Anna's Personal Narrative

In Anna's 6th grade class, she was asked to write a personal narrative about herself. Her teacher said she struggled with it and that Anna had told her she really only had interest in writing science fiction or fantasy. But after encouraging her, her teacher said she sat down and wrote this 4-page paper about herself. She had to read it to us at her parent-teacher conference and she spoke with such confidence and maturity. We are proud of her!

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She was actually very happy in Mexico. I think

this picture was taken after I drank her Pina Colada.

Mexico

by Anna Sanders

Have you ever eaten a worm or a grasshopper? Have you ever climbed to the top of a pyramid in an ancient village called Teotihuacan? Have you ever held a puffer fish or had a balloon fish spray water in your face? Not very many people can say they have. But I can! On my trip to Mexico, I did all of those things.

On the first day of our trip, we drove to Las Vegas. We stayed overnight in a hotel called Ex Caliber. It was a castle themed hotel. There were even fake torches on the wall of our room! The next morning we drove to the air port. It wasn't very comfortable. My sister Sara, my brother Daniel, my mom, my dad, and I were all piled into the five seat car with our luggage on top of us!

Our plane stopped in Monterrey and then went on to Mexico City. We stayed one night in Mexico City and took the shuttle to the air port in the morning. Once we got there we boarded the plane that was headed to our real destination: Ixtapa.

The view from the side of the plane was beautiful. There were trees and plants everywhere. We even circled over the ocean before landing!

Anna climbing to the top of the 4-story climbing wall

At the hotel in Ixtapa they had a lot of fun things. It was called the Melia Azul Ixtapa. It had direct access to the beach, a giant chess set, and three pools. They also had a climbing wall. When I tried it I made it all the way to the top (on the second try that is. The first time I went up, I only went about three fourths of the way)!

During our time there, we went on a snorkeling tour that was included in the hotel package. We kayaked out to an island in the ocean and went snorkeling around it. Our guide let us touch a lobster, feel a puffer fish, and hold a balloon fish and a sea spider (a type of starfish that's hairy and black). As I mentioned before, the balloon fish sprayed me in the face! Our favorite thing at the hotel was probably the fact that we could get virgin Pina Coladas whenever we wanted! The hotel was really fun!

Drinking a floating Pina Colada

We flew out to Mexico City and stayed two nights there. While we were in Mexico City, we went on a tour. Our tour guides names were Martha and Jessica. On the first day we were there we went to a Basilica. It had something to do with their religion. Then we drove to a restaurant and ate lunch. I think the most exciting thing we had was worms. We all ate one except my sister Sara. We then left and drove to a village called Teotihuacan. The people who lived in it called themselves Teotihuacanos. It had two giant pyramids called the pyramid of the sun and the pyramid of the moon. We climbed both of them, but we could only climb halfway up the pyramid of the moon (It was roped off for excavating). I want to be an acheologist when I grow up, so it was very interesting.

Eating a worm at Teotihuacan

On the way back to our hotel, we ran into a protest on the freeway, and everyone on the road started turning around! Some cars were going one way, others another way. We eventually got off of the freeway and on to the exit ramp. It was really weird!

On the front of a boat at Xochimilco

On our second day, we watched a flag ceremony going on outside our window. Once we left for our second day of touring, we went into the market and bought our lunch (casidias and soda). We also got to sample some tiny grasshoppers. They were Crunchy and Salty. once we got our lunch, we drove to a place called Xochie Milco. It's the only part left of what used to be Mexico City (Water). They have a bunch of boats and you can ride down the river. Our boat was named the Gabriela. We ate our casidias and even got to try some Mexican candy. My favorite kind that we tried was called Dulce de Leche, which I'm pretty sure translates to milk candy. We went back to our hotel and tried to sleep. it was hard, because right outside our hotel room window, there was a religious rock concert going on. It was loud. Once we finally did get to sleep, I don't think that even an earthquake could wake us!

We went back to the air port (sorry I've been saying that so much) and got on a plane that went back to Las Vegas. Once we got there, my sister and mom got on a different plane to fly home. My dad, my brother, and I drove home. It was the best trip ever!