See how much I love you all! AND,
how sorry I am that you’ve all had to wait so long for the next two epistles
(referring to #8 and #9).. I’m typing this up on the plane to Hawaii so that
it’s ready for you all when we arrive and all I’ll have to do at our new
accommodation is to add the photo’s and put it online.
First – Utah Top 10 (in no
particular order):
Mine:
1. Arriving to the airport and
ALL the whānau there to pick us up.. What an awesome loving way to arrive –
Uncle Bowie had just finished work and was home getting ready for dinner – but
everyone else was there.. Lamar, Alyssa & Koa; Camilla; Victoria, Sam &
Calia – felt LOVED!
2. THIS IS THE PLACE – that was awesome just going to see the view,
feel the history and bump into Aunty Frances and Aunty Virginia there.. What a
rich history!
3. Lunch with the Shepherds at
‘The Garden’ in the Joseph Smith building – we went for lunch with the
Shepherds & the Reiri’s – it was great to see them and know they are doing
well.
4. SHOPPING – Uh, Lamar met us at the Van or Fan store… CHEAP SHOPPING
– Camilla took us and man that was AWESOME!!
5. Young the Giant concert – FAR
that was awesome! The opening act was
also amazing – You, Me and Apollo – I’m definitely gonna purchase some of their
songs on iTunes!
6. Spending heaps of time with
Camilla, getting to hang with her and her Tongan cousins – mostly Pauli and
DJ..
7. Staying with Uncle Edwin and
Rad – presenting with him at the University of Utah on cultural responsiveness,
Uncle did with American Natives and I did with Māori.
8. Lunch with mission friends and
whānau – Gairyn, Joseph, Caydi, Aurora & Sister Anderson; Mark Peterson;
Adam Ruri, Katie & Little Jack; Matthew French; Beckstead & baby
(sorry, forgot his precious name) and Corrigan!!! WAY COOL!!
9. Going to visit with BABY
CARTER – a real special moment!
Especially, because that will also be the urupa where Uncle Bowie and
his children will also be buried.
10. Getting to DRIVE around PROVO
– it was a real surreal moment, seeing and being in Provo and NOT being in the
MTC. Loved that moment! I mean loved the MTC, and also LOVE being
FREE.. LoL – if that makes sense.
BONUS – Lunch with
Quinny in Ogden, we picked him up in Layton and went for lunch in Ogden.
Mum’s:
1. Seeing whānau at the airport
after a week amongst strangers – Phillips whānau
2. Meeting Uncle Ross – woo hoo!
(Ross Dress for Less)
3. Lunch with the Shepherds,
Frances and Virginia
4. Staying with Koro Edwin and
Rad
5. Having dinner with Tom, Norma,
Bowie and little Koa
6. Breakfast with the whānau on
our last day in Utah – at Tori and Sam’s whare.
7. Lunch with Quinny
8. Visit to Provo temple
9. Having our own car
10. Remembering Carter – going to
visit him.
Thursday 17th
April, 2014
Cruisin
to Ensenada, Mexico
So, this morning we did
our last minute packing and off to Long Beach port. Aunty Sella (Camilla’s mum for those of you
who don’t know her) was planning to come to LA to travel back with Camilla on
the car to Salt Lake – but, because she was travelling stand-by all the seats
filled up and she was unable to come to LA – it would’ve been nice to have seen
her after so many years. She was in NYC
with her brother who is sick. That meant
that we didn’t have to leave so early for LA city, we did leave early though
because there’s a huge outlet on the way to the city not far from Aunty Linda’s
with a Nike store…
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| Aunty & Uncle were kind enough to bring our bags into the city when we returned.. |
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| Uncle Kents FLASH as car!! NOT big enough for our bags.. LoL! |
So, we drove there
and Camilla and I went into the Nike shop and I bought 2 pairs of sneakers for
$66.. BARGAIN – as well as some other stuff too… Very profitable stop! J
Although, that also meant we had 4 shoe boxes we needed to deal with
before getting on the boat… Crack up!
After that we went straight to the
‘Alamo’ car rentals at Long Beach Airport to sign Milla on as a driver. That was pretty straight-forward, but Mum and
I are still SO very grateful to Camilla!
She is amazing! Offering to come
to LA to take our rental car back to Salt Lake airport – that saved us around
$200-$300 USD!!! No words to thank her
enough for that, but aroha!
We found our way to the port and had
SO much to take on – we only had 2 carry on bags – but then we had a huge bag
with the shoes in and another huge bag with drinks and mums toilet bag in.. So,
we still looked quite a site to behold.. Other passengers around us with just 1
bag… Mum and I with a few.. LoL! We
kissed and waved Milla goodbye, she had a long way to go and off she went.
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| Camilla taking over the car and on her way back to SLC… THANKS CUZ!! |
Check in was quite quick, things
tend to go quickly when you have someone in a wheelchair with you J YES!!
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| Ko Carnival Imagination te waka… Ko Ensenada to wāhi haere.. |
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| Wow - and all I could think of was ‘THE LOVE BOAT’ soon will be making another ride... |
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| Actually taken in Ensenada, Mexico.. all good though.. |
When we got on board the waka we went straight to our room – it was
pretty cool alright, although we were right at the back of the ship – M260 was
our room number, it also meant our ocean view had this cool window with quite a
roomy ledge, so I often sat up in the ledge and would watch the ocean pass us
below – I also fell asleep there a couple of times on the window ledge, one
time I was looking outside the window and freaked myself out how deep that
water would have been and had to get off the ledge.
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| Our cabin with Ocean view and the ledge I hung out on every night... |
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| Mum in front of the vanity - reading through our cruise literature… FUN!! |
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| My bed - living on the LEDGE… LoL!! |
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| Breakfast on the LEDGE… Cool! |
While we were on the cruise, mum saw
on the news about the ferry in South Korea sinking and that was really sad –
and also made mum a little more anxious… We were blessed to be fine.
On the cruise you’re meant to hire a
wheelchair if you need one, but Mum and I weren’t about to do that especially
considering we’d paid $45 for 3 days in Vegas and they were about to charge us
$85 for the rental and $50 bond… AS IF.. So, instead we walked to the Lido deck
for the buffet lunch and asked for someone to escort us after lunch to guest
services – well, they ended up leaving the wheelchair there and we ended up
keeping it.. HAHA! We did go to guest
services but George – a funny, and kind Filipino worker just told us to keep it
and that they’re not too strict on the wheelchair hirage… BONUS!! Only when we got to Mexico we would need to
pay the $50 bond to get a receipt to prove our rental when we got off.. SWEET
AS!
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| The Atrium - pretty dated looking - but really COOL none-the-less… we were on our way to MEXICO..~~ |
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| Mum with the FREE wheelchair.. LoL!!! Too funny... |
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| Us at our first lunch on-board - in the buffet area - that was nice... |
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| Looks like a Carnival inside the ship… true to the theme... |
I bought an ‘unlimited bubbles’
sticker – for fizzy and juices and MAN that was expensive for the WHOLE trip –
but, they were none-the-wiser and we used it to quench both mine and Mums
thirst – LoL! It was something crazy
like $22… but, unlimited drinks for 2 for the whole trip… kind of evened out
the price.. Especially since we went hard out the first day on the boat.. HAHA!
We went back to our room and our
bags were there, so we took them in and had a little rest, while unpacking and
went back out to explore the ship… We went to our first event, it was ‘The
Gender Quiz’ hosted by an American man, and I guessed before she said it an
Aussie chic.. They had men on one side and women on the other side… and about
10questions each – for the men, they were questions that women would be more
likely to know the answers, and for the women they were questions that men
would be more likely to answer… BUT, who won?
You guessed it – the WOMEN.. J If you don’t believe me.. I wouldn’t have
posted about the quiz if we didn’t win.. on the other hand – I didn’t know ANY
of the answers.. LoL.. More about that later though..
After that, our dining time opened –
we ate at the PRIDE restaurant because we chose the option of eating anytime
and it was open seating for dinner. Mum
and I were seated quite quickly because there was hardly anyone at dinner on the
first night – the other two nights – WOAH!
BUSY… Anyway, we were sitting down and had our entrees before a whānau
of 4 sat close to us, we started talking and it was cool! We made our first friends. They were heading to karaoke after as so were
we – we said we’d meet up there later.
Can I add, that this dinner took over an hour for the three courses –
that was pretty long considering.. Well, I guess for us two Māori it was… they
gave us the menu for entrees and mains and we asked where the desert menu
was! Turns out its separate from that
first menu and they give it to us after we’ve eaten our main course.. LoL.. a
little bit too high class for us simple-tons.. LoL..
Anyway, after kai and meeting our
new friends – getting to have a good kōrero with them we went straight off to
karaoke on the ship. That was cool! Who was hosting karaoke? YUP, another Aussie named Peter.. I sang some
songs and of course got some fans – a group of young ladies who were on the
cruise for their friends bachelorette party #greatidea! LoL… there were a
couple of groups on-board for their bachelor/bachelorette parties.. COOL! After a couple of hours mum got tired, so I took
her back to the room and went back to party!
LoL.. #ofcourseidid.. When we got
to our room the ‘turn-down’ service had been (getting the bed ready to jump
into, with some chocolates and a different animal created from a towel each
night – mum loved the seal and nothing else matched it – LOL!)..
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| It’s a seal.. mum fell in love with the seal - nothing else measured up.. not even the love heart at the end.. |
When I went back to karaoke I sat
with our Latino family from dinner until it finished at about 1am.. then went
for a kanikani a couple of doors down.. Uh, the family went to sleep and so I
had to decided – do I go in by myself and make friends OR go to the room for a
moe? You guessed it! I walked right up to the group of girls from
karaoke and danced with them.
Eventually, they left and I found another group from karaoke to dance
with… They were Frances, Ron, Larry and a chick (I forgot her name).
So, we all partied up me and my
‘bottom-less’ fizzy and juice – LoL.. Larry offered me a drink and I said no
thanks to which he replied ‘Why not? Are
you driving home?’ FUNNY – we became good mates, he’s a cop from mmmm..
somewhere in California – when he found out I was Māori he asked me to teach
him how to hongi – so I did. It was
funny coz once I found out he was a cop, for some reason I felt obliged to tell
him all of my ‘2’ driving offenses.. LoL!
When mum and I got off at Kolob canyon and the other time we turned off
for the Grand canyon and I was on the wrong side of the road.. don’t know why
that happened but it was funny!
Afterwards, I went to bed – it was
pretty late! But, we had a ‘fun day at
sea’ ahead of us on Friday – so we were planning to relax really. Before hoping in bed to sleep I got in my
bathrobe and pulled up a pillow on the window ledge and looked out to the water
trailing behind us.. it was massive, the ocean is so HUGE and we were only in a
tiny, tiny part of it! That’s when I got
a little scared and decided to just get into bed.. LoL..
Friday 18th April, 2014
Had a nice sleep in this morning! But, because of the sleep in we missed out on
breakfast time and had to go to the buffet for breakfast/lunch. I wasn’t feeling too well to be honest – my
sea legs kicked in late – approximately the time we went to the Michael Jackson
quiz.. LoL! So, mum came along (on our
free wheelchair – LoL) and fell asleep while I participated in the quiz.. the
MC played a part of a MJ song and you had write down the name of the song… of
the 18, I got 14 right which I was pretty happy about especially coz everyone
else were in groups of at least 2.. and I was flying solo.. Only one of the 4
did I know and just forgot the name to, the other 3 I’d never heard before –
so, I was pretty happy with my result. AND the winner 17 right which was only 3
more then I got wrong.. I was happy with that coz I thought one of the groups
would HAVE to get 18… all goods! We
stayed at that place a little longer and then went to the room for a nap –
well, I intended to type up the blog piece, but then fell asleep too. LoL!
When Mum and I woke up we decided to
go for dinner. On our way we noticed
very quickly that everyone was dressed UP!
And we, were NOT.. LoL.. Mum informs me that it’s the Captains evening
or something and that’s why everyone was dressed up… SHAME – so, we went to the
restaurant and had to wait this time because there were more people, they gave
us one of those buzzing do-dackie’s and when the waiting time ended we could go
for dinner. It was about 40minutes wait
– so mum and I rushed back to the room and got changed into something a little
more presentable for the evening. CRACK UP!!
Dinner again took over an hour.. but, by now Māori girls were getting
used to it, so all good!
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Mum dressed up for the Captains night…
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| Lobster tail for dinner… Mmmmm... |
We got out after dinner and did a
little shopping on-board, then Mum was ready to go back to the room for moe…
YUP, you guessed it.. I went back to karaoke and met up with some of the people
from last night (Larry, Ron and Francis).
It was FUN! We were a cool little
group and it was choice hanging out with each other again – although both
Francis and I didn’t get to sing – we were WAY too late to get in with another
song.. I must’ve turned up at 11pm and he turned up at 11.15pm-ish.. LoL! So we missed out this night – coz karaoke
finished at 11.30pm. Haha – typical..
so, we just went for another kanikani..
Me, Larry and Ron all stay on the
same floor of the cruise – Level 5, Main floor – Ron went to get a feed so I
walked Larry to his room and went to bed… I stayed up on the window ledge for a
little bit, I liked to end my days there – felt like being on a cruise coz I
got to see the water. When we booked our
tickets mum wasn’t too fussed on the ocean view, I be like – if I’m on a cruise
I want to see the water – and it paid off.. it was really nice being in a room
with no only an ocean view, but the back of the ship so I could just sit over
the water and watch it flow pass…
However, on my way back to the room, I heard footsteps behind me.. the
hallway itself was a little freaky – kind of reminded me of the hotel hallway
on ‘The Shinning’ half expected to turn around and see some dead twins down the
hall… LoL! Way to freak myself out..
turns out it was a random Latino guy – he was lost and asked where the elevator
was – I pointed him back towards the other end of the ship – from the accent he
asked where I was from… I said New Zealand – and he also knew a little about
Māori and the hongi.. wanted to me to show him the hongi.. so, I did – and said
goodnight – best be on my way.. RANDOM-ness… JJ…
Saturday 19th April, 2014
ENSENADA, MEXICO – YEAH!!!
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| We’re really here! How cool! MEXICO here we are! 2 Māori ladies... |
The day was finally here – we would
get to see MEXICO!! Well, I tiny little part of it.. we were very happy with
that! And, we were geared up and ready
to go shopping! Pania Reiri-Smith was
the awesome person who recommended this cruise AND the La Boufadora tour once
in Ensenada – mostly for the market shopping.
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| On our tour bus to La Boufadora, Ensenada, Mexico!! COOL as!! |
So, when we got to La Boufadora and our cool tour guide was taking
everyone down to the blow-holes I said – Mum doesn’t mind not going down (she
was on the wheelchair) and I said we’d just hang around the market..
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| The market - and the famous fish taco restaurant… Yumm!!! |
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| Driveway into the market and down to the blow holes... |
She was fine with that – so we FIRST stopped
off at the tūturu Mexican restaurant where the buses park… Mmmm.. ordered 1
fish taco.. before going shopping – off what Pania suggested – YUMMOOOO!!! It
was really YUM – so I was determined to get more kai before we got on the bus to
go back…
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| FIRST, fish taco and the BEST EVER!!!! Sooooo good!! |
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| Goodbye first fish TACO and best EVER!!! |
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| This is the ‘more’ I got for us for the bus trip back - YUMMO!! |
The market was just as expected
rustic, but very Mexican and it was really cool being there! Our goal for the shopping was to get some
turquoise jewellery, silver jewellery and just some cool stuff. We managed to get some cool stuff.. I got this
cool poncho that I’ll be wearing around in the winter that is fast approaching
at home – we’ve been told! But, my
coolest buy was a silver bracelet with an Aztec type design and a Mexican style
dress…. Mum got some postcards and that’s really all about the amount of time
we had at the market and blowholes – sure glad we didn’t go down, there was a
type of hill and even going down with the wheelchair as much as I did was still
a mission to get back up… Lol!
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| The outdoor La Boufadora market - before it got WAY busy with customers... |
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| Similar to the dress I bought - NO IDEA where I’m gonna wear it - LoL!… I have different colored flowers.. |
The funniest part of the market you’ll see from the photo’s - YUP, our bus needed a JUMP start for some reason.. then when we were driving on the road, for some reason the driver pulled over, the bus putted out and then we needed another jump start AND eventually a change of buses.. LoL! So much fun! I mean, it happens back home (not so much with buses) but that it happens in Mexico and we got to experience it? Priceless..
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| Bus be needing some LOVING!! This was awesome and a funny memory! |
After the change of bus we stopped in at Ensenada convention center.. and the whole time the song ‘I want to spend my lifetime loving you’ from The Mask of Zorro was in my head.. LoL.. cool!!
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| The view from where the bus had to stop the 2nd time - I’m making lemonade out of LEMONS.. |
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| More lemonade!! What a view!!! |
It was such an old place - with some modern extensions keeping it real with the original building…
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| Can you see it? Antonio and Catherine Zeta Jones in these hallways.. ROMANTIC!! |
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| ‘I want to spend my lifetime loving you, if that is all in life I ever do!’ - all I have for you whānau... |
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| COOL!! |
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| The original size of Mexico, before America stole a lot of it… typical... |
So, there was also a little market here too.. I can’t remember what we bought here.. I think I bought my cool new silver ring from there.. turquoise and silver - and some other stuff… what Mum and I have done because we keep shopping everywhere we go, is we put it in a bag and leave it there.. we haven’t got to look over our shopping yet - LoL! Just keep buying and putting in bags.. So, can’t quite remember and it’ll be like our CHRISTMAS’s and BIRTHDAYS all into one when we get home… FUN times unpacking!! YEAH - and we’ve still got Hawaiian shopping to go.. #YOLO…
When the tour had officially ended there was an option to get off in town and walk, taxi, or shuttle back to the port - so we took that option and walked around the market and managed to again.. BUY some stuff… Why not?? LoL..
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| Mum and I making our way back to the boat - walking through the port market.. |
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| Actual tāngata whenua of Mexico.. |
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| I love panoramic shots - Here’s mum at the Port market on our way back to our boat... |
When we got back on the boat we were hungry again - well I was with all the walking and pushing in the warm heat of Mexico, so we went for dinner - our last PRIDE restaurant meal and mum was ever impressed with the wait staff and their ability to hold everything on their plates…
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| Martinelles ‘Apple Cider’ YUMMO!!! Celebrate good times come on! |
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| Wait staff with plates of kai.. |
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| Pride Restaurant - hei konei rā! |
We were very blessed that Aunty Linda and Uncle Kent came into the city all the way from Murrietta to 1. Bring us our bags and 2. Take us to our hotel… We had to be out of our cabins by 8.30am and went upstairs and didn’t actually get off the boat until 10.30am.. Mum was loaded down with bags - it was funny coz when Aunty Linda saw mum she didn’t see her face and was laughing thinking ‘That woman can’t even see where she’s going’.. LoL and it was us.. yeah - coz we had too much shopping!
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| Lunch at ‘The Olive Garden’ YUMMO!! |
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| The Allen’s dropping us off at our whare… BLESS.. |
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| Me, Aunty and Uncle - dropping us off.. |
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| Our room at La Quinta Inn - LAX - See, I’m even doing the BLOG there… dedicated!! |
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| Our bathroom... |
Mum has food poisoning and is blaming it on ‘The Olive Garden’… Aroha’s… could be coz we’ve been going non-stop for 3 whole weeks… WOAH!!!
Mum just said ‘Never again for a whole month!’ she always envied film star with their jet-setting lifestyle - she doesn’t now… LoL.. as for me, I’m gonna make the most of Hawaii - although I look forward to just being normal - the same as everyone else, instead of the person everyone has to say ‘What?’ to every time we speak.. LoL.. OR, ‘you’ve got an amazing accent’… LoL random pākeha guy on the cruise, with his big blue eyes staring at me while I’m speaking - ‘You have an amazing accent’ and made a pass at me… I can’t wait to be normal again.. LoL! But will love Hawaii and every moment of it!!
Arohanui whānau, friends and bored readers…
Mama Kiwi and Parns
Xoxoxoxoxoxo
I am just so glad you two enjoyed it. Really cannot wait to go back again. The market looked the same and the port at Ensenada looks to be completed as when we were there it was just being built and paved. I hope you two rested really really well. Did you enjoy ship life????
ReplyDeleteIt was awesome!!!
ReplyDelete