Rio Lagartos and Harry Potter

Domingo 19 de Julio 2009 11:15 AM

The Rio Largartos trip started off when we got picked up by good ol’ trusty “El Indo,” the small, intimate, bonding time van. Indian stickers on the back window and all. We were fine with it though, personal space is so over-rated.

We headed north east, and our first stop was about two or three hours away. We went to some ruins called Xcambó, pronounce Champeau. So I felt like home at the Mayan ruins of my ancestors.

After that we pulled over to the side of the road somewhere, where there was a little store where we got fresh coconut juice. They just chopped off the top and put a straw in it! For some more hours we drove around, stopping at different fishing towns and abandoned places from previous hurricanes.

The next stop, we went to “Peten Tucha.” This was the first place where we all seriously questions Mark’s site selection. He told us we were going to make a death march, but this was not the first time, so we figured we would survive. It used to be a place with a trail to a lake with crocodiles, and a observation tower and descriptive nature signs and rustic wooden bridges. Now it was an extremely overgrown bushwhacking/army-craw through starved mosquito territory to a observation tower with flesh eating ants and a lake with one croc in it. We ran out like this summer in Minnesota where there was that promised “moose sighting.” We all made it out, barely alive, with only a few scratches from crawling, and a few ounces of blood left.

One thing about this region of the peninsula is that it’s a really big salt mining place. So Fransisco pulled over El Indio and we climbed passed these no trespassing signs and saw the huge mounds of salt, and the pink water where it is harvested. It looked just like snow.

Next we went to a sea turtle conservation place where we watched two guys, one of them being Santiago, the future husband of me, Laura and Allison, since Roger (Row-hair) is too old. Anyways Santiago and the other guy digging and pulling out hatched turtle eggs and putting all the baby turtles in a crate to be released tonight. It was just like a Reading Rainbow episode the whole time! They find the mother turtles laying eggs at night, pull out the eggs, put them in a safe place from animals until they are ready to hatch, and then release them. The baby turtles we soooo cute crawling all over each other!

After that we went to the beach until after sunset, when we were going to be able to release the baby turtles!! For real! With our own hands! My favorite part about that was making friends with an eleven year old girl and thirteen year old boy. They both lived on the beach over summer and it was so fun talking to them in Spanish! They were just so friendly, and they helped us release the baby turtles too.

So next for the NEW coolest thing ever. Right after sunset, they gave us each two baby turtles and we set them down in the sand and watched them crawl into the water. Sure, statistics say that only one out of 400 survive until adulthood, but it was still so cool to feel like we were starting out their big lifelong adventure! They were so cute crawling in our hands and stuff!

After that we had dinner at this restaurant on the water. I had fish with shrimp inside. It was delicious!

So all in all, Thursday started out as a mean day, but in the end, we all were nice to each other, and bonded a lot. How great… we get to know and love each other more and more until it’s time to leave each other. Next week, the last trip, is a long, far trip with anthropology too, so we were all nostalgic because this was our last excursion together as “ecology,” which is so much better than anthro. I think we get along so well, because our group is too small to make cliques and stuff, so we are all each other’s best friends here.

Our two nights this weekend were at a clean hotel, which was only $40 USD a night, score! I slept AMAZINGLY while we were there in the wonderful air conditioning and soft bed! Thursday was a lot of time in El Indio.

Friday might have been our coolest day ever, but I say that for everything. But really, we did a lot of stuff this weekend that I would have never had the opportunity to do! We got up early, and were in boats around 7:30. We road around the whole Rio Lagartos all morning. First thing we did was go fishing off the side of the boat, I caught a fish too! All we caught was barracuda, but I don’t think I had ever caught one before, so I was still super excited over catching a fish!

We saw even more, and closer Flamingos than in Celestún! They just look so interesting when they stand and fly and eat and everything!

Cool thing number one for that day was swimming (illegally) in the hyper saline waters of the salt mines. It was just like people say in the dead sea and other places, you just float at the top without even trying! It was really cool!

Number two, right after getting out of the salt water, the guides started digging in the white clay to a certain depth and then started smothering us in the clay! We all covered ourselves/eachother all over, in our hair, faces… we were COVERED, until we were white clay monsters! I don’t have any pictures on my camera from that, but I will debo them from others. It was like an episode of Survivor I remember seeing when I was in like fifth grade, we were all totally white!! I remember seeing that on TV when I was a kid and thinking it looked so fun, and now we were really doing it! It was so fun!

Then we had to ride probably twenty minutes in the boat until we got to the most pure beach! We all jumped in the water and the clay dissolved from our bodies, although my hair still feels a little like straw. There was a boat near us and we went over and they had caught a GIANT nurse shark! I touched it, but Kyle still beats me about the swimming with them, even though I would have freaked out if I had to do that. This would be a good time to rub something in Kyle’s face, to the public. Two words, AP score. That’s all I’m going to say about that.

While we were swimming the guides made extremely fresh Ceviche (spelling?), from the barracuda we had caught that morning, fresh lime, tomatoes and avocado. We ate the ceviche with chips on the beach, and then got back in the boat.

Then we drove to a spring called Chiquilá for lunch. At one point Carlos and I swam over to the boiling part and suddenly brown, gross, sulfur smelling nasty squirted up and the water turned brown. Oops?

After lunch at the spring, we drove back to the hotel to shower and rest since we were going turtle hunting at night. I took a shower, and passed out in bed for three whole hours. It was amazing. The guys all walked around town some and stuff during the break, but us girls were so sleepy, we didn’t even hear when they knocked to invite us!

We went to dinner at yet another sea side place. I had shrimp. We got ice cream. Then we drove to the turtle reserve place where Santiago gave us a presentation about turtles. At this time it was just 10, and the turtle egg laying wouldn’t start until 11, so we all walked down to a little carnival thing happening in the little town. Sketchy carnival rides are only amplified in Mexico. We just looked at things and had a Coke, and then I bought a pirated “My Sister’s Keeper” DVD. We’ll see if it works, or if it has some sketchy thing on it. It was just $25 pesos, and I disliked the book, so if the movie doesn’t work, it will be OK.

We went back towards the beach. Allison got to do the coolest thing of riding on the four wheeler with Santiago on the beach, finding a turtle, while the rest of us rode in the van, along the road until they called that they had found one. We couldn’t have the head lights on in the car because it would mess up the turtles, we drove with just the flashers on, really slow.

So they found a turtle and we walked blindly to the beach. The stars were insane! There was no moon out, and we could see more stars than I have ever seen in my life, it was awesome! So we found a turtle, but we couldn’t take pictures or turn on flashlights until the turtle started actually laying the eggs, so we would mess her up. It was like National Geographic or something, graphically seeing the eggs plop out of the turtle. It was so cool, and I had never seen that before. When we saw the Turtle as Akumal, there were a lot of people, so we only got to see the turtle digging her hole, but this time we saw the whole thing! After she covered the hole back, Santiago, took out, and counted the eggs, so they could move them to the safe growing place, away from other animals. Then we watched the turtle crawl back into the water. It was really, really cool.

That night we got back to the hotel around 2 AM, and I slept like a rock. The next day we drove a few hours to an archaeological site called Ekbalam. We saw an extremely cute litter of puppies in one of the buildings, and climbed to the top of a pyramid. The coolest thing was that from the top, we could see Chitchén Itzá in the distance.

Then we went to a cute city called Izamal. We had lunch at a nice place, and walked around the city and saw a big famous cathedral. The pope had spoken there before, so that was a cool fun fact. It was nothing compared to the huge insane cathedrals I saw in St. Petersburg last year, but it was still impressive, with a modest, Mexican touch, instead of the enormous Russian glamour.

After that we drove a few hours back to Merida. When we got back, we all (besides Adan), walked to the movies and saw the new Harry Potter. It was in English with Spanish subtitles. We weren’t cool enough to where our graduation robes though. It was a good movie, but some parts were a little difficult to stay awake through after spending all day in the sun and in the car.

After that, I had to help Laura get home, since she was helpless with no money and no bus or something. I was annoyed because I just wanted to go home, but I stayed with her until we got a taxi back.

I slept so well in my hammock last night! I woke up this morning around 10ish. The maid (who I think I’ve have learned her name to be Arelli or something), had made me a hot dog. My. Favorite. Psych. Unless I request something different, that is the default breakfast she gives me. A hot dog on a bun with onions, mustard and catsup. I asked Abel and Carlos if this was a Mexican thing or something and they thought it sounded crazy. Oh well, I just keep eating them for breakfast. I haven’t died yet.

This afternoon we are all supposed to go the US consulate’s house for a party. So I will do that around 4. Before then this afternoon, I’ll just do homework for tomorrow I guess.

Last night I had a dream that I went to another Mormon prom. I just remember LOVING the dress that I wore! All the other nights here, I have dreams about the people here. Like one two nights ago, where I was sick, so Mark took me to a doctor and we had to wait in a long line, and by the time I got to the front of the line, I forgot what was wrong with me so I just made something up.

Even though we still have two weeks left, it sounds like a long time, but it feels like it’s the very end, just because we only have on trip left, and six days of class. It will be different since the anthros will be there too.

Two in our group have birthdays next week. Joe’s 23rd on Thursday and Allison’s 20th on Sunday, so Tuesday Allison’s mom is throwing a birthday party for them, and another girl that lives at Allison’s house.

10:54 PM

The party at the consulate’s was pretty much what I expected. There was an air conditioned house, and a pool, and food, and us. As we pulled up, we imagined that this was where the drug lords live since the houses were huge with big fences around them. I didn’t eat. Because Arelli had given me the exact same thing for lunch –Puuc Chuc. Which is pork tacos. But it was nice to dip my feet in the pool, and sit in some A/C. And other than that it was just the usual us, sitting around, conversing about nothing.

After the party, some of us went down town. The Ecos minus Joe plus Curly Joe and Keilani. We just hung out downtown for a little bit. The bus ride back was different. I think since it’s Sunday or something, the line for my bus was really long! Usually, there are a few on the street waiting. Well, I didn’t mind standing on the bus so I crammed into it, like I was in Mexico or something. Eventually some seats cleared out and I sat down next to this 40 year old guy holding a 3 year old boy who looked like he was six or seven. The guy was speaking really fast and slurred together and kept asking me questions I didn’t understand. At least he was friendly I guess? He asked if I was Yucatan, which every time I’m asked that it means, “you are the first white person I have ever seen on a city bus. What are you doing here?”

Today at lunch la Señora told me that my Spanish skills were “bastante.” I took this as a complement even though I wasn’t advanced enough to know what bastante meant. So I looked it up in the dictionary and it means “enough.” I can deal with that. I thought that the word bastante sounded cool though, so I sung it for the rest of the afternoon.

Remember how I predicted I would lose weight at the beginning, well, now, even though I have no idea if I have shrunk or expanded, I have for sure gained an appetite for the food here. Well, corn tortillas are too much for me when they are offered at every single meal, but I just eat more, and I guess I’m not scared of the food like I was at the beginning. Also here, they rarely drink water, it’s always sugary fruity drinks and stuff, which secretly means calories one forgets about.

I just tested out the DVD I got in that town. It’s what I expected. A video screen filmed in English with Spanish subtitles. Something I could easily find online, but it works. And it didn’t explode my computer.

I sometimes dislike a person here but I shouldn’t write about it online. I just had to get that off my chest.

I’ll go hit the hammock now. Buena noche.

Lunes 20 de Julio 2009 9:10 am

Usually when I go downstairs for breakfast, it is just me, or just me and Arelli, or just me and Arelli and la Señora. But today, there were six extra people there. All of the family, talking about where to take their vacation I think. It was kind of overwhelming. Especially since my mind doesn’t think in Spanish until I’ve been up for a while.

The pictures are of flamingos, baby turtles, and the mother turtle.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c261/jcsmartblonde/IMG_2825.jpg
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c261/jcsmartblonde/IMG_2838.jpg
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c261/jcsmartblonde/IMG_2852.jpg