Well, I'm back after a fun and eventful weekend. However, a 2 1/2 hour snorkel tour and then 4-5 hours of bus rides really wiped me out! Tomorrow I'll post about this weekend at Puerto Morelos, since I've still got homework to do, and I'm exhausted.
But I had an amazing weekend on the Caribbean!
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
Safety in Mexico
I've noticed that news of the Mexican drug cartels are seeping into the US media. Mexico is basically in a state of war against the drug cartels: a war that Mexico is going to lose unless it gets some help.
Northern Mexico is a violent area, and people are being killed everyday, especially policemen. Government officials who stand up against the drug cartel leaders are at extremely high risk, and many are eventually kidnapped and killed.
I'm only mentioning this because I want everyone to know that the Yucatan is SAFE! The drug violence is mainly concentrated on the US border, and I'm about as far away from the US as I can be in Mexico. The Yucatan, for the time being, is mainly unaffected from the violence. Furthermore, Mérida is probably the safest place in the Yucatan. So nobody needs to worry about my safety, or whether the violence is anywhere close to me.
But pay attention to the coverage of the drug war! It's on the US's doorstep, and we should be concerned about it.
Northern Mexico is a violent area, and people are being killed everyday, especially policemen. Government officials who stand up against the drug cartel leaders are at extremely high risk, and many are eventually kidnapped and killed.
I'm only mentioning this because I want everyone to know that the Yucatan is SAFE! The drug violence is mainly concentrated on the US border, and I'm about as far away from the US as I can be in Mexico. The Yucatan, for the time being, is mainly unaffected from the violence. Furthermore, Mérida is probably the safest place in the Yucatan. So nobody needs to worry about my safety, or whether the violence is anywhere close to me.
But pay attention to the coverage of the drug war! It's on the US's doorstep, and we should be concerned about it.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Preparing for a Trip
This weekend is our second free travel weekend, and Sara and I are off to the Caribbean! We're going to a small fishing village about 30 minutes south (?) of Cancun, between Cancun and Playa del Carmen. We really wanted to hit the Caribbean coast this weekend, but we don't quite appreciate loud touristy areas. Thus our choice of Puerto Morelos. It has beautiful beaches without all the craziness of Cancun. And the reef there is part of a national park, so it's said to be beautiful. We're planning on snorkeling, which I'm super excited about.
I had to go to Walmart today to find some underwater disposable cameras to take with me. I usually would just go to the Super Bodega or the Mega, since Walmart is a bus ride away, while I can walk to the other places. But Valerie said my best bet at finding the camera was a Wally World. Sara and I managed to get on the wrong bus (completely my fault) and we wound up downtown. It was fine because we just found the Walmart bus downtown, which was easy. Then after we were done in Walmart, we managed to get on another wrong bus! Luck wasn't with me today...it turned a few blocks earlier than we wanted, but we just ended up walking a couple extra blocks. All was good! Maybe someday I'll figure out where the Walmart buses are hiding, but probably not. I'll just avoid it! :)
Anyways, tomorrow right after breakfast we're off to the bus station for a 4 to 4 1/2 bus ride. We're getting one of the nicer buses, in hopes that the ride won't seem too long. When the difference between the prices is just a few bucks, going for the luxury class is so worth it. Just take a long bus ride in Mexico, and you'll see what I mean!
I hope to have a very interesting blog when I get back from Puerto Morelos. But hopefully I won't have a sunburn!
I had to go to Walmart today to find some underwater disposable cameras to take with me. I usually would just go to the Super Bodega or the Mega, since Walmart is a bus ride away, while I can walk to the other places. But Valerie said my best bet at finding the camera was a Wally World. Sara and I managed to get on the wrong bus (completely my fault) and we wound up downtown. It was fine because we just found the Walmart bus downtown, which was easy. Then after we were done in Walmart, we managed to get on another wrong bus! Luck wasn't with me today...it turned a few blocks earlier than we wanted, but we just ended up walking a couple extra blocks. All was good! Maybe someday I'll figure out where the Walmart buses are hiding, but probably not. I'll just avoid it! :)
Anyways, tomorrow right after breakfast we're off to the bus station for a 4 to 4 1/2 bus ride. We're getting one of the nicer buses, in hopes that the ride won't seem too long. When the difference between the prices is just a few bucks, going for the luxury class is so worth it. Just take a long bus ride in Mexico, and you'll see what I mean!
I hope to have a very interesting blog when I get back from Puerto Morelos. But hopefully I won't have a sunburn!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Carnaval 2009
Tuesday evening marked the end of the week long celebration of Carnaval in Mérida. Carnaval is somewhat similar to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, just not quite as crazy. There are parades and concerts, and a lot of beer is usually involved (not for me). Mérida's Carnaval is in the top 5 carnavals in Mexico, and in the top 12 carnaval in Central and South America. It was pretty amazing to see such a huge event. This morning the newspaper said over 650,000 people participated in Carnaval in Mérida! Ay! I believe it, because when I went down to the Paseo, the main street where Carnval was happening, the 6 lane road was packed from side to side with people.
All along the Paseo (a few miles) there were stages with music and dancers, vendors, and lots of Sol stands-the most popular Mexican beer. Young teens were walking around with cans of Sol, as were the little old ladies. Everyone was pushing and prodding, and I finally had to elbow my way through the crowd. Erin and I were trying to find some other friends, which never happened. It was just way too busy. I did enjoying seeing the sites and feeling like I was part of the celebration. Now I can always say that I went to one of the best Carnavals in the world. However, I don't quite have the desire to go back- it was a little too crowded for me!
The interesting part was the the city basically shut down on Monday and Tuesday. Schools were closed, heck, everything was closed. We still had class, except for our evening class, but that was rare! The roads by our house were packed by the time the evening parade started, even though we're probably a mile or so from the action. It was interesting to see how the festival affected the city.
Today's Ash Wednesday, which means those who partied last night are likely in church preparing for 40 days of Lent. Mexico is very Catholic, and I'm sure the churches are busy today! Adios Carnaval!
All along the Paseo (a few miles) there were stages with music and dancers, vendors, and lots of Sol stands-the most popular Mexican beer. Young teens were walking around with cans of Sol, as were the little old ladies. Everyone was pushing and prodding, and I finally had to elbow my way through the crowd. Erin and I were trying to find some other friends, which never happened. It was just way too busy. I did enjoying seeing the sites and feeling like I was part of the celebration. Now I can always say that I went to one of the best Carnavals in the world. However, I don't quite have the desire to go back- it was a little too crowded for me!
The interesting part was the the city basically shut down on Monday and Tuesday. Schools were closed, heck, everything was closed. We still had class, except for our evening class, but that was rare! The roads by our house were packed by the time the evening parade started, even though we're probably a mile or so from the action. It was interesting to see how the festival affected the city.
Today's Ash Wednesday, which means those who partied last night are likely in church preparing for 40 days of Lent. Mexico is very Catholic, and I'm sure the churches are busy today! Adios Carnaval!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Out of the Loop
One thing about studying abroad is that I have to work to find news from the US. Of course, Mexican newspaper have information about the US, but I feel like I'm isolated from everything that's happening in my home country. I haven't figured out if that's a good or bad thing yet. I just know that reading about things online or in a foreign newspaper is different than living it. Val, our program director, just came back from the US. She was surprised with how much the economy is dominating the US news. I honestly haven't thought much about the recession, expect that the exchange rate is just getting better and better for us. I know that's a bad thing, especially for Mexico, who is trying to stop the devaluation- with little to no success. I worries me because Mexico is bordering on become a failed state, where all government processes just fail to work anymore. The economic problems have a little to do with that, the drug cartels are the main problem.
I guess being in another country during the recession, the worst financial crisis of my life, gives me different perspective. I see here that life doesn't have to be full of luxuries. I knew that before, but living here without those luxuries (like AC, TV, DVDs, video games, fancy cars and houses) I realize living without something like Television is kind of nice. We can survive just fine without having the newest and latest things. Eveyone here can. I'm not entirely sure what I'm trying to say, other than that I'm not so worried about the future of the economy. Well, other than paying off student loans. But I'm going to ignore that for the time being. Countries have survived worse things economically, and in the US we are still living nicely. Maybe having to cut back on a few things is good...although I'm still really glad I have facebook, email, and my blog. I'd be really lonely with them!
I just realized that President Obama may be speaking about the economy to Congress now. Interesting that I should choose now to write this post.
I guess being in another country during the recession, the worst financial crisis of my life, gives me different perspective. I see here that life doesn't have to be full of luxuries. I knew that before, but living here without those luxuries (like AC, TV, DVDs, video games, fancy cars and houses) I realize living without something like Television is kind of nice. We can survive just fine without having the newest and latest things. Eveyone here can. I'm not entirely sure what I'm trying to say, other than that I'm not so worried about the future of the economy. Well, other than paying off student loans. But I'm going to ignore that for the time being. Countries have survived worse things economically, and in the US we are still living nicely. Maybe having to cut back on a few things is good...although I'm still really glad I have facebook, email, and my blog. I'd be really lonely with them!
I just realized that President Obama may be speaking about the economy to Congress now. Interesting that I should choose now to write this post.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Kiuic Pictures
The whole group at the top of a big pyramid in Uxmal. It was quite a climb, but how often can you say that you climbed a pyramid?
A sideways picture of me at Uxmal. Can you see the tiny people by my head? Yup, they're at the bottom. It was a long ways to go without railings or anything to keep me from falling! It was fun though, and a nice little workout.
Kiuic is a place where Jaguars reside in nature. As such, we saw some evidence of these cats- huge claw marks in the tree. And check out how high they were- up to Robin's head. I was careful and a little paranoid when I had to go outside at night. I don't want to get caugh by one of these fellows!
This is what a ruin site may look like when it's discovered. Most of the structure has fallen down- 1500 years will do that to buildings. But archiologists can excavate areas and reconstruct them, given enough time and money.
This is me at the top of the lookout tower in Kiuic. You can see the Puuc hills behind me. The trees were interesting- it almost looked like fall. There were lots of bare trees and leaves covered the ground- in February. It's the dry season in the Yucatan, so the leaves drop now rather than in autumn. It was beautiful!
Kiuic
We spent most of the weekend at a biocultural reserve in Kiuic. Biocultural reserve means that they not only try to preserve the ruins and protect them, but they also work to preserve the natural environment. It was great to participate in ecotourism! We stayed in huts, which were actually pretty nice. There was electricity, but no warm water. And we were given a hammock and a blanket to sleep with. Luckily, they were high quality hammocks, which is really good when you're sleeping in it for the night. Unfortunately, it was a colder weekend, and we froze during the night. I ended up covering up with my towel along with the blanket because I got so cold. The daytime temperatures were perfect though.
When we first arrived at Kaxil Kiuic (the reserve), we went on a short hike up a big hill to a lookout tower. We were in the Puuc hill region of the Yucatan, so the landscape was filled with huge hills. The view from the tower was awesome. The sun was starting to set, and the breeze was wonderful.
The next morning we went on a hike around the reserve and looked at the ruins from the old Mayan city of Kiuic. In many places in the Yucatan, ruins are reconstructed to look pretty for tourists. Often times, the architecture may be inaccurate, and few sites are studied thoroughly. They're used mainly for tourist money. At Kiuic, many of the ruins are in their natural state. It was neat to see them as they were discovered. Obviously that means that we didn't see huge temples or intricate carvings. But we saw houses and smaller temples and all sorts of carvings. Sometimes all we saw was a pile of rocks and rubble. But it was still neat to see!
That afternoon, we climbed the stairway to heaven. It's a path up a huge hill. On top are some ruins from Kiuic, many of which are in bad condition. Very little restoration has happened up on the hill top. I don't blame it because the climb was not fun! I huffed and puffed and finally made it up without falling. The view was once again amazing. We arrived there about the time the sun was setting, so I got to see another pretty sunset. We walked by one tree and saw HUGE claw marks about the height of my head. Kiuic is in jaguar country. That was a little scary! Luckily the Jaguars left us alone...although a little wild pig wasn't so lucky. One of the dogs on the reserve showed up with a severed head of a tiny pig- likely killed my a pretty big cat!
Kiuic was a very interesting place, and I'm glad I had the chance to go, even if sleeping in a hammock in the cold wasn't so fun. Climbing hills and seeing beautiful sites and ruins was worth every minute!
When we first arrived at Kaxil Kiuic (the reserve), we went on a short hike up a big hill to a lookout tower. We were in the Puuc hill region of the Yucatan, so the landscape was filled with huge hills. The view from the tower was awesome. The sun was starting to set, and the breeze was wonderful.
The next morning we went on a hike around the reserve and looked at the ruins from the old Mayan city of Kiuic. In many places in the Yucatan, ruins are reconstructed to look pretty for tourists. Often times, the architecture may be inaccurate, and few sites are studied thoroughly. They're used mainly for tourist money. At Kiuic, many of the ruins are in their natural state. It was neat to see them as they were discovered. Obviously that means that we didn't see huge temples or intricate carvings. But we saw houses and smaller temples and all sorts of carvings. Sometimes all we saw was a pile of rocks and rubble. But it was still neat to see!
That afternoon, we climbed the stairway to heaven. It's a path up a huge hill. On top are some ruins from Kiuic, many of which are in bad condition. Very little restoration has happened up on the hill top. I don't blame it because the climb was not fun! I huffed and puffed and finally made it up without falling. The view was once again amazing. We arrived there about the time the sun was setting, so I got to see another pretty sunset. We walked by one tree and saw HUGE claw marks about the height of my head. Kiuic is in jaguar country. That was a little scary! Luckily the Jaguars left us alone...although a little wild pig wasn't so lucky. One of the dogs on the reserve showed up with a severed head of a tiny pig- likely killed my a pretty big cat!
Kiuic was a very interesting place, and I'm glad I had the chance to go, even if sleeping in a hammock in the cold wasn't so fun. Climbing hills and seeing beautiful sites and ruins was worth every minute!
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