tepic, mexico.

so we were told for some reason that tepic is a desert. but it isn't at all! tepic is in a valley, and it's so green there! it almost looked like a rainforest, it was gorgeous and it rained every single day. our week there was pretty laid back and i had a lot of time to spend with my host family. there were two girls, diana (16) and paola (11) who both spoke fluent english. my parents however, elvia and horacio, spoke no english. haha, so their daughters translated the whole time. but i tried to use some of my spanish skills, too. to get to tepic, we had to take a six hour ferry ride from baja california to the mainland. then we took an 8 hour bus ride south to tepic. it was a long travel day, but a lot of fun too. during the week, we went to a place where they help baby sea turtles have a better chance of survival so that they don't become extinct. we all got to hold baby sea turtles, which was really neat. one night we went out to a place called the mandala for dancing and it was awesome because my host sister went, but so did everyone else from up with people! it was sooooo fun. then on our free host family day they took me to this amazingggg lake and we went swimming in a pool nearby all day. overall, i really reallyyyy loved tepic and i hope one day i'll be able to go back there. :) 

sunset on the ferry ride!

the baby sea turtles!

my host sisters and their friends before our night out at the mandala.

me and my host parents after our show in tepic!

diana, me, and paola at la laguna!

this week is all thanks to the generosity of marvin and ruth farber. thank you both sooooo very much!! :) :)

los cabos

i've been having some internet issues, but now i can finally update on my stay in cabo san lucas! it was probably one of the busiest weeks i've ever had. my room mate was marion from switzerland, but our host mom's sister was also hosting. so lexi from maine and eriko from japan were also kind of like my room mates. :) it was a lot of fun. the house was very... cozy! haha, it was an interesting experience to share one bathroom with three others. 

luckily we got a day at the beach, which was really fun. but we had one not so great day. we all went to the mall, and we were walking back to the car. our little host sister sophie was running and didn't see the table that was above her eyes. she ran right into the edge, and stood up with blood everyyyywhere. we ran to a car outside that drove us to a hospital, which was luckily only a few blocks away. i felt so bad for her, you could see right through to her skull. :( we stayed at the hospital for two hours while they put three layers of stitches in her head. it was pretty scary, actually. anyways, here's the pictures!

my friend zach and i in cabo at the waterfall at the mango farm!

on a boat in cabo!

all our little host siblings.

this weeks is thanks to pat and laurie holland! thank you guys so much, i love you. :)