New Year's Celebration

Dear Mom and Dad,

We had a great New Year's celebration! I put on a little make-up before the big night, which is kind of a big deal since traveling I haven't worn any. The boys would not let me do this in peace as they played paddle board around me. Not an easy task getting ready when I was constantly on the look out for flying balls and aggressive swings.

We arrived at the beach around 4pm to scope everything out. We had no idea what we were in for.

Our first task was getting painted with glow-in-the-dark tattoos. The picture from left to right is Andy, Charlie, two South Africans, (who don't have Ebola) and myself. They laughed at the ebola fixation that Americans have.

The beach party was absolutely crazy. These are party goers jumping rope with fire. Although we easily could have done this, we refrained from partaking in the burns. Andy stated, "As a firefighter, my dad would NOT condone this." It was painful watching people jump in and out, mess up, have the flaming rope scortch their feet, legs, arms, and face. Some were even doing this NAKED. Be thankful the camera couldn't quite capture everything.

Andy did partake in the waterslide. The ending was hard bags of rice, which could have been awful for Charlie's back. We thoroughly enjoyed watching Andy however.

My fresh tattoo.

Selfie waiting for everyone to get their second rounds of tats.

Our fun South African friends that we met from the Phi Phi islands.

This picture doesn't do justice as to how many people were on the beach. Someone said 300,000. All three of us have never experienced anything like it. You literally couldn't walk anywhere because there were that many people. No problem for us, we found a picnic table to post-up on and DANCE!

Happy New Year!

Biggest firework display that I have ever seen! Amazing! Unfortunately, the hillside caught on fire, but it was eventually put out. No real safety codes here. Charlie was disappointed by the "finnale." There wasn't one, which we were expecting.

We were careful of our belongings, but Charlie did get pick-pocketed of his heartburn medicine. Andy did lose part of his big toenail after missing a step; other than that, it was a successful night! Together Charlie and I spent $50, which included two taxi rides, dinner and drinks  I don't think we could have done New Year's much cheaper. Andy spent a little more money because at the end of the night he bought a Broncos jersey. I hope he's not homesick ;)

Today is rest and relaxation.

Love,

Freshly tatted Americans