Major Adventures with Cherie and Steph

We had a perfectly detailed schedule planned out for the girls' last day in Puebla. Wake up in the morning, go to the market, go to breakfast, go downtown, pick up Andrew at my grandparent's house, get fruit drinks at their market, go see Elissa, go to church with my grandparents. However, everything came to a screeching halt when Stephanie's octopus ink pasta started talking to her.

To refresh your memory: 

When I woke up, Stephanie was sitting on the couch in the living room. I think the first thing she said was, "Forget breakfast." LOL. Forget anything having to do with food. She wasn't feeling the greatest. We ended up sitting around the house until around noon when she said she was feeling up to going downtown! We we hopped on a bus and headed over...

The main attraction for us was the tour bus.

It was a perfect and beautiful day...

When the people in front of you don't like the sun...

Nice view.

About 10 minutes into the ride, Stephanie started feeling sick again. This is where a really funny story began unfolding. It is definitely HER story to tell though! If you ever see her around...ask about her Puebla tour bus experience and the show she gave everyone on the sidewalk as we drove past....

We ended up getting off and coming home. Cherie and I went to the store to pick up some stuff for the poor sick girl...

We went to my church that night and Andrew preached...

 

Some Siamese twin bananas

 Austin and his crutch skillZ
"Look how I can joust this right into the light bulb!"

Stephanie ended up staying at my house instead of going to church because she was just not doing well. She is very adventurous and all about having the full experience. Well - she got the REAL, experience in Mexico! We were worried she wouldn't be well enough to fly home so we ended up taking her to the doctor to get a shot of antibiotics.

She hadn't been able to keep anything down that day and the medicine was so strong that it had a shocking side effect on her. 

She came out of the doctor's office and said, "The world is spiiiiiningggggg..." and then "I need water." 

Next thing I knew, she's slumped forward in the chair with her EYES OPEN. I've seen someone have a seizure before and this reminded me of that. The open-eyes thing really weirded me out - I didn't know they could stay open when you faint! Cherie runs outside to get my mom, who was buying Steph water...and in shock, my mom's response was "ARE YOU LYING?!" HAHA. 

In her words, Cherie was "SCARED HALF TO DEATH."

Meanwhile, I'm holding Steph's chin up, patting and rubbing her arm. All I could think was, "She's allergic to whatever meds they gave her and she's going into a coma and she's gonna end up being hospitalized here, away from her family. Oh my word, her mom is going to KILL us!!" (Before going to the doctor, we'd called Sis. Marchbanks to see how she felt about it and she said yes to taking her. The goal was to get Steph well enough to be able to fly home the next day!) 

Anyways, so there we were, Stephanie passed out in the waiting room of the doctor's office. 

Cherie barged back into the doctor's office and the doctor comes out and sees Steph. She quickly reassured us that this was normal, the medication was just very strong. She put a cotton swab with alcohol on it under Steph's nose. It felt like an eterrrrrrnity before finally Steph came to. She said she got her hearing back first, but couldn't move a muscle or open her eyes- which is the point where she thought she was dying, too. (Come to think of it though - this means she couldn't get her SIGHT back, since her eyes were open the entire time.) When she woke up, the first thing she said was, "Woah. That was sooo weird." 

AUGH! YEAH, it was! 

*Hugs all around* "So glad to have you back on planet earth!"

The whole fainting episode probably last for less than 45 seconds, but it felt like FOREVER.

We sat in the waiting room for a while after Steph's incident. She said her hands were tingling so Mom and I sat there rubbing them while she drank Pedialite. 

Cherie was on the phone with her mom and getting a kick out/being disturbed by this stray dog in front of the clinic.

Thankfully, Steph was able to sleep through the night and woke up feeling well enough to fly.

We said our final goodbyes...nobody cried...

I think we were too relieved that Steph was doing better!! 

It seems like a gloomy way to end the post! Really though, the girls maintained such good attitudes though it all and neither of them have said anything about never returning. 

I am so glad they came! Except for that last day, we had SUCH A GOOD TIME!!! I think the lesson learned this time for our visitors was - DON'T ORDER SEAFOOD in MEXICO! 

If you do, you may be getting more of an experience than you'd planned for. 

And this here, folks, ends my Spring break posts! It sure was a fun one! 

~Bethany~

Spring Break Adventures, Post-Wedding

Monday morning we woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed. Ready for a full day of sight-seeing and tourism! We started the morning out with a trip to Starbucks....

Cherie and Sis. Wakefield

The art and I matched

After grabbing some coffee, we headed over to Mi Viejo Pueblito for a hearty Mexican breakfast. We chose this restaurant because it has a beautiful view from the second story balcony that overlooks the Zocalo (center of the city).

The girls wanted to have "mole" (the brown sauce, and prounounced "mol-ay").

These are enchiladas with Pipian Rojo, Mole, and Pipian Verde.

All three of us ordered this - lol!

The view from the restaurant - to the right is the governor's mansion, to the left is the cathedral.

Me and Cherie

Steph and Nicole

After breakfast we went to capture that "must-have" picture with the Puebla sign.

Nicole and John

Of course we had to go to the cathedral...

These girls are too much! :D

Me and Cherie

We sat in on part of mass...

The guys got into the classic conversation of "Man, these people are so lost..." Very deep. 

Steph captured the moment. LOL.

We then did a bunch of souvenir shopping...

It's officially lychee season!!!! THANK YOU, LORD!

After tons of shopping and sight-seeing, we all headed over to Cholula and the pyramid. Because our group was so large, we had to take 3 vehicles, two of which were taxis. Our Uber broke down half way there and we had to get out and call another one. (Uber was really showing off for Steph and Cherie for their whole stay here!)

Thankfully it broke down in front of a government building with steps in front so we just sat down and a few minutes later the next car came and picked us up!

Somehow, we still made it to Cholula before everyone else. While we waited for them, we got these cute ice creams - Cherie's is apple ice cream in a carved-out apple. Mine is a mamey with mamey ice cream inside. Steph had a mango with mango ice cream. Really cute!!!

Stephanie bought some art...

After everyone arrived, we all climbed the pyramid together.

The cathedral on top of the pyramid

The view from the top of the mountain

Eating grasshoppers was a must...

Even Bro. Collins got in on it...

Considering the grasshopper...

...giving in...

No, no, and NO.

Hanging out with friends...and more friends!

After Cholula, we went to supposedly ride the ferris wheel. 

 

Somehow though, we all ended up at Starbucks in the mall. (Next door to the ferris wheel.)

The massage train

We had dinner at Allegue

Nicole's octupus

Steph's octupus ink pasta - Note to all: Remember this picture as it will come into play in the NEXT post!

The night was coming to a close and part of the group would be leaving in the morning - along with my sister. We all came over to my house so Nicole could grab a few things she hadn't been able to take with her during her first move. As she worked, we caught Andrew zonking out on the couch. Hehe.

Following Nicole around for her last-minute errands in the colonia

We ended up at my parents house where I crashed on my parents' bed. One by one, as to not be so obvious, I texted the girls to come and join me! Nicole was the last to come in, and she immediately dived head-first into the bed, crying her eyes out. 

My coping mechanism when someone gets emotional is to crack jokes. I knew if I gave into my emotions at the same time as Nicole, we would both lose control completely and probably the world would collapse from so much sorrow. 

So instead I busted wisecracks as Cherie and Stephanie looked on with incredulous looks of "how can you be so insensitive??" Nicole soon got control of herself and left the room. It was then MY turn to cry and blubber.

Proof that we both blubbered.

So Nicole is gone for reals now. It was more final this time. She's officially married, and living in the States. But you know what? We are both doing just fine. The actual moment of goodbyes are tortuous, and that is why I try to avoid them at all costs. We talk on the phone about once a week and text here and there in between. We are both adjusting much better than expected. (Of course, she has someone to comfort her in her difficult times while I'm here with...my wheatgrass pets...but heyyyy...that's O-K-A-Y! HAHAHA!!)

There is one last post to this Spring break/Mexico wedding trip! Don't fall off the edge of your seats...

~Bethany~