Merry Grease Feast and Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving......I wish was at Betty's Farm partaking in all the crazy festivities of Thanksgiving and the Grease Feast. Have Fun and I will be thinking about all of you.

This it the second professional soccer game I went to. Merida has a team called the Venados or Deer. "Fear the Deer," that is that motto I came up with. I find it clever....haha. That mascot would fit well in Montana. We has a lot of fun at these games cheering our heads off and throwing confetti....regardless if I know any thing at all about soccer. I have know idea what is going on, but when that ball goes through the net, I get crazy. We were hoping to make playoffs, but no such luck. The crowd is insane with drums, chants, noise makers. After we scored in a game my friends Jill, Sara, and I got an entire glass of beer spilled on us.....crazy crazy. Above are some of my friends cheering. I think my all time favorite this was a guy who had a a hat with real deer horns coming out.....classic.

Pictures from Tekax

View of Stadium
Construction of Stadium
Sara with a fighting Rooster...poor thing
With our friends on top of the hill next to the Church
Random people who wanted to take pictures with us.

Taco-40 cents, Popcorn-50 cents, Beer-$1.20, Cock Fight-$2.00 Spending Time at a local Fair in Tekax-priceless

This past weekend 3 friends and myself went to a small pueblo called Tekax. We went for their yearly local celebration. We went with some of my local friends It was basically a fair. While we were at the fair people just wanted to talk to us and show us they knew some basic emails. We were the only non-Mexican people there, so we were stared at a lot, but the people all loved us. We had people coming up to us asking us to take pictures with them. My friend Sarah was basically like the fair queen. She was a celebrity. People kept saying she was the most beautiful person they had ever seen. It was a crazy. My friend Kyle has this problem where gay men always want to talk to him. This is fine but at Tekax this one man was really drunk and really liked Kyle so we has to get security to get the guy to leave Kyle alone. It is the most bazaar thing. We also met a guy who wanted to tell us he has 3 wives. It was very weird. He thought he was so cool, but it is part of the culture and many people lead to seperate lives with 2 families. We went to my first bull fight....don't worry they do not kill the bulls here. The stadium itself was an adventure. It was made of small looking bamboo posts and tied together...The whole time I was praying that a bull did not come through the stadium. After that we had a very cultural and gross Mexican experience. We saw a cock fight. It was the craziest thing ever. People were crazy and so involved in the rosters fighting to the death....I have to tell myself that it was a cultural experience, otherwise I would feel wrong, guilty, and disgusting, which I still kinda so, but back to this cultural experience. The people make bets, scream at the rosters, the owner kiss and blow blood out of their rosters eyes. One fight got called a tie, but it was clear that their should have been a winner so a table was thrown in the arena, a man jumped in the ring a screamed down the refs face. People threw beer in the ring. It was so crazy. We met some of the owners and this one guy had my friend Sara pick the rooster for him to bet on. It was just bazaar. The next day, we got up and had breakfast at a church that is on a a hill that towers over the rest of the town. It was very fun and relaxing. It was truely a very local cultural experience.

Note to self: Toilet seats are a luxury.

Dia de los muertos

Dia de los Muertos is a national holiday in Mexico. In English it is called the Day of Dead. It is a three day holiday from Oct. 31-Nov. 2 when they remember, celebrate, and mock the lives of their loved ones. It is ok to make fun of the deceased because it is a way to remember them. They set up alters for their loved ones. They have food, pictures, alcohols, candles, and flowers on their alters. The food is there to show that their loved come back for these 3 days and eat their favorite food and drink their favorite drink. It is very interesting. The different days represent different happenings. The first day is to remember deseased children, the second day is for deseased adults, and teh third day people go spend time with their loved ones in teh cemeteries. In the Plaza Grande they had very elegant alters set up. It was beautiful. We also ate the traditional Day of the Dead food. It is called molbi pollo. It was very interesting but good. We have also been to many churches and hacienda lately. Hacienda are huge henequen plantations from the past. Some still run on a much today on a much smaller scale. I will have more to come shortly.

At Kabah Ruins in the Puuc Hill Region.
In an extensive cave system that we went through called Loltun. It was so beautiful. The Maya used to partake in religious rituals in these cave. It is huge.
Being a dork at Chichen Itza..

Sorry....I clearly need to update

We I do not really even know were to get started. All is well and I am truely enjoying my time in Mexico. Lets see.....I have be to Chichen Itza, one of the New 7 wonders of the world....very impressive even though we do not really know if that is how in looked backed in the ancient day....that is how the archeologists think it looked. But nonetheless, it was really great. I am have also been to the ruins of Uxmal in the Puuc Hills region. Their mosaic wall facades are amazing and very extensive.
The other weekend I helped to start fixing up a area in the working class part of town. It is going to be a safe place for children to go play. I painted the bases of trees white because it helps keep the bugs/ants off. It was really hot and itching.....my legs were all bit up, but it was really worth it.
This past weekend I traveled to Cancun with Emily and Cassie to meet up with Cassie's parents, who are the most geneorus people in the world. We stayed in the Flamigo Resort and had a great relaxing weekend. It was full of laughter and pool volleyball. I do not like how americanized Cancun is. We had to ask people to talk to us in Spanish. I got really tan, for once in my life my skin is not fall off my body two days after returning from the beach....this is a big deal. I can actually sleep with my face making me want to scream because it hurts so bad.I also boogie boarded on the massive waves at Cancun....I am thinking of going professional.
Yesterday I had the most enjoyable basketball practice. My kids are still late and never listen but they are fun and and are getting better. I told them I am Micheal Jordan's brother. They got a kick out of that. We have a hand shake and they call me Jalapeno. It really funny.
So the other day i bought a dvd of the street...it had 3 movies in one. I was pretty excited....i only paid 2 dollars....lets just say it was definently pirated. You can see people stand up in the theature and hear them laugh. It is so great.
I want to thank everyone who has been send me letters. It has been so enjoyable to get mail down here. Miss and love ya all.

I will try to be better about updating!

Note to self: Never force anyone to eat eggs everyday for an entire semester.....mom that means no eggs over break, I will puke.