I don't even know where to begin. About Mexico of course. It was a freakin' blast. Now as many of you probably know, I went with my mother, step father, and my two amazing roomies, Lindsee and Bre. We all got along great and we had an amazing experience together! But the main reason I am writing this post is to tell a couple of stories, that I find quiet hilarious. And I'm sure the people that know me pretty well will find them a little entertaining as well.
First off, I liked to think of myself as the 'WAVE QUEEN'. The best part about going on a tropical vacation is the waves, ocean and of course the sun. But for me, the deal breaker is the waves. I always want to know what the beach looks like- is the water clear? Are there jellyfish everywhere? How big are the waves? How strong is the undertow? Those are the definite deal breakers for me. So first day in Cancun..
We arrived at the hotel, threw on our swim suites and ran down to the beach. PERFECT weather, amazing waves and the water was crystal clear! Us 3 girls were ready to jump in, but there was one thing that had to be thought about. Timing is everything, you run out in the waves at the wrong time and the undertow will suck you under and spit you out. I, of course, looking at myself as an experienced waver, told the girls to be careful. I was all, 'wait until I tell you to go, then RUN as fast as you can. Its really hard work I don't know if you guys can figure it out, blah blah blah...' bragging and trying to make myself sound like a bad a**. It never works out for me when I try to brag, I end up looking like a complete idiot. So I wait and wait... and WAIT for the right time to run out. "GO GO GO!!" As far as I knew, the girls were right behind me. I start running out with my inner tube around my waist, ALONE, and the next thing I knew I had a mouth and nose full of water and my feet are in the air. The undertow had got the best of me. I got washed up on the shore with a bottom full of sand (looking like I pooped my pants). Everyone was laughing at me and as most of you know, I HATE unwanted attention. The girls looked at me like I was an idiot. The next time we went out in the waves, I let them coach me on when to go.
Mom- Me- Linds- Bee
No wonder everyone thought we were still in high school...
So onto my next story. Scuba diving.
Wednesday morning we all woke up early to catch the bus and head over to 'Scuba Cancun'. Now let me clarify this for everyone, none of us (except my step dad) are certified to scuba dive. Pretty much what they do is teach you a crash lesson on everything you need to know and then throw you in the water for a 30 foot dive. In the lesson all they teach you about is the bad things that can happen. I understand they need to do that in case there is an emergency but it's still really scary to think about. I mean, you don't have any training and the first thing you are going to do under water is panic.
They first gave us the lesson, then threw us in a pool to practice the things they talked about. We all got in the water and the girls seemed to be doing fine, but I was a little freaked out about breathing under water. Its just not natural! My mom got in the water last, stuck her head in, took two breathes, and said, "I'm not doing this. No way." haha it was funny. So they told her while we were scuba diving she could snorkel above us. We all made it through the pool exercises pretty well and then we got on the boat.
The weather that day was cloudy, rainy and pretty windy. On the ride out to the sight the waves were really bad. I started to get iffy on if I really wanted to do this. They got us in all our gear: the weights on our hips and our tanks strapped onto our backs. They filled our vests up with air and told us to jump off the side of the boat. We had to swim towards the back of the boat and grab onto a rope they had thrown in the water. First Bre jumped in, she did fine, and then it was my turn. I was really nervous at this point and seriously did NOT want to go. But I didn't want to look like a baby in front of everyone, so I jumped off. I panicked a little but decided to just swim up to bre and calm myself down. Our instructor was waiting at the back of the boat to get us ready to go down. Here is where it all went down hill.
The waves were smacking us in the face and I was really starting to panic when I made it to the back of the boat. I took my regulator out of my mouth to ask the instructor what was going to happen. I was mostly looking for comfort and for him to calm me down. He shoved my regulator into my mouth and pushed my head under the water. I just kept hearing him say, "Callllm downn Arshlee, just look at the rrrreef we are going to be loooooking at." In my head I'm like, "DUDE! Stop! look at me, I'm freakin' out right now, STOP pushing my head into the water.. AHH ALL I WANT IS DAVVVVE." Then this Hispanic guy came up behind me in total panic. He started kicking me in the face with his flippers and pushing my head under water. I honestly felt like I was in the Titanic. The part when someone grabs onto Rose and pushes her under water to try to keep them self afloat. Too bad I didn't have Derek there to punch the guy like Jack did. I kept yelling at him to stop and get away from me. Then I see Enrique's (that was our instructor) little hand come up out of the water and start letting the air out of my vest. I was going to sink,that was all I could think about. I didn't even have my regulator in my mouth.
Next thing I know I'm splashing, kicking, thrashing, punching and screaming. Every time I saw that little hand come out of the water and let the air out of my vest I'd smack it away and scream "STOP TOUCHING ME, GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF ME.... I SAID, STOP TOUCHING ME!!!!!" I would fill the vest back up with air. I was close to drowning numerous times, trust me. I mean, this experience was completely horrifying and humiliating. Then out the corner of my eye I saw Linds swimming over to us. When she got closer all I could see were her eyes buggin' out in her goggles. She was all, "Ash I can't do this lets get the f outta this water." I was totally down with this new plan. I screamed to everyone that I was going over to Dave. Linds got out of the water and onto the boat but I decided to have Dave calm me down, then maybe try to go down to the ocean floor. Next thing I know the instructor ripped off my flippers, threw them on the boat and said, "Get out!" I may or may not have made him mad with the screaming and hitting. Oh well, minus one hundred bucks and up one good story.
My mom, who was on the boat the whole time, had secretively told the instructors that I was probably going to panic and baby out. It was true. She said she knew it was all over when she heard screaming and splashing from the boat. Oh well! I tried it and maybe someday I'll try it again.
The girls in front of Scuba Cancun
Bre and I in our awesome wet suits.
This is the kind of love I get from my parents
Me holding a star fish
Me holding a Sea Urchin
The girls and I at the tip of Isla Mujeres
On the beautiful beach- Be jealous. Seriously.
So this trip was pretty much AMAZING. I've taken a lot of vacations but this one took 1st place by a long shot. I'll for sure go back to Cancun again sometime, it's gorgeous there. <3
