FRYE FAMILY: THE BIG 40!!!

So I have been kind of dreading my birthday the past couple of months. I just didn't want to turn 40. My friend Melanie has a birthday around the same time as me and she called a few weeks back to make plans to have friends and spouses go to dinner on the 10th to celebrate our birthdays. Shawn said that was fine. We really didn't talk about too much more regarding my birthday, we aren't huge birthday celebrators so I didn't really think that too strange. Anyway, I was planning a baptism that I was supposed to be in charge of on the 10th. I told Shawn about that on Tuesday the 6th and he said that I needed to make other arrangements that we were going to be busy with birthday stuff. That peeked my interest. I got Amy to cover the baptism for me but I had no idea why :). On Thursday the 8th Shawn called me from work in the morning and said to look at a note that was in his toothbrush drawer. I found the note and started crying!!

The note said we were leaving the next morning to make arrangements and to go get my nails done (with a gift card for the nail salon). I was in shock and so happy. Luckily I hadn't made to many plans for the following days and I started to write out the kids schedule for my mom. I still didn't know what we were doing, just that I knew we were going someplace warm!!! Friday morning we woke up early and my mom came over at about 6 a.m. We didn't get to say goodbye to the kids that morning but we did say goodbye the night before. Shawn said something about Mexico to my mom! I was excited then. We ended up flying to LA (in SLC Shawn told me we were going to Sayulita, outside of Puerto Vallarta). Then we had a 2 hour flight to Puerto Vallarta. Shawn journaled the whole trip so I will put his remarks on the trip below. It was an awesome gift! I really can't believe I am 40, but it was worth it to turn that age to go have this special time with Shawn in a warm fun place!

Shawns remarks:
Sayulita trip for Raquel's 40th birthday!!!

This was a surprise trip. I told Raquel about it 24 hours before we left.

1/9/15 flew to LAX then to puerto Vallarta. Arrived in PVR at about 4 pm local time, one our earlier than Utah time. As we walked to exit the airport there were tons of people trying to pressure you into a taxi ride, sign up for adventures, or get sucked into a time share thing if you sit through a presentation. We luckily made it away from them all.
From PVR we got pesos from a money machine. We were both confused about how much money we were getting or what the exchange rate was. We needed pesos for the bus ride to sayulita. The bus system there was not very user friendly, but eventually we saw a bus with sayulita on the front window. The ride to sayulita was about an hour(lots of stops, so it was Longer than taking a taxi). The bus was only 70 pesos for the two of us. We didn't know any of the stops, luckily a lady in front of us told us when we needed to get off for sayulita. The bus stop In Sayulita was a little dirt parking lot. We then walked about 5 minutes to the city area. We asked a local for help to find our hotel, Hotel Sayulita Central. Our room turned out to be really nice. With a terrace that overlooked the ocean. There was gaps between the wall and ceiling to it had open circulation which was nice for the breeze, but loud at night with a bar nearby with live music. After we checked in we went for a walk on the beach, then stopped at a restaurant that overlooked the beach. Raquel got fish tacos and I got fish fajitas, chips and salsa and two drinks. The total was about $27 dollars.

1/10/15 we woke up and went for a 40 minute jog. Jogged through town on Del palmar road. Took it all the way to some foothills north of town where there are some nicer homes. Eventually came to a chained off area and turned around but found a different road to the east that climbed up over a hill and dropped us back at the main bus stop in sayulita, so we knew where we were at that point. Then we had breakfast at our hotel(free). After that we went to the beach to relax. We bought a packer bracelet for Cruz, found some sea shells, and rented paddle boards for $100 pesos each for 1 hour. ( FYI - today I exchanged some currency and got 12.8 pesos for 1 US dollar. The real rate is 1 to 14.6.) we both struggled with standing up, but did it for the whole hour. The water was a little choppy. We left the beach about 3:45. (Btw the beach was half a block away). Later we walked around looking at menus for a place to eat. We ended up picking a place that looked a little nicer, the food was good. It cost us 460 pesos (about $43 dollars) for a stuffed chicken breast and I got a fish dish and 2 waters and one drink. Dinner took a long time, the waiter didn't check back with us after they took our dishes, finally I saw the waiter and asked for the check. After dinner we got 5 feet of warm churro for 20 pesos. Then we headed back to the room. I was still craving dessert so I went out and got a Carmel and chocolate crepe (45 pesos). It was really good. We started watching "house of cards" on Netflix last night, and we watched more before bed.

1/11/15 Raquel's birthday!!!!!!
Woke up and went for a walk/jog. On our jog we decided that after breakfast we would try to walk a trail to San Poncho (San Francisco). We ate breakfast at the hotel. The hotel staff discouraged us from the hike, so we took the bus. It was 30 pesos for both of us(one way).
We walked from the main highway to the heart of San Poncho, about 15 minutes to the beach. The town was smaller and more quiet than Sayulita. At the beach we both had to use the bathroom. It was 5 pesos each. The stalls were extremely small. I could barely sit down without my face hitting the stall door. We decided to walk down the beach to the south as far as we could. Along the was a German Shepard followed us and wouldn't leave us for the next 40 minutes. As we walked back to the bus stop we stopped3 in stores and the dog came right with us. Finally about 100 yards from the highway where the bus stop was the dog stopped. It was strange and it wasn't like he was pestering us, he just casually hung out with us. At the bus stop I got a coconut water directly from the coconut for 20 pesos. When we got on the bus to go back to Sayulita, it looked like a nicer bus than we had been on previously. It was for a reason, we it stopped for Sayulita it didn't go in to the main Sayulita bus stop, but just stopped on the main highway. We walked all the way back into town, maybe a half hour.
We went straight to a bar on the beach and watched the packers play the cowboys. The packers won, just barely!! I stayed for the whole second half, Raquel went to the beach with about nine minutes remaining.
After the game I met Raquel on the beach and we played in the water for a while. The water was probably in the low 80's, very nice! Then we walked as far as we could along the beach to the north. It was a pretty far walk and we decided to head back to the hotel after the walk.
The evening we walked to Biches, a restaurant just south of the hotel. It was all outdoor seating. The food was awesome. We also got a drink that had cut put apples, pear, watermelon, guava, nuts, condensed milk, water and ice. It was really tasty. 4 fish tacos. 1 quesadilla, 3 drinks was 201 pesos. The place was really good!
After we got a crepe, again.

1/12/15 went for the same morning jog, but today we took a road up in the mountains. It was VERY steep and went past some awesome homes. Then we ate at the hotel and went to the beach. We rented a surfboard for 50 pesos for one hours. We took turns and both got up! We had lunch at a place between our hotel and the beach. The fish tacos were ok. Took a little walk around town and went to the south. Shopped a little. Bought 2 little giraffes for a total of 170 pesos. Then Raquel held firm on her $15 for a shirt she wanted. The laud originally said it was 300 pesos, then cam down to 220 pesos, but we ended up getting it do about 200 pesos. The lady kind of pouted was we walked away. I got a few cookies from a Bakery (panarina) a few shops down from the hotel. They were pretty good. We went back to the beach. After a while if sitting in the sun we walked to the south end and did some burpies, 3 sets of 10. Then we played in the water for about a half hour and sat in the sun until about 5pm.
For dinner we went to The Chile Relleno, which was just north of the town square. It was good. Raquel got the cheese relllenos and I got chicken fajitas. Price was medium/high.
We listened to some salsa music from a nearby bar, and eventually fell asleep.

1/13/15. This morning we went for a walk to the south/ southeast of town. On our way back we got fresh juice from a lady at her stand on the street, about two blocks from our hotel, just south of the town square. Raquel got a verde and I got an orange/beet/ carrot/ ginger. Really good juice and cheap. 25 pesos each. Went back to the hotel and asked for a late checkout for 12:30. Breakfast was really tasty, relllenos with cheese, beans, potatoes, and eggs. I also had a piece of chocolate cake! We hurried and went to the beach for about an hour and a half. I rented a surf board for an our. It was fun. My chest and nipples got really sore. We'll have to get the " rash guard" shirts next time we surf. We quickly showered in our room and started the walk back to the bus stop. While in town I got another juice and we split an empanada (Apple) it was super tasty. The outside was flakey and the apples were fresh. The bus ride was about an hour. We had some extra pesos and I decided to get a back massage. I asked the lady how much and she said 250 pesos. I put down all the pesos we had left and started counting it. It was only 170 pesos, but before I could tell her no, we didn't have enough she said it was ok. I didn't realize there was room for negotiations ( as opposed to buying from a street vendor). Any way, I think Alegra does a better massage by walking on my back. We had plenty of time at the airport. It was clean and easy to navigate. Surprisingly large too.

General notes: each day we left a two dollar tip after breakfast and two dollars for the cleaning staff in the room. When we checked out we gave edwardo $4 for all his concierge type help. He was very appreciative.
The weather was perfect the whole week, mid 80's to upper 60's.