July 7 - Welcome to the Jungle

Last night we arrived in the Tropical Forest of Palenque.  

What have I noticed?

Our lodging is an eco-tourist resort with cottages tucked in between rivers, tall banana trees, and flowers drooping over roofs and archways.  Bursts of rain interrupt the humidity and sunshine.  Each cottage has a front porch perfect for blogging, complete with wooden rocking chairs.  Monkeys laugh and birds call back and forth to each other while rain drips just in front of the porch. 

A path at our hotel

This morning we made our way to the Palenque archeological site.  Like the other archeological sites that we have visited, Palenque has an abundance of Mayan temples, living quarters, and a game court.  This visit was different because we hiked our way through leafy jungle to find ruins that are yet to be fully uncovered.  It is humbling to think about the Mayans who built these structures and abandoned them in 900 A.D., leaving them to be undiscovered again until 1850.  This left plenty of time for the jungle to swallow up much of the site with new plantation.  Today many of the figures have been uncovered and restored.  We are still able to climb our way up the narrow stairs to the top of the pyramids and temples and imagine what it might have been like to be there.  I understand why people felt closer to God looking out to see temples peeking out from the tropical forest.  

A View from Palenque Ruins

July 6 - Turtle Time

Today was primarily a traveling day. 

We went from Campeche to Xpicob’s turtle conservation camp.  It was another beautiful scene at the Gulf.  We learned about the conservation of sea turtles and other sea animals.  After touching starfish, turtles, and octopus, we took a boat outward from the beach to witness the release of a turtle.  We stood in waste-deep, bright blue water.  The perfect sand at our feet allowed us to hang out until it was time for the release.  We all said our goodbyes to the turtle and watched him begin his exploration.  

From there, we began our journey toward Palenque, Chiapas.  Road construction and a stop where an authority figure loaded our bus made the trip more than twice as long as we expected.  The young man was quite pleasant, but a little intimidating as he made his way down the aisle of the bus, asking us questions.  

Even with a long bus ride, my first sunburn of the trip, and several fulbrighters experiencing “stomach sickness,” I ended my day with thoughtful conversations about education and the ideas that we are taking back to our classrooms.  

Monica holding her new friend

Lunch on the beach after releasing our turtle friend

 

July 5 - So this is Campeche

What did I notice? 

This morning I woke up to go for a run overlooking the Gulf of Mexico in Campeche.  This is a beautiful, undiscovered town which also appears to be physically fit.  Aerobics classes were in action at different places along the well-kept boardwalk, a pull-up bar was available just off the trail, and there runners filled the path.  

Campeche is a town that has a wall built around it with one gate to the seaside near the running trail and one gate to the land side.  The street that connects the seaside gate to the land side gate is filled with artisan shops, seafood restaurants, and bakeries.  The wall was built as a barrier to pirates that may have attacked the town.  Our first stop today was a fortress that the Spanish built for further protection from those French pirates.   

Watching the sunset in Campeche

What question do I have?

Our second stop today was the Edzna archeological zone.  The beauty of Campeche and the grandness of the Mayan ruins at Edzna left me wondering how this place could be so undiscovered.  Edzna is an incredible site with its own large game field and huge temple structures with intricate designs.  Unlike Chichen Itza, we were almost alone at Edzna.  There were no crowds of people taking pictures in front of the structures and no vendors trying to sell us Edzna memorabilia. 

July 4

Our morning started on the light side today. My fellow teacher, Jennifer, and I asked the Oaxaca baseball players who were staying at our hotel if we could take a picture with them. Awesome.  We loaded the bus to find Jaques playing the National anthem and waving a small American flag.  Nice.  

What questions do I have?

Throughout our first week in Mexico, I have found myself thinking a lot about the presence of the Mayan culture and history in everything that we have seen.  Some of the places we have visited, like Chichen Itza, seem to be an obvious place to discuss the Mayan population.  It surprised me to hear the number of people who speak Mayan, the way that Mayan slang words are incorporated into Spanish, and the acknowledgement of Mayan history throughout different towns we are visiting.   It leaves me with the questions: What misunderstandings do people outside of Mexico have about the prevalence of Mayan culture in Mexico today? and How do we integrate all of the voices of American history into the present?  

These questions, along with others came to my mind during our journey today.  

What connections did I make?

Our first stop today was to the Hacienda “Sotuta de Peon”.  This was a working Hacienda until 1950, growing plants that produce sosquil, a fiber used to make ropes.  The farm has been restored to show people the process of making this fiber into natural ropes and still has a small production.  It cannot sustain itself as a farm alone because it takes too much land to grow enough of the plants to make a profit on the harvest.  Synthetic ropes are made much cheaper and faster.  Being on the Hacienda and photographing every step of the process exemplified the struggles of creating natural products and food.  This stop highlighted the challenge of meeting needs that grow faster than natural processes can create.  

What did I observe?

Just when I thought Sotuta de Peon couldn’t get any more interesting, we loaded wagons pulled by mules and rode through the fields to get to our stop.  We unloaded from the wagons and made our way into a cave with a natural cenote (sinkhole) at the bottom.  A hole in the top of the cave let a circle of light shine onto the naturally warm water.  We could see through the deep water to the rocks below us and look up to the formations on top of us.  It was incredible.  

Our last stop of the day was in a small town called Becal, where we climbed into an entirely different kind of cave.  We took bike taxis to a hat shop with a man-made cave. This time, the cave was for workers to create Panama-style hats.  The air in the caves keeps the material soft and easy to work with.  The result of the meticulous work of weaving for two and a half days in a hot and crowded cave is one hat.  I made my first purchase today.  

July 3 - A Different View

Today we went to Celestun, a small town west of Merida.  We went on a boat ride at the Reserva de la Biosferea Ria Celestun, a wildlife sanctuary that is known for it's flamingos.

What did I notice?
Celestun is a small town filled with motorcycles and relaxed restaurants on the beach.  An empty carnival sat on one side of the main street and a few simple stores across from it.  We loaded into boats at the beach and our guides took us on a tour of an inlet off of the Gulf of Mexico.  I was eager to volunteer for the "most adventurous" position on the boat and had a chance to sit in the very front.  Our ride provided us with plenty of beautiful views of birds and shorelines, but after an hour of our boat continuously crashing down on waves, I allowed Alejandro (one of our trip guides) to trade places with me.  I enjoyed every moment of the somewhat turbulent ride.

We were able to get close to a group of pink flamingos settled in a corner of the inlet.  Later in our trip we went into a narrow inlet of water, surrounded by trees that created a dome around us.  It led us to a sinkhole in a forested area where a few people jumped in for a quick swim.  We made our way back to the beach, passing herons and pelicans.

We were left with a little bit of time to jump into the warm water for a quick swim, and I spent some time reading on the beach.  (I highly recommend Born to Run by Christopher McDougall)

What connections did I make?

The water and the condition of the beach reminded me of what we saw in Cancun, but the area around it was quite different.  Instead of resorts down the street, we were near small homes made of cinderblocks and sheets of metal.  Rather than a Pizza Hut and Subway, men carried trays of pan dulce (sweet bread) for us to buy, walking through the tent-covered extensions of the local restaurants. There were few tourists on the beach and Spanish was the dominant language.

A view of the other boat from our boat (no life jackets required)

                                              

July 2 - Merida

What connections did I make?

Today we met with teachers who work in the area of Merida.  Groups of teachers usually have a lot to say and today was no exception.  Our topics ranged from day-to-day teacher duties to the educational system in Mexico.  The commonalities among school challenges and experiences was an easy bridge for our conversations.  

The teachers shared with us the frustrations of having 40 - 50 students in one class and the difficulties of managing so many students’ individual needs at once.  They talked about schedules, homework completion, attendance problems, test scores and drop-out rates.  All of these concerns are important, but I was struck by the genuine interest the individual teachers had with making education better for their students.  The room quickly become loud with outbursts of shared teaching strategies, questions following questions, and laughter at stories.  We all talked about connecting with individual students and encouraging them to imagine what they can do.  I was in a room of optimists and hard workers.  It was comforting to be with so many teachers who believe so strongly in the possibilities of education, and a little disheartening to discover the recurring challenges.  

Talking with Teachers

Running Around 

Today I spent a little time in my room with Pepto Bismol.  All seems fine now, but I did have a little time to think about other things I've noticed in our trip thus far.  

I’m lucky to have a fellow-runner in our group who is willing to get up early and explore the streets surrounding our hotel each morning.  This morning Kate and I realized how different each run has felt.  

What have I observed?

In Cancun, I mentioned the soft sand.  We also noticed entire groups of (presumably) American runners passing us in both directions.  A group of  local workers who were busy cleaning the seaweed from the beach stopped to look at us and shake their heads a few times.  For the most part, they carried on with their work while we ran at the edge of the water past one hotel resort after another, each section flaunting a slightly different theme.  Whether it was the stately colonial style building or the sleek glass patio covered building, the beaches in front were covered with the same shade umbrellas over padded lounging chairs, the volleyball net next to a bar, and the towel distributing stand.  

Cancun

In Valladolid we stepped out of the gate to our hotel and began our run around the town courtyard.  The square park was lined with chairs made for two people (a feature of the Yucatan) and benches.  A few men who were sweeping the sidewalks of the park looked up at us with a head tilt, clearly wondering what we crazy Americanos were doing.  We made our way single-file down narrow streets lined with mult-colored buildings.  At each corner an officer was waiting to tell us when to pass, sharing the same quizzical look as the men sweeping the sidewalks.    

Rainbow over a street in Valledolid

Running in Merida has felt very natural.  Wide sidewalks line a street divided by medians filled with trees.  We passed a few other runners and shared “buenos dias” to the people who seemed to be walking to work.  I haven’t quite mastered crossing the streets at the many round-abouts, but patient drivers have waved me through.  It has a cosmopolitan feel to it while colonial style buildings sit on many block ends.  

The Streets of Merida

July 1 - Warming Up

Today was a full list of story-telling history sites.    

What did I observe?

Chichen Itza - I don’t really think I can do justice to one of the Seven Wonders of The World in a descriptive paragraph.  I will say that highlights of the Mayan archeological site included the acoustic organization (who doesn’t like crazy cool echo features?) and the vastness of the site.  Stage one of our day required the first and second layer of sunscreen and bugspray. The sweating began.  Luckily our Astrobus is fully loaded with water bottles for all. 

Caves at Balankache - I admit to being a little claustrophobic, so I’m proud of myself for not panicking in the dark and extremely humid caves that were our second stop today.  I think it helped that there was a prerecorded drum-like music that was playing throughout our cave hike.  It made me feel a little bit like Indiana Jones...or something.  The sweating kicked it up about two notches at this point in the day.  I'm not sure how people spent hours holding meetings here.

We loaded up the bus and headed to Merida, our home for the next couple of days. 

Ballet Foloklorico de Yucatan - Back into the heat, we walked to the University to watch the Ballet Folklorico at their open air stage.  The energetic dancing and singing which tells the history of Mexican culture influences made the final round of heat worth it. 

Chichen Itza + Sun

Cenote (sink hole where the mayan sacrificed women and children)

Humid Cave

Ballet Folklorico