Homestar Runner and Frank Sinatra

So this past week has been intense. Thus, an intensely long blog is in order. Brace yourself.

The week started with a trip to Villahermosa. Shared a hotel room with Fraser (aka princess, frassy, frazy, franny, etc). We got a room with a balcony and an incredible view of the city. Mitch got a panoramic view with me and Oranges with his sleek camera. It´s a keeper. Anyways, once we got to Villahermosa from our rediculously long bus ride (upwards of 8 hours) we all went for a swim in the pool. It was nice to swim in a pool that wouldnt seemingly give chemical burns from the mass amounts of chlorine, as was the case at Hotel Flamingo. That evening we all went out for Sushi...but on the way there we all split up. I realised ¨hey...i dont like sushi¨. So Sarah and I went for McDonalds and had a sweet long talk for like an hour or so. There was a security guard in the McDonalds, even. Oddly out of place, but definitely necessary due to kidnappings and whatnot.

Villahermosa was a pretty city, and I don´t think we got enough time to enjoy it. We´ve been on the move so much that I guess we had to pick and choose where we stayed. After a solid breakfast buffet the next morning, we went to La Venta park to see some Olmec heads which are ruins from the La Venta site. The huge heads were intertwined with many different animals like jaguars, pumas, snakes, spider monkeys, etc. It would have been a good trip, but two people ruined it with their snappy comments to a number of people in our group. Regardless, we got back on the bus and headed for Chiapa de Corzo.

The next day we went on a boat trip through El Cañon del Smidero. Mike, Kelly, Mitch and I bolted for the front seat....bad mistake. We went FLYING through the water and felt every chop on that choppy water on our bums. We had a decent view of most of the canyon, except for anything that was straight ahead of us. The bow was too high. We did manage to see some crocodiles, birds, a Catholic shrine, all within redicuously high cliffs. The whole time in the boat, Mike, Kelly and I just bursted out noise from Homestar Runner and Frank Sinatra songs. Our boat driver mentioned that these cliffs were 1km high at its highest, and that some Mayan locals committed suicide off of them during Spains period of conquer. He said that they would have rather died than be managed by the Spanish.

Of course, we got right back on the bus. If we werent sleeping, we were studying. If we werent studying, we were playing Mafia. Lots, and lots, of Mafia. Even today we played like 10 times in a row. We called it Rapid Maf because there were only 6 or 7 players, and with 2 mafia members, and one died overnight...it didnt take long for the townspeople to win. The mafia won like 3 games. I love the Maf.

So this next part of the trip was my favourite part of the trip. We got off the bus in San Cristobal de las Casas and stayed in Hotel Moctezuma. I bunked with Will which was pretty fun. Except he snores...and I wasn´t able to sleep a wink one night. Regardless...this city was BEAUTIFUL. I could definitely see myself living there for a couple of years later in life. It was completely surrounded by mountains, which made the air crisp and clean and actually cold. We didn´t think we´d actually need to wear hoodies and jeans in Mexico...but we did! I bought a great poncho, as did almost everyone else. Mine is tan and white. It was a three day stay, and I spent most of it relaxed on the balcony reading and talking. There wasn´t much of a nightlife there, but we were there during the week so it was expected for such a small city.

For our group project on Mayan Herbs and Healing, the group (Mary, Steve, Heather and I) went to visit the Mayan Medicine Museum. This place had everything we needed! Despite the fact that Jorge told us not to even bother because we wont get any information out of them. We went through the museum and read about the 5 different methods for healing, we watched a video on traditional child birth (which to me makes much more sense than what hospitals in Canada do), then went outside to the herb garden and took a bunch of pictures and smelled differnt plants. We learned about their usages and applications, and which ailment they help heal. Very interesting stuff. Also went to the Mayan Pharmacy and picked up a few things for our class to experience during our presentation.

We also took two small day trips worth mentioning. The first one was to San Juan Chamula where we went to visit a church and central square. The entire population of this city was Mayan, and 100% of them are the same religion. It had two churches - one from the 16th century (no longer used) which the graveyard throughly used, with bodies of the same family topped ontop of each other, all with crosses marking the dead. A newer church was down in the community (not on the hill like the former), directly in the center of town. It was bursting with activity and it wasn´t even Sunday. Parishoners came to worship through lighting candles, chicken sacrifices, laying pine needles, and prayer. There were shrines all around the room for the saints, mary&joseph, disciples, etc. Jesus´shrine was at the front of the church, but on the righthand side of San Juan, the cities founder. A very, very synchronized religion.

We also visited Zinacantan. This trip exposed us to some beautiful artisan work like blanket weaving, pursemaking, and stuff. Makes you feel bad when you barter down for a legit price, but most of the stuff that we are offered on the street or from an outside vendour has been made from China. As we were about to leave, Mary and I went to visit a curandera about her knee problem (although it was also research for our project). The three of us sat down, and I held Marys hand through it all. The woman checked Marys pulse on both hands, said some prayers, and massaged her knee. Mary said it felt that she popped a bone that was actually out of place into a place where it wouldnt cause more pain. She also sipped posh (pure alcohol, moonshine) and sprayed it all over her knee. After it all Mary got up and she said that her knee hadn´t felt so good in a long time. Her knee is still in great shape.

We took an early start the next day for our trip to Palenque City, with a stop at Agua Azul (blue waters). It was incredible. Bluest waterfalls meters away from completely calm waters. The school had prepared a box lunch for us which everyone loved (ham and cheese sandwich, mango, apple juice, and chips)...but if you know me well enough, you know I only drank the juice. I´m such a stupid picky eater. I hate it sometimes. Anyways, after the lunch we went swimming. Just hanging out on the edge of a waterfall without worry of falling over. Oranges (the other Dave) managed to fall over the edge. Smooth one. It was rapid water so we didn´t see him for like 30 seconds. I was about to jump in after him but then he started to climb up a dry edge of the waterfall where we were sitting. (it wasnt that big of a waterfall where we were at). He got out, and that evening we applied some of the golpes ointment we picked up at the Mayan pharmacy. Two days later all the scrapes and brusies are nearly gone. We were rushed out of the waters after only 2 hours. Not even close to enough time. Our guides fail to acknowledge the things we like and alloting a good amount of time to them. It´s been a frustrating week like that...

That evening we went to Palenque City and I stayed with Steve overnight. In the morning we took off for the ruins. It was perfect weather to view them. Overcast! I´ll be honest...the tour sucked, and I learned more from my Christianne (my prof) than our Jorge (our guide). It was as expected though. After about 20 minutes a bunch of us just ditched him. We had our own resources available to learn while we were at the site. Some really interesting stuff. The site wasnt as breathtaking as I thought it would be, but the size and power of everything there was incredible. I´m not sure if it was my favourite though. Toss up between this and Uxmal. I really appreciated the jungle peeking into everything at Palenque though.

After Palenque we hopped back on the bus for Campeche. Its a historical colonial site, which is actually protected and funded by the United Nations. Its one of the three sites founded by the Monctezuma family (the father, the son, and the nephew). Spent the night with Steve again. Our room was really nice, but the shower put me in a bad mood. The curtain was a few inches too short so it flooded the bathroom, the cold water knob didn´t work so it was scaulding, and the only part of the shower head that water came out of was the periphery....so I had to shower in a halo of burning hot water. Ugh...

Anyways, all of the travelling has made me tired. We´re now all back in Merida, and I´m currently at the TTT school across the street from our hotel. This weekend I´m spending a lot of time on our group project...infact all 4 of us are in here now working on our various tasks. Tedious work, to say the least. There is so much to do this weekend, since there are 2 tests and a presentation on monday to prepare for. I´m stressed, and i wish I werent. I just keep reminding myself how much worse it could be in a classroom in Guelph.

Phew. You probably didn´t read all of that. I doubt you did. If you did...well, I´m impressed.

Take Care! For those in St. Catharines area, I´ll see you in a week!

D.

Itchy or Purple.

Well look who it is! It´s you! How are you?

Since my last post we really haven´t done all that much...it´s been class all week and one field trip. Classes are good. It still just seems wierd to me to have class in the month of May. I haven´t had class in May since I was in highschool.

On Tuesday we went to a small village called Muna. It really opened my eyes to what Mexico is really like. Up until then we had only been in major cities and tourist attractions. Rural Mexico seemingly has little unemployment, but there is certainly a degree of poverty. Houses are small, but sustaining. One that we visited had a Catholic Shrine of pictures and books and flowers relating to Catholicism, however also contained one ornamental turtle. Turtles to the Mayans are a symbol of fertility. It was very interesting to discover (for lack of a better term) a duality of allegiance in their faith.

Six of us also visited a Curandera while we were in Muna to help us with our group assignment. The assignment we are studying is mayan herbal healing practices. Curanderas/Curanderos are traditional folk healers, prevalent in Latin America, that are dedicated to curing physical and/or spiritual illnesses. They often use herbs and other natural remedies to cure ailments, but their primary method of healing is the supernatural. This is because they believe that the cause of many illnesses are lost malevolent spirits, a lesson from God, or a curse. The Curandera we visited was also psychic. Although she was very old woman, and literally falling apart, she was very peaceful and I doubt any of us will soon forget the things she said.

In other news, Im sick again. Well not so much sick as in...wierd reactions to bug bites. The bites just wont go away! And when they stop itching (or when I´ve itched them to death...) they just bruise. So random spots on my body are either itchy, or purple. Today Mary and I went to the pharmacy to pick up some ointment and some pills for it, so hopefully I´ll be okay by next week.

Other than that, not much else has gone on. Tonight we´re going back to the Mambo Cafe. We are all so excited. Our friends booked us a big table in the middle of the club, right in front of the stage. Best band tonight too - aaah I´m so excited. I´m already there in my mind and I´m already having a good time. I see it now.

We hit the road again on Saturday morning for Chiapas. We get to see the Palenque!!! I¨m so pumped. I´ve been looking forward to this site since I signed up for the trip. The pictures alone are breathtaking. I´m not sure how much internet access I´ll have over the next week. But I´ll keeep a personal journal so I don´t forget anything in this blog.

Laaaaater,

D.

Can I Steal You For A Minute?

Well hey there,

Lately we`ve been hanging around the school and meeting some new people who attend it. The school that I am at is the TTT...and it`s a division of two programs for tourism in the afternoons, and modern languages in the mornings. The language group is learning English, which is convenient for us. Most of them are really, really great people.

Last Friday I got sick. I had a couple drinks at the Mayan Pub the night before...not a lot even, but because of the heat and the foreign diet my body couldn´t handle it properly. I hurled many times the next morning and had to step out of class because of it like 4 times. It was really awkward to re-enter a classroom after you´ve just hurled. Anyways, I slept it off all afternoon, ate some chewy granola bars...and just let my body relax. I was much, much better by the evening but despite my better judgement, we went salsa dancing. The most bouncy and motion-full dancing that I think there is. But it was a success - I retained my health. I haven´t had that much fun at a bar in a long time. I was sweating like someone had poured buckets of water all over me. I obviously didn´t drink that night, as my stomach was still a bit queezy. But it was a great night out.

The next morning I was perfectly fine. Not sick anymore, despite the kindness in everyone asking me how I was feeling. This day, Saturday, was our day off of school. We went to the beach and played in the beautiful water and the waves for hours. For lunch we went to some place on the beach, but it was a great view right into the Gulf of Mexico. I don´t usually look at the name of the restaurants we go to...but rather I look if its clean. All have been so far. For dinner we went out again (its our only option) and I got a great burger. So good. It was almost all white people in there though. Coincidentally, this day was Cinco de Mayo. Not so big in the main cities as it is in the smaller ones, but still a lot of fun. It´s the day of the worker (ie. labour day) They shut down most of the roads and set up tables, chairs, stages, and there were performers everywhere. One block had three almost side by side. It was a good night.

Then there was Sunday. Every Sunday in Merida there is something called the Domingo Street Fair (domingo is sunday in spanish). Vendours were set up all over the central plazas selling various artwork, clothing, jewelry and food. I didn´t get anything, because I want to wait till the end of our trip so I don´t have to carry it all around. In the afternoon we went to Uxmal (pronounced like ooshmal). This site was much, much smaller than Chichen Itza but it was 10x better because there were no merchants around trying to sell me anything while I was trying to enjoy the site. Our tour guide was okay...but he kept going on tangents about things that I didn´t feel was relevant to the tour....but anyways. We got to climb the Great Pyramid. It was quite steep...and a bit scary. At the top of the pyramid (and actually all over the site) there was a monument of Chaac. Chaac is the Mayan Rain God. Everything that the Mayans did, which is represented in the architecture, has to do with Chaac and his glorification. It was kind of humbling to see this dedication to their religion.

After exploring the site we went to a nearby hotel for a swim and dinner buffet, while we waited till the evening light show. I definitely had my hopes up for it, but a lot of us were disappointed. Basically all that happened was a series of lights shining on the ruins while telling a story of a princess, chaac, and water. I missed most of it because I do not fluently speak the language. Even still, Mary made a point today about it expressing her discontent, and I would have to agree with it. She said that it was such a lost opportunity in that the light show didn´t reflect the Maya. The language wasn´t in Mayan, and it offered no relationship between the Mayan people and the astronomological beliefs - which is core. The lost opportunity here is that instead of setting up a show explaining this relationship as well as constellations and deities, they gave such a technology based approach, which has nothing to do with the Maya. The Maya didn´t have cameras, coloured lighbulbs, or speakers. They had the Earth, Water, and Sky. That´s what we should have been appreciating last night. Not a commercialized, falsified tourism-based experience.

Anyways, today was just another day in class. Things are going well for me. More updates later. Post a comment!

!Hola¡ Amigos

Hey everyone. Long past an update. Here it comes.

I have been in Mexico for a couple days now and things are great. Met a lot of nice people and the weather has been phenomenol, despite the heat. We´re forced to drink gallons of water, and we do. I carry my gallon jug around with me everywhere, like its my wallet. We´ve visited four cities so far = cancun, vallodolid, chichen-itza, and finally merida. Each one was different in its own way...cancun was the worst because it was soooo touristy, and im not really here to BE a tourist, but rather involve myself in modern mexico cultures.

vallodolid was amazing. we all stayed in an incredible hotel and hung out on the balconies and talked till late,and went to a neighbouring restaurant for drinks and dinner. there was a terrific house band singing both latin and american\canadian style music.

chichen-itza was a site of mayan ruins. at once more than 650 buildings, there was so few left...but it was breath taking. i´ll add pics later with further descriptions.

And right now im in Merida, the capital city of Yucatan. We started classes this morning, and got to know the city a bit more including the market and local surroundings. Hotel isn´t as nice as the first one, and we´re here for the majority of the time. Regardles, I have awesome roomates. Mike and Dave (aka Oranges) got to U. New Brunswick, and Fraser (Frazy....cause he´s so crazy) I think attends another maritime university, but I forget.

We´re about to go out for dinner so I must log off...miss you all and hopefully I´ll talk to you
soon.

Peace,

D.