First impressions

Our first week in Mérida has been quite the adventure. Besides the language barrier, which we are trying to overcome, there are a lot of other differences between the United States and México.

One example is the bus system. To put it simply, it is confusing. The buses are all run by different companies, and some of the routes have the same names. They don´t run on regular schedules, nor do they have many regular stops!

Also, we are adapting to the different foods here. From what we have observed, the normal Yucatecan breakfast usually consists of fruits, such as watermelon, cantalope, and papaya, and sometimes some scrambled eggs, toast, and yogurt with juice. Lunch is the biggest meal here, and is served around 2 pm. Lunch foods are more varied but usually include meat, beans or rice, sometimes soup, and tortillas with salsa and cream. Dinner is served around 9 pm, and is smaller than lunch. Some things that we have had are quesadillas, taquitos, and fajitas. Popular drinks are Horchata, Jamaica (juice made from Hibiscus flowers, tastes like Koolaid), and Coke.

We are enjoying our classes for the most part, although they are difficult, and fast paced since we are only here for 6 weeks.

On Thursday (July 2) we began our community service, which we plan to do every Tuesday and Thursday when we don´t have an excursion. Half of us went to home for abandoned disabled children, and the job is to help with painting. The other half of us went to a shelter for families that come to Mérida for medical treatment but can´t afford to live here, and helped throw away expired medicines in their stock room. Doing service will be an exciting adventure, and we are excited to be able to help!

Here are some random photos from our first week.

Here are some Mayan girls in a performance in el centro (downtown area).

This is the church in the Itzimná neighborhood. The LDS church that we attend is directly behind this church.

We have Universidad Modelo ID cards! Here is Ellis´.

This is the cathedral in el centro, and the park in front of it. Also you can see a rainbow!

Playa Progreso

After we visited Dzibilchatun, and also on the morning of the 4th of July, we went to the beach at Progreso! Friday we got to go to the beach house of Rebeca, who works with us and the Universidad Modelo. The host families also came and we had a delicious lunch of genuine Mexican and Yucatecan food. Yum! On the 4th we went to the public beach, and were bombarded by vendors wanting to sell us mangos, bracelets, mechanical talking toy parrots, etc. Most of us got at least little sunburnt!

Some of us in the fresh water pool at Rebeca´s beach house.

Rochelle in front of the beach at Progreso.

Dzibilchaltun

Our first excursion was to the Mayan ruins of Dzibilchaltun, about 10 miles from Mérida. At Dzibilchaltun there is a cenote (sink hole), an old colonial chapel, some other mayan buildings, and the most famous Temple of the 7 Dolls. Every spring equinox, the sun shines directly through the 2 doors of the Temple of the 7 Dolls. The cenote was used for human sacrifices. Whenever there was a drought, they sacrificed the most beautiful women, with gold jewelery on, to the rain god Chac, so that rain would come.

Everyone at the cenote.
Re-enacting Samuel the Lamanite! (Katie is Samuel).

Malcolm and our guide, Alejandra.

Temple of the 7 dolls.

Some of us inside the temple of the 7 dolls.