viva mexico!

Happy New Year!
so. this year i spent new year's eve with my bf. . .in cabo! it was a really nice trip. despite all my nervousness surrounding that much uninterrupted couple time (besides my commitmentphobia, there is definitely room to be nervous at the idea of being able to hear when someone is using the bathroom for four days and five nights--i don't care how much you love them). but we did good. it's funny bc everyone wants to hear all the details of your trip--but there really weren't many details. we chilled out a lot, ate, drank (yay for all-inclusives with macro-bars in the rooms(to call it a mini bar would be unfair)), and just enjoyed the city and being away. it was pretty funny to see the mexicans' reactions to us (there were VERY few black people vacationing there), we were like mini-celebs. we even had a guy ask if we would pose for a picture with his kids!
even though nothing happened to write home about, i did think of a few things to write here about :)
what i loved:

• almost a whole week of no one asking me what i do for a living. so many foreigners (canadians included) can have a whole conversation with you without asking what you do, even once. we ran into a family from chicago/tennesee on a cruise we went on. after a minute of polite convo, i excused myself for a few minutes, but left the bf--they asked him what he does for a living! 2 minutes in!! i wasn't there for that, but as SOON as we came back into the us, the customs officer (30 sec convo) asked what we did. why??
• the international black people nod/smile! wherever you go, you can tell a good black american by the way they acknowledge you in public. the few we did see tended to nod back. there was even a guy who looked like he could be black who nodded (he revealed himself as not black when he called the bf 'bro' (with that strong 'o' they use). . .lol. the bf had a lot of white frat boy family down there). of course there were the ones who avoided all eye contact, which was fine with me bc i could give them dirty looks without them seeing :)
• the bracelets from the resort. i have always hated these things bc i didn't like being 'branded' and they usually mess up my tan. but they really helped in mexico as we were wandering around 'adventuring' and riding the bus. people saw them and knew where we were staying. . .and that we were on the wrong bus. lol. and they were really helpful in redirecting us.
  
• the people. mexicans get a bad rap in america, but they are such happy people! the hotel staff was always SO friendly and helpful. just genuinely cheerful. the mexican kids were all happy and content and polite--i never saw one of them throw a temper tantrum or be nuisances to other people.
• the food. besides it being free and all you could eat allll the time, it was so fresh. everything just tasted better. i even tasted guacamole for the first time in my life bc the avocado in my sushi was so good (i was, however, skeptical about even initially trying 'mexican sushi' lol. but hey, it's vacation, right? i even drank a corona!). and omg the ice cream at the hotel. . .heavenly.
• being 'disconnected'. when i'm at home, i have heart palpitations if i lose my phone for a second or if it's not working. i don't know what to do with myself if my internet isn't working, etc. . .so i really thought it would be a struggle to get there and enjoy myself without thinking about what i was possibly missing. but it wasn't. as a matter of fact, it was really pleasant to just focus on what and who was around you and not what you could reach through the use of technology. (but of course i had no problem plugging myself back in once we got back).
  

what i did not love:

• that the tsa thinks the world is a safer place if me and lolo are without my 6.8 oz special edition nivea cream :(
• the fact that the exchange rate was somewhere between 12.50 and 13. . .umm, how am i supposed to divide that??
• the other kids. it is hard to tell canadian white people from american white people without listening to them talk, but o-m-g their kids were the surliest, brattiest, ungrateful, most annoying somebodies. after restraining myself from knocking over a 'tyler' for stomping his little crocs through my sand-writing (without so much as a word from his mother), i had to find a happy place in my mind to keep from scowling at every one of them i saw for the rest of the trip. woosah!
  
• the time difference. it wasn't *that* big, but going backwards is always a little jarring. i am just recovering
• the day of traveling. it was literally a day! we got on the shuttle at 5:30 am to go to the airport (2 hours early for the mexican 'customs search'--which involves petite people unzipping your haphazardly packed bag and unproductively semi-rummaging through your stuff) and got back to my place around 8.
• these 2 girls who did the day of traveling with us. o-m-g. they were talking a mile a minute beginning at 5:30 am! everyone else in the shuttle was trying to sleep and be quiet. . .and they were talking! about nothing! we got a little break on the flight from cabo to dallas. then we found out they were going to dc too!! while we were waiting, i sneaked a peak of their tickets and was unreasonably excited when i saw that they were sitting faaar away from us--or so i thought. one of them was, but one of them was sitting directly in front of us. so of course one moved up. nothing more perfect to end a vacation. . .except the rain and cold when we got back. sigh.

anyway, enough complaining. it was a great trip and i'm ready to do it again!