The first thing we noticed when we arrived was how hot it was in Zihuatanejo. It was so hot in fact, that it was not a problem to have only cold water at our hotel. I got sunburnt every day even though I put on way more sunscreen that I would have thought I needed.
Those few days were so wonderful! We spent so much time relaxing. We slept for so long every night and then spent all day laying on the beach. We tried several different beaches: Las Gatas, La Ropa, and one on Isla Ixtapa. Our favorite by a long shot was La Ropa. The water was so clear and beautiful. It was perfect for swimming because it got deep gradually and there were no strange creatures. The sand was clean and there were beach chairs to relax in all along the beaches. The waves were a lot of fun too. Jessica and I tried to get out far enough in the ocean that they weren't crashing over our heads, but once this huge wave crashed right on top of us and threw us into the ocean. It was crazy! I was scraped along the bottom for a minute before I was able to regain my footing, but we were okay.
On our second day there we went on a city tour with an awesome taxi driver named Carlos. He took us all around Zihuatanejo and Ixtapa and showed us all the really expensive, exclusive hotels. There is one resort that costs $1000 USD per night! He also took us to a nature reserve and we fed the aligators raw chicken and the iguanas radish leaves. It was really neat to see twenty some iguanas come walking out of the trees.
We ate really well while we were at the beach. The food in Zihuatanejo was cheap and delicious! The last night we were there we ate at a nicer restaurant on the beach. I had grilled shrimp, rice and salad. It was so good, but kind of weird because the shrimp were still intact, heads and all. They were two-tailed shrimp also. It was delicious, but required some maneuvering to avoid eating the heads.
It was a great way to end my time in Mexico. I've had so many experiences and they are all so different. I can't believe that I'm coming home tomorrow. At least I'll be nice and tan. :)
The next day we took a boat from the muelle to the Isla de Janitzio which is famous for its Dia de los Muertos celebrations. The island was a really neat place. There are no cars or animals larger than dogs on the island and all the people that live there are indigenous. They have shops lining the streets that sell local artisan products for incredibly cheap. The whole island is a hill rising out of the lake and at the top there is a statue of one of the heroes of the Mexican war for independence. We were able to climb up the inside and look out over the whole lake. It was beautiful, but climbing the spiral staircase was really scary. We spent a good part of the day in the Panteon (cemetery) looking at all the graves and how the families decorated them to honor their loved ones. My favorite part of the day was the sunset. There are mountains surrounding the lake and they get all misty in the evening and when the sun set, the clouds turned pink and orange and gold. All this was reflected in the water which just served to magnify how incredibly beautiful it was. 
The following day, we decided to check out one of the other towns located around the lake. We chose to go to Tzintzuntzan (pronounced sin-sun-san) which means "place of the hummingbirds" in the Purepecha language. We had been told that there were some really neat prehispanic ruins there. It was true, there were ruins and they had round pyramids. The area where the pyramids were was beautiful and peaceful, so Jessica and I spent some time just relaxing in the grass. We visited the Panteon there as well before heading back to Patzcuaro.
The parade lasted for three hours. It was eternal! Every school in Guanajuato sent a marching band to participate, all the government offices had people marching, and every organization in Guanajuato was represented. Just when I thought we might be getting to the end, all the cities in Guanajuato state marched through with their representatives and then the policemen, firemen, red cross volunteers, and every type of rescue people had to march through.
I joked that today would be the best day to commit a crime in Guanajuato and the worst day to have an emergency because all the policemen and emergency response crews were in downtown Guanajuato. It was an impressive display for sure.
When we arrived, my host family was out so we had to figure out how to light the gas stove all by ourselves. We looked up on youtube "how to light a gas stove" and then proceeded to follow the instructions. The lighters that my host family had in the kitchen were almost out of fuel, so keeping them lit while we waved them in front of the pilot light was extremely difficult. We couldn't find any matches, so we settled with a candle that we found in the kitchen. All this time I had been turning off the gas while we were in between flames so that we wouldn't blow the whole kitchen to kingdom come. We did finally get the oven lit; however, it was with a huge whoosh of flame that blew out of the oven. I don't think Jessica or I had ever moved so quickly in our lives. Nothing caught on fire and we were ok, but it was a moment before our hearts stopped pounding. We now know to ask someone before we try something like that again. 
The oven knob had no temperature markers, so we just had to guess how long to cook the cookies. We must have had it on 700 degrees because they only took 4 minutes to bake. The cookies were delicious despite all the excitement and some substitutions with the ingredients. I personally think that if a person can bake yummy cookies in a foreign country with foreign ingredients and no standardized measuring utensils, they are all set in the cookie-baking category.
