Mexico- Summertime at It's Finest!

Sorry everyone. Its been almost exactly a month since I have posted a blog and there has been quite a bit to say about that period of time.

I think I should start at the first week of summer. My vacation to Club Med Ixtapa Pacific in Zihuatanejo, Mexico was amazing. It was my first foreign (if you could call it that) experience. When we arrived in Zihuatanejo, we had the worst cab ride of my life from the airport to the actual club, which took around twenty minutes. There were plenty of suburbans and vans that were not being used, but no, we were assigned to the smallest car possible. The four of us, my dad, sister, uncle and myself, we squished into this tiny car and our lugage was strapped into the trunk with bungee cords because it clearly would not fit.

One thing I noticed immediately when driving through the small cities to get to our destination was that there was a speed limit, but it was definetly more of a guideline. Apparently, Mexico is in the middle of an election right now, so there were many posters and signs campaigning for these men. I saw signs for four of the candidates, but apparently there are more. The cities we drove through to get to Club Med were tiny, but booming little places. One had four car dealerships! It was definetly a sight.

After the smoldering twenty minute drive to Club Med, we had finally arrived. Since there is quite a bit of violence going on in Mexico right now, the club took extra precautions and had armed guards at the entry. Once we had passed them, we were suddenly thrust into this amazing little turnabout. Obviously we were excited. The first real view we had seen all day, other than from the plane, was of the boundless ocean and the small Ixtapa Island out in the distance. Once we were unloaded at reception, we were offered ice cold lemonade and moist, cold towels to use to cool down. My sister, Hayley, and I loved it at first sight. The women we met at reception were G.O.'s. We soon learned that G.O. stood for gracious organizer and believe me, every single one of them lived up to the title.

Before I get too into my numerous G.O. stories (which are worth the wait), I want to tell you a little bit about Club Med and the are we were in. Club Med is a French company, so naturally, many of the guests and the G.O.'s speak French. I found it a great opportunity to practice what I had learned so far, which apparently was a lot more than I had thought. Club Med Ixtapa Pacific recently went through a 27 million dollar renovation. Everything looked new enough to look cool, but just worn enough to be inviting! Our room was amazing. The view was great and we overlooked the soccer field and lagoon. The building our room was in was called Iguana, because right outside by the lagoon, there were hundreds! They would just walk in the grass and straight through the walking path. It was amazing!

Now, after we had settled in (hardly), my sister and I really wanted to go to the beach. The water in Mexico is perfect. It isn't hot but it isn't Santa Cruz, either. That first day, we didn't go in the water because we were deathly afraid of sting rays and other ocean creatures. We got over it fairly quickly. Everynight at Club Med, the G.O. team, consisting of about 200 twenty and thirty somethings from all over the world, put on a show. Our first night, we missed the hip hop show but arrived in time for family game night, which was a blast. This is where we meet Marina, 'our G.O.' as we called her. Marina, Hayley, and I immediately clicked. She was fun and had us do some crazy stuff. She was like a mentor. She taught us the ropes (i.e. which guys liked tourists, who was skanky, who had hooked up, who was married, etc.). It was so fun and I speak for both my sister and myself when I say that I miss her dearly.

Marina wasn't the only G.O. that our family bonded with. Club Med offers tons of activities throughout your stay. The day of the first nighttime poker tournament, they had offered poker lessons. My family loves poker, but we aren't great at it. So we showed up to the lesson. Topher, a redhead from Louisiana, was the G.O. who ran everything tennis and poker. We instantly bonded with him. (I even had a dream about marrying him during the week! Hahaha). Topher was really awesome and I miss him too! We played in two poker tournaments during our stay, which was fun for me because it's like, 2 a.m. and everyones still at the bar playing poker. I felt extremely grown up.

Another G.O. who affected my stay a lot was Damien. Damien is the all american boy who ran the sports and games and whatnot. When I first heard about pool games, I was like. "Uhmmm. NO!" But I ended up getting into it on our second day there and I beat my family every single day, which I didn't let them forget. Damien called me 'all star' because apparently I scored the most on my team in two out of three point games. (Water basketball and water polo twice!) Later that week I beat my sister at kayak tog of war and at kayak gladiator! I even got a medal! I'm so proud of it haha.

Patrick and Lucas were awesome too. Patrick is the G.O. trainer and HOTTEST one there. Lucas did the flying trapeeze, which I will tell you about in a later post. Lucas was super nice and funny. Patrick was funny and cheezy and cute! I really enjoyed meeting all of them and we still keep in touch! I will be posting some pictures and a lot more stories later on this week!