Cocktails & Turtle Dreams

Buenas Tardes!  We decided last Friday that our feet and hands deserved a spa day, so we got manis and pedis.  We chose to go to a humble establishment in town... I can't say more than that because if I do we would have to relive the experience and we are not ready to do that!  I will say that we staged a fake phone call (thanks for the fake caller app on my phone Cale) to get us the heck out of there.  Needless to say, we went for round 2 of manis and pedis on Saturday...it was fabuloso!  The rest of the weekend was spent on the beach enjoying our favorite drink in Cabo...the Capella Sling...

Capella Sling

crushed ice

2 ounces vodka

1/2 ounce pomegranate infused tequila

 1 ounce raspberry puree

2 ounces sparkling water

2 ounces sprite

3-4 fresh raspberries

Directions:

Fill a mixing glass with ice.  Add vodka, tequila, and raspberry puree. Place a metal shaker over the glass, invert, and shake 3 to 4 seconds.  Pour the mixture into a highball glass and fill the glass with sparkling water and sprite. Add raspberries and enjoy!

On Sunday we had some friends join us at the pool for Sunday Funday!  We read, played dominoes, and sent 185 baby sea turtles out into the ocean.  The hatchlings were found under a rock by the cabana at Capella.  We waited until sunset and went out to the beach to let the little guys go.  We found out that these sea turtles can average 350 pounds, and only 6-10 of the 185 will survive.  Something in the oil of a persons skin is not good for the babies so we had to wear rubber gloves when we touched them.  It took them awhile to make their way from the beach to the water so we helped them as much as we could.

This week has been great so far!  Jen got her first good night of sleep this week last night.  She was watching TV in bed Sunday night about to fall asleep when she felt something crawling on her neck...it was a cricket!  So the last couple of nights she has been checking her bed and wishing she had a turtleneck to sleep in!  I finally have the serving breakfast thing down at the Center...Jen not so much.  She spilt 2 cups of chocolate milk on herself this morning.  I know some of you may be thinking...how hard is it to serve breakfast?...well its not really, but there is a different cook/volunteer for each day of the week, and each have their own way of cooking, serving and cleaning.  I think we have finally figured out everyones way of doing things.  Somedays we feel like they couldn't do it without us and other days we feel like we are just in the way.  We have been playing with the smaller children this week(15 months-8 years).  They are full of energy and tears.  It's like a domino effect with the littlest ones...one starts crying and they all do. They are just so darn cute though!  We have both forgotten our cameras the past few days but we will make sure and take them tomorrow so that we can take a bunch of pics for everyone to see.  Today at the Humane Society we found out that Jen's dog "Mr. Nana" had been adopted and a few of the others will be moving to a nursing home soon to give and get the love and attention they need.  Don't worry though, Jen has found a new dog that she wants to take back to the states.  She wanted to fill out an application for her but I wouldn't let her...her name is Lila.  She said, "It's meant to be she has a L name just like Lily, Lola and Layla, and I do need a souvenir from Cabo."  She is precious, but really?


Hasta Luego....XOXO Jen and Tal

The Thunder Rolls On!

Oops we forgot about the blog!  Actually we didn't, we have just been preoccupied.  We decided to take a few days off from volunteering at the end of last week, so we could finish settling in, catch up on some much needed rest, and soak up some Vitamin D!  We also got some great news...Kristen is coming to visit at the beginning of November!  We are very excited!  On Friday night we went to dinner with a friend from Tulsa who now lives in Cabo.  We went to a place called Arts and Sushi on the marina.  The rolls we had were amazing.  We tried octopus for the first time, and it was really good.  After we left dinner, we went to NoWhere Bar for a few drinks before heading home.

Saturday morning we woke up to find a hurricane was headed this way...reported to be the second strongest hurricane on record!  The hurricane was a category 5 at some point, but decreased to a 1 late on Monday.  By the time it reached land it was just another tropical storm!  The storm didn't hit until early Monday morning.  The thunder was the loudest we had ever heard!  Kind of scary actually...I almost went and got in bed with Jen!  We woke up to more flooding that morning...the whole living room this time!  We were told we needed to evacuate Capella, the place we are staying, until Sunday.  They started boarding up windows, and doing everything else you do to prepare for a hurricane.  Much to our disappointment, we both began to pack the things we would need for the week.  We had another friend, who is in California, who offered us his house for the rest of the week.  His house is more inland, so we took him up on his offer.  As we were walking out the door we got a phone call telling us we didn't have to go anywhere because the hurricane was decreasing...we kept our bags packed just in case!  Needless to say we didn't make it to the Center or the Humane Society Monday or Tuesday, but we now can say we have survived a hurricane and two tropical storms!

Surviving the storm!

                              
Yesterday we woke up overjoyed to see the sun, and went back to volunteering.  After we left the Center we went to the Humane Society to walk/run with the dogs...all 37 of them!  The workout the dogs were giving us was intensified by the overwhelming heat and humidity due to all of the rain!  Once we got home it started raining again but all clear skies today.

This little boy said, "no pictures please"

I want to bring this little girl home with me!

I also fell in love with this little guy...I bet he would love Tulsa!

Mr. Nana

Tal was a really good sport about the dogs...she even named a few Layla...this was my  favorite "Layla" becasue he looks and acts just like my baby.

Today we went to the Center and I was reprimanded by the cook for giving too large of portions to the small children...which was upsetting because Jen was on tortilla duty and was allowed to give two or more to everyone.  In the end there were enough eggs, what I was serving, to feed an army...I think the cook wanted to keep them for herself!  When we finished cleaning up breakfast we were excited to go outside and play with all of the kids, but they were nowhere to be found...guess they had bigger and better plans!  Maybe we'll have better luck next week :)  The dogs were stoked to see us and even more so to be free from the clink!  We were also super excited because there were two other volunteers there to help walk them.  So our workout was cut short to about 20 dogs today!  We spent the rest of the day just maxin' and relaxin' by the pool.  I began book numero 5 today and Jen insisted that I read aloud.  I got stuck doing all of the reading while she floated in the pool...story time is so much fun!

Until next time.... XOXO Jen and Tal

We Have Arrived!

Hola, from Cabo!  We have been anxiously awaiting our 9 week stay in Cabo, and it is finally here!  We decided to keep a blog of our time in Cabo San Lucas to keep all our family and friends updated on what we are doing.  We have been coming to Cabo for the last 7 years, and at the end of every week here we always try to extend the trip...Jennifer usually does.  When we were in Cabo in May, with Team Tulsa, once again we kept trying to come up with ways to stay longer.  Needless to say, we didn't!  So while we anxiously awaited our June Cabo trip, we started brainstorming of ways to stay for a long period of time.  Many ideas came to mind...selling jewelry on the beach, fruit from a corner stand, bathroom attendant, etc...Although these all sounded like great ideas, we decided some type of community service would be best!     So on our June trip we visited places, with the help of our new friend Ponny, that we could volunteer our time, and we each found a place we wanted to volunteer.  We will be volunteering at The Los Cabos Humane Society (Jen's pick) and The Casa San Juan Diego Center (Tal's pick).  When we got home in June we immediately started planning for our 9 weeks abroad....

With months of preparation we are both ecstatic to finally be here! But we did not arrive without a proper farewell from our wonderful friends back in Tulsa.  On Friday night before we left, Kristen, along with the help of Dara, Megan, Cameron, and Ashley threw us a bon voyage party at her house.  It was fabulous...a lot of our close friends were there!  They even went as far as getting a few of our favorite things to eat and drink.  Here are a few pics from the party...

                                      

Jen, Tal, Ash, Cam, & Dara

Kristen

Ash & Jeremy

Judd & Myley

Jen, Tal, Meg, & Brent with our parting gift

Jen, Tal, Jeremy, & Ash

Neither of us wanted to leave, but it was getting late and we had to say our goodbyes because one of us still hadn't finished packing!

Saturday, the day of our departure, started early...neither one of us feeling 100%...it must have been whatever is going around! :) There had yet to be any tearful goodbyes, until my parents and I got to Jen's house to pick her up to go to the airport. My mom asked if she told Lola and Layla goodbye (the dogs), and the waterworks started!  Sweet thing cried all the way to the airport... nothing but smiles though that morning when she told her parents and Papa goodbye.  We got to the airport and started the very long check in process with all 9 bags in tow.  Jen had two bags to check and one to carry-on...mind you she had already brought 3 bags down the previous week... the other 6 were mine, two of them being carry-ons plus my purse!  Of course every single bag I checked was over the weight limit!  General boarding is only allowed 1 free bag.  Elite class is allowed 2.  So I had to pay for one of my bags, Jen claimed another, and the 9th bags items were distributed amongst the other 8 pieces of luggage that were already overweight.  The nice man at the ticket counter, finally fed up with all the repacking we were doing, let the overweight fee slide, and told us to be on our way!  We got to Cabo without a hitch, and with all bags accounted for!  We arrived at Capella Pedregal, our home for the next 9 weeks, and started settling in.

  

   Poor Guy!!!

Nuestra Casa

The View

Need we say more?

So we can see you every day!

Sunday morning we met with Father Arturo, the director of the Casa San Juan Diego Center, at the San Lucas Evangelista Church, to get the information we needed to volunteer at the Center.  We got to the church assuming mass was over, but realized after walking in that we would be attending mass then meeting with him after.  So we now have been to our first Catholic mass in Spanish!  After we left, we drove to the Center and to the Humane Society to make sure we knew where we were going for the next morning.

San Lucas Evangelista Church

Casa San Juan Diego Center

   

Los Cabos Humane Society

http://www.humansocietycabo.com/

Bull outside of Humane society

We spent the rest of the day going to the grocery store, and unpacking.  Actually we have spent the last three days unpacking, or rather Jen has...when you see the pictures you will understand why...

Who knew you could purchase a surfboard at Walmart

Thank god for space bags!!!

Jen may have slightly overpacked...

Sunday night when I was in my room, I heard a big crash come from downstairs, followed by Jen yelling....Tallee, we have a problem!  I went downstairs, and the hanging rod in her closest, that she had just been hanging some of her clothes on, had fallen...along with some of the sheetrock...

My poor little dresses!

The lack of sleep and traveling from the weekend made it near impossible for us to get up Monday morning.  I woke up and went downstairs to see if Jen was up yet...she wasn't.  When I finally got her to wake up she kept trying to convince me it was Sunday and to go back to sleep.  I told her she could nap when we got home.  We made it to our first day of volunteering at the Center just in time to start serving breakfast...The Center is a place where families can come and have breakfast, that would otherwise go without.  After breakfast the children, from babies to teenagers, play and enjoy the activities at the Center, before they go to school in the afternoon.  The mothers have the opportunity of taking a sewing class...which Jen and I are both thinking about joining.  At night the Center becomes a homeless shelter.  In return for having a place to sleep for the night the men and women that stay at the Center help with breakfast and clean-up after.  As the week goes on we will learn more of the activities and things the Center provides for the families...So that morning we served breakfast and then went to play with the children.  We learned, or attempted to learn, the hokey-pokey in Spanish...sorry no pictures of us doing that...and played many games of Jenga.  Most of the children don't know any English and we don't know Spanish, so there is a lot of smiling and nodding, but as Father Arturo told us Sunday the language barrier does not matter, it is about the love you are showing the children.  After we left the Center we came home and attempted to start this blog, but the internet was not working.  So Jen started learning Spanish...Brenda bought her Rosetta Stone before we left...and I took a nap.  When I got up she was fluent(she says, "thanks mom")...my hour nap had turned into the whole afternoon!

     On our way to the center at 8am we saw this line of people outside of Cabo Wabo...Sammy Hagar is in town and they are all waiting to meet him...the line was around the block!

Getting ready to clean up breakfast

Some of the younger children

This little girl wanted to pose for the camera

Jen and Selena

This little boy was so cute!

People were still in line 3 hours later!

Today has been pretty much the same as yesterday, but we have a few more bumps and bruises on our bodies.  Since we had a little trouble getting up Monday morning, Jen decided to put her phone in the bathroom so she would have to get up to turn her alarm off.  She got up and turned it off, but decided to go back to bed, and on the way there came into contact with the marble/iron table in the room.  Needless to say I did not need my alarm to get up this morning.  After serving breakfast today we played with the children outside in the rain.  I was taking pictures of the boys playing soccer on the basketball court when the ball flew through the goal and nailed me in the back of the head!  Ouch!  I already know what my parting gift will be to the Center...nets for the goals!  When we were about to leave today the children started yelling Jennifer's name, the only one they can remember, and were pointing at the sky...it was a rainbow!  It was beautiful!  We both hoped that meant the rain was going to stop and be the end of tropical storm Patricia that has been making its way through Cabo since we got here, but it wasn't!  We are hoping the end of the storm will hit tonight and be sunny skies the rest of the week!

                                              

The boys playing soccer on the basketball court

Tallee playing a game with some of the kids

This little girl wanted to take her chocolate milk togo

The Rainbow

We are sick and tired of the constant flooding in our rooms due to the storm!  The storm has also caused the streets (most of which are under construction...just like T-town) to flood and make serious potholes that even Tulsa can't compete with!  We feel like we are on a log ride everytime we get in the car.

I can't imagine how many towels we went through to stop the water

They even brought in sandbags to stop the flooding

We've only just begun...