Adventures in Yucatan, Mexico

Our students come back from their independent projects in the next few days. Here are some images from our visits with them in their communities. There will be many more images and stories to share once they arrive! Ella with the women of her family Haley with her family  Julia with her mother and puppies! Susana with her family showing off one of 2 hammocks she has made so far!

For the past two days we have been traveling around the peninsula and seeing some pretty amazing sites. Our first morning was an early one, at 6:30am we rode bikes to see a milpa , the traditional form of rotation agriculture in the Yucatan.  It was a beautiful, cool morning The fields look a lot different from the agriculture that we are used to. The useful trees are kept instead of cut down, like these guano  trees whose leaves are used to make the thatched roof of the homes.  With our guides  After breakfast we headed off to the Mayan ruins, but had time to braid hair in the van! We had some coconuts first to keep our energy up for all the walking! Karla explains a little bit about the archaeological site The group at the base of a ceiba, the sacred tree of the Mayans. We thunked it a few times to hear the sound the hollow trunk makes. This tree was thought to connect the heavens with the earth and the underworld Exploring ancient be

This morning we continued our exploration of Merida, but ventured a bit farther out of the touristy downtown. We spent the morning shopping for our cooking class tomorrow, which meant a trip to the market! Before we head inside the market, Maria gives us a little bit of history. The Lucas de Galvez marketplace has been here since the late 1800's and offers a huge variety of fruits, vegetables, meats, kitchen equipment, pets, plants, traditional sweets, hot food stands and is also a place where you can find cobblers, watch repairmen and other tradesmen.  The goal of the day: buy all the ingredients we need to make some delicious tamales tomorrow! We found Carly and Mary walking around near the candy aisle They were in search of banana leaves, but weren't sure where to find them, so they asked a vendor and he pointed them in the right direction. In the outside area we spotted the Reiley, Lilly and Jeremy looking for the last ingredient on the list Cha