San Carlos is a fairly developed city, not yet demolished by American tourists but still intriguingly beautiful with it’s unique, original culture. It is located on the southern tip of Mexico, on the Gulf of Mexico. With it’s gorgeous, warm beaches, speckled with luxurious resorts, and my boyfriend’s mansion in the hills; San Carlos was the perfect vacation spot for a group of teenagers, excited and restless after a long school year.

We set out on a Friday night so we could enjoy the long weekend. It was me, my boyfriend at the time, Jordan, my best friend Jessica, her boyfriend Barry, and Jordan’s best friend Kaiwan. We packed up our belongings, stuffing the trunk with bikinis, beach towels, flip-flop

The next thing I remember is Jordan grabbing me and putting my head into his chest telling me “Don’t look, don’t look, she wasn’t with us, we just found her.” I just started crying and crying, and I ran into that sorry excuse of a bathroom and locked the door. I remember punching the wall and crying to God and asking him, “Why? Why would this happen? How could he let this happen?” and still trying to convince myself that this was real. The reality of what happened only got harder to bear, it was then that I realized she was with us, it was that girl Shannon from Florida. The girl I had spoken with briefly but did not know, the girl that was staying with us at the house, the girl that was there by the pool, the girl in the blue bikini with her hair up and her sandals that strapped around her ankles.

The worst thing I can do is let that girl die in vein. I want to live everyday like it’s my last, I do not want to stress about the things that will not matter a month from now, I want to love my friends and family wholeheartedly, there’s so much I want to do that this tragedy helps me realize. James Dean said, “Dream as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die today.” Shannon Nolan will not be forgotten and though I do not know if this tragedy occurred to teach us a lesson, I do know that I am going to learn from it.

The next day Barry planned a boat ride for everyone staying at the house. The tour boat was called “The Booze Cruise” and it was a popular attraction in San Carlos. Everyone put in twenty dollars and we got a boat for two hours and unlimited margaritas. We were all ecstatic and the event seemed to be the topic of everyone’s conversations that day. I could not wait for the ride, the meeting time was 5:00pm at the Marina and I was not a minute late.

Maybe it was the rush of barely staying on, or the breeze you could only feel from that point, whatever it was that drew us there, I will never know. We were invincible and the roaring sound of the choppy waves as they smashed against the boat contributed to the feeling of living on the edge, and I liked it. As we embarked deeper and deeper into the bay, the partying got wilder and the drinking got heavier. The music was blairing, everyone was dancing, and the margarita supply was decreasing by the minute.

The first day was spent by the pool, the boys did

Some topics in this essay:
San Carlos, Matt Jeff, GIRL” Mexican, Shannon Florida, Barry Jordan’s, , Gulf Mexico, James Dean, Shannon Nolan, Carlos Mexico, san carlos, front boat, staying house, blue bikini hair, girl die, friends friends, boat lined, sandals strapped, metal poles, blue bikini, bikini hair,