Study Abroad: Puebla, Mexico!: Semana Santa! DF, Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta

So I had the biggest adventure ever on Spring Break (Semana Santa: Holy Week). I traveled with one of my roomies and a bunch of girls from the basketball team all over Mexico for a week!

First: Mexico City, DF
We toured the DF because the girls I was with hadn't seen it before. We ate a ton of delicious food, went on a double-decker tour bus, and even got caught in a snowstorm. Okay, fine, it wasn't a snow storm, but it was a thunderstorm that turned into a hailstorm. The hail collected in the streets and looked a LOT like snow to me... I made a snowman. Needless to say, I was frustrated and kept stating that had I wanted snow, I would have returned to Wisconsin for Spring Break :) We also went to the Basilica, the hill where Juan Diego first saw the Virgin of Guadalupe, for Palm Sunday mass. It was very crowded, but very cool. Lots of churches!

Turibus!

Cathedral in DF

Zocalo of DF

The storm

Snow :(

The Basilica

Second: Guadalajara
Guadalajara is a really beautiful city- much smaller than DF, but has a lot to offer. We stayed at a friend's house, and even got to have a pool party at her grandpa's house- it had a pool, a bar, food, sunshine- everything! We saw the centro of the city and ate some delicious seafood! I would definitely go back!

The main attraction: Puerto Vallarta
Saying we went to Puerto Vallarta is really a lie. We actually stayed at a beach called Sayulita, about 30 minutes from the downtown tourist part of Vallarta. A few of the girls we were with knew that this was a better idea, as everything was cheaper than in Vallarta, and we got to go to a different beach every day! We went to Sayulita, Los Burros, Punto de Mita, San Pancho, Vallarta, and a few more secret beaches that we didn't know the names of. We ended up camping on the beach to save money, which was awesome (sand is comfy!) and completely crazy at the same time. There were SO many people! I swear, all of the poor students from Mexico stayed at our campground- wild. We did go into downtown Vallarta for an afternoon, which was very fun, and very hot! The whole week was hot, the sun is so strong there! Needless to say, we all had way too much fun and got very tan. :)