My Favorite View...

So after a rough start to our honeymoon, we enjoyed just sitting around and not doing a whole lot for the next few days. There aren’t a lot of pictures of this, because honestly, who really cares to see us just sitting at the pool soaking up some sun and resting? Not me. I will share you my two favorite views for our trip...this is the first one... and this is the second one... The difference? In one, my sun chair is all the wait laid back, and the other is halfway up so that I can sip a fruity cold beverage! LOL.

This is what I saw most often during these lazy days...But I did see a little bit of this too... And just in case you’re curious, these items helped me survive these really “stressful” days... Those are my sunscreens, our big bottle of water from our room, my chap stick, and my favorite daytime drink that our resort served – the Blue Ocean. Yummy, yummy, yummy. I can almost still taste it now. In fact, one night, after consuming three or four of said drinks, B told me that my tongue was actually turning blue!

So our days were long and lazy. We did venture out and about during the mornings while it was still cool, but by 10am or so we could be found at the pool, soaking up some sun, having a nice drink and listening to some music. We ventured into town for a trip to Wal-Mart (Yes, Cabo has a Wal-Mart!) to get some Coca Cola. Our hotel only served Pepsi products, which just didn’t work for me. There was a store on site that sold Coke, but it was expensive buying it by the can. Luckily for us, Wal-Mart was a quick walk away and we bought more than enough Coke to last for our trip. We also picked up a handy portable speaker system so that we could plug B’s iPod in and enjoy music at the pool! He really liked that!

We usually ate lunch and then ventured inside for some cooler shade during the heat of the afternoons. Late in the afternoons we were back at the pools, and then would get cleaned up for dinner. We made reservations for each of the restaurants that our resort offered, one each night, so we always had that to look forward to. After having to secure such late reservations the first night we booked them, we quickly learned to book them out in advance and scheduled the rest of the trip all at once! It wasn’t a problem to get a table, just to get the earlier times that we preferred.

After dinner, we would mosey on over to our favorite outdoor bar with a fabulous bartender, Luis. He made the BEST Blue Ocean’s in the whole resort and he was a riot to sit and observe. We made friends, talked with strangers and sometimes stayed for the show that the resort put on each night. Each night it was something different, so it was always new. The first few nights I had trouble staying awake really late...the time change thing really got to me for some reason, but we still had a blast.

Two days of rest and relaxation, and we were ready to try our hand at some activities...stay tuned for our adventures in Cabo! And yes, I do have pictures...

Sunset Views...

These are just too pretty not to share...no words needed...

And just to prove how totally awesome the Riu Santa Fe hotel really was, we came "home" to find this little friend waiting for us one night...
I think that Margarita (our housekeeper) left this for us on our last full day there at Riu Santa Fe. What a sweet surprise! The whole time that we were there, all that we could talk about was when we came back! That's when you know it's been a great trip...

We loved every minute of our stay...and we HATED to leave to come back home! But we were gone for almost 10 days...10 days without phones or email...and most importantly - access to our kids! We missed everyone and it was time to go home!

Our Views...

So not only was our suite truly wondering, incredibly romantic and just a place that we didn’t want to leave...it had GREAT views. And when I say great, I mean FAN-TAS-TIC!!! When I booked our room with Riu Santa Fe a few months back, I read all the reviews that I could find on the place. Some of them seemed like maybe just grouchy people complaining, but some seemed to have some valid points. Most of them dealt with complaints about how far their rooms were located from the main area of the resort.

I can’t really say that I agree with them. Our room was in the 7000 block of rooms, which IS the furthest block from the main resort, meaning from the front desk, the main restaurant and the sports bar and stores. But it’s also located right on the beach. By the biggest pool, and the only restaurant that was open for lunch was also housed in the 7000 block. So it really wasn’t that inconvenient, if you ask me. Then again, we enjoy our exercise. Maybe other people don’t.

But when I say that our room was right on the beach...I literally mean that it was right. on. the. beach. Take a look at what we woke up to each day...

Isn’t it gorgeous?!?!? And yes, those rocks that you see are the ones that form the world-famous arch that Cabo San Lucas is known for. No, you can’t see the actual arch from our room, but trust me, it’s there.

There was a big tuna fishing tournament that started the day after we got there, so there were dozens and dozens of boats docked out in the bay. Take a look...I took this one because it reminded me of Forest Gump’s shrimp boat...yeah, I’m a dork!

We could also sit on our balcony and watch these bad boys cruise into the bay.

I’ve never been on a cruise before, but these gigantic floating cities literally would come almost all the way up to shore. I guess only one could come in so close at a time, but the others would just stay out in the bay a bit. They were truly amazing to see this close. Each morning one or two ships would pull into the bay, and each night they left again. It was really neat to see some many different ones.

And there’s the beach. We were warned ahead of time by friends who have travelled to Cabo that we might not be able to swim in the ocean. Our resort did not have guards posted to keep you out of the ocean, but there were warnings posted everywhere about the strong riptide. The beach along the stretch of Cabo that we were located on is man-made...meaning that the shelf that extends in the ocean is only a few feet. Once off of that shelf, the drop is pretty good, which makes for strong tides of waves crashing onto shore. We witnessed many people “playing” in the ocean and how fast they would get taken further than they intended. Luckily, no one we were watching was harmed or in any danger.

But with five different pools located on our resort, we never got the urge to try our luck in the ocean, other than just getting our feet wet! We did walk along the beach several times...and with that, I’ll leave you for now, and save some of our activities for another post!

Taking Care of the Paperwork...

Getting a passport turned out to be a painless ordeal. At least, that’s how it happened to work out for me. Then again, I did have to have my pictures done twice...but I should have known something would be off with them – the lady that took the first set was pretty spacey! LOL. She had a really hard time with the camera and printing them out, and I was worried for the whole store’s safety when she took out the scissors to cut them down to the right size! Just kidding, it wasn’t that bad, but they were too dark for the post office to accept. No big deal though.

So, once the decision of where we were going was made and the trip was booked, I knew that we needed to get cracking about getting our passports. We had thought that B might be able to use his military ID, but no such luck...so we both need one of these:

source

I had read/found lots of places online that said that you could get an expedited passport no problemo. Just costs more dinero. (Can you tell that I’m brushing up on my high school Spanish classes in preparation for our big trip?!?!) Anyway, after reading more about it, I decided that the safest bet was just to go through the Post Office and pay the extra $$ for the faster processing time to be on the safe side.

In Austin, you have to make an appointment at the nearest Post Office for your passport application, and not every Post Office processes the applications. Lucky for me, the Post Office that is closest to my office does do them, and when I called for an appointment, it was simple to get one for the very next day. I set my time, went online here and filled out the forms necessary, wrote down the amount that I would be expected to pay, and gathered the necessary forms (birth certificate and driver’s license). I was a good girl and did NOT sign the forms...they’re really picky about this one!

I arrive about 5 minutes early, and I guess that I was expecting to have to go somewhere other than the normal line for the postal services. But no, I was told to just wait there in line until my appointment time came around. So I waited. And waited a few extra minutes. Then Yvette called my name. She was nice and friendly, and so very apologetic in telling me that the pictures that I had already paid to have done wouldn’t work. She even wrote out a note and stamped it with the official post office stamp in hopes that the place where I got the photos would offer me a refund. (I don’t think that they will, but it doesn’t hurt to ask...)

Anyway, lucky for me they take pictures there at the Post Office for an extra $15. Totally worth it to me to not have to reschedule my appointment and come back another day, right? Right. And she even told me that it was ok to smile...the other pictures really were dreadful! Once the pictures were taken care of, we went back to the main room and she processed my application. That consisted of cutting down the photos, aligning all the paperwork (who knew that they wanted to keep the copy of my birth certificate?) and getting it all ready to sign. Then I had to raise my right hand and affirm that the information on my application was true to the best of my knowledge, and sign the forms.

Once that was taken care of, Yvette calmly calculated the fees. I was prepared to pay the extra $60 for expediting the passport, but she assured me that I didn’t need to do that. She could tell that I was hesitant, but we walked through a calendar together and she’s right, I shouldn’t need it. Of course, that’s best case scenario...the scenario that is currently playing in my head is the one where I don’t get my passport in time because of her recommendation I didn’t pay the extra money to have it done faster. I’m trying to keep those fears to a minimum right now though. Anyway, one check/money order to the US Department of State for $75 later, and another payment of whatever form to the local Post Office of $40 for pictures and processing, and I was on my way.

So, in the door at 10:35am...out the door and back in my car at 11:07am. A painless process all around. Yvette was nice and helpful, and she saved me $75...even if I did have to pay for those extra pictures. Maid Britney pointed out that saving that $75 actually offsets the $70 that I paid to have an updo done that I didn’t like. Sweet! And thanks for finding that silver lining for me, Brit!

Did you have to apply for a passport? How long did it take to get yours? I’m SURE that I’m going to start having nightmares about not getting mine soon...