Last week in Puerto Vallarta I got to go on a horse riding shore excursion. We took a bus into the mountains and were hooked up with some horses to ride on for an hour.  Here's what followed:

Me and my horse: Cannario (cannery)

His favorite thing to do was race. Keep in mind I haven't been on a horse in a few years...this proved to be quite interesting, especially when trotting or kicking (thankfully no galloping!)

We also had the opportunity to ride bareback and swim in the river...not very comfortable, but quite the experience.

Throughout the trail we had plenty of opportunities to cross rivers...really cool

A great way to see the countryside...luckily I wasn't too sore the next day (we had a show).

After the ride we went back to the house and had some tequila tastings (the Mexicans sure do love their tequila). The best of all the tequilas was the peach flavored tequilas...flavored tequila is quite big down here, but they aren't allowed to export yet...too new I guess. Be on the lookout thought, especially for pomegranate or peach tequila.

On Monday the shore excursion team from the Oosterdam put an excursion together for our crew.  About 30 of us went to swim with the dolphins in Cabo San Lucas. Probably one of the coolest experiences of my life! When we got there and were sitting around the pool waiting for everyone else the dolphins decided to put on a show for us:) Dolphins are one of the most amazing and fun of God's creatures! We spent a little over half an hour swimming with our dolphins. Here's some of the highlights:

This is me with our amazing dolphin Risho. He was our 2nd dolphin; Jenny, our 1st dolphin, didn't want to pay attention (she's only been there 4 months).

Risho's finale: notice he's jumping right over our ship!

Risho's such a great kisser!

This is one of the best parts of the excursion...taking Risho for a ride:)

I highly recommend this for anyone who has the chance to do it....DO IT!!!!!!!

Here's the link for the video from the whales:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EY9bNBfMYE

I missed explaining one of the pictures...those way too cute 2 little boys are some of the passengers that I hung out with on the excursion.

Shore Excursion 2: Pirate Ship with some snorkeling

-the ship...pretty cool!

-me steering the ship...even better

-the amazing whales that we saw...one mommy and one baby...this is the baby who decided to give us a show for over 30 minutes with some amazing jumps. I'll try to upload some video to youtube and then post the link:)

It was AWESOME! I also had a great time hanging out with passengers.

Shore Excursion 1: Salsa y Salsa

You can see how beautiful the resort was! This is my table that I sat with...it was a fun bunch and we had a blast!

Picture One: Biking in Mazatlan. Crew can rent bikes from the ship for $2. A few of us did and had fun biking around the city.

Picture Two: Some of the girls in Cabo with our ship in the background...notice the ship size...that week was also interesting cause of all the spring breakers down there!

Picture Three: Cast picture...this is our bumper...the short show that we do on the first night passengers come aboard:)

(Did I switch pictures 2 & 3?)

Here's my ship...it's huge! It's also hard to get it all in one picture.

Second one is the cast photo after our opening night of Rockin' Road! Notice the amazing costumes we get to wear:)

Shore Excursion #2

I went on my second shore excursion today in Puerto Vallarta. I boarded a Pirate Ship at 8am, had breakfast, and watched some pirate shows on our way to a private beach. The shows were great and included singing, dancing, and even some sword fighting. Once we reached the beach (about 2 hours later) I went snorkeling for about 20 minutes...saw some beautiful jelly fish (don't worry, i didn't get stung) and some beautiful fish and took some pictures that hopefully turn out. AFter snorkeling I hung out on the beach for an hour and a half while the others went wave boarding, banana boating, swimming, kayaking, volleyball, and the kids went on a treasure hunt. On the way back we had lunch and contests. The best part of the day was when we spotted a mom and kid humpback whale and watched them swim for about 30 minutes. The kid kept breeching (jumping out of the water)...it was pretty amazing. I got some great video and pictures. I'll post them on youtube and my blog when I get to a good internet connection. Once again all the food and drinks I wanted and adventure and all for free! I LOVE MY JOB!!!!

First Shore Excursion

Just wanted to write a quick word about my first shore excursion. I've finally gotten on the ball of things and went today (for free:). My tour took me on a bus ride on the coastal road of Mazatlan to a private resort where we were given lessons on how to make 6 different types of salsa (don't worry...I'll share some recipes later) and then taught salsa daning. There was plenty of food and drink for all! After the salsa lesson we were given a couple of hours to chill by the pool and ocean or shop. It was AMAZING and did I mention it was FREE!?!?!?!?!
I'll post pictures later (I'm on an anitque computer in the terminal right now).
I'll also put bigger and more pictures up when I can get my laptop to some high speed stuff.

Miss everyone!