I have been back in Chicago for about two weeks now, dearly missing Mexico. Culture shock is expected when one travels to a different country, but nobody mentions how hard culture shock hits when returning back to one's homeland - and realizing things you never have before.

I will continue to put up random pictures from Mexico as I get them sorted. In the meantime, check out amandagru.tumblr.com.

Back to Chicago...

Despedida

Homemade tamales...

Decoracion Mexicano

A week's worth of bus tickets...

My Last Time in Progresso

Cuyo

A few weeks back one of the host families offered a fellow student their beach house for the weekend. With no convincing at all, the five of us decided to pack up (I brought my disposible camera) and head to Cuyo, a quite beach town in the Carribean. Cuyo is mayan for cerro, or hill, as the town itself was built on a Mayan city. The pueblo originally had 60 people, but now is up to 2,000 - still few enough for a weekend getaway. The roads are solely sand and in the middle of town you can find local youth playing soccer. 

The view from the Ria Lagartos causeway - a red lagoon highly saturated with salt

so saturated that this is me sitting on a pile of salt!

http://www.elcuyoyucatan.net/Historia.htm   Espanol

http://www.elcuyoyucatan.com/    English

100 peso haircut, I love Mexico

100 pesos = less than $10. That is a wash, cut, and straightening. Yeah!

I was glancing at my blog the other day and realized that I had mainly highlighted my trips, my touristic outings throughout the country. While Mexico and Merida have offered me a lot of fun and entertainment, I have also been working alot with school and in the colonia Emiliano Zapata Sur, with some beautiful people. It is for this I am constantly busy, constantly tired, and lately unable to update my blog. Well, that and I am currently without my two cameras!

Initially in EZS I worked with women in a group of salud, which was created with the intention to talk about the mental illnesses that plague the community as well as nutrition and diseases. It turned into a physical health class with aerobics, dancing, and a lack of women. After others from my school in Chicago left things reshifted and I moved to the group of alimentacion, of food. This group began with some women, friends, who wanted to provide more economical food to the community. Currently the group works with the Food Bank of Merida, a NGO. 

Every Tuesday women collect money from the families that qualified for this program (a strenuous process of red tape) and go to the foodbank to gather food. This is the process:

The women arrive at the community development center in the colonia where the food is dispensed. First they pay for next week; next they are given a number, this number will be their number in line to collect the food.

From there everyone waits for the food to arrive.

When the food gets in the women form an assembly line to unload the truck and divide the food into the four groups that make the one large group. Each of the four groups is a different geographical area and responsible for a certain number of families.

The food is sorted into the packets for families to buy. The families purchase these packages for 35 pesos - a great deal. It is good food, but too aged to be sold in the stores.

This is what I want for Christmas. A tricycle!

I would be updating my blog today. Despite a broken camera and the fact that I left my other chiquito camera in Progresso, I finally have new pictures. Unfortunately I can't function. Too hot. 110 degrees Fahrenheit today. Can't even make complete sentences...

las calles de mi ciudad

The other day I tried watching a video on youtube and was unable to because the video "is not available in the country you are in."

A different day I remembered my love for the tv show ER and tried to watch it on the website like I did in the US. Apparently you can't do that in Mexico either.

Today I tried to get music on rhapsody.com, from a German artist mind you, but it "detected that you are not in the United States" so therefore I couldn't.

Guess it's a good way to keep me off my computer and out and about in Merida.

The other day I spent an awesome day at the beach with my friend and his dog. Her name is Borracha (drunkard). The problem with this name is that when I am hanging out with her on the beach and my friend starts shouting "hey borracha, come here" everybody looks at me as if I am the drunk. So basically half the people in Progresso now thinks I am a drunk. Fabulous.

Borracha's first swim!

Shower Companions

Saturday I went to the beach planning to have a day trip with my housemate and her friends because it was her birthday and last day in Merida. I had a great time and somehow did not make it back to Merida until late Monday night. At this point I was so ready to take a shower, so I rushed up to my room, tore off my clothes, opened the shower door, and found a HUGE cockroach. I was too tired to deal with it so I just went to bed and decided to shower the next day.

The next morning I woke up and was so excited to finally take my shower so I hopped in, was doing my thing, when I realized I was not alone in the shower. This little lizard had been hiding inconspicuously in the drain and deciding to come join me.

my new favorite website, please check it out

http://www.freerice.com/index.php

A text that I received today

from my cell phone company ( a monopoly here):

"EN ESTOS DIAS DE ASUETO LAVATE LAS MANOS FRECUENTEMENTE. PERMANECE EN LA CASA. ATIENDE LAS INDICACIONES DE LA AUTORIDAD DE SALUD: GOBIERNO ESTATAL Y TELCEL."

Basically, in the days of this break wash your hands frequently. Stay in the house. Attend to the authority of health: the state government and telcel (the cell phone company).

Because, clearly, the first person I listen to in an emergency is that of the phone company. 

What to do when there is a flu...

With no school for a week and a half, no service, and now less friends as at least two girls (out of 7 of us) from my school are returning to the United States, it can sometimes get a little slow. Especially since the news of the morning is that all the businesses in Mexico are closed until Wednesday too. Therefore, with inspiration from a friend, I am learning to talk with my eyes. With the increased use of face masks here this skill could come in very handy soon. I will post when I get better at it, but here is what my and my poor computer camera have so far...

So, in conclusion, it was an AWESOME trip!! Now I have the travel bug like no other and want to plan a trip to travel through Central America, and with luck, South America. If anyone is interested, just let me know...

I think that it is important to know what a country has to offer, so many people go to the beaches of Mexico but miss the beauty of Chiapas high and low lands. If you ever go to Mexico I would say it is one spot not to miss. Also, I love Belize!

bridge to the outskirts of town

the house

"They say, old Fords never die, they just come to Belize. But Fords, Chevrolets even those hardy little Toyotas do die, eventually. We just never bury them in Belize. We leave their metal corpses to decay in the streets, or in front of our homes."

- Karla Heusner, Food for Thought, Chronicles of Belize

What I love about his is how true it is. Just driving down the road there are rusted out cars in front of several of the houses. Contrary to what one may think they are not there because they are unloved, they are there because they are greatly loved. They become part of the tour of the house, the essence. At this ranch I saw the fruit trees, the animals, the house, and of course this pick up truck, or as my guide says, "this is the truck that I learned to drive on." Poor guy.

hazelnut

star apple: purple deliciousness

i watched this juice being made!

in case you couldn't tell, this is the stove

i feel so bad for him!

so i know that some places shoes on a power line mean it's the house of a drug dealer, what the significance of shoes on a tree is i do not know...