The roomies- Kate, Sandy, and Lynne.

Our translator, Moses, with Dr. Clarke, at our poolside classroom.

Nick, Ryan, and Kate at the Senote (sink hole) at Chitchen Itza.

The roomies- Tom, Ryan, and Nick.

The group at Chitchen Itza.

Nick with the clown at the main plaza.

Our lecture room- outside by the pool. Tough life. We are going to start a campaign to build a pool on the quad!

Claire, Kate, Scott, Ryan, Tom, Morgan, and Nick on the top of the Temple at Uxmal.

Busy Days

Our last few days have been full of activity. It is hard to believe the we have already been here for so long and that our time is drawing to an end. Yesterday we went to Chitchen Itza. It was a long day. Chitchen Itza is much more commercial that Uxmal with vendors all over trying to sell their goods. I think we were all a little disappointed by that. Also, our guide was not very good and we couldn´t climb the temple, but we still had a good time. This morning we went to First Presbyterian Church and the worship service was closer to a service that we are used to at home. This evening we are visiting a Pentecostal congregation. It should be an interesting experience.

The main temple at Chitchen Itza. Unfortunatly, they stopped leting people climb it two weeks ago.

Cathy and I at Chitchen Itza.

A cemetary that we visited. It was very colorful!

They finally filled up the outside pool. We celebrated with some cerzeva! Here are Scott, Ryan, and Tom having fun in the semi- full pool!

Nick with a pig´s head at the market.

Gabriel and Genni and their children Shelia, Vhristian, and Edwardo. This is the fmily whose home I went to for dinner. We had a wonderful visit and conversation, even if it was entirerly in Spanish!

the kids at Mana House playing.

Lynne and Kate at the internet cafe.

families

since we have been here, we have all been enchanted by the families and the life in the square around merida. it is so neat to see the families out together in the square and spending time together. however, in our lecture today we learned about the dark side of Mexican family life. we learned about domestic violence, incest, and the common practice of having a mistresses and family on the side. it was hard to hear about all of these problems and how the church doesn´t address any of these issues. this afternoon, we are going to the children´s home. i think it will be a fun experience and a sad one at the same time.

Tom and Claire at dinner. Tom is eating pollo pibil wrapped in banana leaves. It is a local favorite.

The parade through the square last night.

The Governer´s Palace.

The group at the Governer´s Palace looking at the murals.

Salem Church

Today we worshiped in Alejandro´s church. It was quite an experience. We stood and sang for the first hour and the entire service was about 2 and a half hours long. Then we ate lunch with the congregation and had cake to celebrate the church´s 9th birthday. Later this afternoon, we are going to the market to see all of the handicrafts. Everyone is doing well. Hopefully I can get several different people to post here soon.

Lynne, Cathy, and Claire at the street party. Ask Cathy how she got her flowers sometime...

Dick and Nick dancing in the streets!

Our group hanging out in the empty pool waiting our drinks so that with could toast to the arrival of Erskine´s grandson Lucas!

Contratictions

I find it somewhat strange that we can blog and video comferance with friends and family back home in a land that used no pack animals or metal to build the most fascinating monuments only twelve hundred years ago. This truly is a place that holds on the the past with one hand while grasping the future with the other. This should make for interesting cultural clashes to learn about while we are here.
Today we topped the hill at Uxmal to see the first pyramid and I was speechless (yes me!) I have never seen anything like this, and the monuments went on for as far as the eye could see. The guide told us that only 25% has been recovered so far. We will have to come back in a few years to see the rest of the site.
Tom

Nick, Cathy, and Lynne in the town Muna.

Ryan, Cathy, and Nick at the Bull Fighters bar.

Morgan and Tom at the pizza restaurant.

Sitting outside the Anthropology Museum.

Cathy and Nick in the "you and me" chair in the main square.

Nativity scene in the Catholic Church in Muna on the way to Uxmal.

Magicians Temple in Uxmal

anthropology museum

uxmal

today we went to the mayan ruins at uxmal. it was beautiful and amazing. it is really hard to find the words to describe. the mayan people built thess wonderful buildings without the help of metal tools or animals. pretty cool. we climbed to the top of the great tower and were able to see for miles around. it was awe inspiring. on the way we also stopped in a little village and got to go into the catholic cathedral and to the market. it was neat to see all of the people with their goods displayed in the market. we are all having a really good time, but missing our families and wishing that they could share the experience with us. hurko will be joining us tonight, so we are excited about her arrival and erskine has a new grandson, so things are going well with us. i am going to try and figure out how to post some pictures now.

mayan history

we had our first lecture this morning and are about to head out to the museum of anthropolopgy. the mayan culture is very interesting to learn about and i am looking foward to our trip to uxmal tomorrow. we have the night off and have found an internet cafe with web cams and headphones, so i think a group of us will head there later and hopefully post some pictures and talk via im. gotta run catch the bus...

we're here

it was a long day of traveling and running miles through the mexico city airport, multiple security checks and lost luggage (i'll let tom post about that), but at 1 am we finally made it to the hotel. then we had a day of site seeing yesterday. merida is beautiful and a lot different then i expected. last night we went to an open air restaurant and walked around the square. nick had fun with a clown and tom got pooped on by a piegon. good times. off to a leture about mayan history and then to the muesum.

Alternative Context

Tomorrow I am leaving for Merida, Mexico in the Yucatan for Alternative Context. I am really looking foward to our trip and I am hoping to be able to update this blog occasionally while I am there. For now, here is a link to the hotel where we are staying http://www.gobernadormerida.com.mx/.