Traditional Dance, Ancient Ruins and Garden Structures: Week 4

Another week filled with learning!

From practicing the steps of the traditional dance of Yucatan, la jarana, which includes balancing a glass bottle on your head while your feet move to the driving rhythm of the music as your heart beats with excitement and nerves... our students progressed to the point of showing off their skills at a community festival!

They also enjoyed movie nights in the town square, surrounded by family, friends and neighbors.

Our students also learned how to make a ka’anche’, a raised garden bed that sits about 4 feet above the ground. It was constructed from wood, earth and leaves that most families in rural communities have in their backyards. This raised bed is used to plant a variety of herbs and small vegetables like chives, epazote (an important flavoring for black beans), radishes, cilantro and more. It’s height keeps the small garden from being dug up by the backyard chickens, turkeys, pigs and dogs. Don Francisco and Don Natividad, our same experts from our trip to the milpa, were our guides once again.

And we visited the Mayan ruins that are run and taken care of by the communal land owners’ organization, or ejido. There you can find the sacbe (white road) which forms part of a prehispanic trading network. This section of the sacbe is around 100 km long (62 miles) and measures 10 meters wide (10 yards) and reaches all the way to the ancient city and popular Mayan ruins of Coba.

Our Days in Merida

This stage of the program in the capital city of Merida is the first true immersion for our students, They begin to acclimate to the way of life here with their local host families while having daily classes that push them to continue learning while also providing a comfortable space to ask questions and explore concepts. Our adventure in Merida began with a very important element of this program: meeting our host families who will walk hand-in-hand with our students for this first part of the immersion process in the city. It is thanks to our wonderful Yucatecan host families that our students will better adapt to this urban context. Another important and necessary element during our time in Merida are Spanish classes, because the language is key for interacting with, and diving into, the culture. During this class, students not only learn grammar and structure, but also develop their linguistic abilities using colloquial forms of speech. ...

Orientation 2024: A Journey along the East Coast of the Yucatan Peninsula

We began our orientation trip for the College of the Atlantic Yucatan Program on the beautiful eastern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, in the state of Quintana Roo. We avoided the main tourist hubs of the Riviera while visiting historical sites, influential cities, and small communities that welcomed us in to see how they are working to preserve their environment and maintain cultural practices. Along the way, we met some amazing families, ate delicious food, learned about the history of the peninsula and worked our way closer to our final destination, the city of Merida, capital of the state of Yucatan. Our journey began on the beaches of the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, where we visited one of the most important archeological sites from the Mayan Postclassic period, the ancient city of Zama, better known today as Tulu...

A Visit to the Coast and our Return to Merida

A Visit to the Coast and our Return to Merida Before beginning the next stage of our program in San Felipe, a small coastal community on the northern edge of the Yucatan Peninsula, we visited the Biosphere Reserve of Ria Lagartos for a boat tour of the estuary. During this tour, we learned about the importance of different types of mangroves, we saw the diverse species of migratory birds that arrive to nest in this region and we admired the endemic bird species that are a key part of the mangrove ecosystem. We also were lucky enough to see majestic groups of flamingos, different types of fishing eagles, herons, pelicans, cormorants, gulls, frigates, plovers and of course, the stars of the “Ria”, Morelet’s crocodiles! Once in the community of San Felipe, the process of meeting our new host families is always a clash of the nerves and excitement that are natural when entering into a completely new sociocultural context. Above all, it is a new opportunity to meet people with big hear...

Adventures in Yucatan, Mexico

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