For the last day of our trip, we ventured to Playa La Ropa to spend the day on yet another beach that we had not seen yet. We parked under an umbrella, and I got my hair braided tropical style while enjoying a drink out of a coconut! The beach was awesome, with soft sand, and a light breeze. I had some great shrimp tacos at a restaurant for dinner, and then we headed back to Zihua, to enjoy our last night here.

We got some more sun yesterday, which was great. I have a nice mocha tan which is even better than megans. She says hers is better but when we go arm to arm I blow her away. La Ropa is a great beach with tons of food and beverages, which we took advantage of all day. Later in the evening we had to celebrate our last night in Zihuat so we went out on the town and got crazy... it was great. I met a bunch more really interesting people and hung out with a bunch of the same ones from previous nights. It's crazy but In the few days I have been here it is like I have become a regular at some of the bars. When I walk in a bunch of people know me, talk to me for a while, and buy me drinks. It's just awesome. Even though I told myslef and others that I wouldn't do it again I ended up walking home alone last night at around 330am with a hamburger that I had managed to get someone to make for me. I guess I had some girl I ran into that night drive me to the hamburger stand or something... I'm not really sure. Anyway I made it home safe and fell right to sleep. It was a great night.

Our day on Playa La Ropa was chill. That evening we went out for a bit. I ordered some Alambres from a little place on the corner. Unfortunately, the food did not sit well with me and I had a bout with Montezuma's Revenge. My night ended rather rough.

Day 5 was mostly spent relaxing, shopping and staying out of the sun. We met some cool people and went to a couple bars at night. Besides that, not alot happened.

Yesterday was quite relaxing, as we gave our skin a break from the sun and spent the day shopping and walking around town. We had some great fajitas for dinner, and later that night we met a couple on their honeymoon, who we had a drink with and hung out with for awhile. They were actually a lot of fun to talk to!

Yea I was freaken burnt man, I needed a break from the sun so I took it. I watched some movies on my phone at the hostel, took a few naps, and just chilled for the earlier parts of the day. Later in afternoon Brandon, Megan and I sat down with some coco con ron and also some oso negro and played some cards. while playing cards these two girls were hanging out on the hammocks behind us so we invited them over. They ended up being really cool but unfortunately had to leave later that night. We still ended up meeting them for another conversation before they left at one of the local hot spots. Those weren't the only people that we met though, it was a night of hanging out with a ton of people we had met throughout the week. We even met a couple of newly weds that invited us up to their hotel to get barecha. All in all it was another great day.

Yesterday, as planned, we ventured to the Northern part of Ixtapa by bus and took the water taxi to Ixtapa Island. Suprisingly enough, it was not too crowded at all, and we didn't have trouble getting lounge chairs and a table on the beach. It was a gorgeous day, and the island was truly paradise. We enjoyed exporing three of the beaches on the Island, eating some great food, and taking in the sunshine. It seems we all had a little too much fun in the sun, because heading back to Zihua we realized we were all a little burnt!

I woke up nice and early with Brandon and Megan ready for another adventure. The days plan was to go out to Isla de Ixtapa, which we did. It was a blast, the sun was out, the water was refreshing and the people were really nice. They didnt understand hardley any english but we got by with no problems. I probably should have used an higher spf sunscreen because I am fried today. I have been using the aloe but it can only do so much for me. On our way to the bus back to Zihuat we saw a nice Alligator pit, so we went and investigated. There were a ton of them and some where huge. It was the first time that I have ever seen an alligator in the wild. It was another new experience down here in Zihuat. Once back home we went to bed a bit earlier, drained from the day it seemed like the thing to do. Before I headed to bed I made sure to make our mark on the hostel on the paint wall. The paint wall is for all visitors that are interested in leaving their mark. I of course painted the WSU cougar with the word wazzu underneath and our three names to the right of it.

Isla de Ixtapa was great, we spent most the day on the beach lounging around. Somehow I forgot to put sunscreen on my face. As a result, I tanned quite well, but got a burn on my forehead and the bridge of my nose. The cost to go out to the island and buy food was quite low, so we were very happy.

I slept in until 4pm and did not leave the hostel till about 5pm for some quick food and beer. I was a little bummed about my watch being stolen but it was a great night other than that. I went and enjoyed some great nachos at Rick's and had a beer, the food was great as usual. After Rick's I went to the internet cafe down the street, checked my email and my facebook pages. I got back to the hostel about three minutes after Megan and Brandon had left. Gregg was nice enough to tell me where they had gone so I grabbed some things and went after them. I ended up catching up to them by the time they got to the beach. We proceeded to eat another great meal, have a few beers and look over the bay as the sun went down. It has been another great day.

Today was probably the hottest day so far, and we proceeded to take advantage of that and took a little walkway along the shore to the next beach down the coast, Playa la Madera. This beach had beautiful soft sand and was less crowded, so it was perfect! The water was nice, and there were actually some good size surf coming in, great for boogie boarding, if we had the equipment. We had another great dinner on the beach as the sun went down, and I enjoyed my first pina colada since I have been here, it was great! Tomorrow we plan to take the water taxi to Ixtapa Island, and enjoy the day there.

Day 2 has come and gone and we had a great time. We spent some time on Playa Municipal and spent more time wandering around the downtown area. In the afternoon, we were a little worn out from the sun, so Nick and I lounged in the hamocks at the hostel while Megan took a nap. In order to avoid high meal prices, we went away from the shore to eat and found an amazing restraunt which served a wide variety of fajitas for only 54 pesos a meal. We also learned some lessons. For example, make sure the waiter understands what you want to order and just because the food is good, doesn't mean you should eat as much as possible.

Our first whole day here was pretty great. We got some pretty good beach time in, laying in the sun, and getting some lunch at a restaurant on Fisherman's walk, just above the beach. I had some really good fish tacos, although I was overcharged for them...Brandon's so called "amazing" restaurant that we went to for dinner was not as great as an expirience for me, as I have never been in so much pain in my mouth before! The food was so spicy, but luckily they had some whole milk straight from the cow that came to my rescue and saved me!

So the first day was amazing as expected. The beer went down like water and the food was just as satisfying. Even though we arrived in town a little after 5:30pm local it still felt like we lived those few first hours in Zihuat like it were an entire day. The day started with us almost not making the flight out of Spokane. The flight filled up a bit more than expected the night before so it was close seeing as we were non-reving from there to LAX. Once in LAX we had no problem getting down to Zihuat. We were all able to sit next to eachother and enjoy the flight. I sat back and watched movies on my phone while Megan tried to sleep and Brandon made mixed drinks with the complimentary coke and his flask that he somehow got through security. We found the ten peso taxi pretty quickly once at the airport which took us into Zihuat. Once in Zihuat we had no problem finding Angela's (the hostel we are staying at). Gregg and Angela were as always extremely helpfull and ready for us when we got there.

In the evening I had some nuts that I thought would be ok becuase airplane nuts were ok all the way down. The nut had a bit of a different texture to it and was not familiar to me. Right away I started reacting to the nuts and tried to drink beer to counter the reaction. This unexpectantly did not work at all, infact the reaction seemed to just get worse. So we kindly asked the bar tender where the nearest pharmacia was and ran to it. They didnt have the usuall benadril but they had some pills that were just as good. After I took the pills everything was a bit better at that point. We will see what adventure awaits me tonight...

Once we finally made it here, we started the evening out right by having nachos and ice cold corona's with lime on the beach. The rest of the night was pretty chill as we walked around the town and explored a bit. We even got to try Mexican pizza, which was actually pretty good!

The first day was a blast. There always seems to be some culture shock making the transition to another country. However, we got to the beach and it was awesome. The weather is great and the view is amazing. We went out and had a couple beers. We were so tired, that we went to bed around 9pm pacific time. Be sure to check out the pictures below.

Hey Everybody!

As of (hopefully) Saturday March 8th, Nick, Brandon and I will be leaving the rain and snow of dreary Pullman and heading down to gorgeous Zihuatanejo, a Mexican fishing village nestled around a small bay dotted with beautiful protected beaches, and located only 5 km from the tourist resort of Ixtapa. The weather had been forecasted to be in the high 80s to low 90s, perfect for lounging on the beach in our, well my, bikini and taking a dip in the warm southern pacific! Home to 5 different beaches: Playa La Ropa, Playa Las Gatas, Playa La Madera, La Playa Municipal, and Playa Contramar, Zihua has not only some of the most beautiful beaches in Mexico, but also in the world! By the way, "Playa" is the Spanish word for beach, in case you didn't catch that. While here, we plan to enjoy some of the many warm weather activities including snorkeling and, well me at least, yoga on the beach! One of North America's most respected yoga experts actually gives classes on La Ropa Beach, and some of the hotels there also offer a range of personal massage treatments from a team of high skilled professional therapists...sounds great! Also, we plan to head to Ixtapa for at least one of the days, and possibly visit Ixtapa Island, home to some of the best snorkeling on the pacific coast. You can even swim with dolphins in Ixtapa!!! There's also horseback riding, golf, tennis, sailing, and scooters for on the beach. We don't really have an itinerary yet, so we will just have to see what we all want to do when we get down there, but it sure sounds like we wont have a problem keeping busy and having a blast!

Oh and here's a Fun Fact:
In the movie, the Shawshank Redemption, the main character tells Morgan Freeman about his dream to one day own a small hotel on the beach of Zihuatanejo, with Freeman's response coining the famous phrase, "Zi...What?", now popular with people that come to visit.

With the stress of school, work, meeting graduation requirements and figuring out my future, I'm very fortunate to have the opportunity to travel abroad for a few days. I decided after my first venture outside the country that I needed to get out of the US as often as possible. However, the cost of travel and lack of time have prevented me from doing that. Although I've been to Mexico and it doesn't top my list of places to see, I'm excited to go back. We managed to plan a very inexpensive vacation which ultimately enabled us to go. I thank Nick for provided Megan and I guest passes for the round-trip flight and offering us his experience in Zihuatanejo.

As a lot of you know, I'm undeniably nerdy and that's what's prompted me to make a webpage detailing our trip. I don't think I've ever seen a live update, such as this, of a personal vacation before; so it was something I wanted to experiment with. Below I provided the location of our hostel on Google Maps. The map allows you to move around and zoom in and out. You can also click on the bubble marked 'A' to see what it indicates. I plan to detail our experience by marking the places we go. So have fun playing around on the map and following our progress. I look forward to having a great time in Zihuatanejo and I hope everyone enjoys seeing our daily updates. I will not have my phone, but I will be checking email daily if anyone needs to get a hold of me.