2008, Apr 24 - 27: Rockin out at Coachella in Indio, CA

While I was defending myself and our house during the 4.7 earthquake, D was rockin out at Coachella in Indio, CA. Here are some pictures from D's trip. He took his friend who is nicknamed, Fez along with our shiny toaster oven for this 3 day music festival. To get more details about this event, please email D as he is the one with the story behind the pictures. besides, I tried getting details but as you know, he comes from the male species - HA!

2008, Apr 25: 4.7 Earthquake

Ok, those who live in CA might think my story isn't a big deal but I sure think so! If you haven't already heard, we just had a 4.7 earthquake here. Actually, in Verdi/ Mogul, NV which is about 5 minutes away from where we live. For the past couple months, Verdi has been experiencing numerous earthquakes ranging from 0.5 - 3.5s (those aren't a big deal) but lastnight, Friday around 11:40 pm we hit a 4.7.
Just my luck, D wasn't home and I was left in our 2 story house to defend myself. Yes, I was scared! I was upstairs when the 4.7 hit. Picture frames fell off walls, dry walls were cracked, my nice glass vases fell to the ground and shattered. Our "unsecured" liquor bar was a nice target, lots of liquor bottles, beer pilsners, and wines glasses were shattered. As you can see, the liquor bar is now temporarily secured with mover's saran wrap.

Every day we're experiencing 20-80 small earthquakes a day, when I'm on the couch, when I'm sleeping in bed, I can feel the tremors. Nevada happens to be 3rd behind CA and Alaska on earthquakes. We have no idea when and if a "Big One" will hit Reno but we hope that there won't be one. Let's just hope nothing else gets damaged.

2008, Apr 5-15: Psuedohoneymoon in Zihuatanejo, MEXICO

I called this our psuedohoneymoon b/c we got married 7 months ago and we originally wanted to go to Thailand but we pushed our dates further and further back and decided we'll go to Thailand some other time.

As a warning, this story may be long to read since I wanted to make sure I didn't leave any details out to those who are interested in going in the future. Also, I posted my story on Trip Advisor's website. We were recommended this hotel by D's step-parents who stay at Brisas Del Mar (Breeze of the Sea) every year: http://www.hotelbrisasdelmar.com/english.htm

We stayed for 10 days from 04/05 - 04/15. Brisas Del Mar is a small hotel located in the small, quaint fishing village of Zihuantanejo. But you can take a 15 minute taxi ride to the bigger high-rise hotels in Ixtapa.

HOTEL & STAFF: We booked the Family/ Superior Suite for $134 per night. I was debating about the jacuzzi but we are so glad we didn't get one b/c we hardly ever stayed up in our balcony other than to eat breakfast in the morning and leisure naps during the sunset. the hammock looks like fun but with two people it looked dangerous to get on. most of our time was spent in the pool or on the beaches. make sure to bring tons of good books to read. They offer you beach towels during your stay. There are about 5-6 flights of stairs depending on your room location...we didn't mind it after days of drinking and eating - it's great exercise! Our bed was extremely comfortable, the A/C worked great, just make sure you know how to use the remote. the bathroom was spacious. there was a safe deposit box but we never used it and all our belongings were fine. there was a small fridge w/ soft drinks & water charged at a small fee & a coffee maker, they give you ground coffee everyday, but we brought our own ground coffee. we took advantage of our fridge and stock up on our own drinks and food. we bought our own fruits & foods from the local markets. don't forget, make sure you buy plenty of drinking water during your stay. there is a pool table and ping pong table, we played a few matches of ping pong while we had a few cervezas in us- quite fun. we also used their gym equipment. it has A/C equipped with bar bells, bike, treadmill, ab mat & exercise machine. Carola the parrot was sweet. If you're brave, you can pick her up and put her on your shoulder. beware, she doesn't want to get off... i know!! Staff was soo helpful, Doug was not feeling well and they gave him some medicine, I offered to pay but they declined. Always get a pina colada from Senor Frederico who only works at the upstairs bar that opens in the afternoon near the sunset time. mucho calories but his drinks are yummy!

FOOD: the food at Bistro Del Mar was good, price was not as overpriced as some other restaurants. we tried regular restaurant food we did eat at la sirena gorda, casa viaja, rufios, Il Mare (great sunset view go around 7:30 pm), la perla. all their food was good but we mostly tried random vendor food. our stomachs were fine but I guess you can call us cheap n frugal, we wanted to eat low key and with the locals. we loved that there was a huge market across the canal, you can buy your own carnitas, rotiserrie chicken, homemade tortillas. we went to the centro and saw the lady make huge homemade empanadas for $2 dollars - yum! We had a little too much to drink one night when watching the futbol game with the locals at the outside bar. we found ourselves taking shots of don juiio tequila with amigos. afterwards, we found ourselves eating a hot dog from the outside vendor - the dogs were small but they tasted great for $1. We found our local favorite joint: el loco taco - a young teenage boy cooked us some great al pastor tacos for $2 dollars.

BEACHES: La Madera, outside our hotel was great. you can body surf all day with the waves. The water smells kind of funky but oh well. Las Gatas, you take a $3.50 ferry to the beach. we went scuba diving with Te-ri at Carlos Scuba, the water was cold and visibility wasn't that great but Te-ri made our dives enjoyable. You can walk to La Ropa , about a 15 min. walk.. it was touristy, lots of people watching & things to do, we ended up jet skiing for $25/ 30 min. then we got henna tattoos. we booked a 2 hr surf lesson with Sixto from Anfibios. Sixto took us to Playa Linda at the crack of dawn around 6:30 am. Surfing was so hard to do, the waves were coming at us and i was done in 1/2 hr. Beautiful place to surf! don't forget to stop by the crocodile reserve, check them out sunbathing. Isla Ixtapa is fun, we went snorkeling at Coral Beach, had dinner at Carlos n Charlies in Ixtapa. We tried to stay out but the party in Ixtapa starts after 11 pm on Saturdays. The hotel has a list of taxi cab prices so you don't ever feel like you're getting scammed of where you're going.

OTHER: there are a few occasions where you'll get bitten by insects but not that many. take calamine lotion with you it will help relieve the itch. if you get big swollen welts like i do, make sure you bring insect repellant. OVERALL: we enjoyed our time at las brisas del mar and in Zi. I would recommend to anyone who like low-key scenery.