Sun, Scuba and...Swine flu?

No I do not have the Swine Flu. But I did have a great time in Mexico. And I am grateful for the Swine Flu only because after being in Mexico for a week, my office would not let me return to work for another 5 business days! I had to "work from home" for another week!! Which means that instead of just one week of vacation I practically had TWO full weeks of relaxation. Well, to be honest, the second one spent at home was probably more relaxing than the first one spent in Mexico. This is due to the decision Dianna and I made to get scuba certified while we were in Mexico. It turned out to be more of a challenge than either of us anticipated. Those who have been will hopefully sympathize with me. If not, please don't tell me how easy it was for you, I don't want to hear about it.

We flew into Cabo San Lucas on Saturday afternoon and our trip was already off to a rocky start. Our flight from DC to Atlanta ended up sitting on the runway for much longer than it should have due to a gate change. This made an already tight connection even tighter. We made our connection, but were certain that our luggage would not. Our fears were confirmed when we arrived in Mexico and were greeted by no luggage, but instead a form with our name and information on it saying the next flight that could bring our luggage would be arriving the next day at the same time. We were very disappointed to leave the airport without our luggage but comforted by the fact that they had been organized enough to already have our info ready when we flew in. We were the first in our group to arrive at the resort and we couldn't check-in so we went on a tour. We were staying at a very nice place called Villa del Arco. Great pools and an okay beach. Honestly, the best beach I have been to is still our beach in Rocky Point. Love it. We ate an incredible pizza at the outdoor restaurant over looking the ocean while we were waiting. All in all, we were just happy to be in Mexico enjoying the beautiful weather and freedom from real life, even without our stuff.

Lucky for us, we were sharing a room with two other girls, my sister Tara and her friend Amanda. We were able to make due with the few things we had with us until the next day when our luggage gratefully showed up as promised. Sunday was a great day that started with a visit to the local branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints. I love visiting church in different countries. It was in Spanish so I understood some, but not all. You also never know who you're going to see there. For instance, Ryan Denney happened to be visiting that Sunday as well with his family. Now I didn't know that it was him, but other people who actually recognize professional athletes told me that it was him. We made some new friends there who directed us to the best local bakery and tortilla factory. As I have already mentioned on here, I love good food. And so much of traveling is about the good food you get to eat. Fresh tortillas are at the top of my list of things I love most, so anytime I can get them, I eat a lot. We also found at the bakery these cream cheese bread that we always get with my family when we're at Rocky Point, but I promise these were the best I've ever had...Princess Bakery, you rock. We made a stop at Costco to get some supplies for the week. Yes there is a Costco and a Sam's Club down there. It was just like at home. My experience going to Costco in a foreign country wasn't nearly as exciting as my cousin Shane's. He went in Tokyo and wrote a very funny post about it.

Monday started our SCUBA training at Amigos Del Mar. The first day was just book work and watching videos with our instructor Jonathan. Since we had both read the book on the flight there, we had the info pretty fresh in our minds and passed each quiz with flying colors. We wrapped up early and were feeling good about getting to practice in the pool the next day. We went to this random pretty empty resort across the street from the scuba shop and their pools were nice. What wasn't so nice was us in the pool. To make a long story short, because I don't want to type it all, the actual practice of the moves ended up being a lot harder than reading about it in the book. We survived the pool practice with all the gear and and the floating and the breathing, etc. For some reason, I could not get the "hovering" along the bottom down. The next two days we had our ocean dives and Dianna and I were each at different times terrified and frustrated beyond belief.

The first dive ever in the ocean, we weren't down that deep and I had a REALLY hard time with the whole neutral buoyancy thing and I accidentally floated to the top a couple of times...without being told. And for those of you who know something about scuba diving, you know that this is a very bad and potentially dangerous thing to do. So much so that after the second time it happened, when I finally got back down with the rest of the group, Jonathan, our instructor, grabbed my arm and pulled me down until I was sitting on my bum on the bottom of the ocean. He then proceeded to scold me for my bad performance with a lot of gesturing and finger shaking since talking/yelling was obviously out of the question. Needless to say, my first dive was not my favorite. In fact, when we were finally back on the boat, the only thing I could say was "I hate scuba diving". Sad. Fortunately the next dive that day went better inspite of getting caught in some crazy currents. And the two dives the next day went well for me. I started to enjoy the things we were seeing a little bit instead of just being constantly worried about whether Jonathan was in sight and if I was getting too close to the bottom. Dianna was not as lucky. During our first dive of the 2nd day, she actually kicked her fin off and had to go back to get it. She was kind of panicked which caused her to breathe harder, resulting in her running out of air and getting to use our newly learned air-sharing skill in real life. Crazy. She was pretty shaken up, but she got back in and we conquered. I have to say that I will definitely need a break before trying it again, but I am proud that I got the certification.

The trip was amazing and I came back with a great base tan to start off the summer :) Though I must say that I think I like Rocky Point and being at the beach with my whole family a little bit more. Viva la Mexico!!