preface: Mom and Wendel flew to Houston friday night to fly out with my Dad and brother Stephen and his family Saturday morning. We were told NOT to use our phones unless it was a life or death circumstance because it was going to cost us 90 cents a minute.
Saturday: I got up early and got dropped off at the airport. I took off and landed in Mexico about 2 1/2 hours later. Here's where the story REALLY begins. Apparently, in Mexico, they don't have actual terminals. You end up walking on and off the plane by using what they call air caps. Basically, they're just stairs they bring to the doors and you unload. I got off the plane and got onto a bus that drove us to the terminal for customs, luggage and all the other stuff. Customs and everything else went just fine. My dad told me that when I left AZ, I was supposed to e-mail him and let him know that I was taking off, and so I did. He also told me that either him or my brother Stephen would be at the airport to pick me up and not to worry. I was a bit concerned with my spanish... because even though I took 2 years in H.S., I didn't really learn spanish... so, I just wanted to make sure someone was going to be waiting for me when I arrived. I got to passenger pick-up and everyone kept saying things like "Amiga! Taxi!?" or "Seniorita! Taxi, Taxi to your hotel?", I even got "Pretty lady! I have your taxi! Come pretty lady!"... yeah, that was entertaining. Someone kept bugging me and I finally just turned and said, "No, I'm waiting for my Poppi." And then the guy said "OH! You haven't been in Mexico but 30 minutes and you're already drunk?", I didn't really have any way to respond... but I thought it was funny. Then he told the other guys around me that they should stop because I was waiting for "ella papa" (her dad). I waited in the airport for 30 minutes... and didn't see my dad, my mom, or my brother. Because I worked at ANASAZI, I'm accustomed to hooting when I loose someone. My mom and I use it frequently in stores, in the house and pretty much any place or time we get separated. It just makes it easier than yelling "MOM!", besides, it's safer too! Anyways, I didn't know if I was in the wrong place or not, so I figured I would hoot. My family has heard me hoot before, so they know what I'm doing... so I started hooting... hoping someone would respond. Yes, I was that idiot in the airport hooting... and no one responded. I'm sure everyone was thinking "idiota americana!" I would agree, I looked like the idiot. Just a little while later, my younger brother Wendel showed up... apparently my family decided to go to Walmart down the street and lost all track of time. My dad kept looking at his phone waiting for me to text him... but of course, I didn't... and when he said something to my mom she said "Leavitt was going to e-mail you! Check your e-mail!" he checked and saw that I had taken off and that he was late... so they came running back to the airport. All's well... I got picked up by my family and taken to our GORGEOUS RESORT!
The resort was so stunningly beautiful. We were right on the beach, we had a pool and all the amenities anyone could want! We got checked into our rooms and sent out my brother and his wife and my parents to go back to the store to get the rest of the food we would eat for the week (we were in a time share that had kitchens and we planned to cook most of our meals), and Wendel and I took our nephews Robinson and Tanner out to the pools to go swimming. We had a BLAST and we tired them out!
Rob and his wife Deb finally flew in late that night with their two boys Bobby and Ethan. Everyone got settled in and went to bed. I swear, traveling is so exhausting... I don't know why, but it certainly was. Wendel and I shared a room, but we had separate beds which was nice. We had a conjoined room with Rob and Deb, and Stephen and Annette and my parents had a conjoined room and we were right next to each other. It was perfect!
Sunday: We went and got ready to go to church. They were so excited to have us there! I've never been in a place where everyone kept wanting to give us stuff! English hymnals, book of mormons and everything in english was handed to us. We split the spanish speakers up between all the rest of us so they could translate. It was sure a testimony builder to know that the church is the same, even in different languages. People live the gospel all over the world. It was wonderful.
Sunday afternoon was filled with naps and just taking in all the beauty around us. We went down to the beach and walked it... and ended up doing some rescuing. A drunk lady swam out too far and so my brothers swam out to get her and bring her back. I was half way out when I realized if I wanted to do any good, I should stay on the beach so that when they brought her back in, I would be usable and not worn out from swimming and using all my energy. Remember this: I am number one! Take care of me. My WFR class taught me so well!
Monday and Tuesday: Were both spent in awaiting a hurricane. We were completely prepared with everything. Water, food, toys, entertainment... we decided we weren't going to be the ones evacuated because we had everything. The hotel had to move people from the bottom floors to higher floors, and they were preparing everyone for the worst. To sum it all up, NOTHING happened. We got raindrops, RAINDROPS I tell you. RAINDROPS! I was so disappointed. I wanted to be in Hurricane Jova, and we got RAIN! FREAKING DROPS OF RAIN! Pathetic. We didn't really do anything except play in the pools and ocean because we didn't want to get stuck in the hurricane away from the hotel.
Wednesday: All us girls (me, my mom, and sister-in-laws Deb and Annette) went to the spa. We got massages and hung out in their hydro room that consisted of a spa and some other way cool rooms. We had a lot of fun. Then we went out and toured down town Puerto Vallerta. The boys bought their wives jewelry and I spent most of the time chasing after my youngest nephew Ethan. We went a light house and climbed all 142 steps to the top, I walked around downtown barefoot and in the rain because my flip-flops were killing me (the maid hid my other shoes and all I could find were my church ones...) and we ate at an authentic mexican restaurant and got virgin pina coladas. It was fun and very interesting. The mexican people are very pushy, especially the ones who are trying to sell you stuff. It got super annoying!
Thursday: The adults left the kids with Maju and Bopa (mom and dad/grandma & grandpa... they go by Maju and Bopa because grandma and grandpa make them feel old, Maju stands for Mamma Judy and Bopa stands for Poppa Bob, creative yes!?) and we went zip lining. We had a BLAST! Our guides were amazing and I had fun flirting with them. Well, they flirted with me first and so I just flirted back. There was one guy who was my age and all the other guys kept trying to set us up. He even made a great pitch when everyone kept saying we should get together. He said "I cook, clean, mow the lawns, do laundry, and I'm great with kids!" What more could a girl ask for!? So I asked him " Can you teach me spanish?" (I've added that to my list of things in a spouse, he has to speak spanish... because I don't and my family does... I need him to translate for me) and he said "SURE! Do you want bedroom spanish or everyday spanish?" Of course still flirting back I said "BOTH!". My sister-in-law had a look of horror on her face. And I of course, just laughed all of it off! Flying through the trees was awesome. I had so much fun!
Friday: We went and swam with dolphins. A life long dream of mine. Something I've been wanting for YEARS! I was so excited! I couldn't contain myself. It was a blast! Pictures will only do it justice.
Saturday: We all hoped on planes and flew back to our respective homes, sorta. Mom, Dad, Wendel, Stephen and Annette all flew to Houston for the night, and Deb and Rob flew to Phoenix for the night, so I got to have one more night with them.
All in all, it was a GREAT vacation. I loved every minute of it.
Feel free to look at pictures. Sorry this was such a long post... There was just so much to say!
<3 the girl who got freaking drops of rain instead of a hurricane
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