SORRY

Someday, I might find the perfect balance between having a great life and being able to record...

Okay, I'm back from an epic Frogger match with Ryan. Someday, I might find the perfect balance between having a great life and being able to record it all. When I have a lot of things going on it seems that my journal writing seems to be one of the first things to go. My grandparents are probably ashamed of me because of that since they are so involved in family history. But I'm trying and that's what is really important. 

A lot has happened these past two weeks. Oh, darn. I just looked back at my last blog post to see when I wrote it. It was July 10th. I'm such a bad blogger. 

A lot has happened this past month. Our brother and sister got back from Veracruz last Tuesday, so we've been doing a lot with them and the rest of the family. School has been going good. It looks like I'll end up with some solid A's but we'll see how my final tests go. Here is a list of all the excursions/trips our group has gone on since July 10th and some pictures of them.

July 14th: Celestún

Biosphere Reserve which at some times during the year contains 90% of the world's wild pink flamingo population.


July 20th: Chichen Itzá

Just jumping over people in front of the Temple of Kukulcan, one of the Seven Wonders of the World

Cool picture I took of the ring in the ball court.


July 21st (and other dates) : Cenotes 
Cenotes are deep natural pits, or sinkholes, characteristic of the Yucatán, resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock that exposes groundwater underneath. The Mayans used them for fresh water and also as receptacles for the bodies of the people they sacrificed. Most of the cenotes are connected by subterraneal rivers. I've probably been to more than ten or twelve. They're awesome.

July 27th: Izamal - Tixkokob

Mid 16th-century Franciscan convent

Mayan ruins in the middle of the town

Izamal is home to many artisans. In this pic, I'm making jewelry out of little coconuts.

July 28th: Ekbalam and Valladolid

Slaying a Lamanite

 The ruins of Ek-balam.

August 3rd: Loltún and Mayapán

Loltún is one of the most extensive caves in all of México and used to be occupied by the Mayans. 

 Ryan captured this heart-wrenching picture of me crouching in a doorway of some ruins trying to peel a lime that I had found on the ground. Eventually, I succeeded and Ryan and I ate it. Mmm.

August 4th: Campeche

We went to Campeche yesterday. It is the capital city of the Mexican state of Campeche, located right the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. It was pretty sweet. 

Giant bronze head sculpture by Martín

16th-century Cathedral of Campeche

(Took this pic from a moving tour bus. Kind of proud.)

Fuerte de San Miguel. This was a fort constructed to defend against pirates. It's right on the coast with cannons overlooking the ocean and it's got like a twenty foot deep moat!

Um...I may or may not have started a pirate battle ultimate frisbee-style game with one of my shoes on top of the fort. And I may or may not have got chastised by my professor for doing so. 

Shrimp cocktail in a restaurant on the coast. Life is good. 

Oh, man. I'm done with this post and I'm so happy because of it. This would be the perfect time for my computer to crash and for me to lose this whole thing. Anyways, I have one week left. I know it's going to go quick.  I'll probably have one more blog post before I leave. If you made it all the way to the end of this one, you deserve a gold star or something. Have a great week! 

I'm Still Alive

Blogging is harder than I thought it would be. Actually, I figured it would be pretty hard. I highly doubt I'll ever be like those crazies that blog every day or two. I'm good with just doing it when I have time and the time feels right. Like...right now.

Spanish is coming along pretty well. I've had to catch up a lot to get to the level that my classes are at since I haven't taken Spanish since freshman year of high school. I've been doing a LOT of work on my own with vocabulary and grammar, and I ask my expert roommates a LOT of questions. I'm grateful that I live with three returned missionaries that all served Spanish-speaking missions. It is hard sometimes when we're all sitting around the dinner table and they're telling jokes and stuff with our family, laughing their heads off while I sit silently trying to figure out what the joke was. But any negative experiences have been overshadowed by the enormous blessing it is to be able to ask them questions and to have them correct me when I say something wrong. Things are great. Here are some pics of my roommates and I.

Ryan Hill and I on the bus. He's from Washington D.C. Ryan served his mission in Chile. He is amazing at Spanish. He is amazing at soccer. He has an amazing moustache. El es el jefe.

On the left is Ethan Lynn. He is from Ohio and almost every time I look at him, 

he is stroking his moustache. On the right is Ryan Egbert from Utah. Ryan loves talking with Mexicans and he does it everywhere, all the time. Ethan and Ryan served together in the Long Beach mission.

Sadly, our little brother and sister left this week. Their dad lives in Veracruz and they went to live with him for about a month. If we're lucky we should be able to see them before we head back to the states. I  miss them terribly. I also miss my real family terribly, of course.

José and I. He's amazing at soccer and he's super funny. Bunch of good kid.

Hannia and our inside joke that no one else can know.

We've gone on two excursions so far. The first weekend here we went to Dzibichaltún, which name is a Mayan word meaning "the place where there is writing on the stones". It was pretty darn cool. Here are some pictures, courtesy of Ryan Hill.

We had a lucha libre wrestling match on top of this temple

Most of the group in front of the Temple of the Seven Dolls, named for seven human figurines
found underneath the temple.

Cenote Xlakah. A cenote is a deep, natural pit that results from a collapse of limestone.
After sacrifice rituals, the Mayans would throw the mutilated bodies into this cenote.
Strangely, it was also the source of their drinking water. We swam in it and it was real nice.



So, that was our trip to Dzibichaltún. Afterwards, we drove ten minutes to the coastal city of Progreso to go to the beach. The water was perfect, we had catered tacos al pastor, I got really sunburned, and... I loved it. 







We celebrated the 4th of July here by going to Burger King. You can't get much more patriotic than that. There are Burger Kings all over the place here. We also walked around singing American songs and luckily, we did not get shot. The whole day, we were telling Mexicans about Independence Day because none of them knew that it was on July 4th and a lot of them didn't know what it was. Sad.

Okay, lastly, here are some pictures from our excursion to Uxmal this past Saturday. We got there, had a guided tour by this archeologist guy, ate a buffet lunch at a hotel, swam in the pool, and then went back into the ruins for Luz y Sonido (Light and Sound), a show thing they do with speakers and lights in the ruins. Basically, they tell a legend about the Mayans and their rain god Chaac and they have all the lights and sounds going. Pretty cool. 

Cody road trip tradition: Play ukulele until I fall asleep, sleep until we get there.

For Dad: One of the literally hundreds of iguanas that I've seen

I don't think I've ever been truly ready for a picture.

The Pyramid of the Sorcerer. I can't get over how cool of a name that is.

The Mayans were famous for their lighting and electrical skills.

All right. Now you know what's going on with me. I have about five weeks left down here. It's been an awesome experience and I am working on making the most of it. Have a great week, even though you probably all have jobs and responsibilities and worries and stuff that weigh you down constantly.

¡Fotos de Mérida!

 I'm alive. It's been a busy couple of days so I wasn't able to write. Please forgive me. No, Manny, I was not kidnapped and forced to participate in the Mexican drug war. It would have made a great story though. I guess it could still happen.

My flight got into Mérida around 11:30 on Monday night. I flew from Vegas to Houston and then from Houston to Mérida. Altogether, it was about seven hours of flying. On my first flight I sat next to a couple from Veracruz and got to talk some Spanish with them. The husband is a lawyer. They gave me their email and told me that I could come stay with them in Veracruz if I went down there. Just a bunch of nice people. On my second flight I sat by a lady named Rosa Rodriguez that lives in Mérida part of the year. She was really outgoing and really nice. We basically just talked about Yucatecan food the whole flight. Here we are at the airport in Mérida. Also, a little peek at my sweet farmer's tan.

Rosa y yo

My Mexican dad was waiting for us at the airport. His name is Ariel and my mom's name is Bety. Ariel drove us to the house. It was SOOOO humid in Mérida when we stepped out of the airport. There had been rain and there was fog and it was super wet. I felt like I was trying to breathe in a sauna (yes, I do know how that feels because of my work experience in the spa). We slept very good even though it was about 85 degrees in our room. Yesterday, we went to the university for an overview of our classes and then we went home and played soccer for a few hours with THIS GUY. 

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Mi amigo José

Mi madre Bety

José is the grandson of Bety y Ariel and he lives with them. Basically, we're best amigos already. He's awesome. We went to downtown Mérida last night, which is called Centro. We got what is supposed to be the best ice cream in the city at Sorbeteria Colon. And it was muy great. 

I got coconut sorbet in a glass of milk. It was unbelievable.

The interior of San Ildefonso La Catedral, which is either the first or the second church ever built in the Americas.  It is built out of stones from Mayan temples. Located in the center of the city.

San Ildefonso

We had some tacos last night at a restaurant and then rode the bus back to our house. Here's some daylight pictures.

View of our house from the street

View from the backyard

La Universidad Modelo, the university that we attend. 

So, there you go. I'll keep adding pictures and stuff as I go for whoever is reading this. I'm doing great and I love it. And I have to get off the computer to go play soccer. Ciao.

Off to Mexico

My flight to Mérida leaves tomorrow at 12:34 PM. Am I nervous? Not yet, actually. I've been in Vegas since Thursday so it already feels like I'm on vacation. It's been great just hanging out with family and friends, especially my cousin David and his wife Kambria. We've accomplished a lot while I've been here, including hours of Super Smash Bros., eating lots of food, hiking on Mt. Charleston, night tennis, and more. My brain hasn't realized that tomorrow I leave on a much bigger trip. Here are some pics I found on the internet of Mérida, the city in Mexico that I'll be in for the next two months. 

View of the city. I really want to go climb those mountains.

Typical house interior in Mérida (I hope!). Apparently, they sleep in hammocks there. They say they're the best homemade hammocks in the world. I'm going to buy one and bring it home.

View from the beach in Progreso, about thirty minutes from where I'll be living. 

Well, there you go. I'll do my best to take better pictures than these when I get there. I know the language and culture shock will be rough at first but it'll work out. Those Mexicans won't know what hit them, especially if I get my Mexi-stache going again. Feel free to give me Mexico tips if you've ever had the chance to go down there. Hasta luego mis amigos.

Zebra Butter???

What's with the butter and the zebra and why is the butter hot and why is it on a zebra's back? I'm sure these questions have popped into your mind. They popped in my mind too when I came back from my mission and remembered that I had created a blog back in high school. I finally found it through Google skills. Here's the link if you want to see how much I accomplished with that blog...

http://hotzebrabutter.blogspot.com/

The best zebra picture I could find

In reality, the only thing that old blog was good for was giving me a title for my new blog. I have no idea why I titled it that. I think back in high school I used to just say or write whatever popped into my head sometimes to try and keep and things interesting. Anyways, maybe someday I can get a picture of a zebra with hot butter on its back and put it as my background. Until then, the title will stand alone and continue to cause confusion to all of those who read it, whether they read this explanation or not.