Dear Dad and Sharon,

Wow Mexico is great! Our flight was really long, but we're finally here. Today we decided to go exploring around the city. We discovered some really amazing museums, an open air market, and a really cool shopping district. The weather is beautiful and the people are great! Wish you were here!

Love,

Mary Anne

P.S.

Hug Tigger for me please!

I had lied a little in the postcard. My vacation in Mexico was off to a pretty stale start.

After dinner we decided to split into two groups. I was with Stacey, Claudia, and Mallory. We left the hotel around 5 and went east. At first the scene was beautiful, we walked into an area called La Zona Rosa, and there were flowers everywhere! It was so romantic I wished that Logan was there with me, but he had decided to spend our first day in Mexico with his friends. Our first night in a romantic new city and he was out with Alan Gray and Pete Black. I had cried for two hours when he told me that he wasn't going to spend time with me and my friends, but deep down I know that time apart will bring us close together. I just hope he didn't meet any beautiful Mexican girls. I mean he does look just like Cam Geary, the movie star. What girl could resist?

"Wow everything is pink! I love it," Stacey said as we strolled down the street.

"Ooo! A shopping area," Claudia exclaimed, pointing ahead.

"Yeah, that must be Reforma Avenue. It's the main commercial and financial axis of the city. Along with here, La Zona Rosa and the Historical Centre", I said, remembering some things I had read earlier.

"Lets browse," Mallory said. "I want to grab some um, fruit for later tonight."

"Well I want to look at clothes," Claudia said. "Me and Stacey will be by the clothing vendors. Why don't you go with Mal, Mary Anne?"

I nodded and we parted our separate ways. Maybe there would be some crafts in this area. I'm really into knitting.

Mallory and I walked into an open market. Vendors were yelling everywhere and it was hard to hear yourself think over the din.

"What do you want fruit for?" I asked looking at Mallory. Normally she would have jumped at the chance to go shopping with Stacey and Claudia, or at least she'd want to check out the stuffed animals or something. But fruit?

"Actually I don't need fruit. I need two chicken breasts," Mallory said blushing a big.

"Chicken breasts? Whatever for?"

"Well, Stacey said I could fill out my top a little if I put chicken cutlets in it. It's a little embarrassing, but I want Ben to notice me," Mallory replied looking down at her feet.

"Well okay, but Ben already likes you for who you are. He won't care what's in your top. If its really what you want though…" I said shrugging. I had no idea what she was talking about, but if Stacey said it, it must be true. She knows a lot about that kind of stuff because she reads magazines like Cosmo and Glamour. I'm not allowed to read those until I'm married. She's sooo sophisticated.

We walked over to a poultry vendor. He had dead fish and chickens hanging upside down all around his stand. Good thing Dawn wasn't here. I was feeling a little green myself as I looked at the chicken feet and beaks for sale. Yuck.

With some difficulty, Mallory was able to get the two chicken cutlets. Neither she nor I knew the Spanish word for "breast" so she had to use her own body to show him what she was talking about. It was soo embarrassing.

We walked away from the stand, Mallory, pink cheeked, shoving the brown paper bag into her purse.

"Lets go find Claud and Stace," I said. We didn't need anything else in the food section, and I was interested in the clothing area myself.

Mallory and I navigated our way through the crowd, me gripping her wrist the whole way. There was no way I was getting lost on my own. Even though, it probably wouldn't have been that hard to find her. She was the only white redhead I'd seen all day.

We found Stacey and Claudia ten minutes later browsing through bathing suits. Well, if you could even call them that…

"What do you think?" Stacey asked holding up two bikini pieces.

My eyes almost popped right out of my head. Stacey was holding a sparkly blue thong and an itty-bitty matching top.

"Stacey McGill you can't be serious!" I said in disbelief.

"No, I am. I think it matches my eyes well," Stacey replied defiantly.

"But it's barely… anything!" I still couldn't believe she was actually planning to wear that!

"Skimpier the better, that's what's in this year. Who are you? My father?" Stacey said, giving me an icy stare. "Besides Claudia already bought two."

"Whaat!" I said my jaw dropping.

"Yeah one in red and another in green," Claudia piped up from behind a rack of bikini bottoms. "I was thinking of putting some Spanish words on the material, like 'caliente' or something."

"Oh, like theres room for that," I said sarcastically.

"You're right; maybe I should use water proof markers and write on my skin. I could fit more phrases on my body anyways," Claudia said eyes widening.

I sighed; it was no use arguing with these two. Stacey was too hard-headed and Claudia was too dumb too convince.

"Hey guys, its getting late," Mallory said trying to break the tension. "We should probably be heading back if we want to get there by 8."

Stacey nodded and strutted over to the vendor with the "bikini" in hand. She paid, and we were ready to go.

We walked in silence for a while. The sun was beginning to set, and I noticed a lot of the vendors beginning to close up shop.

"So, how were the fruits?" Claudia asked, after about ten minutes of walking.

Mallory's head popped up and she clutched her purse nervously. "G-good," she said, staring in a different direction. "But not great, you know? You know…" she trailed off.

I rolled my eyes and kept walking. Twenty minutes later we were back at the hotel. I could already see Kristy, Dawn, Jessi, and Abby sitting on the steps.

"Hey!" Kristy yelled, waving. "What'd ya see?"

"The town centre, the shopping district…" I said breathlessly. All of a sudden I wasn't feeling so well.

"Well the beach is amazing," Kristy said grinning. "You're gonna love the boardwalk."

"And we saw a bunch of museums in the city, and some really beautiful cathedrals," Abby added.

"Hey, Mary Anne, are you feeling okay?" Jessi asked walking towards me. Within seconds my friends were all crowded around me glancing me up and down.

"Uh-oh," Stacey said, poking my arm. "We've seen this before."

"Seen what?" Abby asked.

"Mary Anne! Did you forget to put on sunscreen!" Dawn asked in disbelief. "You know you burn easily!"

Oh man. In all the excitement with arriving in Mexico, BSC t-shirts, the drama with Logan… I had forgotten to apply my SPF 85. And I had gone out in the blazing hot sun without a baseball cap, and with uncovered skin. What was I thinking?

I sighed. "Yeah, I guess I did. There was just so much else to think about. I just want to go to bed now," I said walking up the stairs to the hotel doors.

"We'll get you some aloe," Kristy said. "Maybe a cold bath too?"

"Sure."