Travelling was no biggie... this was my first international flight alone and everything went great. Pues... I guess I wasn't completely alone since I met up with 2 other girls from the program at my layover in Houston. FYI the Houston airport has delicious tacos.
So many fun things this week!!
1. Explored Mérida on bikes. You guys. Mérida is awesome. Beautiful, safe, friendly... all the good things. I'm super happy to be here!
2. Saw Spider Man 2 or "Hombre Araña" as they say in Spanish. It rained like crazy afterwards... but felt amazing after being so hot all the time. Lots of people in Mexico believe that if the rain touches your head, you'll get sick, unless you wash it off right when you get home. I guess it's some sort of myth.
3. Successfully used public transportation without getting lost! <<most exciting thing of the week right there. Lili Grande (our host mom) was so proud. The bus system here is awesome. The drivers are super attentive... if you want them to pull over and pick you up all you have to do is slightly stick your arm out for half a second. And if you don't want them to pick you up (like if it's the wrong bus) you just shake your head. People just get each other here. Not much conversation needed. Which I'm glad for because my Spanish still kind of sucks. But it's getting there :)
4. Climbed this sweet monument. Proooobably not the best idea. Got a good picture out of it at least. I wish I knew more about Yucatan history so I could say something interesting about the monuments haha.... my bad. I'll do better next time. For now just enjoy the aesthetic appeal.
5. Made a new friend... Fernando the frog. He was nice. Even posed for a selfie.
6. Swam in this beeeeeaautiful cenote. Note how clear the water is. Felt amazing! In the picutre you can see the shallow area that girl is standing in, but under those lili pads, it goes at least a hundred feet deep. WITH SHARKS. heh. Just kiddin' dad.
7. Went to a delicious Mexican (obviously) restaurant that served thee best blue corn tacos. Riquísimos! Corn tortillas in the US are kind of meh... but these were incredible. The texture!! Ah. So good. Also served "agua de jamaica" which is a juice made from flowers. Flowers! How cool is that? And it's delicious.
8. Went to these awesome Mayan ruins called Dzibilchaltún. It's weird stepping into the past like that. The whole time I was just trying to imagine these short Mayan people walking around, just living their normal lives, with no thought that their homes and temples would become tourist attractions in the far future. Made me wonder if our time has anything timeless enough to be remembered and preserved like that.
Alright I don't have pictures for these things but they're still great. First, I saw my first bull run ever. It was interesting.... educational. Not very comfortable to watch but a cultural experience none the less. I'm happy we didn't see any bulls get killed.
Second, we finally made it to church! Me and Zoie (my roommate) didn't go to church the week before because we had no idea at what time it was... plus we kind of accidentally slept through it. But this week church was AWESOME. We went to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (in Spanish of course) I cannot tell you how awesome it was to feel the spirit through another language. Everyone had such strong, beautiful testimonies. One man talked about the butterfly effect, comparing it to Joseph Smith. In Spanish, he said something like, "who knew the acts of a young boy in the 1800s would affect millions in the future." Chilllllsssssss. Ahhh and it got me so excited to serve my mission and see what kind of effect my little butterfly wings can have! (cheesy, I know)
¡Hasta luego!
SICK BLOG, YO!
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