The Grand Finale Excursion

Campeche and Chiapas Weekend

Sunday 7:50 PM July 26, 2009

This weekend consisted of a LOT of traveling. 3 hours in bus Thursday, 6 hours in bus Friday, 2 hours in bus Saturday, 9 hours in bus Sunday. Pretty intense. But it was worth it, because we got to see a lot of different landscapes that aren’t in the Yucatan. It was a rainforest, and the hills looked more like the sites of Dominican Republic, Jurassic parks scenes as I call them.

The most different part of this weekend was being with a huge group. The best part was being able to interact with different people, which was good especially since I had had enough of someone in ecology and had some time to be away and get cool together again. So I liked mixing with different people, but I didn’t like about it how groups form cliques and I tried to bounce around to all the different ones, but it wasn’t the usual bond of nine of us forced together. More people added to more interactions, and more drama to talk about which is entertaining. Everyone knows everything little thing that happens to every one here. It’s pretty fun.

I’ll go chronologically now, starting with Wednesday night. After class, for Joe’s birthday (well, there are two Joe’s. One I call Hoe and one I call Joe, but I am going to spell them the same so you are just going to have to be confused and guess which one I am talking about) and he wanted to go to El Gato Negro. So we did that which is an experience in itself. After that we went downtown and walked around and sat at a restaurant and went in the park again just chilling. And then some guys Joe knew from is host brother came up to us and invited us to a disco club. We a group of about 6 or so of us went to that. Bonded a lot with Heather, my fellow Lakelander, and got so much entertainment watching Clay dance, especially. Got home around 2. Slept. Got to the school by 7:30 for the trek.

Thursday first we went to Edzná ruins in Campeche. Typical ruins, we learned that in it’s day was equivalent to a huge city state like in Greece back around 600-900 AD. Even though I say typical ruins, every time we see a new site, I’m still in awe of how they built the massive pyramids back then! Of course we all joke that they had help from aliens like the legends say, but the Mayans were just so advanced for their time it’s amazing! It would be cool to see what they really looked liked thousands of years ago.

After that went to into the city of Campeche, in Campeche state, where we stayed that night. We had a really, really good lunch. I had a fish with shrimp inside, it was delicious! This was our last really great meal of the weekend, besides breakfasts. I guess feeding 40 is a lot more difficult than 15, so we had to eat a little less creatively.

The city of Campeche is a lot nicer than Merida! The sidewalks are all really nice, and the buildings look nicer, mostly just because they have underground wiring instead of seeing them crossing between all the buildings. I was really impressed with Campeche. We had the afternoon and evening off, so we walked to the gulf and looked at it, played in a playground, napped. At night it was raining, so we just ate pizza in the hotel. Then we had a cake for Joe’s birthday. After that we walked downtown some, but it was rainy, so we just played cards and talked and chilled in the hotel.

Friday morning we went to a museum in a fort in Campeche. It was kind of cool. Pretty St. Augustine-esque. We then drove three hours, had lunch at this sketchy place, where we also we blessed to eat at today for lunch. Both days I just had rice and beans. I was scared of everything else. After that lunch we drove for three more hours until we got to Palenque which is the state of Chiapas. This whole time we’ve been staying at these authentic Mexican hotels, but for our last time we stayed at Best Western. Ironic. Not exactly the same as American Best Westerns, but still, we were a little disappointed by the anticlimactic last hotel.

We walked to downtown Palenque, which is different than Merida in that it is really hilly, and you can see mountains all over the place! Jurassic Park look style. The people of Palenque were a lot less friendly than the ones in Merida, and I could tell that they looked different. The Mexican boys told me that they had different accents too. You could just tell that we were closer to Guatemala, and plus Chiapas used to be a part of Guatemala.

After roaming the city and a market, we swam in the pool for a little bit before dinner. I really enjoyed Friday night, because some of us sat outside, under a palm umbrella around a table, Clay (and sort of Keilani) strumming the guitar, and just playing cards and talking with Joe and Addison until midnight. That’s my favorite thing to do, just make conversation while someone messes with a guitar, outside. They are some of my favorite people here, because we are kind of more nerdy kind of cool than the others. I mean, everyone hear is nerdy, and every one is cool, but it was just a chill group that I liked being part of. Even though I honestly bounced to all the different groups. The cool girls, the goofy kids, the Mexican boys, all of us blending together… Mexico does not take the best friend whore quality out of me.

Saturday was the for sure the best day of the trip. Basically the only day that wasn’t a traveling day for the most part. We went to Palenque national park, which was the coolest ruins site we have been to I thought. First we went on a hike through the rainforest for a few hours. This area was so different because it was an actual rain forest, with tall trees, and streams and little waterfalls, and vines and everything! We even saw a Howler Monkey sitting in the tops of the trees! As we followed the path, we would see un-furbished, un-touched ruins, surrounded and over-grown by plants and trees. It felt like a book or TV show, hiking in the rainforest around and above undiscovered ruins!

It was really, really hot there. We saw this stream so I splashed my face with the fresh, cool water, and it got my shirt all wet, so I look like I was sweating more than I actually was. So I look like a pig in all the pictures I have from there, but just remember that I splashed water on myself, and it is not ALL sweat.

It was disappointing because we either took too much time hiking or didn’t leave enough time allotted to tour the ruins, so we pretty much ran through them, and they were the most cool, unique ones we had seen! Being built within the hills, and with mountains in the background! I really wish we had had more time to tour what could have been my favorite site.

After that we drove to a river called Misol Há. First we had lunch, I had some delicious shrimp kabobs. Then we walked down to one of the prettiest waterfalls I have ever seen! It was different than water falls I’ve seen in northern USA because of all the tropical plants around, and after the waterfall, it didn’t really flow, just sat in this little lake thing. We all jumped in and swam under the heavy power of the waterfall. It was so beautiful floating in the water, looking up at the waterfall and the sky, having to remind myself that I was really in it, it wasn’t just a postcard picture or something.

God’s creation is so amazingly, beautifully cool! You know how they say some people have their best experiences with God either through people, or song or church, or anything, well, I am for sure a naturalist. I think I have known this, but just being in nature, and seeing awesome landscapes and such just makes me appreciate the realness of God so much more!

Saturday evening we came back to the hotel, napped some, had dinner, and then it was really fun! Mark and Roger had gotten cake and a piñata for Allison and Joe’s birthday! We went outside and some took turns whacking at it. It was just as funny as it was in elementary school, when Roger would yank it up, and the person would hit into thin air. It was a good time. Later we walked downtown to celebrate Allison’s 20, and then we came back and played games and just hung out at the hotel. It was a good time, a good last night together.

Went to bed around 2:30, got up around 7. Lack of sleep was fine today, because it consisted of a 9 hour bus ride. Just stopped at the gross place for lunch and a few bathroom breaks. Today I had a lot of really good conversation, especially with Kiana and Joe. A lot of times in the bus we will just read or listen to iPods, but today I had a few good conversations, and some hilarious rounds of accordion stories.

Got back to an empty house around 6:30. Showered and stuff, and then la Señora came home and I ate and now I’m doing this, with just a tiny bit of Spanish homework to do.

So overall, good last excursion. I wouldn’t say that they saved the best for last, but it was different than the usual for sure. My favorite excursion might have been the Carribean one where we went snorkeling and to Tulum and Cobá. I also really liked caving. And I also really liked the baby turtles last week. This week we saw cool stuff too. IDK.

I keep saying that I’m actually retarded or something, so the world organized my life to be one big Make a Wish Foundation wish for me, without letting me know about it. I’m just so blessed to have been able to do this! I don’t want to leave! If we didn’t so such awesome excursions every week, it probably wouldn’t seem as amazing, but this whole Mexico thing has been the coolest thing I’ve ever done in my life. I’ve learned a lot about southern this area of Mexico, ecologically and culturally, I’ve gotten a lot more fluent in Spanish, I’ve gotten to know a ton of cool and interesting people, I’ve seen tons on Mayan ruins that I never even dreamed of, I’ve seen God in a lot of really cool ways, and I’ve learned about myself.

Looking back a few years ago, I would have never imagined that I would have spent a summer living in Mexico. Ever. It’s the best thing I could have done at this point in my life. Free from a job and other responsibilities. Practice for an entire semester of living abroad. Gaining a whole new perspective, not just of Mexico, but of everything.

We all say that we will have Mexico reunions and we will meet up for lunch together and stuff. But it will be interesting to see how our relationships translate over to the real world. I imagine keeping in touch with a few, but we’ll see what happens when our forced best friendships aren’t forced anymore.

Things to look forward to about being back:
No hot dogs for breakfast, brownies and cookies, air conditioning, knowing what is going on around me, being able to drive, having a phone, being able to exercise, being able to choose what I eat, getting back together with my “
real” friends, seeing the fam, the beach, Gainesville life.

I write way too much, I know. And I know I’m too wordy. oh well.

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