Today was a pretty awesome day!! We did so much. Last night after we got into the hotel, I was assigned my own room. I had a single double bed and I was kinda happy about it but also sad because because its fun to room with other people and get to know them.. also the balcony door doesn't lock so I was scared I would get kidnapped and no one would notice haha. We went out on a group and explored Ticul a little bit, it's a small down and they don't get a lot of tourists so we stuck out like flies in milk, or maybe the other way around..
Eventually some other girls got their rooms switched around because of some plumbing issues so a girl got switched into my room! :) I really like her, I've known her for about a year.. she served in a mission with a friend of mine from Galt, Adam Vuinovic.
Today we woke up and had an AWESOME buffet breakfast provided by our hotel. Fruit, eggs and salsa, juice, yogurt and PANCAKES. I don't think I've ever been so grateful for pancakes except on this trip. They also provided lunches for us but I had already packed my own.
Once we got on the bus we headed out to Uxmal ruins, which I was pretty excited about, it was the first one we have to see that is in the Puuc style.. we had a great tour guide to show us around. We saw tons of iguanas, some of them were HUGE! Some guys in my tour tried to catch them, they did get one of them! Those suckers (the iguanas) were fast!
We walked around Uxmal and I really enjoyed learning about the place. I bought some good souvenirs after ;) it's a secret so I can't post on here what they are!
After Uxmal we went to a Cacao museum. Its an indoor/outdoor ecomuseo for a working cocoa plantation. When we first got there, there was this bright blue statue of a man in ceremonial Maya clothes and with a big headdress. I was looking at it and then all of the sudden his eyes shifted -- he was alive! Haha he was so good! He stayed in character so well, his death glare sent chills down your back.. he held a conch shell and our professor would ask him to blow the conch but he just glared.. Brother Riggins would say "hey, you want ME to show you how to do it?" Haha it was funny. As we were leaving, Brother Richards said "the ladies just want to see you smile, a smile for a kiss?" (With plans to give blueman a kiss himself hahah) but he just tightened even more! So awesome. The guy couldnt have been more than 25 years old.
When we were at the plantation we got to watch them grind cocoa beans into a paste and make it into a drink... we all got a cup. It was bitter, even after adding sugar and spices but I liked it, it tasted really similar to Mexican hot chocolate and Abuelita!
Okay so after that we made a surprise stop at Loltun caverns. BEST SURPRISE EVER. It was a huge cave we had to walk down into, stalactites and stalagmites everywhere. We ended up going 45 meters underground and saw original cave paintings of handprints by the ore-mayas. We saw some at Uxmal too. The guide also took us to another part of the cave that is supposedly 'not open to the public', it had engravings everywhere on the rocks and had more paintings. It was like a large denote in this part. It was so beautiful, birds chirping and flying in and out.. at one point in the tour, he had us turn off all headlamps and cameras and lights and we were silent for a minute. We experienced what it was like to be in complete darkness like the Mayas. Crazzyy. There are also lots of grinding stones down there too.
After Loltun we came back to the hotel and they had dinner ready for us.. plain white rice, chicken and tortillas for fajitas and chicken enchiladas.. and watermelon juice. They have a thing for watermelon and canteloupe juice down here. It was all yummy! It was mexican but far enough from what we've been eating to give me a nice break.
Tomorrow we have to load luggage at 530am and leave by 6am so we can beat most the tourists at Chichen Itza, which is 3 hours from here. It'll be so cool to see that place but Im not looking forward to the drive. Im hoping to sleeeeep!
Eventually some other girls got their rooms switched around because of some plumbing issues so a girl got switched into my room! :) I really like her, I've known her for about a year.. she served in a mission with a friend of mine from Galt, Adam Vuinovic.
Today we woke up and had an AWESOME buffet breakfast provided by our hotel. Fruit, eggs and salsa, juice, yogurt and PANCAKES. I don't think I've ever been so grateful for pancakes except on this trip. They also provided lunches for us but I had already packed my own.
Once we got on the bus we headed out to Uxmal ruins, which I was pretty excited about, it was the first one we have to see that is in the Puuc style.. we had a great tour guide to show us around. We saw tons of iguanas, some of them were HUGE! Some guys in my tour tried to catch them, they did get one of them! Those suckers (the iguanas) were fast!
We walked around Uxmal and I really enjoyed learning about the place. I bought some good souvenirs after ;) it's a secret so I can't post on here what they are!
After Uxmal we went to a Cacao museum. Its an indoor/outdoor ecomuseo for a working cocoa plantation. When we first got there, there was this bright blue statue of a man in ceremonial Maya clothes and with a big headdress. I was looking at it and then all of the sudden his eyes shifted -- he was alive! Haha he was so good! He stayed in character so well, his death glare sent chills down your back.. he held a conch shell and our professor would ask him to blow the conch but he just glared.. Brother Riggins would say "hey, you want ME to show you how to do it?" Haha it was funny. As we were leaving, Brother Richards said "the ladies just want to see you smile, a smile for a kiss?" (With plans to give blueman a kiss himself hahah) but he just tightened even more! So awesome. The guy couldnt have been more than 25 years old.
When we were at the plantation we got to watch them grind cocoa beans into a paste and make it into a drink... we all got a cup. It was bitter, even after adding sugar and spices but I liked it, it tasted really similar to Mexican hot chocolate and Abuelita!
Okay so after that we made a surprise stop at Loltun caverns. BEST SURPRISE EVER. It was a huge cave we had to walk down into, stalactites and stalagmites everywhere. We ended up going 45 meters underground and saw original cave paintings of handprints by the ore-mayas. We saw some at Uxmal too. The guide also took us to another part of the cave that is supposedly 'not open to the public', it had engravings everywhere on the rocks and had more paintings. It was like a large denote in this part. It was so beautiful, birds chirping and flying in and out.. at one point in the tour, he had us turn off all headlamps and cameras and lights and we were silent for a minute. We experienced what it was like to be in complete darkness like the Mayas. Crazzyy. There are also lots of grinding stones down there too.
After Loltun we came back to the hotel and they had dinner ready for us.. plain white rice, chicken and tortillas for fajitas and chicken enchiladas.. and watermelon juice. They have a thing for watermelon and canteloupe juice down here. It was all yummy! It was mexican but far enough from what we've been eating to give me a nice break.
Tomorrow we have to load luggage at 530am and leave by 6am so we can beat most the tourists at Chichen Itza, which is 3 hours from here. It'll be so cool to see that place but Im not looking forward to the drive. Im hoping to sleeeeep!
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