Hasta Luego Liz & Jeremy

Day two in Acapulco. Breakfast this morning was bittersweet. We’ve enjoyed many meals with Liz and Jeremy over the course of the past week and they graciously met us again this morning for breakfast just thirty minutes before they needed to catch a taxi for the airport. Emma enjoyed telling them about the fish she’d seen last night and a bit about Fuerte San Diego before they had to exit. After big hugs and promises to meet up next summer, they went to grab their bags. Emma and I sat down at the table and then the waterworks began. We knew they would only be sailing with us a short time. It was really a blessing they were here at all. Jeremy participated in a half iron-man competition in Ensenada just before our arrival. Liz had agreed to distribute surveys for the University of Arizona to the SAS students during the first two days of class. Thus, they would be sailing only in between Ensenada and Acapulco. Still, having them on the ship just felt right and their presence will be greatly missed. In an effort to combat the sadness Emma was experiencing (okay, we all were), we caught a cab to CiCi’s. No, we did not hit a pizza joint. Cici’s is a water park. What an incredible time we had! This park was incredibly kid friendly, and as we got there just as it opened, it was not at all crowded for the first half of our visit. A section created just for those who don’t really swim was a Godsend. It had two small and four large slides, several waterfall areas, climbing equipment, etc. As Emma climbed the steps for the first big slide, Wade heard her say “This is PARADISE!” Next, we hit the wave pool and then (drumroll please) the Tobaggan. Wade went to the area where this ride ends and I climbed up 90 stairs with Emma. (Can you say winded???) Minimum height was 1.10 meters, and that’s exactly where Emma currently stands. They wouldn’t allow us to ride together and she insisted she was okay going alone. Wade said he was quite surprised to look over and see her coming down solo! The first words out of her mouth after she landed in the pool? “Otre ves; Otre ves!” I’m not sure the exact number of times we went down this slide, but my leg muscles say it was quite a few! We let her go again and again because we feared our inflatable tubes would be gone when we returned from lunch. We paid 20 pesos each for two and had to put down a 10 peso deposit. We decided to risk losing the deposit and leave the tubes on a lounge chair, but didn’t really expect to see them again. Arms stamped with the green CICI’s logo, we walked over to the Hard Rock Café. Stop judging! Yes, local cuisine is part of the experience, but we are traveling for TWO MONTHS here people. And, we’ve been collecting Hard Rock stuffed animals for Emma since she was just over a year old. I have this vision of them lining her dorm room shelves, reminding her of the wonderful times we’ve had as a family. I’m sure by the time she leaves for college, that idea will not be appealing to her, but she placates me for now! When we walked into Hard Rock, the first people we saw were from SAS. Our friends Ana and Elsa and their children were just finishing a meal. Husbands Gary and Cory had gone to a Mexican cooking class and they decided to venture out with the kids for a bit. Hard Rock has a great play area where the kids can go with no outside entry or exit, so we broke our “eat and then play” rule so Emma could spend time with Mariana, Nicolas, & Emma Esperanza. Brandt stayed in his stroller and hung out with the grown ups. The funniest part about running into them is that Ana and Elsa are Max Brandt’s daughters. If you read our first Acapulco entry, you’ll remember that Max is the one who was so disappointed that we weren’t eating entirely Mexican cuisine at this port. The first words out of their mouths were “you can’t tell!” We agreed, but reminded them it was their husbands who had ratted us out to Max the previous day. We’re enjoying getting to know these families. The girls sailed with their parents a number of times growing up and say it’s a dream come true to have their families aboard this summer.