Mazatlan (Sinaloa) Mexico 2008

This past week from July 23-30, my sister Ann and I had the opportunity to vacation with my boyfriend's family at their villa in Mexico! The Wright's go to Mexico annually, and we felt extremely honored that they had asked us to join them! We had never been before so it was quite the experience. Wednesday morning we had to be to the airport bright and early (6:30 AM) in order to leave by 8:30 AM. I wish I had taken more pictures that day at the airport, but I think I was too excited to even think about it haha. I did, however, get one of Ann when we were playing cards on the plane. After a layover in LA, we finally arrived in beautiful Mazatlan around 2:30 PM that afternoon. From the airport, we all took a shuttle to the Nuevo Pueblo Estates at Emerald Bay. The Villa that we stayed in was absolutely gorgeous. It was so nice because it was almost like we were staying in a house with our own private pool and hot tub, kitchen, internet services, TV's... the works! That day we were all pretty tired and worn out from the flights, so before jumping into the pool and hot tub at the villa for the rest of the night, we headed over to the pool at the pueblo hotel and had chicken fajitas! Yum! By the way... the pool at the Pueblo was absolutely AMAZING! I was trying to fit the entire pool in one picture, however, it was way too big! It is a three-level pool, including a swim-up bar (pina colada daquiris and limonadas.. Mmm...), and stairway down to the beach... can't get any better than that. These pictures were actually taken the day we were leaving Mexico. The weather was a bit overcast that day, but it was still a beautiful morning.

As you can see... that night was spent in the backyard pool at the villa. Thursday morning, Julie, Ann, Sav, and I went on a city tour of Mazatlan while the boys went golfing. Julie and Sav had been on this tour before, but took Ann and I since we had never been. Our tour guide made the tour even better by picking on Sav and Ann half the time haha. He kept referring to Ann as his "fiancee". Ann helped him demonstrate this antique phone in the bakery... AND this jewelry, where he said he would one day buy her engagement ring haha... I don't remember how much this jewelry cost, but I know it had to have been much more than my car... Overall, the tour was fun! Oh hey... do you know what the name "Mazatlan" means? Land of the Deer- yes... I learned that on this here tour. :) Enjoy the pictures... This is a picture of the "taxi" monument. We took a taxi around Mazatlan almost everyday. They look like little golf carts! After the tour, we all went to eat at the Shrimp Bucket. Sav tried out the "Shirley Temple", which is pretty much "open your mouth and see how much you can take before you gag" haha. Savvy was so brave! I totally faked one for the pictures haha. Friday morning, all of us took the shuttle to the other side of Mazatlan in order to catch a ferry that would take us to Stone Island. It was SO much fun! When we got to Stone Island, we had to choose two of like five different activities that we would be doing that day. Julie and I took a tour of the island while the rest of the group waited at the beach, and when we finished, all of us went horseback riding down the coastline. Afterwards, we hurried to eat dinner so that Jordy, Harry, Ann, Shaun, Jar, and Savvy could go ride on the water weenie... excuse me... "banana boat". :) Saturday we all spent a day out at the pool below the villa and the beach. It was very relaxing! All of us got nice tans.. and burns haha. Later that night we got dressed and ran out the door for the fiesta! It kind of reminded me of Mexico's version of Hawaii's PCC (Polynesian Cultural Center- for those of you who were wondering) where they featured the culture of Mexico. It was a lot of fun! Good food, dancing, and company!! Dancing was the best part! This is Julie and Jordy slow dancing. This is mi novio's cute family. You guys are the absolute best! Thank you for such a great time! :) Sunday was our "stay out of the sun and give our skin a break" day. We were all drained from the day before so we went to dinner at the old Pueblo, watched some movies, TV, and relaxed all day! Monday afternoon, Julie and Shaun had to attend a timeshare presentation, so the "children" of the group went to play at the beach!! Later that afternoon around four, we got back to the villa and Julie asked us if we wanted to go see Batman, which of course... YEAH! So we all left for the theater. However, when we got there, it wasn't playing until 6:50 so the girl at the ticket booth told us to try the other theater "down the street". Not thinking we would need a taxi, we walked for at least 10-15 minutes (in the hot humidity remember) trying to find the place haha. When we got there, we found out that it was not only playing at 6:00, it was all in Spanish haha- NO English subtitles, whereas the other theater was showing it in ENGLISH with Spanish subtitles. I couldn't help, but laugh. It was pretty funny I have to admit. Regardless, Batman was good! I loved it! On Tuesday, Shaun, Ann, Jordy, Harry, Jar, and I had an opportunity to take a canopy tour! I have always wanted to try ziplining and it was definitely a blast! There were 12 platforms with about 9 horizontal ziplines in between. Seriously, if you have never done it (and aren't afraid of heights), I would recommend it.











Afterwards, we toured the tequila factory. Yes, there were samples haha. No, we didn't sample it. :)

Here is a tequila plant. Their leaves are spiny and sharp! Jar even got poisoned by one.. huh Jar? Haha. :)

On Wednesday, it was Adios to Mexico and Hola to Salt Lake! Long day ahead of us. Ann and I were pretty sad to leave Mexico, but we had so much fun! Gracias to the Wright family for making our summer complete. We had a blast and hope you did too. :) Love you!