Tinum- staying with a Mayan family

This past weekend, our group stayed in a rural village about two hours outside of Merida called Tinum. We didn't know what the conditions would be like or what we were getting ourselves into, and I was, quite frankly, terrified. Seriously- once we were within twenty minutes of the village, I was freaking out. Apparently it was noticeable because my friends were laughing at my terrified expression. What if there was no running water? What if everything was dirty and smelly and GROSS? Since I was 12 years old, I don't think I have gone 24 hours without showering. I honestly can't think of a single instance. And I've never been camping. This was going to be a  disaster.


Okay, like everything else, it obviously wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. All of the families have running water (thank God). After being led to our host family's house, my friend Kaitlan and I entered a clean, tiled room with a refrigerator, a TV, a stereo, shelves with decorations and lots of statues and pictures of saints, Jesus and Mary. Not bad. We were then being welcomed (and air-kissed, like always) by a short, smiling Mayan woman, Doña Ofelia. The entry area became our room for the weekend which was fine by us because it was definitely the nicest part of the house.

From the entry area, you would descend a few stairs into a kitchen/dining room with a cement floor and walls made of screen. The bathroom was in a small room in this area. There was a shower but we actually ended up not using it because the bathroom was just a little bit too...."rustic" I suppose. Looking out the screen into the back yard, they had so many caged birds- chickens, turkeys, and...then I saw it- a peacock!! Being the culturally competent person I am, "Peacock" by Katy Perry immediately started playing in my head. When we asked why they have a peacock, the answer was extremely confusing, so we really don't know, but it was pretty cool. I would have taken pictures, but I wasn't sure if they would find that rude and I didn't want to scare the animals or anything.
The family was really nice. There was the mother, Doña Ofelia, and her husband (in their 60s) and their daughter (I don't know the names). The Señor currently works as a construction worker. He used to be a farmer but it didn't pay enough. However, he still has a "milpa" (cornfield) and the family grows a lot of their own food. The daughter was in her upper 20s but had an "infection in her throat" (as her parents called it) and isn't able to talk so she stays with her parents.They had 3 other older children who went to the technology college in Merida and now live in Merida and Cancun. (Clearly, they really aren't as cut off from the rest of the world as we thought.) They all spoke Mayan (in addition to Spanish) and the parents spoke it to each other constantly, as it's their first language. They only had one cat but dogs passed through the house on a regular basis. We have seen quite a few dogs living on the streets here, mostly in the smaller towns but some in certain parts of Merida too. Oh, and the food was amazing. Tortas, vegetable soups, rice, always tortillas, yyyuuummm. 

My friend Kaitlan and I with our host family in front of their house.












We slept in hammocks for the weekend which was a little bit difficult. Hammocks are comfortable for sitting around in, but for sleeping all night....no, not my favorite. 

My friend Kaitlan and I in our hammocks! 

Acanceh y Mayapan!

Last weekend, we went on a trip to see Mayan ruins in the towns of Acanceh and Mayapan. Never having been much for history or historical sites, I wasn't sure if I would particularly enjoy it. But let me just say, this is no page from a history textbook.

Acanceh was the smaller of the two sites. The pyramids(far left) are located in the town center and literally in the backyards of some residents.

Me on the pyramid with the still-intact (literally over 2,000 years old) carvings.
One of the odd things about the site at Acanceh is that many of the residents don't realize the historical/cultural value of the pyramids and many have taken stones  from the pyramid to build their fenses and outdoor steps.

Mayapan consists of the mostly-intact ruins of a Mayan city- the picture on the left is only about a third of the whole town.
(I'm the person in the white next to my friend Allison wearing black)

My friend Allison and I on one of the smaller pyramids.

Some friends and I on one of the structures at Mayapan.








Definitely more interesting to learn about Mayan civilization while climbing on the ruins of a Mayan city!

Classes

Yes, I do actually go to school here. I am taking 4 classes at the Central College house with other Americans (Mexican History and Civilization, Latin American literature, Understanding Contemporary Mexico and a service   learning class) and one class at the local university, Marista (International Marketing).

Predictably, I don't exactly "blend in", per se, at Marista. Besides being very white and clearly American and having to ask "repite por favor?" (repeat, please) on a regular basis, I learned the hard way that people at Marista dress for class a little bit differently than those at Ambrose ;) My jeans and flip flops make me look like a serious bum compared to the other girls in my class who wear the highest, most elaborate heels (sometimes I literally just stare at their feet and wonder...how do you walk?) and dress up for class. Not to mention I think I may have been the only person on the whole campus carrying a backpack! haha. Fortunately, I fixed that one by day 2 and got a fair-trade bag in Progreso.

<First day of school with mi amiga Rachel!

Progreso!

There is an excellent beach town a 30 minute bus ride away from Mérida- 15 pesos (or about $1.20) each way. Needless to say, this might become a frequent afternoon pastime...

On the beach with mi amiga Kaitlan!

Unfortunately, the woman I was staying with passed away in the hospital with her family on Saturday night. My program director, another student and I went to the memorial mass on Monday evening. 

I am currently staying in the Central College house with other students and will move in with another family on Sunday afternoon.

Living in Merida and Yucatecan politics

On Sunday night, I moved in to my host person's house. I am staying with a 80-something year old woman  who has been very welcoming and always reminds me that "es su casa"- it's your house. There is a woman who cooks and cleans for her who lives here also, and another woman who comes and helps less frequently. It's definitely an older house, but clean.
Members of her large family come to visit pretty frequently. I have never met people so interested, passionate and vocal about politics. Whenever her family is here, there is always a very heated political debate. They hardly waste time greeting each other before jumping into debate, always mentioning "la gobernadora ignorante"- the ignorant governor. They debate (always very animated, as is everyone here) for an hour or so, then kiss each other on the cheek and go on their way. The first night I stayed with her, I had Yucatecan Politics 101 and received my first lecture from my host woman's son (maybe 50 or so years old), who is a political journalist here.  "I am embarrassed to tell you how corrupt the government is here" he told me, even briefly switching to English to emphasize that he is "ashamed" of the corruption. "More corrupt that you can even imagine" he said. After more discussion, I offered that, if nothing else, the peninsula is the safest place in the whole country, to which he agreed but claims this is only because we are nearly surrounded by water. Drugs can't be conveniently trafficked out of the Yucatan like they can out of border cities like Ciudad Juarez, nor would it be convenient for drug cartels to locate here because they are so far from their main market, the United States. This is a safe area by geographic "suerte" (luck). (This is a controversial viewpoint and many feel that the police here are significantly less corrupt and tolerant of crime than in the rest of the country) Like everyone else, he emphasizes that we need to close the cartels' routes into the U.S. because business from the U.S. is what makes this trade so lucrative.
It has been interesting and it's clear I need to start reading the local newspaper...!

Juanes!

My most successful "being in the right place at the right time" definitely happened this weekend. My absolute favorite Hispanic singer-songwriter (a preference shared by much of Latin America), Juanes, was the leading musical act at the FREE Fiesta de la Ciudad celebration in Merida. So of course I dragged a few American friends along to the outdoor concert in the street to sing along with 70,000 other Yucatecans.

It's hard to see but there must have been at least a thousand balloons they released as Juanes came on stage.

We were pretty far from the stage but there were big screens so we watched from those.