July 30 hasta 6 de Agosto

I flew into Los Angeles on the night of July 30 from Raleigh, NC. On the 31st Jasmeen took me to Camelot grounds, which is a huge arcade plaza. We played putt-putt and laser tag. I waxed her at both games. She might tell you a different story, but that’s the truth ;( That night we went to Medieval Times, which was cool. You wear a crown and watch knights joust and sling crazy weapons at each other. You also get to eat with your bare hands which is nice, doin’ it Medieval style.

On the first we flew to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We stayed there until the 5th. Puerto Vallarta is a beautiful beach town, though a bit touristy. There are huge mountains surrounding the ocean waters and plenty of Pina Coladas to be found. The waves weren’t too spectacular, but apparently just some miles south of the city there are great waves for surfing. We spent a lot of time just relaxing at the beach, drinking pina coladas and Mexican snow-cones (kinda like a white Russian with a little pizzaz), and eating a lot of tacos. At night the hotel where we stayed offered entertainment shows. One night they had a Broadway show performance, another night there was a Disney show, and then they also had a discoteca as well. Jazzy made fun of my dance moves and I have to admit that’s not the first time that’s happened. We ran into a wedding party group from Calgary and chilled with them. I asked how they could afford to invite 85 people to a weeklong wedding in Mexico, but he said it was actually a lot cheaper. Apparently they invited people and were like if you can pay for it we’ll see you there. He said that the costs for an 85 person wedding party in the States or in Canada would be much more expensive. Sounds like a cool idea. At the beach there were a lot of vendors selling t-shirts, hats, silver, beach toys, women’s sarongs, and more silver. The vendors, wearing white, would walk the beach and ask and ask and ask if you wanted to just look at what they were selling. One senor said, “just give me one Mexican second.” I was like, what’s a Mexican second, and he replied, “like two minutes.” Puerto Vallarta was great!

The day after we returned Jazzy’s family had a party – Long Beach style. It was a blast. A whole lot of eatin’, listenin’ to music, playin’ cards with her 4 year old cousin Jameel – he beat me at a mixed up version of Old Maid, and just enjoyin’ chattin’ with folks. I was sad to leave, but excited to check out Bolivia.