Service

On Tuesdays and Thursdays (when we don´t have excursions), we have the opportunity to do community service here in Mérida. Half of the group (Colson, Katie, Ellis, Lanae, and Jessica), go to El Pastoral de Amor, which is a home for severely disabled kids. The service rendered is helping painting walls, and they get to interact with the kids as well becuase they are around! The other half of the group (Linda, Sarah, Rochelle, Hilary, and Dannielle), go help clean up a medicine bank that is run by a shelter for families that come to Mérida to get medical care, but who can´t afford to live in the city. The shelter is run by nuns, and they have a medicine bank that they are starting back up, but the room was very dirty, and so the group is cleaning and oranizing it, and throwing away the expired medicines.

We are so greatful that we had the opportunity to do service, and we hope the service we do will bless many lives!

Acanceh

On the way home from another excursion, we stopped by the town of Acanceh to see the ruins there. There were 3 small pyramids there! One that we climbed had ancient carvings of masks. The other (we only climbed 2/3) had carvings with some of the original paint left, rooms for their different ceremonies and rulers, and you could see the more ancient pyramid under it (the Mayans would build on top of pyramids they had bulit before). Also it had tiny doorways, which they built that way to bow down to the gods when you went through them. We also checked out the church there. By the time we left Acanceh, it was raining!

Ballet Folklórico

We attended the Ballet Folklórico in El Centro a while back. We saw dances from all around Mexico and there was a Mariachi band for accompaniament. It was fabulous!

¡Feliz cumpleños Katie!

July 14th was Katie´s birthday! The rest of us threw her a surprise party, that was so much fun! Lily hosted it, and it involved, swimming, soccer, food, birthday cake, salsa dancing, and friends! Some of the girls in party hats.

The whole group.

Barbara, our German friend, Rochelle, and Emilio, a member of the ward.

Linda, Helaman, (a member of the ward) Martín (Lily´s maid´s son), and Lily chica.

The birthday girl, Lily chica, Helaman, and Lily our wonderful hostess!

Cake! Helaman made it. Impressive!

Katie, Ellis, and Martín.

Hacienda Sotuta de Peón

Last Saturday, we went to a hacienda called Sotuta de Peón. First we got to tour the owner´s house, which was very fancy and styled after the French style. Then, we saw how henequen is made into ropes, hammocks, and other materials. Henequen is what made the Yucatan the richest state in México in the late 1800´s/early 1900´s. They showed us both the way it is done modernly, and how it was done before they had specialized machines for it. After that, we got into carts pulled by mules on a train track and got to see a field where the agave plants, which the henequen comes from, grow. We stopped at a maya house, where Antonio, el abuelo maya, showed us around. Very friendly guy, who spoke only a few words of English and Spanish. Then we got to swim in an underground cenote, which was incredible! There were stalagmites and stalactites all around and it was a lot deeper than we expected, and you could see a lot with goggles on. The pictures here do not do it justice, it was very cool! Then, we ate a buffet of delicious Yucatecan food. It was a great day!

The HEAT!

Somehow, under our first impressions post, we forgot to mention the sweltering heat that we feel here! It is 100% humidity all the time here, and the temperature is usually in the 90´s during the day.

Things we don´t like about the heat and humidity:

-Sweating

-Hair getting wavy in weird ways (some of us, at least)

-Non-air conditioned places

-Walking

Things we appreciate because of the heat:
-Shorts, skirts, and t-shirts

-Sandals

-Shade

-Cold showers!

-Helado (ice cream)

-Ice and water

-Cold drinks

-Air conditioning and fans

-Window seat on the bus

-Rain and clouds

-The beach, swimming pools, and cenotes

El Colón Heladería

This post is dedicated to El Colón Heladería. It is our favorite place to hang out in Mérida. They have the best ice cream! And also some very interesting flavors, such as corn, mamey, guanabana, guyabera, (sp?), and many more!

Favorite flavors! Most of us can´t even pick one...

Colson: plátano champola/banana milkshake

Dannielle: piña/pineapple and coco/coconut

Ellis: coco/coconut

Hilary: coco/coconut and mango

Jessica: coco/coconut

Katie: corn, chocolate, and limón/lemon

Lanae:coco/coconut and limón/lemon

Linda: melon

Malcolm: coco/coconut

Rochelle: limón/ lemon and coco/coconut

Sarah: coco / coconut and chocolate

Izamal "The Yellow City"

Malcolm fears La Catrina.

Climbing up the pyramid.

Our guide, Daniel

At the museum of modern Mexican art.

On top of the pyramid!

Our trip to Izamal was awesome! First we went to the pyramid there, and climbed up it. The view was amazing! Then we went to a museum that had modern art from different Mexican states. Very interesting! Then we went to the convent there. It is a Franciscan convent, built in the 1500´s. The rocks from the pyramid were used to build the church and many other homes and buildings in Izamal. Izamal is also known as "The Yellow City" becuase most of the buildings are painted yellow. The convent has the 2nd biggest atrium of any Catholic church, second only to the Vatican! Their virgin figurine is very famous, and many believe that part of her spirit dwells there, becuase people claim they have seen it move. After we looked around the convent, we went out to eat, and had panuchos (yucatecan style tacos with tortillas filled with beans), leche de platano (banana milk), Queso relleno, and various other things. Yum! Then we went back to the convent and saw the sound and light show. It told "the story of the mayas"- very cool!