My first day in Mérida!

It was difficult to say goodbye to my family and friends, but everyone did their best to make me feel less anxious. Becky, Wendy, Brooke, Jacob, and Jeannie met Mom, Jonathon, and me at O’Charleys before we went to the airport, which was a pleasant surprise organized by my big brother. I was too nervous to eat and I felt like I was going to throw up... good thing for take-home boxes. After we ate everyone prayed over me, which was really reassuring. Mark, Bob, and Theresa met us at the airport and they prayed over me too and gave me lots of encouragement. Then Mark called the EDGE water training school where a team was getting ready to go on their own installation trip. Kurtis put the phone on speaker and they prayed for me too. It was all really nice.

The flights went very well. There was a bit of turbulence, but nothing to get worried about. When I found my way to my gate at Houston, there were two other Centre students waiting there and it was a relief to see some familiar places and know I was in the right place. Five other interns showed up and we all took the same flight to Mérida. It took a little while to get through the lines at customs, but there were no problems. I was so happy when I got to the baggage claim and both my suitcase and the purifier were there! I didn’t mind the hassle of pulling them through the line at all! Genny, the Centre professor who organized our internships, was waiting there for us and helped us to the bus that took us to our hotel. I checked in, got settled, and then went in search of wireless internet and water – I was dying of thirst and ready to put my loved ones at ease. They have wireless on the ground level in the lobby, so I got on Skype, but water was nowhere to be found. Luckily I mentioned this to another Centre intern and he gave me some of his.

This morning I got up at 7:30, showered, and went down to breakfast at the hotel. Fresh fruit, scrambled eggs with ham, plantains, and a tiny glob of refried beans. It was tasty, but I couldn’t eat all of it. After breakfast we met with Genny and our guides and they talked to us about Mérida and some of the rules and customs here. Then we went on a tour of downtown, which was really neat. Our tour guide, Manuel, took us to the governor’s office and showed us these huge murals that told the history of the Yucatán and the Mayan people. Then we went to look at the Cathedral, which is extremely old (if my memory weren’t so bad, I would tell you how old it is). We only got to look at the outside though because they were having mass. I was sad that I couldn’t go – I can’t wait to experience the mass here. We walked around el centro a little more and then got back on the colorful, open-air bus to return to the hotel and get on a big, air-conditioned tour bus to go to Progreso, which is a beach about half an hour from Mérida. We ate at a restaurant right next to the beach. Some people didn’t get their food for a really long time because the waiters got confused about our order. For an appetizer we had ceveche, which is rice with raw shrimp, onions, and some kind of tangy sauce. I tried it but didn’t like it. For my entre, I had breaded fish and rice, which was really good. Even though I think we were all full, we had coconut ice cream for dessert. All of this was paid for by Centre, by the way! :-) We were supposed to be able to swim but by the time we finally got done with the meal, we only had about twenty minutes before we had to leave, so we went down to the beach and put our feet in the water a little. It was really cold, though. We got back on the bus and headed back toward Mérida to visit some Mayan ruins called Dzibichaltun. It was really neat – archaeologists discovered a building that really shows how advanced the Maya were. It’s called the building of the seven dolls because they found seven tiny figurines inside. During the fall equinox from about 10 minutes before and 10 minutes after 6:00 in the morning, the sun shines precisely through the front and back doorways of the building! There are a bunch of other structures still in place, too. After we saw that building we went to the other end of the park to see the cenote, which is a spring. The water was so blue! At one end of the cenote the water is about 3-5 feet deep, then goes to about 10 feet deep in the middle. At the far end, it becomes 140 feet deep! They sent scuba divers down there and found a bunch of pottery, some human bones, and other stuff. Can you believe that people are allowed to swim in the cenote? That would never happen in the United States because we would be too worried about preserving it and it would be too much of a liability. The others were really upset that we didn’t have time to swim – the park is supposed to close at 5:00 but they started telling us to leave at about 20 after four. I guess the park officials were ready to leave...

So we went back to the hotel and relaxed for a little while. Then we all got together to go out to eat. Mérida is very different than any city I have ever seen. Every Saturday and Sunday they close down the streets of the downtown area to traffic and have a huge party. People set up booths to sell stuff and restaurants set up tables in the street where people can eat. There are people playing music all around and people are everywhere. The group went to a restaurant that had tables set up outside. I ordered a coke and a steak burrito. My food took forever to come because the waiter gave my plate to someone else and told her it was the different kind of burrito that she ordered. It’s a good thing the people watching provided a lot of entertainment. I saw a couple stop in the middle of the street – with people walking all around them – to dance to a song that the band was playing. I saw a 7-year-old selling cigarettes. I saw a woman walking around selling stuff while she was breastfeeding. And this one takes the cake: an old man was walking around smoking a cigarette. He would puff on it some, then flip it into his mouth without touching it, make chewing motions, then flip it out again – still lit – and puff some more. He was walking around trying to get tips for his trick. Interesante, no?