Un Viaje Muy Interesante (Andy)

Well we've been here for two months now and there's only one month left...To some degree I feel like I've only been here for a couple weeks, but to a larger extent I feel like I've been here for about six months (in a good way). We just returned to Merida from our twelve day excursion to Chiapas, Oaxaca, and Tabasco, and I felt myself being relieved to be back in Merida, as if it was my real home; and it has become just that. I know that I will miss Merida tremendously when we leave in December, and that's a good thing, I think. When I first applied to come to Merida for a semester, my most prominent fear was that of being out of the U.S. for too long, that is the trip would last too long, but now I appreciate the length of the trip. Unlike a 2 1/2 week Centreterm trip that is very touristy and basically a short excursion, the full semester has allowed me to come to a different country and actually settle down. I see the sites like a tourist, but I see them at my own leisure and I really feel like a true resident of Yucatan. The lengthy trip around southern Mexico these last two weeks was quite possibly one of the best trips I've ever been on, and definitely was the most enlightening. Palenque in Chiapas has definitely been my favorite ruins site that I've seen thus far. The temple of the inscriptions was awesome, as was the entire site.

The first night outside of Merida, we stayed in a little ecolodge type place in the jungle. No doors on the entrance to the hut/shack/cabin and hammocks on the front porch. The only place to eat was outside and there were paths all through the jungle from our rooms. At night it was really cool to be able to hear the wild life right outside the room, although it was a little nerveracking considering there were no doors, but it was still nice.

Another really cool ruins site we saw was Yaxchilan, which was in the jungle. To get to the site we had to take a thirty minute boat ride down the Usumacinta River. We could see southern Chiapas on one side of the boat and Guatemala on the other side. On the boat ride we saw wild howler and spider monkeys in the trees that hung over the river. We also saw two crocodiles in the river, one swimming and the other was quite large and was perched on a rock jutting out of the water with his jaws wide open...it was pretty scary looking.

San Cristobal de las Casas was definitely the coolest city we've been to. It was high up in the mountains and provided a good change of pace with regards to the temperature. It was refreshing to be able to wear a jacket instead of sweating through t-shirts everyday. Also, Na-Bolom, the hotel we stayed in, was amazing. It was the coziest bed I've been in since my own in Kentucky, and there was a fireplace in the room which was fun. Also, while in San Cristobal, we got to visit two little towns outside of the city which were both amazing. We got to walk through the markets and into their beautiful little church. One of the coolest things were the police uniforms...the men wore cowboy hats and these giant sheep-wool pullovers, or at least what looked like sheep-wool, and a holster on their belt...it was really neat.

Well that's all for now, I think...I still have one blog left so hopefully something neat will happen before then. Until next time, ¡vaya bien!

Hasta pronto,

Andres