Thanksgiving in Mexico

Howdy! It feels good to post an article after a drought of not traveling, also known as reality. I’m a bit out of practice of writing, but my cousin, AJ, specifically requested I write about our family trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. It’s the end of Christmas break, and I’m itching to do something, so here are my top-five memories from our Mexican Thanksgiving holiday!

Half marathon

To kick off Thanksgiving break, I ran my first half marathon! I trained with my friends from Texas A&M, and we road tripped to La Porte, Texas for the race. (Why La Porte? It was the only race in Texas that worked with our schedules.) I achieved both of my goals- run without stopping and without headphones. My time was 2 hours and 11 minutes!

In May 2022, I visited Bari to support a friend’s race. We are both back in the US, and Lydia flew from Georgia to Texas to run the race with us! I don’t plan to run another half marathon unless it’s in a more scenic place than La Porte, like Lydia’s half marathon in Bari. 😊

After the race, I quickly showered and packed my things from the Airbnb because my flight was that evening! My legs cramped during the flight, and it was a relief to arrive in time for a late dinner.

Zip lining

This was my first time ziplining! The jungle and river beneath us were beautiful. There were 19 lines and we hardly waited before the next zip line. The guides were fun, comfortable with the equipment, and cracked jokes while connecting us to the line. It was evident the staff were good at their craft and loved their jobs.

After zip lining, one of the guides led us through a tequila tasting. All the tequilas were good, but I prefer tequila in a margarita.

Games

We stayed in a house with lots of rooms, so naturally, we played hide and seek. My uncle spotted me hiding comfortably behind a couch. We also played Socks, a new version of our family favorite card game of Spoons. The game is the same but played with our lucky socks instead of spoons.

Loaded Questions is a fun board game that I used as a “get to know me” game at a retreat. We played as a family, and I learned a new thing or two! This game was especially memorable because my uncle played audience sound effects and laugh tracks through the speaker.

I also played Solitaire after watching my aunt win at least one game everyday of the vacation. The best times to play were during the sunsets and World Cup Games with teams I didn’t care about.

Food

I’ll spare you my inadequate descriptions of the delicious food we ate, and leave the photos to do the talking.

Hiking and horseback riding in the jungle

One afternoon, we hired a fishing boat to take us to a small beach town, where we rode on horseback to a waterfall. It’s amazing how horses, when trained properly, know the path to take without a guide or an experienced rider. We didn’t swim around this waterfall, but my uncle spotted me napping in the sun.

Our local guide, Alfonzo, knew the jungle like the back of his hand and took us to a new waterfall every time. The hike that I remember the most was to a hidden waterfall and swimming hole deep in the jungle with my dad and my youngest cousin, Theresa. It was a long hike over the mountains and the cool water at the waterfall was a refreshing reward.

A few “honorable mentions” that did not make my top-five memories are:

  • Boating through the caves of Los Arcos (five rock islands that we could see from the house)
  • The fireworks on Thanksgiving Day, thanks to Alfonso!
  • The neighbor’s dog, Chiquita, who never missed an opportunity to sneak into the house.
  • Studying for the classes I skipped with the sunsets, a somewhat established habit from my study abroad.

I’m thankful for this beautiful week of rest with my family who values experiencing new things together. I have plans to travel this summer and I’ll be back on the blog writing about my adventures!

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