Vacation in Puerto Vallarta
I spent the eight days of my vacation looking like Bozo the Clown with a bad skin disease. The heat and humidity and pool and ocean water turned my hair into a frizzy mop. There wasn’t enough anti frizz serum in the world to help it. And I’m allergic to the sun. My daughter is, too…we both broke out in a horrible blister-like rash all over our arms and legs after two days in the sun. But did that stop us? Ho, no! Bring on the SPF 50.
My husband and kids decided they wanted to try parasailing. Holy mother of God. The problem with having an imagination is that I could envision every possible scenario of doom that could happen. As they floated through cloudless blue skies over the Pacific Ocean I sat on the sand drinking tequila and having a small nervous breakdown.
Good times.
But don’t think it was all bad! There were truly some blissful moments- the utter joy on my kids’ faces when they swam with the dolphins; seeing the whales flip their tales beside the catamaran we sailed on; the chartreuse iguana strolling along the sand, looking exactly like a little dragon; the friendliness of the Mexican people, especially one taxi driver who spoke perfect English and quizzed my kids on the ten provinces and three territories of Canada (he knew them all!); the power of the Mayan dancers who entertained us one night, their bodies and faces painted with primitive designs, their feathered headdresses bobbing and dipping as they whirled and twirled and stomped; the pride when a Canadian girl won the beer drinking contest at the pool one afternoon. (Could she drink beer! She reminded me of my roommate in university, who won every boat race on campus because she could open her throat and pour the beer down it!!) Americans and Canadians faced off in pairs, and the Canadians kicked butt! When the girl from Ontario beat an American guy it was such a moment of national pride. ? (Although I did turn to my husband at one point and ask, “What kind of entertainment are we exposing our children to?” Our kids are 15 and 17 and probably wished they could enter the contest! They were hooting and cheering on the drinkers and having a blast watching the losers sexy dance in the shower!!)
The sunsets every night on the beach were another beautiful memory, every one different as the sun set into the Pacific – sometimes very fast in a blazing ball of orange, other nights slower with clouds painted mauve and gold, the ocean turned to liquid silver and foam. One night we saw dolphins in the distance playing. I even boogie boarded!!
Because our kids are older, we had two rooms, so my husband and I had our own little vacation. The teenagers were on a different schedule than we were – they like to sleep late and we can’t, so we’d have breakfast, drink coffee on the balcony, go down to the pool – one day we went whale watching, and another day we went for an early morning walk on the beach looking for turtles (yes we saw some!). At night, writhing on the sheets – oh, but that was just me rubbing against the bed clothes seeking relief from the insanely itchy rash.
It was a great trip.
