Cruisin'!

It's COLD in Northern Nevada, temperatures barely hitting the high 30's-the best thing to do is to...
take another Mexican Riviera Cruise! This was an 8 day cruise to Acapulco, Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa, and Manzanillo (new ports for us)! And 90+ degrees of Sunshine!

We had 2 days at sea before stopping anywhere-it was a nice 2 days to recover from the week of stressing and getting everything ready for those staying behind (the kids, their sitter, and Mom)! I took a nap the first 2 days, and I am NOT a napper!!

We celebrated Denny's 38th birthday on the cruise-Hasim and Glenn presented a Birthday Cheesecake-with candles and lead the singing!

Formal Night #1

First Port: ACAPULCO

The gauntlet of tour guides and excursion sales-as soon as you step off of the boat (ok, technically it is a ship), you get to run the gauntlet. Every taxi driver (aka tour guide) and sales person starts waving brochures and tries to lure you to them, each one trying to offer you a more enticing deal. In Acapulco-we hit the jackpot with Senior NACHO (pictured below-his contact, if you are ever in Acapulco 744-1647914 or 744-1546533 or 744-4299043 I would highly recommend this man-he knows EVERYONE in Acapulco and everything about the place)!

Nacho hooked us up with a snorkeling outfit. They had all of the supplies (if you didn't bring your own-and you know me, the germ-a-phobe, I brought my own!) We were taken out into a little cove area (I don't know the geographic names of these things-it was ocean water, it was sheltered from Open ocean, it was WARM and moderately clear!) It was a whole lot of FuN!

Then, to a local restaurant for local cuisine! We ordered some sort of combination patter that came with a 4/5 different meats, onions, peppers, and plates of good ole handmade tortillas! Delicious, except for those pieces of meat that looked a little grey, really thin and NOT too appetizing-turned out it was Liver! Yuck! The rest of it was great, though!!

A nice driving tour of Acapulco-Nacho took us to Hotel Los Flamingos. John Wayne, Red Skelton, Roy Rogers, Johnny Weissmuller (Tarzan), and friends used to party here (in the 1950's these men, also known as the "Hollywood Gang" bought the hotel). There was a lot of old pictures of them, their friends and families. The open-air restaurant had a 3 man mariachi band playing-very good, fun to listen to the hispanic songs played on acustic guitars and sang native, even if I didn't understand a single word!

Second Stop:

It took me 4 days to learn how to say this name! Zihuatanejo {see-whaht-an-A-ho} Zihuatanejo is the port town, there wasn't much here. A few miles North is Ixtapa. This is a newer town that they are building up to be a 'great' resort town. Most of the tourist stuff is in Ixtapa. There are supposedly some great ruins from here, but it is a 3 hour drive out and a 3 hour drive back, and our Port Layover did not give us enough time to do that, darn!

One of the couples wanted to go zip lining, and had looked up a place on the internet before we left the states. The taxi driver/'tour guide' said he knew the place and that it was good, so there we went. Now, last year in Puerta Vallarta we zip lined up in the mountains-a good 30-45 min drive up. Long zips, fully equipped, safe, professional. I took one look at these lines, the 'staff' and said, "No thanks! But you guys go ahead. I'll watch!"

Let's just say, this place fell a little short in comparison. The lower part of the zip line area was 50/50 zip lines and walking (from one zip line landing to the next were: short plank bridges- with about a foot of space between each plank, wire bridge-that would be a single wire to walk across while you held onto a wire above you, long plank bridges-length of wood laid across wire/rope length-wise). Fun!--Not! The upper part, I was told, was all zip lines. The 'staff' would zip ahead of the group, leaving those 2/3 that had zip lined before and who knew about carabiners and safety to help the rest of the group.

They all made it back down safely. That's all I can say about it, oh, and I'm glad I didn't do it!

The best part, in my honest opinion, in Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa was lunch-the driver took us to a bar-b-que. This was so 'local' that he wasn't sure if they'd still be open-once they run out of food, they pack up and leave! We made it, though! Really great ribs! And a local drink we took a liking for, YOLI. Similar to 7up/Sierra Mist-but not as sweet!

Last Stop...Manzanillo!

One of the locals owned/operated an Iguana Reserve. We played "Where's Waldo"! Can you see them all?!

We had another good taxi driver/tour guide here. He was educated at SCU, has a couple of high degrees, speaks 4 languages-paid for by the Mexican government, for him to come back to Mexico to be a tour guide/taxi driver. Interesting, no?!

After a couple of stops at some other restaurants (very touristy and expensive), he took us to this little hole in the wall place. A mom-n-pop-n-son-n-daughter-in-law place! (the BEST places to eat for local food are the places where the menu is ONLY in Spanish and they Only speak Spanish, all of the prices are in Pesos!) It was really good food, again! Our driver told us he had never taken any tourists to this place before, they've never asked. Crazy-like I said, this is where you find the most authentic and delicious food!

Then, back to some shopping, and lucky us, or lucky them-the shopping was right next to the beach! So the guys rented some body boards and hit the waves! Sometimes, the waves hit them! And, sometimes, the waves hit them and made them hit each other! (you know who I'm talking about, don't you April and John?!)

2nd Formal Night

Later....after dinner and after the entertainment of the night, down in the very lowest lounge, is a game...a game they call "The Quest".

It is recommended, it is Stressed that only those 18 years or older should be here. They encourage, they...pretty much tell you to send the kids out, take them away, check them into Camp Carnival, they are NOT to be here for this game!

Well, some of these pictures might explain it for you. Just a note: these are the tamer pictures, the PG pictures, if you will! I'm not posting the 'riding' that went on, or anymore fleshy pictures than what we have here. Let me just point out a few details in some of these photos: the lipstick marks on the man's bald head, some put there by women, some by Men...Denny! And the brassier and sandals?! Beautiful, John! Ok, one more point to make, though, do you see the group the winner was chosen from-the group that stripped down the their skivvies, a bra, high heels, and a handbag?! Our team was not in the winners' circle. Let's step it up next time!

And the end of the cruise...beautiful sunsets, gently rocking ship, rest and relaxation, fun and games, all the food you can eat! I can't Wait until the next Cruise!!!