treis noches con camarone.

where to start?

its been awhile. and i'm sorry about that. but i have a good excuse. i've been off gallivanting around for a whole week off! its true, i have been back for a full week already, but it has been a rough one. coming back to work was like hitting a brick wall at full speed. at times, i felt i was a bit of a waste of space! but now, with my vacation over, and back into the swing of things at work, i finally have the time (and energy) to update you all on my adventures.

in celebration of american thanksgiving AND mexican revolution, the school gave us a week off. and the timing couldn't have been better. after three months of solid teaching, we were all feeling a bit burnt out. we had just finished report cards, and two days full of parent-teacher conferences. anyone who knows me knows that i LOVE to plan trips. in fact, one day, i could see myself making a career out of it! well, it seems that i have become the unofficial trip planner here as well. my friend (sarah tambien) and i decided we wanted to go somewhere and stay in a condo for a week. on the mexican low-cost airline viva aerobus, mazatlan (on the coast, just north of puerto vallarta) was the cheapest destination. and with a few searches, i stumbled upon a magical mansion condominium in the old town. so, we booked the flight, booked the mansion, found a few friends, and off we went.

day 1: you see, the problem is...

i packed faster then i have ever packed before. friday night i was lazy and had gone out for dinner instead, so i was running around my apartment saturday morning like a madwoman. in truth, it didn't really matter what i brought, as long as it included a bathing suit and sun glasses. we had no trouble getting to the airport on time and our flight was comfortable and easy. however, tim (this. is. mexico.) definitely shone through when we had to have our baggage completely searched by HAND because they don't have the equipment to do it electronically. but getting off the airplane into the fresh warm air, smelling the ocean literally made my life complete. we did, however, have trouble figuring out transportation into town because the inexpensive buses had one small problem: "you see, the problem is, we don't know where it stops". you have an airport shuttle and you don't know where it stops?? apparently the driver just stops wherever he pleases. so we settled on taking a cab. BUT we also had trouble finding our condo because as our cabbie explained, "you see, the problem is, they changed the name of the street"... we did eventually make it to our condo, and managed to lug our massive bags up three flight of stairs. and with one look, all our problems disappeared.

day 2: this one time, i rented a mansion and i danced.

i wish i could take you all to see this mansion for yourself. i have never seen a place so huge in my life. it was a penthouse apartment, large enough to play a professional basketball game in the living room, open a night club in the loft and start a restaurant in the kitchen. my jaw dropped as i walked from room to room. our view was spectacular, our block-long balcony overlooking the ocean and the beach below. the rooms were differing in size and amenities, but the common areas were exquisit. today we decided to take a 'ferry' (slash small motor boat) to an island for escape artists lined with palapa restaurants, cute mexican kids burying themselves in sand and the most gorgeous sunset i have ever seen. but wait! how could i forget the best part! the night before, eating fresh seafood at the world renowned 'shrimp bucket', we had met the highlight of our trip: australian cam. not only was his name cameron (which in spanish literally means shrimp), but he was the loveliest, friendliest most delightful person i have met in a long time. we basically adopted him. i mean, c'mon, we had enough room in our mansion for at LEAST one extra friend. there was something about cam that just made the days better and more hilarious. i have never laughed so hard in my life! he even participated in our ridiculousness: we had a dance party, a photo shoot in a blow-up boat and drank some massive margaritas. and every night we would stay up late talking on the balcony and the moon would turn red, shrink and then disappear. seriously. i'm telling you, there was something cool about this guy that made the world wake up and notice.

day 3: language school dropout, go back to monterrey, your spanish didn't get any better, anyway.

haley and i woke up bright and early monday morning and tried to go to language school. cam even woke up to send us off to school. however, our plan was foiled when we arrived and language school appeared to be closed. there was a sign (albeit in spanish) that pointed to the door and it was locked. (inset: we learned the next day that, in fact, language school had not been closed, but that the sign was telling us to go up the stairs. too bad we hadn't learned that in spanish yet). instead, we parked our butts on the beach in front of a restaurant where a lovely waiter served us margaritas all afternoon. and what a great day it was! i played in the waves, played with an adorable puppy named milo and read my national geographic magazine all while getting a TAN! life couldn't have been better. AND we got to have seafood for dinner!

day 4: enchiladas para camarone!

a sad day. this was the day that cam had to leave us for his great love, baja california. little did he know, life would not be the same without us! haley and i had our first day of language school and met the slightly insane woman who runs it. this lady was quite the piece of work. a total nutjob. but that is another story. afterwards, we had our last meal with cam, but the cafe was quite slow, and he had to leave for the ferry before his food arrived. we all shed a few tears about the loss of our new friend. until we had a fabulous idea: we should bring his enchiladas to him at the ferry terminal! like a scene from the amazing race, we raced down the street, jumped into a cab and vamanosed to the ferry waiting terminal. we even burst through the gates thinking we were going to get stopped by the guards (which would have ruined the whole motion picture aspect of it all) but we got there in time. hopefully cam will remember us thoughtfully, running towards him with cold enchiladas... the rest of the day was a contemplative one, filled with traffic jams, grocery shopping and lots of sleep. i think i fell asleep at 6 for a nap, and woke up the next morning.

and part two will continue tomorrow of my mazatlan adventures will have to continue tomorrow. it is way past my bedtime and i am no longer on vacation!