I've been so busy trying to catch up on my homework from last week and getting ready for my midterms and finals next week (12 page paper on the conquest and colonization of Mexico anyone?) writing for this has been kind of low on my priority list.
But now that I finally have a few minutes, I wanted to fill you in on the trip we took last weekend! We had a four day trip to the Caribbean coast with our entire group, Omar (one of our program coordinators- aka Professional Gringo Babysitter), Professor Morra-Torres (our history professor from DePaul) and his family, and our tour guide Miguel.
The purpose of the trip was to visit a few ruin sites, since that’s what we've been studying in our history class, and to see first hand some of the differences between the Rivera Maya on the east coast of the peninsula vs. where we are in Merida on the west side. They call the east coast "Rivera Maya" because it has become such a huge tourist area in the past few years. For example Cancun, Isla Cozumel and Playa del Carmen are all part of the stretch.
We started out last Friday morning and headed to Chitzen Itza, the most famous Mayan ruins site which is in the central part of the peninsula. Compared to Uxmal, a large ruin site close to Merida that we visited the weekend before, Chitzen Itza was sooo touristy. But I'll explain more about the ruins and tourism later- that’s an entire post on its own.
After a tour and some free time at the ruins, we headed to cenote Ik-kil for a swim. Cenotes are freshwater underground sink holes that are all over the peninsula. Some cenotes are completely underground, but this one had an opening to the surface with a couple of waterfalls and a ton of plants and roots growing down into it. Ik-kil is pretty touristy too, since its so close to Chitzen, and they carved a staircase down through the limestone along the side of the cenote down to a platform with an area to jump in. We got to jump from a pretty high platform too, since Ik-kil is around 90 ft deep- it was so cool. The water is crystal clear too so you can see all the catfish swimming down in the water around you.
Once we left Ik-kil, we headed to the town of Valladolid, which is the third largest city on the Yucatan peninsula after Merida and Cancun. It’s a really small colonial town with a cute central plaza and some nice local hotels, but not much other than that. It’s a really popular place for locals who work in Cancun and in the rest of the Rivera Maya to live away from all the craziness.
After one night in Valladolid, and a run in with a giant mutant grasshopper in our bathroom that we eventually named Chewy (I swear the bugs here are out to get me), we headed to Tulum on Saturday. Tulum is another big tourist location that wasn't very important historically, but is most significant Mayan settlement actually located on the ocean. In terms of location, I think Tulum was my favorite site we visited. Its built on some cliffs overhanging the ocean and its absolutely breathtaking. The beaches there were gorgeous too- I got some amazing pictures. When it came actual structures at the site though, it was kind of unimpressive (and sorry Dad, I couldn't find the "wilson house"). There were a TON of iguanas there though- they are a natural destroyer of the ruins and love to burrow and live in then. Some of them were pretty monstrous too.
From Tulum we drove up through Cancun and listened to Miguel talk about the evils of tourism (we decided that he just doesn't like change) to the ferry to Isla Mujeres. Isla Mujeres is a REALLY small island not to far from Cancun with some supposedly nice beaches (though we didn't get to see them) and shops. The island is really colonial, like a lot of small towns, but has really small, narrow bricked streets and most people drove around in gold carts or on scooters. We stayed there Saturday night, and went out for Leah's 21st birthday at a really fun outdoor bar on the beach. They had a live band and Omar tried to teach us how to salsa dance (tried being the key word- we weren't that great).
On Sunday went snorkeling on the reef between the mainland and the island. The reef was beautiful but the weather kind of sucked. It was the one day that it rained ALL day, and it was kind of chilly (try not to shoot me Chicago people, but it was only low 70's- yuck). We were supposed to snorkel at a couple of sites and visit the northern beaches, but the rain was so bad we just ate lunch and headed back to the hotel for the day. We were all kind of miserable after snorkeling though, since we only wore our bathing suits and towels, and had to ride on a little boat with Captain Blackie (he was a treat, let me tell you- someone should have laid off the bottle) in the rain, and then had to sit at an outdoor cafeteria type thing in our soaking towels and bathing suits while we waited for lunch. It was kind of a bummer.
It was really Leah's birthday on Sunday, and the day had been kind of miserable a few of us decided that we wanted to throw her a surprise party that night. So we decided we wanted to go buy a cake and a piñata for that night. Turns out it was a little more difficult than we thought, since it was Sunday and raining (which meant no tourists) so most of the shops were closed. But we were pretty determined, so Rachel, Bianca, Missy, Kevin and I decided to brave the rain and search the island for a piñata.
It was still raining pretty hard, and none of us had umbrellas, so we asked the hotel for a few garbage bags (the big industrial-sized ones) and had a trash-bag poncho fashion show- we looked like a homeless Ku Klux Klan. Its really hard to explain how hysterical it was so see a bunch of gringos walking in a single file line through the flooded streets wearing garbage bags (in more ways than you would think possible) asking anyone we could find where we could buy a piñata. It was even better because there was NO ONE out on the streets- we looked a little out of place. After much searching and asking around, however, we found out that the only place on the island that sells piñatas was closed, so we settled for sparkling cider instead (faux Champaign anyone?). But she was definitely surprised so it was all worth it.
Then finally on Monday we left Isla Mujeres and headed to Ek'Balam, yet another ruins site. This one was way less touristy and had a really strange mix of fully restored and completely unrestored ruins. The fully restored parts were interesting because they rebuilt everything the way it would have looked- stucco and all (back in the day all of the ruins would have been plastered with stucco and painted different colors), but it seemed kind of artificial. There was a HUGE temple there that you could climb, by far the tallest we saw, and you could see the peninsula for miles. The unrestored parts were pretty neat too. Even though they just looked like BIG piles of rocks with trees growing out of them, it was cool to see how they would have looked when they found the ruins.
Overall, the trip was exhausting, especially cause I was still kind of sick, but it was a lot of fun. The best part was being able to spend time as a group because it was just the eleven us and Omar. We're all kind of turning into a little family, which is kind of cute. We're like a big group of siblings, especially Luke and I- the group calls us brother and sister. He has an older sister my age and he totally reminds me of the way my little brother Jonathan acts. Too bad we don't have a mom for me to complain to when he's trying to aggravate me on purpose- which he does frequently.
This week we have midterms for our history class and finals for the first stretch of our Spanish classes, and then next weekend is CARNAVAL!! Carnaval is a huge festival kind of like Marti Graw (why do I have no idea how to spell that?).I am SOOO excited for it! Its such a big deal here we even have Monday and Tuesday off of school the following week. Apparently everyone dresses up in costumes and just drinks and dances on the street. I think I'm going to be a bird with Bianca- yay feathers! Some of the other people are being butterflies and cats, so we'll have quite the zoo going on- I'll be sure to have pictures!
On a side note- I got my hair cut and colored here at a really nice salon for less than $70 dollars! It would have cost me twice that in the states, especially considering the place we went to. Between the weather, the lifestyle and the cost of living, I'm starting to think I need to find someone who will pay me to live here permanently...
Hope you all are enjoying the snow up there- I'm starting to get a little bit of a tan down here :)
Rat Update: As of the other night, it was still living in the kitchen. Omar and I have decided to name it Ramona, since it looks like shes going to be around for a while. I've started reaching around the corner to turn the light on, and waiting till I hear her scurry under the fridge before I go into the room. Oh Mexico.
Representing Chi Omega at Chitzen Itza- hey what can I say, its tradition :)
Rachel and I jumping into centoe Ik-Kil. Soooo fun!
The group swimming in the cenote.
The ruins at Tulum overlooking the Caribbean.
Climbing the cliffs at Tulum
My favorite beach shot from Tulum. The best part: no color enhancement necessary.
BIG Iguana at Tulum. Omar named her Bill.
Bianca, Rachel, Missy and I in our garbage bag couture.
The ruins of Ek-Balam and the Yucatan peninsula from the top of the main temple.
