Puerto Vallarta

I recently developed my underwater camera and got some additional photos from Puerto Vallarta, Mx. The sun was out and the family and friends were ready to have some major beach time. There was no need to look dolled up, no appointments to be at and no reservations. Everyone was playing volleyball, swimming and of course drinking all the all inclusive drinks possible. I came to the party too late. Who knew I would have slept in so long? There was no way I could catch up, but I were going to try. I think the best part of the whole day was sitting in our little pow wow under the umbrellas telling stories and laughing hysterically. Oh I miss it. I have some really great friends.

Las Marietas Islands Puerto Vallarta - Part 2

The best part of our tour to Las Marietas Islands was this secret beach. To get there you had to dive through the waters that rushed through a rock wall and pop out the other end (see background of 1st photo). It was only possible when the tide was down and we still had to be careful and keep our hands above our heads so that we weren't slammed into rock with the help of a wave.

My sister and I were the last ones in and we noticed everyone was floundering around on the beach like beached whales. What we didn't know was that the pull of the waves back through the tunnel was so strong no one could keep their footing. We all sacrificed a few "sand burns" as we rolled around laughing hysterically. The echo of our laughs were heard all the way back on the boat where my dad stayed behind. We all marveled at the sparkling blue water and the fresh patterns in the sand made by crazy waves. As you looked up at the ridge of earth circling you, you couldn't help but feel you were experiencing a scene straight from the movie The Beach.

Read more on Las Marietas Islands Puerto Vallarta - Part 1

Rio Fashion Shoot

Warm, sunny, featherlight photography is really starting to grow on me in the past year. Check out this Rio de Janeiro fashion shoot from The Sartorialist. The photo on the left is going to be locked away in my dream book; enjoying life, walking down the beach with my dog and of course wearing a cut outfit.

This Week's Obsession:

Tilt Shift Photography

I had seen this done on some videos a while back and didn't know what this effect was even called to research it. It made me go crazy with wonder! I just kept looking at the videos, that I knew were real, but everything looked like a miniature. But today I hit the jackpot and found my answers. What I thought would be a difficult process was actually very easy in photoshop. Just a little mask here, gradient blur there, a hue/saturation adjustment to top off the toy like character and you're there! Really nothing much is done to manipulate the photo at all. It's all just a trick of the eye. It's really about the narrow depth of field. With the foreground and background completely blurred out, you lose all sense of scale. It's an effect that works best when taken from above. And here are two samples I came up with. I love how this brings a whole new life to my photos!

Tilt Shift Maker : For those non photoshoppers.

Photoshop Tutorial: For the photoshop genius.

50 Beautiful Examples from around the world.

Photo locations: Guanajuato & Tulum, Mx

Inspiration #10

Peace begins with a smile. ~Mother Teresa

Christmas At Tulum- Part 2

Christmas At Tulum- Part 1

What better way to spend Christmas day then at one of the best beaches in Mexico. First thing we did, jumped on a boat to snorkel in front of the Tulum ruins. Snorkeling has quickly became J and I's favorite past-time.

Tips for Snorkeling at Tulum:

1. Bring your own gear if at all possible. The boat captions that take you out on their boats are not at all professional and only have a "take what fits and works" selection of snorkel gear on their boat. Plus, it could be your excuse to bargain and pay less.

2. Go on a day that isn't cloudy. Cloudy days make for cloudy water. Also bring a solution to apply to your mask so that it won't fog up and add to the mess.

3. Go ahead and bring the alcohol! Like I said, these boat caption are not professional and I'm sure will say "hell yeah" if you give them a taste of that sweet nectar.

4. Have a swim buddy. It's very easy to get disoriented as you're busy having that starring contest with that odd creature below the surface.

5. If you find yourself not seeing a whole lot of sea life in an area, go to a totally different area. Don't feel like you have to stay where you were dropped off. Tulum did have some less populated areas but other areas were awesome and included fish and coral of all shapes, colors and sizes. Just keep an eye out for other boats on the move.

6. Price wise - don't buy tickets at the entrance of Tulum. The person there will say a snorkel trip costs 600 pesos (approx $46) and if you are Mexican, 300 pesos. Instead, if you are comfortable, go straight to the snorkeling booth on the beach and make them a deal. We have gotten as low as 150 - 100 pesos ($11/$7)! Thats what I call a deal for a 2 hour trip.

Other snorkel trips: Belize, Las Marietas Islands 1, Las Marietas Islands 2, 

Rain Rain Go Away

After our snorkeling trip we decided to spend the rest of the day getting sun on the beach. Well after an hour and a half of me frolicking in the water like a little kid, lightning struck and the clouds rolled in. It made me think, does the rule for lightning and pools the same for lightning and the ocean? Disappointed that our beach time was cut in half, we ran for it and took shelter at an outdoor bar for some beer. Oh and then the bar shut down...because of the storm. Dumb. Isn't that what outdoor bars are for?

Lack of a Sea Experience

So at some point all three of us decided to fish out the local snorkeling company. The only one in the area that sounded as if it had potential was Sea Experience. Lets just say it wasn't such a great experience. Actually, the snorkeling part of it sucked. My friend Sarah had never been snorkeling so we tried to not ruin it for her. First off we waited for a good hour to get started. They then gave us a tour through mansion valley were people like Tomkat and Tiger Woods live. That part was okay. Then there was the wonderful glass bottom boat experience.....or lack there of. I think I was able to point out some awesome blocks of cement! Oh and I forgot to mention the bus load of somewhat special kids that were on our boat. This one girl insisted on getting past my seat and sitting oddly close to me while talking to herself the whole time.

But I had hope it would get better, it had to. I then realized that we were never asked for shoe sizes for out fins. Crap, we were being given the one size fits all adjustable kind. No good! Then flotation devises? No! I gathered my group to the front to be the first in the water because there was no way I'd be waiting behind school bus kids. We get in and search for fish and coral......and search....and search. Not much to look at. So I just practiced my Michael Phelps swimming skills the whole time with crap flippers against one heck of a hard current.

Before this trip, we had a joke about 'hitting on a boat caption' (inside joke from Belize boat captions). Well, halfway through the swim my friend Erika ran head on into the Sea Experience boat caption while snorkeling. They both popped up yelling "ohhh man ouuuch!" with damaged foreheads. The boat caption exclaimed back "that has never happened to me before!" Well, she hit on her boat caption. Didn't really suprise me - he was kinda a dudebro

In the end it was fun but not the best snorkeling. I was glad I was the first off the boat because those kids had maybe 5 minutes swim time due to their slowness. All I can say is save your money and don't take this little trip. And to top it all off, I once again got motion sick and my friends took pictures. Go figure.

Bienvenido a Florida

The second day in Florida was beautiful. The sun was hot, the water was warm, and my body was soaking it up. The warm breeze hitting my face in a way sang me to sleep. Low flying planes zoomed by with attached banners advertising party cruises, volleyball players pranced around their nets, and Sheraton employees spoke with their hot accents while propping up umbrellas. Minus the old wrinkly man wearing a speedo and grabbing himself every 2 minutes with his legs wide open, you would be jealous.

Changa! Fun Saver.

Now I have always been kinda leery of any type of water sport. Not sure why. Maybe it's the fear of really deep water, drowning, or maybe the creepy crawlers under my feet. Shoot I get kinda nervous swimming at the YMCA. But we were in Belize, the country with the 2nd largest barrier reef! (Australia is the first) I had to do it. I don't even think we planned on this. We were winging our entire trip.


We had stopped by a dive shop the day before and were told to come back at 9 am. We did exactly that and there was no one there! We had to talk to a guy working on the dock gas station for information. The whole thing was shady. But the gas station boy said "just go next door, they are alot better." So we hopped one dock south to Amigos del Mar. They were perfectly fine with us not having a reservation. We paid about $40 each and were fitted with fins. Right away we were boating off into the bright blue and green waters of Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley.

We boated out to our location and were told that the Coast Guard was out counting people on boats and guess what, we had too many people on our boat. Thank goodness I volunteered us to go to another boat. Turns out there were some British chicks on our 1st boat that were dissing on Americans and how rude they are. Ha well then. And on top of that, our new boat had the coolest tour guide - Changa Paz.

Compared to the other tour guide, this guy had tons of personality and seemed to absolutely love his job. Who wouldn't love swimming in the Caribbean everyday and showing off your country? As I slowly put my hair up, stripped down to my swimsuit, strapped on my camera, waddled over to the edge of the boat and looked down into the water - I decided to throw out any fear and jump in. My sister and I were always the ones in the group to do everything first. We were with a group of a few ladies that were more pansies than us.

We were warned to not touch any coral or even flick our flippers near any. Now thats hard to do when your have to adjust things like your MacGyver rigged face gear and hair thats always in your face. The first half of the tour was rough. I constantly had others fins and goosebumpped butts in my face. That and I hadn't gottin used to things, I was hyperventilating and my back was spazzing out and I thought "dang, I'm not going to last till the end." Then Changa came up to me and asked "you ok?" And I said "dude, my backs tired!" He replied "ohhh....just chill. Lay flat, keep your head in the water, and chill man." Andrea agreed b/c she was apparently chillin already.


I finally got the hang of it and it was awesome. Once you got into deeper waters it was much easier and you didn't have to worry about hitting precious coral. From that point on Changa decided to keep a close eye on Andrea and I and always made sure we were having fun. As we got closer to the barrier reef we swam into the deep deep canal. It was relaxing and you just floated and viewed the amazing activities underneath. Including fish bitting some chicks and them freaking out and Changa almost getting his fingers bit off by an eel. Then the large waves started to hit and I was then swallowing tons of water and Andrea was feeling the hardcore rip tide.

After that we headed off to Shark Rey Alley. It was too early in the morning so the sharks weren't there. Sharks? No thank you! Changa knew of a cooler spot that had a ton of Stingrays and a large Sea Turtle. That rocked.

Changa then started talking to us wanting to know what we had planned for tomorrow and that he would love to take us on another trip and we could all hang and not have to drag along pansies. As he put it, "I can't handle those crazy girls." Sounded like a great deal till he also wanted to show us around all the clubs that night. Andrea wasn't listening so I didn't have her to help me think of a reply. I think he even asked us to meet him at the dock that night at 6:30. His accent was too strong so I wasn't for sure what he said. I just said "we'll see" and did the thumps up thing.

He then dropped us back off at our first boat with the mean British girls and as he sped away he yelled "6:30! Be there!" Later Andrea and I were wishing we took him up on his deal. We were wanting to snorkel again so bad and he seemed like a cool cat. But you never know with two girls traveling alone, didn't want to chance it.

Changa, next time we're callin ya up!

For The Inquirer Of Sorts

I don't so much have a cool story on this post but I just wanted to make some comments on our hotel, the restaurants we ate at and some other services. This way inquiring fellow travelers have some more ideas of what they are getting into.

The hotel we stayed at was Hotel Del Rio. It's on the North part of the island more up in the neighborhood region. This allowed our stay to be very quiet and relaxing, besides the random barking of geckos. The first time we heard one we thought there was some kind of crazy bird in our room and both my sister and I shot up out of our sleep to check it out.


We didn't get our cool cabana we wanted for some reason. Even though we were the only ones at the hotel for half the trip. But I almost didn't care afterwards. We ended up staying in Casa Blanca for $65 a night. It had AC, a life saving memory foam mattresses, a fridge, an awesome balcony, and it was always extremely clean. Some negatives were cold showers, the worst toilet I used on the whole island, the water pipes would get air in them and take a few minutes to turn on, no view of the ocean from room, it was kinda far from the main activity in town, and there were some slightly gross cats. But those were tiny problems that didn't even dent my excitement. I'd return for another stay.

Restaurants, well, there were hardly any. There was a place called Fidos that seemed to be owned by a couple of American Frat looking boys. The food was good but overpriced. For those budget travelers, it's not the best place. That and I didn't enjoy feeling like I was back in an American bar with annoying teeny boppers on Spring Break giggling at every word a local would say to them. And there were just too many tourist! It may have been voted one of the "Best Bars in the Caribbean" but I viewed it as a spot to go to for those who were too scared to venture out for the real deal. Some positives, the bar staff was very friendly and the music was great. Two other places that I thought were more worth while and in our price range were Pirate Pizza and Lily's Seafood (I believe that was the name).

The rest of our meals consisted of going to the grocery store and eating nothing but peanut butter sandwiches and washing it down with beer. I was perfectly happy with that.

Drink wise...I'd say stick with Belikin Beer. It's cheap and does the job. We even thought we would try the infamous Rum Punch. Lets just say we weren't pleased when the bartender put our cup under the spout of a smoothie machine, it then came out watery, it left us $5 poorer and without the slightest buzz. Boo. It left Andrea peeved and wishing she had another cigarette.


My last words of wisdom would be to rent bikes! Save yourself from walking days on end in flip flops on sand and later wishing you had someone to carry you everywhere. We rented ours from Joe's Bike Shop. And man, for some reason we had difficulties relearning how to ride a bike. We felt like drunk idiots peddling through town over rough cobblestone streets and weaving through thick traffic. Just make sure your seat is adjusted to the right height or you will be eating sand like us.

Inspiration #1

The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see.

~G.K. Chesterton

Our Watering Hole Brings All The Boys To The Yard

The second day we slept in till about 1 pm and we were woken up by our maid who ended up thinking we were crazy gringas for still sleeping. Hey! We were tired from the marathon the day before! We got up in a hurry, took an icy cold shower, and headed out for some food. Then it was off in search for the great waters!

We found the perfect spot off either sides of a beautiful dock. The water was a clear blue and green and the dock was far out enough for us to be able to lay out in bikinis without locals coming to watch us lay.....you would think.

Suspect #1
This was a guy maybe in his 40's that had followed us from about a mile down the beach. He had stopped us before and said he was from the US and tried to have a conversation. We figured out right away he was full of lies. He comes walking down the dock, strips down to his undies, slithers down the stairs, and comes right up to me. I say sarcastically, "Ha, well it looks like you found out where we were swimming." He replies "I sure did.....You like dirty jokes?" I throw out a fake laugh and he continues on about a joke that sounds as if it's about a blow job. The punch line was that it was actually about licking thread and putting it through an eye of a needle. His 16 yr old wife he brought along sat on the side laughing hysterically all while he was in arms distance from my face.

As he continues with 2 more nasty jokes that I couldn't understand because his accent was so strong, I search for Andrea who was quickly doing the back stroke out to sea. Thanks pal. I decided it was time to leave the scene fast.

Suspect #2
This next guys name I couldn't understand but his nickname was Ace and he was in his early 20's. He was friendly in a not AS creepy way. He jumped right on into the water with us and started the convo with "Man, you guys are some good swimmers!" He was also intrigued with our tiny goggles that didn't cover our noses and how they worked. He was nice company. We did things like doing different jumps off the dock and he showed us some areas with cool fish. But apparently he slipped a comment to Andrea in what he was "really" looking for (wink wink). This time it was her turn to sign off and do the walk away from the situation thing. He didn't get the hint and wanted us to go to some bars that night with him. We lied and said "Yep see ya there at 6:30"


Suspect #3
Again I can't remember this guys name but we called him "Hotel Boy". He was maybe in his younger 20's and worked at the hotel that owned the dock. He was completely innocent and every afternoon he would tell his boss that he was getting hot and needed to go for a swim. He'd come out to hang with us, take a dip, and then take a couple hours to sun nap. Could I get paid to do that? One thing he really wanted to take and show us are the giant crocodiles that you could hand feed whole chickens and were tame. Heck no man.

One evening we ran into him I noticed he had a large patch over the right side of his face. I asked "what happened??" He said "oh I just drank a whole bottle of rum and got high last night and took a walk over to this dock. Then I fell over the edge and went face first into a cement block. 6 stitches." Then he continues by pulling out a wad of crack and explained how he used it to numb the sore and that he hasn't used any for other reasons (b/c if he did he gets aggressive). He then asked us again if we wanted to go feed the crocodiles. Andrea and I looked at each other and took note of all the possible bad things that situation could turn into. I know mental pictures ran through my head! He started acting really strange so we slipped away on our bikes leaving him with his wad of crack, bleeding face, and the urge to feed us to the crocodiles.

Who knew the freaks come out during the day?