Hot Mexicans in Mexico

This past weekend my friends Heidi, Melissa, and I headed off to San Diego just to get away from the yucky snow and sad reality of our pathetic lives (mostly our jobs as we all work together). Heidi's mom lives in Carlsbad and we stayed with her, were fed by her, and were entertained by her. She was so great to us. We also got to know all of Heidi's sisters and her awesome Grandma Tanner too. It was all so much fun. So here's a synopsis of what we did...with a few pics of course.

We flew into San Diego late Thursday night. Luckily we had an awesome BRIGHT YELLOW rental car waiting for us. Of the hundreds of rental cars there were in this big lot we just happened to get the only BRIGHT YELLOW one. Wow did we feel special. I don't know what kind of people actually buy yellow cars, but I do have to say they are easy to find in the parking lot. We named the car Gloria...it just fit.

The next morning Melissa and I hung out with my mission companion Jessica, who lives in the San Diego area, while Heidi and her sister Ashley went to the San Diego temple to receive their endowments. Way cool. Anyway, Melissa, Jessica, Jessica's darling little baby Owen and I went to an outlet mall to do a little shopping and have lunch. It was way fun and nice to see Jessica since I haven't seen her in forever. I don't have a picture of this portion of the trip as my hair got all messed from trying on clothes and so I didn't take any pictures. I do have a picture of me in my cute pink jacket that I bought at the outlet mall though which I've posted here.

That night Melissa, Heidi, Heidi's family, and I all went down to the beach just to go walking and to see the sunset. Unfortunately we took a wrong turn and missed the sunset but we still walked on the beach. It was fun and felt great just to be in a jacket. I'm so ready for spring!

Saturday morning we were off to MEXICO!!! I'm so glad that we went even though everyone tried to discourage us and told us how dangerous it was for three white girls to hang out in Mexico blah, blah, blah. Anyway, we drove to the border, crossed over into Tijuana, spent about 2 minutes there, saw the hottest Mexican man I've ever seen (yes Ricky Martin, that includes you), and then hopped a bus with all the locals to go down the Baja Peninsula to Ensenada.

After the 2 hour bus ride to Ensenada we were pretty hungry. Luckily Heidi's BFF, Spencer, had recommended a great place to eat...Tortas Lopez. If any of you ever go to Ensenada, find this place. The food was DE-licious and very cheap. The restaurant was tiny...I think it fit about 8 people in it...no exaggeration. We were the only non-locals there which made it even more interesting and fun. Oh my...I can't believe I forgot to mention the bus ride to Ensenada. Let's just say some beautiful scenery on the outside as we drove down the Baja Peninsula. On the inside though we had some even more beautiful scenery as we watched (on the TVs in the bus) the most amazing and romantic Spanish Music Videos I have ever seen (you should sense sarcasm here). I was ready to poof out my hair, grab a rose and sing in really flowery Spanish right up-close and in the face of my lover (if I had one that is). WOW. I looked on youtube to try to find a little sample of the music videos we watched in the bus, but nothing could even compete with the ones we actually saw. Your loss.

Anyway, back to Ensenada. So, after lunch we didn't really know what to do. We just headed down to Ensenada and not one of us bothered to Google "What to do in Ensenada" before we left. So we asked around and someone mentioned that we might want to go to La Bufadora (Blowhole) which for some weird reason I kept getting mixed up with the word "Bufanda" which means "scarf." More than once I asked someone "How long does it take to get to the scarf?" Sometimes I'm so glad I'm blond when I'm espeaking espanish...people just expect less. Anyway, we went into some random hotel where this totally cute and nice Mexican guy, whose only imperfection was that he had a Soul Patch, helped us get a taxi to the Blowhole (and gave me a free bottle of water...I don't know why...maybe I looked thirsty).

So our taxi shows up 20 minutes later...an old forest green mini van with our awesome driver Jose Sanchez. I didn't think that the green mini van was even a taxi but Jose seemed nice and I was carrying mace so we hopped on in. The drive to the Blowhole was beautiful. The Blowhole is this place where the waves come in, the water goes into this underground cave thing and then when the pressure builds the water blows out the top. We had so much fun there going right up to the blowhole and then running and screaming with all the Mexicans when we got soaked. Also, our taxista Jose was like a little kid and was so fun to watch. Way fun, highly recommend it.

Our "taxi" driver and tour guide, Jose

So Mexico was way fun. Everyone was super nice to us, we didn't get shot or even shot at, the food was great, the scenery beautiful, and there were a lot of hot Mexicans in Mexico. The creepiest people we saw were a bunch of drunk 19 year-old, middle-class American guys we saw when we crossed back over the border that night. They loudly were telling us and everyone around us how the had gotten arrested for "stealing a couple of tacos and some beers." And how it was "the coolest thing that had happened to them for like 10 years." And how "those Mexican handcuffs rub you raw." And a lot of other things I can't write without having to use a lot of #%&@ symbols.

After we crossed the border, we changed in the car out of our Mexico clothes (I know, skanky), and got ready to head down to San Diego's Gas Lamp District. We went to this awesome Australian restaurant with great atmosphere and pretty good food.

This is getting WAY long so I'll try to be less wordy. So, Sunday after a delicious brunch out on the back porch, we went to church at the local Singles' Ward. Then we had a fabulous Sunday dinner with Heidi's fam. I even ate escargot for the first time (taste and texture...not that bad, envisioning the slugs and snails in my flower beds...not good). That night we threw a bonfire at Heidi's mom's house. We invited a bunch of people from the Singles' Ward. Way fun.

Monday we pretty much, after another delicious breakfast of fresh fruit with crem fresh, headed to San Diego where we went to the exhibit "The Body," which is basically a bunch of cadavers and cadaver parts they have plasticized. Super fascinating. I would highly recommend the exhibit. They even had this Hydatiform Mole baby thing, which was basically a ball of hair and teeth and other stuff. Rad.

Then on the plane and back to the reality of my stressful and boring life.

The end.

I heart Mexico.

Yes, I know I'm a moron..."I love you" instead of "hang loose?"

Joseph Smith with crazy eyebrows next to Bob Marley or some other Rastafarian and some guy from "The Godfather" I think. Only in Mexico!

Me at the bonfire with a bunch of people I don't know and will never see again.