The Mexican Riviera

Chris and I will be married 15 years this September.  If you count going to Zions and St. George then we have been on 2 vacations with no kids in 15 years (both of them were only for 2 days each).  Chris says I like to plan  vacations and then because I tend to be very frugal with money never follow through.  :)  He is right.  But I was determined that this year would be different.  Sooo, cruising seems to be the thing to do these days so we decided to give our sea legs a try.  I don't know if we are addicted to cruising now, like so many people said we would be but we definitely had a great time and had a lot of great experiences.

Our cruise was a 7 day cruise to the Mexican Riviera which includes Cabo San Lucas for 1 day and Puerto Vallerta for 2 days (but ended up being 3 days because they had to fix our ship...so our 7 day cruise actually turned into an 8 day cruise). Both cities are located on the west coast of Mexico where the weather stays about 75-85 year round and where avocados, coconuts and mangoes grow wild and you can make your own gum from the nearest chicle tree.  These are both beautiful cities with very friendly people...well, friendly people who want your money, of course. ;)

Loading onto the boat...excuse me, ship.  All the employees would immediately say ship if I ever said boat.  haha  :)

This is the adult only pool at the back of the ship with a beautiful view of Long Beach, CA.

The back of the ship at night.

Full steam ahead.

 They have all kinds of activities on board.  This one was an ice carving demonstration where the guy carved a 500 lb. block of ice into something in less than 20 min.  It was pretty cool.

If you can't tell, it is an Indian Chief's head.

They also have miniature gold with an amazing view. 

 Our favorite activity by far, (beside taking naps in the afternoon:)) was the comedy.  There were several comedians and they were hilarious!  We didn't miss a show.  (except for the adult shows...they swear too much...we only attended the family friendly shows) :)

Finally in Cabo San Lucas.

Being tendered off the boat. 

I am not sure why, the driver of the boat said I could drive so I did.  It is kind of crazy because there are tons of little boats and even jet skis all over the place.  This picture is where a jet ski cuts me off and then the boat captain tells me to honk at him so I did.


I didn't realize until after I was done driving that this sign is posted.  But hey, it's Mexico. Everything is legal. :)

Beautiful Cabo San Lucas



This bird kept landing on our boat.  I think it wanted it's picture taken.

We took another boat to Lover's Beach and Divorce Beach.  On one side is amazing beautiful beach water and on the other side there is seriously crazy "ocean is going to kill you" water and the depth of the ocean goes from 0 feet to 15 feet in less than 10 feet.  Does that make sense?  Basically, just don't swim there.  There were all kinds of crazy rock formations there too.  Very different from the California beaches I am used to.  

Seals!

More beautiful sunny Cabo San Lucas.

Later that night, while in the comedy lounge we got us some virgin drinks.  

Next stop is Puerto Vallerta.  Seriously, people live here!  It was amazingly beautiful.  We went on a tour of the city and there are definitely poor areas and the roads (unless it is a high traffic road) are terrible.  But look at all this greenery!  With 75 degree weather year round, I could definitely see myself living here. :)

Coconut Tree

 I would have stolen me some avocados if I could have reached them!

Close up of a mango tree...these are the berries and then as they grow the will thin out.

The Board Walk

Human Statues...people pretending to be statues and than wanting you to tip them.  Since I took a picture of this very uncomfortable looking guy, I thought he deserved a tip.

A cathedral right off the boardwalk.

Yes, they have a walmart!  I thought it was interesting that they have covered parking.

The highlight of our trip was an excursion called "The Rhythms of the Night."  It is an hour long boat ride across the bay to those mountains over on the other side of the picture. While on the boat ride you watch the sunset listen to music and get served all you can drink margaritas and rum punch.  If I was a drinker that would have been awesome. :)

Once across the bay, you are greeted by these people.  (Pictures do NOT do this place justice AT ALL!)  It was beautiful and romantic and seriously amazing!

Then you get served dinner on the beach!  The food was amazing, the scenery was amazing...everything was amazing! Then we went to the show with fire and dancing and yes, it was amazing! :)  (No photography allowed during the show)

On the boat ride home we were entertained by the boat crew.  Chris got to be a part of the show too.  I could try to explain what is happening in these pictures but it just doesn't sound as funny as what it was like in real life.  But it was hilarious!

On our way home...you can see us passing Cabo San Lucas  in the background.

Everyone meet Hugo.  He was our waiter in the dining hall almost every night during the cruise.  He was awesome!  He's from the Philippians where he has a wife and 2 children.  He is away from them about 8 months out of the year just so that he can support them.  He didn't really say that but we can read between the lines.  He was much too happy and positive to say anything negative.

Here is one of the cool towel animals that were left in our room.  They leave a different one each day.  We also got to take a class on how to make some of our own at home!  (You could probably you tube it.) :)

I know this seems like a lot of pictures but there were still so many that I wanted to include.