Living Off Of Suitcases

I've crazy busy these past few weeks, juggling school, travel plans and everything else.

Oh, the glamorous life I lead.

Recently, my family and I took a trip to Mexico aboard the Carnival cruise. Mexico was quite fun, yet most of the activities there were mainly for adults. Since we came as a family, we just opted for the tour around the market and we sampled some of Mexico's best delicacies. 

   

Pictured above is a traditional Mexican market.  They sell all kinds of goodies from handicrafts, to ponchos, to cuban cigars. I absolutely love markets, and this one was very vibrant and happy even though it was somewhat packed.

 I thought this Aztec calendar just looked sick. 

My brother and his sombrero

 This is some sort of spiky fruit that people add chili, and cheese powder to. It is sweet, and very delicious.

 Las Salchichas (sausages) were sold in the street.

 

Of course, we couldn't leave Mexico without trying some of their ever famous tacos. We ordered fish tacos, and one with carnitas in it. They were really good, that we ended up ordering 6 taco plates. 

 

Last New Year's Eve, my mom and I took a trip to Dallas, Texas to meet up with some relatives and friends.  I was really amazed by everything in Texas. Food portions were enormous, they played country music almost everywhere and they had large bulls roaming around downtown Ft. Worth. It was a neat experience.

This is a mat made up of jeans tags. Nothing more 'Murican than jeans and cowboy boots!

My mom's cousin and her family took us to this amazing all-you-can-eat japanese buffet. I never really liked sushi, but after trying it at the japanese buffet, I absolutely loved it. They had loads of delicious shrimp sushi without the traditional Japanese mayonnaise, and it kept making me get more each time.



That same night, they also took us to the Chinese Lantern Festival. It was beautiful. Most of the lights were hand-crafted, and just made this majestic glow. This marvelously took my breath away.

This is G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S.

The next day, our relatives took us to the Gaylord hotel to see the Ice Show. It was a huge freezer/ arena that was filled with beautiful ice sculptures of the Nutcracker. It was eminently cold inside; it was sort of like walking into the set of Frozen.

It's a palace made of ice! Some more photos of Downtown Ft. Worth.

Our first port of call on the cruise was at Nassau, Bahamas. Nassau is actually the largest city in The Bahamas. It is located in the island of New Providence and it is the capital of the country. It is surrounded by gorgeous white beaches and clear water. 

We took a hop-on hop-off tour around Nassau. Our tour guide took us around the island and gave us informative historical background about the city. He showed us the different residential areas; from the ghetto to the richer areas. Nassau is no different than the United States or any other country, in general. Many people think Nassau and its inhabitants are isolated from the world. It is, in fact, highly urbanized and industrialized. There are many good businesses around and it was very cool to go  see them. 

 One of the living staples of Bahamians are conch shells. Yes, conch shells; the Magic Conch Shells Spongebob and Patrick refer to when they got lost in the woods with Squidward. Not only are conch shells edible and good with almost all delicacies, it is used in construction, structuring of roads and they use it as a male enhancer. (If you know what I mean. haahaha) 

Conch shells are herbivores and feed mainly on algae. They act like snails and tend to run away when seen by fish. Bahamians tie rocks on their shell to prevent them from getting away. Conch is the Bahamas's main dish and it is served like fritters or in salads.We were lucky enough to have a great tour guide who treated us to his favorite Conch fritters. Honestly, the conch didn't look appetizing at first, but it is absolutely delicious. It's spicy, but salty at the same time. It's very tasty.

(Oh, if only mom knew how to cook it!)

As part of our island tour, our tour guide took us to many of Nassau's historical places. Nassau is very rich in history, having been colonized by England for a long time. We weren't able to go down for most of them, but one place we saw was The Queen's Staircase. This staircase features 65 steps hand-carved by slaves in the 18th century, and is 102 feet down. They built this so that the King may escape in case Napoleon tries to invade Nassau. When Napoleon never came, they named this in honor of Queen Victoria of England for abolishing slavery in the Bahamas and for her 65 years in reign.

Ever since taking AP European History, I've grown fond of seeing places that have been influenced by events in Europe. I was thrilled to hear stories about England and the Bahamas. It was like an out-of-classroom experience.

Queen Victoria's Staircase

Sitting atop of Bennett's Hill was Fort Fincastle. It's really close by from The Queen's Staircase. It features old cannons that Lord Dunmore, Bahamas' governor in 1793, built to protect the island from foreign invaders. We didn't have time to go in, but they had a lot of historic weapons, and hiding areas for the army.





After our historical tour, we quickly stopped by hotel Atlantis. It was a really large hotel, with several water parks and yacht clubs for people to enjoy.

Atlantis from a distance

Stick around. There's more adventure to come.