SATURDAY.

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Soooo....where to begin! I survived! We woke up at 3am and showered, headed to BWI, and took off at 7:00. The weather was awesome with blue skies, but then we landed in Charlotte, NC and had overcast conditions. I got McD's at BWI...and the flight to NC was only an hour. But it was better than I expected! The NC airport was crazy big and cool, and thennn at 9:55 we took off to Cabo!

The flight was 4 hours and we landed around 12, then didn't get off the plane until 12:45pm. Thank heavens for time differences! The airport was in the middle of the desert and mountains, and we had to walk off the plane outside...it was awesome! We waited in a crazy line for an hour or so for our immigrant approvals (??), then got our bags, then went through the Mexican Customs. We waited again for our Apple Vacations guide to drive us to the Riu Palace (our hotel), so that took awhile. EVERYONE speaks Spanish! No duh, but I'm just having such a hard time understanding people haha. They're super friendly and nice, but goodness.

Our driver was insaaaane...Mexican drivers are flat out nuts. We passed some huts and broken down shambles, little stores that were cute, and then finally we reached the palm trees and highway that ran parallel to the beach. The speed limit would change every few seconds, from 60 km-p-h to 20 to 35 to 70? I was taking pics the whole time, but it was so thrilling.

After a 30 minute ride, we arrived at Riu Palace! OMGGGGG this place is crazy!! Our driver did this insane U-turn in the middle of the highway, and then we pulled up to the hotel. Geez. There are NO doors, NO windows, and NO ceilings. Everything's open and with palm trees and fans and decks and tables and chairs everywhere! We had an hour before we could check in to our room, so we went to the buffet and sat on the deck overlooking the pools and beach. I got offered a free margarita, but I turned it down. For lunch, I had a buffet of mussels, fries, rice, quesadillas, fish, chicken, jalapenos, and sooo much more.

We finally checked in, and our room has 2 small beds and a couch...we might have to move to another room, so sleeping arrangements tonight should be fun. After we checked in, we changed into our bathing suits and headed down to the beach...where we got harrassed every few seconds by vendors trying to sell jewelry, kites, fabric things, blankets, jet ski rides, etc. The water wasn't as clear as I expected, but it's still amazingly clean! There's a sick drop-off in the water right outside our hotel, with 10-15 foot swells that get massive, suck you down, throw you onto the shore and slap you with sand, then drag you back into the water. I went in a few times for like, 2 mins and got my clean water fix, but then we headed back up the coast to where the hotel was. (We wandered like, 10 mins away to calmer waters....fail. The waters are all scary here.) Well....I took one run into the water where the hotel was, got pulled under by the undertoe, tossed around in the sand (I rolled and hit it a bunch of times), ended up with sand in my suit, hair, mouth, lungs, etc, and then just bolted back up to my towel. Not enjoyable one bit. I've never swam in such terrifying waters!

From there, we walked to one of the huge pools at the resort, took some underwater pictures, drank nonalcoholic pina coladas, and just lounged on the chairs while the sun set. I should add, Cabo is 2 hours behind from MD time, so we gained some extra vacationing. It's currently 12:45am in MD, but here it's only 10:45.

But yes, after lounging at the pool, we went to the buffet for dinner. Omgggg so good! They had tons of Mexican, Chinese, Italian, Japanese, and American food.. I loaded my plate with seafood casserole, potato & cheese quesadillas, shrimp, chicken, mahi mahi, sushi (!!!!), olives, chicken tenders, bruschetti, and probably more. For dessert, I had a bunch of cakes and tarts, hella oranges and grapefruit and cherries, and some sherbert. The staff here is soooo flirty and friendly! So many winks and teasing and smiling.

The guys at dinner would pull out our chairs, push us in, lay our napkins in our laps for us, and call us "Princesa" and "Beautiful". One even told me "Adelante, Princesa." Haha...yeaaaahh. When my sister ordered waters for us (oh yeah....everything here is inclusive...eek! Free drinks and food whenever we want!), the bartender was like "asdfghjk (some spanish phrase for "Are you sure you want water?")" and winked at her and such.. and when I was coming back from the buffet table, one staff member rushed to me and took my plate and followed me to my seat. When we left, I told him adios and waved....I feel so foreign.

My sister said the Mexicans looove it when you speak Spanish to them and respect their culture, so I'm going to make more of an effort to use my Spanish phrases.

Let's see...tomorrow I think we're waking up, going to breakfast, chilling on the beach, going snorkeling (!!!!), then going to a fancy dinner at 6:30. There's 3 or 4 suuuuper fancy restaurants here at the resort, but you have to reserve days in advance, and so far we only got 3 days for dinner there. We'll see how it is...but I'm pumped! As long as all this food is clean and good and I don't get food poisoning, I'll be alright 😉

This post is kinda crazy, but that's because I've been up for 22 hours straight with no naps, hella sun and flying, and the wild adventures of being in another country. I've never traveled anywhere before like this, and it still hasn't hit me that I'm in freaking MEXICO!!!

The only place we have internet here is in the lobby, so it sucks, but the view from the lobby is amazing. It's all open and you can see the lights from downtown? Some city? and ahhhhh I love it! Speaking of amazingness, the weather is SPECTACULAR. There are mainly only sunny days, and when we landed it was 94 degrees! Sunny and hot, but not humid and with a wonderful breeze. Like I said, right now it's 11pm (Cabo time), and I'm sitting outside in the open lobby in mesh shorts, a tshirt, and a light hoodie, and it feels amazing. The air is so clean and clear and crisp here...it's hot, but everything about Cabo and the resort make living so much better. If that makes sense. My family's also kinda p/oed that I wanted to blog, and they're sitting in silence next to me waiting for me to finish. So I'm typing nonsense.

And hmm....on the plane, I brought on apples and caramel, baked Lays, and a water bottle. The food at the airports is so effin expensive... 7.99 for a tiny salad? Really?? I got yogurt at McD's before leaving BWI, and I got the apples at Charlotte, so it worked. I watched "Remember Me" (Rob Pat movie) and listened to some jams on the way down, but the flights went by so much faster than I expected.

Anyways, I should probably go because my family is rushing me. I love it here, it feels so awesome, but I kinda miss home and the fact that when I get back, I'll only have 4ish days before moving back into college. I'm still in shock that I'm HERE...but I hate not being in contact. Having no phone and no internet would normally be awesome in a foreign experience, but I have a ton of worries at home, and it just kinda sucks that even if I wanted to make contact, there's no way I could.

You dig? Alright...I gotta go. Well...more later. Next time I manage to break away from my family, head to the lobby, and get internet. They hate me for blogging.

Peace, love, & quesadillos from Meh-hee-co,

Melissa <3

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Comments

[Christine Valentino]

sounds like you are having so much fun!!! drink some non alcholic pina coladas for me!!