I have not forgotten about you little blog! Wedding season is officially over so now that I have 3 more seconds to myself each day I hopefully can pay more attention to you. I know we have not chatted in a long while so here is a very brief overview of the last month and 3 different trips to Mexico….
(I would love to post photos of the weddings themselves, but because they have not been edited in full I will have to restrain myself).
Mexico trip #1Â to Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo…
We really lucked out on this trip. It rained all three days leading up to the wedding. We crossed our fingers, prayed to all the gods, and through some salt over our shoulders all with the hope that the wedding day would be without moisture. And it was! The day of the wedding it was like the rain clouds had never even heard of the little fisherman town in Mexico. It was certainly hot and humid, but gorgeous. The wedding itself was as Francisco says “beaaaaauuuttttttttiiiiiiiifffffuuuuuuuulllllll!!!!!!!!!” (hard to get the true enuciation in writing). Here is a photo of a sweaty Cooper at the wedding showing his guns:
Cooper’s guns (other than his camera)
You may remember, little blog, that this was the trip where Cooper had his wallet stolen in Mexico City. I don’t want to relive the days, but here is the posting if you would like to.
Mexico trip#2 to Las Caletas, Puerto Vallarta…
I really enjoy going back to far off lands where I have favorite foods that I can’t get anywhere else. I couldn’t keep my drool in long enough to get authentic chilaquiles for breakfast and Cooper almost ate his own arm (out of excitement and hunger) when we decided to go to the all you can eat Brazilian meat place that he went to during Charlie’s bachelor party. Just thinking about the two makes my stomach rumble.
The wedding for this trip was a first for us: a same sex marriage! The ladies were really cool people…I am glad we got to shoot their wedding. The photo below is one of my unedited photos (but my boss gave me permission to post it). One of my favorite parts of the trip to Caletas is the speed boat ride to work. Last time we took a tiny ponga, but this time it was a big inflatable speed boat. I could ride on that thing all the livelong day.Â
Las Caletas, Puerto Vallarta
Mexico trip #3, back to Zihuat…
Our final trip to Mexico for the year was the absolute perfect culmination of 2007 weddings. Not sure where to start with this weekend, so perhaps I will list the highlights as they come to me (in no particular order):
Swinging from the hammock at the Sotavento, Zihuat
- Staying at the Sotavento again and spending my mornings swinging on our hammock
- Eating at La Perla, our friend Francisco’s restaurant, and swapping stories with other tourists and kids
- Meeting Francisco’s local wedding photographer and talking shop. Amazing how even though we don’t speak the same language when guys get their photo gear out they can communicate without speaking
- Watching the release of the turtles into the ocean
- Listening to the funniest ceremony ever
- Attending a wedding where all the guests were so nice! We know it is a good wedding when the guests want photos with us by the end of the night
- Accidentally misguiding Cooper with my Spanish. He wanted to know how to say “Can I take your picture?” and I had him saying over and over to people “Can I drink your picture?”
- Drinking our first ever glass of apple wine with Francisco
- Doing a photo shoot with Cooper to try and come up with a new bio photo (see below)
- Watching Cooper try to take a photo of a cake in the middle of a small dance floor with 29387592375 people bumping and grinding around him
- The cab ride home. Our flight was delayed coming into SF by three hours (story of my life…don’t ever travel with me!). When we should have been in by 10pm, we didn’t get in until 1:00am. Our only way home was via taxi. Shortly after our taxi ride began I would have considered walking. I think our cabby was either on something or was having flashbacks to previous usage, but I honestly feared for my life for the entire time we were in the van. I thought the roads would be clear at 1:00am on a Monday morning, but no! The road to the bridge was backed up for hours. At one point our cabby (who rambled the entire time) said that this was kind of like that play about three people stuck in a room or car who didn’t realize they were in hell. Yes, I was in hell. Cabbyman talked about all the cars he had totaled, all the accidents he had been in, the fact that he had received a ticket earlier that day, how he doesn’t follow normal driving guidelines…and it showed. I not only feared that we were going to get in an accident, but I also feared being shot by another driver after our cab cut them off. At one point cabbyman was slamming on the brakes to the music. Cooper asked if something was wrong with the car, but cabbyman said he was just playing. After he stopped slamming the brakes he would turn the music up and down in the same manner that kids like to flicker a light switch. Rather than use his radio to check in and see which way to go, he called a friend on his cell. We finally stopped and he talked to a cop…at which time I put my hands on my face towards the cops in a “help me!” sort of gesture. No response. Needless to say, we made it home in one piece. Cooper was kind enough to give the guy the benefit of the doubt, but I had to pinch myself to keep from screaming/crying
Cooper’s new bio photo…what’cha think?