April 23rd, 2007- Puerto Vallarta, Tenacatitia, and Cuyutlan, Mexico

Sunday was a day of rest, not only because it was the Sabbath, but because everyone (except for me and Kyah) was sick. Kimball had a fever all night, Aaliyah had a cough, Greg went to bed early with stomach pains.

We woke up early Sunday and got ready for church, and then drove around and miraculously found the church building. No one was there…except for one man who was late meeting some friends, so he hopped a ride with us and we drove to the stake center (it was stake conference). Guess who was the presiding authority? Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles! Imagine our delight! We drove across town and arrived before the meeting started, and we were able to hear Elder Scott open the meeting and explain that he had come to reorganize the stake presidency, but after meeting with the current president, each man prayed individually and received the same impression that the current president’s work was not done and he was to remain in his calling. Very interesting, we had never heard of that before.

That was as long as Kimball and Parker lasted. Greg took them out, and after a few more minutes, Kyah was done as well. (We had no food at our hotel, so we all went to church hungry, as we had no time to stop to get something.) They had English translation in other classrooms around the church, but the kids were so hungry and restless, I finally took Kyah out to the car to get…something, anything. Greg came out a few minutes later with the boys (after receiving a blessing from the Elders) because he was so sick. He was ready to leave, so we loaded up and left (after doing a twenty point turn trying to get our huge American vehicle out of an overcrowded church parking lot.)

Then it took us nearly an hour to drive back across town with Greg ready to throw up any moment and so weak he could hardly hold the steering wheel, with Aaliyah crying and Kyah screaming, “I’m starving!!!!” After what seemed like eternity, we arrived back at the hotel and spent the remainder of the day resting. Greg felt a lot better after throwing up, and is feeling much better today. Parker woke up with a fever last night, and Kimball still had one also, but all is well today.

We left Puerto Vallarta today, Monday. We weren’t too fond of it, and didn’t really do anything while there. It was too big and too touristy. Plus everyone was sick or handicap (Kevin has been having trouble with his foot). We drove along Highway 200, and stopped at the Los Angeles Locos, an all-inclusive hotel past Tenacatita. They have over 200 rooms and the cost includes all food and drinks, plus all activities like horseback riding, snorkeling, surfing, etc. Unfortunately they were full until Wednesday.

So we went back to Tenacatita, a beautiful little beach that is mostly undeveloped, called by the locals, Tenacatitaaahhhhhh! It was gorgeous, and we stopped and had lunch at a palapa (a palm-thatched restaurant) called Los…something, the name for parrot in Spanish, which was on the beach (I had fresh shrimp). We considered staying there, but there was no internet in town, nor a laundry mat, so we continued on and kept driving until we reached Cuyutlan, a small town with a unique dark, fine sandy beach. Our hotel is Maria Victoria, which is right on the beach. I consider it to be a step up from the roach motel we stayed at in Los Mochis. I’m a little tired of staying in dilapidated hotels, I’m ready for a nice all-inclusive. I’m also a little tired of living out of our car- it’s a mess, crammed full of all of our stuff, and it is so dirty now. Oh well, I guess we can’t keep it nice forever, especially in our circumstances.

Still livin’ the dream!

4/23/2007 : view on map : permalink : add a comment