La vida loca

I feel like I am living la vida loca. I feel like Ive been on a whirlwind ride and I will be for the next week or so.

So I am in Puerto Vallarta with my parents and it is beautiful. We enjoyed the shops and the great malecon or stone beach wall walk and the hot sun on the beach. We have eaten so well here. Ive had seafood twice a day every day. There is no lack of restaurants of all kinds, beautiful people, families, spring breakers, gay couples, and locals selling you everything from day excursions to straw bags to a piece of rice with your name engraved in it. We got here yesterday by 3, but it was overcast so we walked the beach and checked out downtown. Later we went out to eat at this great restaurant and then went to the local supermarket to stock our suites kitchen. Today started out cold really and overcast again so we just shopped and walked downtown. But then it really cleared up by noon to be a beautiful sunny hot day. So i hung out on the beach in the hotel lounge chair and im proud to say i got tan and not burned. Haha! The white gringa did not turn red. So it was a great day and Mom and I checked out the hotel spa for later in the week. Tomorrow we booked a day trip to snorkel and go to some white sand beaches south of Puerto. Should be looooovely...

Before Puerto..... meeting Stu's parents went really well and we spent a great day in Mexico last sunday. we showed them around a bit and ate at los girasoles and watched a good game in gigantic Estadio Azteca. it was a real hike getting there and back and by the end we were exhausted! Tuesday we took them out for pozole at our favorite place and then to a Lucha Libre fight in Stus neighborhood. it was hilarious, better than the last fight we went to, and I think his parents liked it. Stu got a picture of me with El Maldito, haha. Wednesday was Stu's 29th birthday and I came over for his presents and the four of us went out to eat at our favorite Argentinian restaurant, La Chacra. Then we came back and celebrated with cake with his adopted Mexican family as well and Nate came too. It was really nice. It was fun watching him translate between his Mexican family and his parents. His parents brought him a big can of Foster's beer from Australia, haha. So it was a great birthday.

Thursday I tripped it to the airport to find my parents, who by the way, never sent me their flight information, and we miraculously met up without a hitch. We got into Pachuca late, I made them quesadillas and we went to bed. The next day they came to school with me and saw all my kids and the rest of the preschool groups all dressed up for the Spring Festival. It was a carnaval theme and it was so cute, my kids danced just great and my parents loved it. I showed them around the school and they met a lot of people and we left around noon. Later that afternoon we hiked it up the 2 pyramids of Teotihuacan and my legs hurt for the next 2 days! Friday night we took Stu out and they got to meet him. We went to this really fancy restuarant that served ginormous servings of tasty steak. My parents then claimed they were tired (i cant see how) and didnt join us in going to the St. Pattys Day party that another teacher was throwing. Saturday we had a great day and the rents got the real taste of Mexico. We did some errands in the morning and I showed them my dance studio, our favorite places to eat, the chaotic Mercado Juarez and I finally picked up my fixed camera card. We met Fabis at the market and took the combi up to Real de Monte. We had a nice time and they got to try great pastes, tortilla soup, and real enchiladas. Its such a cute town. Later that night we took Jenny out to El Carboncito and they got the real mexican experience with tacos al pastor and horchata and then Santa Clara ice cream. It was such a good night. and they just love Jenny.

Sunday we got to Mexico City by 11 and had a rude taxi driver woman take us to our hotel. I guess she didnt like the luggage in the front seat next to her or the fact that her front door didnt work after we got out. But we made it and our hotel was great. We even got a discount cuz we paid in cash. I gave them the whirlwind tour of Mexico starting in Chapultepec park at the enormous Museum of Anthropology and then the hike up to the Chapultepec Castle with stunning city views and then downtown to see Alameda Park, Diego Rivera's mural of Alameda Park, and we walked by the Fine Arts Museum on our way to dinner at Los Girasoles. It was a bit of dejavu to what i did with Stu and his parents the week before. Were going to get in in time on Friday to see some more before they leave. Anyway we had no problems getting to the bus station on Monday morning and flying out of Toluca to get here.

And i think that about covers it all so far. Im out of breath.

Also, i had a big adventure with my camera card, it had a wicked virus on it and after three trips to the fixit shop and a lot of waiting, I finally have a clean card and my pictures saved to my USB. So it looks like Ill be able to put up some pictures soon!

Keep praying for the Otts. Its been tough to be down here when wed rather have been up there.