Happy Easter everybody!

Since I will be missing the U.S. version of Easter, I expect you all to save some egg painting and creme chocolate eggs for me! :)
Seems like they don't any of that Easter basket and Easter bunny stuff here, unfortunately. Sounds like everyone just goes to church and spends time with their families. Also, almost everyone is off work for Holy Week and the week after, so a lot of people go on vacations and spend a lot of time at the beach. So, I have been avoiding the beach because of the massive crowds! All the more time to get some real work done, right? Hmm...

For Good Friday, our group went to a Passion Play/Stations of the Cross in a little town, Acanceh, about 30 minutes outside of Merida. The program is done by local people, mostly for local people (very few non-Mexican tourists), is done entirely outside, and the crowd literally follows the re-enactment around the village. It was really a unique experience. The lack of an adequate sound system and the 109 degree F heat made it a bit trying after a couple hours, but it was definitely worth seeing.
Since we couldn't really hear what the actors were saying, I just guessed what was happening.

I think this was the Sanhedrin trial of Jesus. I can't even imagine how uncomfortable all those people dressed up as the townspeople were, especially wearing those cloths on their heads. Yikes!

 Jesus with Pontius Pilate.

Jesus with the guards bringing on Barbarus. Notice everyone with their umbrellas for protection from the sun!

Jesus carrying the cross through the town.

Jesus falls the first time.

Jesus meets the daughters of Jerusalem.

Jesus and the two thieves on crosses. It was an odd situation because right behind the crosses are the ruins of a Mayan temple. A unique juxtaposition of cultures.

It was impressive to see how this little town with not a whole lot of resources arranged and performed this detailed and lengthy Passion Play.

Beaches!

Of course, we also spent some time on the beautiful beaches in Tulum. They were pretty crowded but it was still really nice :)

Snorkeling in a Cenote- "Dos Ojos"

Our second day in Tulum, we went snorkeling in an underwater cave/cenote. I'd have to say it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Much of the time we were in the dark and using flashlights. The underwater cave formations were so unique. (If you want to read a bit about how awesome this cenote is, I'm always a fan of wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistema_Dos_Ojos)
One of the girls had an underwater camera so we got a couple pictures of us snorkeling. Unfortunately, none of the pictures of the underwater cave formations turned out because of the lighting :(
The group in the cave!

< Me with my snorkeling gear on in the cave!

Spring Break!

For Spring Break a couple weeks ago, a group of us went to Tulum which is an easy 4 hour bus ride from Merida.

The town itself is fairly small, at least compared to Merida, but there are lots of small restaurants, shops and a couple of excellent ice cream places!
We stayed in a hostel which was pretty nice for a hostel. Our only issues were that room didn't have a/c and the bathroom was sort of gross  but it was a good deal for a total of about 50 U.S. dollars for 3 nights.




The group at the hostel with our friend from Argentina

<Kaitlan and I at the hostel

Ek Balam

On the way back from Holbox on our refrigerator bus (our driver liked air conditioning a bit too much) we stopped at the ruins at Ek Balam. After grumbling about having to pay the entrance fee- since all ruins are free to Mexican citizens- we spent about an hour exploring the site. Most of the site was really well-preserved which made it especially interesting.

Holbox

A few weeks ago, I spent the weekend in Holbox (on the northeast part of the peninsula) with some friends.

We signed up for a tour, but like many things in Mexico, we didn't know what to expect or really any details at all. We just knew that a bus would pick us up at midnight and we would get there at about 6am. After hours of not much sleep, we arrived at a port town where we took a boat to a tiny island (Isla Pajaros) which also serves a wildlife reserve for birds that migrate from Canada and the U.S. for the winter. In my 7am haze, I saw all kinds of unique birds, which was pretty neat.



A couple pictures from Isla Pajaros:

We made another stop at an "ojo de agua" which is a small body of fresh water and then went on to Holbox. We arrived at the hotel at about 10am. To be straightforward (as I usually am), for those family members who have heard the story of the notorious "gross-out inn" that my parents, mom's parents and aunts stayed at when they went on a trip years ago, this hotel topped that. I went into the room that I shared with my friend Allison, put my stuff down on the bed, and noticed that the pillowcase had a weird stain on it....then that it had hair all over it! Pulled back the top sheet, and found sand. Yup, clearly these sheets were not clean. So, I took the pillowcase off and used an extra shirt I had brought as a pillowcase, and slept on the spare blankets in the room. (Okay, there were also a few panicked texts to my mother between this realization and solution.)
Our group then headed over to the beach, which was really nice. We found an almost-empty area on the clean white sand and spread out our towels. Beautiful day and we didn't even have to be bothered by with a ridiculous amount of people trying to sell us things as is the case at the beach in Progreso.
The town itself is, not surprisingly, very small. Besides some restaurants, hotels, boutiques and a main square, there's some residences and not much else. So you definitely feel like you're cut off from the rest of the world a bit.

Hace Calor!!! (Better get used to hearing this one from me! It means "it's hot!")

Well, it looks like I have some updating to do on here! I have finally found some air conditioning (Starbucks!) which should help me accomplish something! Yesterday, it was over 100 degrees Fahrenheit and with the combination of that and the very bad cold I've had for the past couple of days (who gets a cold in 100 degree heat?!) all I could do from 1-5pm was to lay in my room- shades closed, lights off, fan on- and sleep, or rather, try to. So, today, I am spending as much time as possible in air conditioning!
I think some version of the Statue of Liberty inscription would be appropriately suited on the front door of Starbucks..."Give me your tired, overheated, caffeine addicted..." Something like that.


Anyway, then I'll head over to the movie theater later with a couple friends, anything to avoid the unbearably hot hours of 1-5pm! Oh well, honestly, I would much prefer this heat to the midwest winters. Whenever I tell people here that I'm from the northern part of the United States, I often get a very serious response of "It's freezing there isn't it?" and when I respond that there is actually snow there now people often shake their heads and say something along the lines of "how terrible!" haha :)