Today we had a big excursion! We did soo much! I hope I can remember it all! Also, be prepared for a million pictures. Sorry! But I kind of also use my blog as a journal/scrapbook thing and I don't want to forget anything =)
First we went to Tixkokob (yeah, I don't know how to say it either) to shop for hammocks! In Southern Mexico everyone sleeps in hammocks because it's too hot to sleep in beds. Even if people can afford air conditioning they still usually sleep in hammocks. So today we went and saw how they make them. It's amazing how much work goes into each hammock!
This is the first guys's house that we went to. He runs a little hammock business on the side and he's really talented.
So intricate!
Poser. There's no way that I could make a hammock!
He just finished this matrimonial hammock so Caitlin and I snuggled in it =)
Hammock hogger!
So many hammocks in so many colours! They ranged from about $30 - $200.
Lots of different types too.. it was kind of overwhelming. I think that five people in our group bought hammocks from this guy.
We went to another place after and he had a ton of hammocks too!
I love all the colours!
The smaller the holes, the better the quality. This one barely even had holes at all.
Awe! Baby/teddy bear hammock =)
I saw this hammock and just about died! I wanted it sooo bad! Tom was making so much fun of me though and said it looked like a Barbie hammock. It kind of does, but he said it's perfect for me because I'm a "king henry girl".... wow thanks Tom =P I actually really wanted it, but it was about $100 and that wasn't worth it to me.
This one was really pretty!
Rachel bought a super cute multi-coloured hammock and she was so excited about it!
Caitlin bought a new one too!
Apparently my family has an air-conditioning business in Mexico?
About half of our group ended up buying hammocks. They got every thing from plain to multi-coloured, to individual to family-size. Everyone was excited about their purchases. I didn't buy one though because I've never actually tried one and I didn't want to spend $100 on something that I might not ever use again... I just figured that if I changed my mind I could easily buy one in Merida.
Our next stop of the day was Izamal! Back on the bus =)
We get bored easily on the bus and Caitlin couldn't wait to try her hammock so we just decided to string it up =)
Luckily we had the coolest bus driver ever and he just thought we were hilarious! We all tried relaxing in the hammock on the bus... that's definitely the way to ride! We'll have to bring our hammocks with us on every excursion from now on =)
Whatcha doin? ... Just hangin out ;)
Finally we made it to the city of Izamal! Izamal is where my mama grew up, where she met papa, and where she got married. Last night at dinner she told us all about her childhood and growing up in Izamal and so we were so excited to see it!
The huge castle/cathedral where mama and papa were married! This used to be a big ruin site with a giant pyramid but then they destroyed it all and made it into a castle.
The same cathedral, but from the front side. Everything in the whole town is painted bright yellow. They painted it like that in order to honor the sun, corn, and henequen gods.
We had a police-escorted tour. He was a sweet guy and he taught us a ton.
The Virgin Mary is very popular in Izamal. Every year they have a huge fiesta in order to celebrate her. There were statues and pictures of her everywhere!
Our guide told us that in August of 1993 the Pope came to Izamal in order to present the statue of the Virgin Mary with a silver crown and perform a mass. What I thought was interesting though was the fact that he never entered the cathedral castle. He flew all the way to Mexico to visit Izamal, stayed for just a few hours and then left. Here I am standing right where the pope stood! As you can see in this picture after he came to Izamal they made a statue of him which now stands outside the front doors of the cathedral.
Haha Ryan!
Inside the Cathedral! We had to take this picture for mama and papa because this is where they were married.
I love all the stained-glass windows in Catholic churches.
Art is a big form of the Catholic religion and so all the cathedrals have a ton of religious statues, paintings, and decorations.
They use battery-operated candles in this cathedral because in 1829 there was a big fire inside the cathedral that was started with candle. The fire burned the a statue of the Virgin Mary and so since then they haven't used real candles inside.
A typical Catholic church.
No, thank YUO!
Ethan is infamous for his white watch and today I got to join the club =)
Courtyard of the church. The religious leaders used to sleep out here in their hammocks back in the day. All the walls still have hammock hooks in them.
Crosses everywhere!
A giant cross inside the cathedral. You can still see some of the Mayan paintings on the walls from when this was just a Mayan ruin.
Oh heyyy!
Always creepin' with the camera!
Aren't the yellow walls amazing? Izamal is a part of the 38 towns declared as a Pueblo Magico (magic town) by the government of Mexico.
Walking to the ruins!
It's pretty much impossible to go on an excursion without seeing ruins. These ruins were literally just in the middle of the city!
Lovers! As you can see from this picture the ruins are literally just a part of the city. There are houses on either side of it, and the entrance is just on one of the main streets. You would never know it was there!
Turn right to go home, turn left to go to the ruins!
Good morning Izamal!
You can't have ruins without a pyramid!
We love climbing pyramids!
Makin' my way up =)
Ryan, Caitlin, and Rachel.
Half-way up the temple looking out at the pueblo of Izamal.
Laura squared!
Group picture on the top of the pyramid =)
We love jumping pictures!
Everything looks like it's floating among the trees! So beautiful!
Ryan, Rachel, Me, and Alli.
Caitlin and I ALWAYS need an epic roommate picture on every excursion and so we got possibly one of our best pictures so far today! Love this girl!
3 amigos!
I think Provo should paint all of their walls cougar blue =)
After the ruins we went back to the zocalo and went for a carriage ride. Yes, our horse had a sombrero. Jealous much?
Best carriage riding group! Me, Caitlin, Rachel, Ryan, Carlos (our driver) and Achilles (the horse)!
Ryan got to drive! Nothing like being pulled in a horse-drawn carriage through a magic pueblo!
So photogenic and cute!
Have you ever seen better looking horse carriage drivers? ;)
We stopped at a ton of cute little artisan shops and our first stop was a traditional Mexican clothing store.
You can find these everywhere here!
The boys all bought guayaberas (traditional Mexican shirts for men)
Cody was more interested in the little Mexican people earrings! lol
These were the grandsons of the shop owners. So cute! They talked to me for a bit and I loved it... nothing better than talking to little kids in Spanish.
The next store was a natural herb store. This old man makes all these herbs and has cures for any and every disease/sickness in the world!
This guys is 90 and he's never been sick in his life. He attributes it to his herbs. His story was recently featured in National Geographic.
Caitlin got to drive next in the rain!
Prince and Princess? Take us to the ball please!
Next stop was this little butterfly store. This guy makes all of them out of paper and then hand-paints them. ¿Que padre no?
Mariposas!
I got to drive next! We were lucky to have the coolest driver ever. He let all of us drive, talked to us the whole time, and took us where ever we wanted to go.
I don't think I have a future in carriage driving. Carlos told me that I'm too crazy of a driver! I think I drive carriages like I drive cars ;)
Next place was a wood working shop.
Oh yeah, I can totes make stuff... oh wait.
The guy works at that little table and his house/kitchen is right on the other side of the wall.
His favourite thing to make is jaguars. If you look really closely you can see all of the little teeth on the jaguar, so much detail!
Cool optical illusion.
I got to drive a little more! He told me that Achilles loves wearing his sombrero because it keeps the sun out of his eyes lol.
This pic is for you kennie ;) Miss ya!
Y E L L O W
We stopped at another hammock store and this guy had a pretty sweet hammock but I still wasn't convinced that I needed one yet.
This guy invited us to the back of his house and it was so interesting. He didn't have a floor and there were no walls. He also had some ruins in his backyard. So random!
This is his pet.... not to sure what it is though.
Next we went to a metal store....
... and met the cutest guy ever, Eduardo!
He told me all about his children, his grandchildren, his great grandchildren, and his great-great grandchildren!
Horse whisperer?
Rachel drove next!
Cuties ridin' with the top down.
I secretly love this car...
We were riding along and then saw this big building that wasn't yellow.... it just didn't fit so we went closer and saw that it was a church building! The church is true, you can find it ANYWHERE.
I loved these cute little windows!
And of course Caitlin loved these ones! She's OBSESSED with unicorns (don't ask) lol.
The last place we stopped at was a henequen shop!
Henequen plant.
Fibers from the Henequen that they use to make stuff.
Work bench.
This guy was soo cool! He taught us how to make the Henequen nuts all shiny. He's also Mayan and he only learned Spanish like 20 years ago and so he loved teaching us a ton of cool Mayan words!
New job? Maybe if I learn Mayan I can send in a resume ;)
Finished product!
Ryan finished off the day by driving us back home.... He was actually a really good driver, maybe Carlos will let him join the business.
All Mexicans love Ryan. He's so friendly and outgoing and talks to everyone. He was probably the best missionary ever!
Roomies!
Besties <3
Finally the super long day came to an end. Cody played us all a lullaby on his ukelele.
It obviously worked.
I'm pretty sure everyone fell asleep (minus Jackie who took stalker pics of everyone)
When we got home mama had avocado sandwiches waiting for us! Laurita's favourite! She was sooo excited!
Caitlin had some water in her ear from the cenotes and so Dr. Papa checked her out.
After dinner I hung out with mama a bit and told her all about our day. I told her about the hammocks and everything too. Then she showed me all of her hammocks and it was so fun. She showed me the hammock she had from when she was a baby and then the hammock that she uses now that she's had for 25 years. We laid in them together and talked and it was so cute. Then she said if I wanted to try out a hammock that I could use her spare one and so I went and hung it up in my room. It was pretty comfy and I had only been laying in it for about 15 minutes when mama came and knocked on my door and told me to come out. I came out with her and right on our front door step were two ladies selling hammocks. They're hammock makers but they were moving and needed to sell their last eight hammocks quick and so they were going door to door seeing if anyone needed hammocks. Mama said that she's never seen that before and that it was just our lucky day! So the ladies showed us their hammocks and they were all beautiful. They were family-sized too so they were GIGANTIC! Mama and Mimi couldn't stop raving about how great the quality of all of them were too and so I got really excited. Not only did these ladies have awesome hammocks but they were selling them for super cheap too! It was definitely something I couldn't turn down and so I bought a gorgeous beige hammock for just $35 bucks! Mama's hammock is the same as mine, maybe even a little smaller though, and she said she paid about $250 for hers. She was so excited for us and so was I and so I was super pleased with my purchase!
New hammocks! Laurita bought one too!
My new hammock. I am never leaving it! Also, this is a great angle of me lol... not.
I relaxed in my hammock all day! I wasn't feeling super good either and so I didn't feel like going out with everyone. Instead I just relaxed and took it easy. Then around 10:00 Rachel and I decided to go and get a little snack because mama and papa were out at a wedding.
We found a little restaurant with tacos al pastor... perfect snack! I love sauces and they always give you a ton when you go out to eat. This is why I love Mexico! haha
I got tacos al pastor and horchata! My favourite Mexican meal =)
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