Friday, March 26, 2010

Mexico

We took a cruise to Cabo San Lucas for Spring Break. Everyone thought it was extravagant. It was. When I was g-chatting with Sienna and Austin a few days before I left, I was in the midst of finals and I hadn't showered in who knows how long and I hadn't seen the light of day for a week as I was glued to my desk studying, but Sienna said - don't feel sorry for her, she's going to Cabo. So it's true. We sailed on the "Carnival Elation." It was fun. And the cruise went to great lengths to make sure we knew we were having fun. The daily print out of activities was called the "fun times" the pool area was called the "fun deck" the musical program had huge block letters spelling out "FUN" on the stage and Cruise Director Steve only referred to the boat as the "fun ship."


There were a few pools on the boat. It made me think about how unsustainable cruise ships are. It's more fun when you don't think about it. Although, I was happy to learn that the ships no longer dump raw sewage into the ocean. We're makin' progress! (as Bush would say).

Anyway, I tried to tan. It didn't work. I couldn't help but re-lathering my sunscreen every 10 minutes. Our friend Deats was like, wait, aren't you from Hawaii? I said, being from Hawaii doesn't change your genetic make up. He didn't get it.



My favorite part was the time we spent in Los Cabos. The ocean was beautiful. The marina area was cute. In the picture above you can kind of see our cruise ship waaaay in the background above the rock. Los Cabos is pretty touristy, but I still had fun practicing my Spanish. I tried to bargain down the price of a regalo I was buying for my mom, but seƱor would not have it. I said "pues, es todo lo que tengo." He said, "es todo lo que tienes."






Hoku loves ATVs so she wanted to do a "land excursion." I wasn't that sure I was going to have fun, but it was actually way better than I though it would be. We went on tandem ATVs so it would be cheaper, but we took turns driving. I liked that we got out of the touristy areas of the city and into the mountains. My favorite part was all the cacti. It felt very..."mexico."



We took a little boat out to see the arch and went snorkeling. The snorkeling was pretty good. I would say it was definitely as good as Shark's Cove. The masks kinda fogged up a lot, though, and they made us wear these awkward blue life vest things. Enrique said I didn't have to inflate it if I didn't want to, which I didn't. But this Mexican lady on board kept yelling at me to "inflate tu veste!" I told her I was just going to leave it, but she wasn't happy about it. On the way back, two giant humpback whales swam right up to our boat (I couldn't get a good picture though.) Our captain "Brian" (is he American?) jumped out so he could snorkel with the whales. Right. I suggested we sail away and leave him there.


At dinner every night we sat with these guys from the University of Utah. When we asked them how they liked Salt Lake City they said, "Well, aside from the Mormons, it's awesome." It made for some interesting dinner conversation. They made fun of Mormons for liking pizza and ice cream (in place of alcohol). I was like, whatever, pizza and ice cream are delicious. Get with the program.

Thanks Austie and Dad for the blue ray bans. I'm happy that I finally got to be in some sunshine so I could use them. I hope Spring is here to stay.

13 comments:

Damaris @Kitchen Corners said...

OMG you just had my dream vacation.

I want to do a cruise SO bad and one day I will. Christian won't do it so maybe I can tag along with you some time.

you are THE luckiest girl I know. seriously!

Yesenia said...

The pictures are awesome and it looked like you had so much fun! I agree with Da on you being the luckiest girl. I normally hate large cruise ships but your post really made me want to go. Maybe one day we can get all the cousins to go and have a "Super Fun Extravaganza."

I miss you and can't wait to see you this summer.

mariah said...

it looks like you had a really good time :D your mom and i both agreed that we were happy that there weren't any serial killers or kidnappings... mexico really is the best place ever. i wish i could hang out with you, mexico or not. your glasses look awesome.

Kaity said...

Seriously, why don't people understand that being from Hawaii doesn't change your genetic make up. It looks very fun. Danny and I bought a cruise at Gio's silent auction, so we'll be going one of these days too. Just curious, how much did it cost? I want to see if we actually got a good deal or not.

Damaris @Kitchen Corners said...

Kaity...
really? I'm SOOOOOO jealous. you and danny...man.

Yesenia said...

Da-

What are you jealous for? You just got back from the NYC! Hello! Dream come true.

Karen said...

this was FUN just seeing and hearing your report. seriously refreshing.

noelle said...

kaity - we paid $420 for ours. it was a non-window cabin, so it was cheaper. and then they charge you $10 a day for gratuity. so i guess it was more like $470 total (it was a 5 day cruise). that's so cool you guys are going!

noelle said...

oh and i'm all down for the super cousin extravaganza! haha anything with you guys would be fun. maybe we should wait till mexico isn't going down in flames. i felt lucky that we didn't run into any trouble on that front.

Grimsmans said...

Noelle,
So fun to hear about your cruise. Your trip made me remember soooo much. Dave and I took a Mexico cruise, also visited Cabo, did the ATVs on the beach (so cool), took the arch excursion boat trip and I wanted to snorkel but did not so I am glad you likened it to shark's cove which I have snorkeled so now I feel like I did not miss out in Cabo. Thanks for letting us all live vicariously through your wonderful tours of the world...you get that travel bug from Mimi! Dave and I spent the last weekend with your Institute teach and our cousin Jeremy Hunt...he says to you....get back to his class....I agree! Have fun and work hard Noelle, it will ALL pay off big time.
Love,
Aunt Tricia

noelle said...

That's so fun that you got together with Brother Hunt. I couldn't attend institute this quarter because I had a required class that i had to take that was at the same time every day. I'm going to be able to go next quarter though. :)

mariah said...

We're related to your institute teacher? Is he Ryan's brother? It does look beautiful and fun. Glad you went. nice pictures. pam

noelle said...

pammy - yeah brother hunt (jeremy) is ryan's brother. i've talked to him about us being related and he said that his grandpa and grandpa austin were first cousins and close friends.