Exploring Cenotes

Well the first full week in paradise is now complete. It's been a good week of adapting and getting to know the city, the people and our community center. There seems to be no relief from the muggy heat, except for the small pool in our hostal. At least at night we have four different fans blowing in our room! Also, our group lucked out because the commute to our community center is a mere 20 minutes. It is lucky because the majority of city buses don't have AC here so bus rides consist of sharing body heat with other very sweaty human beings. 

The kids at the community center are so cute and full of energy, once they get over their timidness and begin to talk. We have been working with the English teacher most of the week. The English teacher actually takes advantage of the time we are with her and asks us a lot of questions too. We played a lot of alphabet bingo this week so the kids can practice their pronunciation. I definitely learned that games is a fantastic way to get kids out of their shells! They would get competitive between each other and beg us to play "una vez mas". Unfortunately, those classes come to an end this week so this upcoming week we will mostly be with adults and teenagers. 

As far as exploring, we started by visiting el Paseo de Montejo, which is a road with a lot of old, fancy architecture and nice restaurants. We also found the closest Walmart, which was a big win for us! However, the funnest activity of the week was visiting Restaurant and Cenotes Santa Barbara. Cenotes are underground natural water springs that are literally all over the place in the Yucatan and Quintana Roo region; they were sacred places for the Mayan people. The place we went to was a set of three cenotes all within a few hundred yards of each other. We arrived most of the way by van then parked and checked in at a little lobby area. We were then taken the last kilometer by horse and a little buggy that was on a little railroad track. It was a little sketchy but so much fun! The cenotes we went to in order were, in order, a cavern, then a semi-open one and we finished with a completely open one (check the last picture). They were honestly breathtaking and my pictures simply do not do them justice. The water was actually cool and so clear! If I could go to a cenote to enjoy the scenery and cool down everyday, I would! Sadly that is not possible haha. 

The LDS Temple, just three blocks from our hostal. 

 Monument la patriota

 Teaching some English!

First cenote with the crew

 Cenote #2

 Better angle of cenote #2

The last cenote of the day. 

Welcome to Merida

The damp, muggy air hit me square in the face as I walked out of the airport. I had just come from Mexico City where the weather was cool and perfect; but this place was nothing of the sort. I suppose I really didn't know what I was getting myself into when I signed up for this study abroad to Merida. Despite the heat, Merida is one of the prettiest places I have ever visited and it chalked full of nice people. Our guides and counselors for UBELONG are named Leo and Linda. They have been super helpful as far as helping us get acclimated to the city and culture. 

Our hostel is located only two blocks from the main plaza so we are right in the think of things. It's great! There are restaurants and taco shops galore. One of the typical foods here is cochinita pibil, which is shredded pork in a special salsa. I have had it in tacos and a sandwich and it is amazing either way! Panuchos are also amazing. They are a corn tortilla filled with beans and topped with either pork or turkey. It's really hard to go wrong with the food here. 

Yesterday we started at our project for UBELONG. I am placed with Kimberly(Kim) and Jake at a community center called Centro de Desarrollo Municipal Amapola. We met the director today and she put us straight to work with the elderly people. We just talked it up with them then played bingo! We played  a round in English so we could feel like we were also teaching something. Then today we had the opportunity to work with kids today! We teamed up with the English teacher at the community center and taught about health with English words. The kids were a bit shy at first but most of them came out of their shells by the end. It was fun to work and interact with them and I really look forward to getting to know them more!

The Merida sign!

Pollo a la curry

Parque Santa Lucia

Tacos de cochinita pibil y un panucho de pavo.

English class!