Birthdays on the Beach

 Today was a great day and I started it out right with my favourite breakfast... Homemade cinnamon and cream oatmeal! And yes, we always have delicious breakfasts like this. Always fresh fruit and fresh-squeezed juice. I sure am spoiled here =) Also, note my textbook in the corner. today I had a final exam and I forgot to study so I was getting some last-minute studying in ;) Next year when I'm in the accounting program I'm going to get my butt kicked. I've gotten too used to doing no homework and studying on the bus on the way to school for tests. It's so easy here to do well in my Spanish classes because I speak Spanish all day, every day haha. 

Here I am with the birthday girl, Brooke! I love her... definitely one of my best friends on the trip. We were both so happy in this picture because (a) our test was easy-peasy, (b) it was Brooke's birthday, and (c) we were off to our favourite place in the world... the beach! 

 But then it started POURING! We weren't going to let that ruin our beach day though so we decided to watch the semi-final olympic soccer game (Mexico vs. Japan) while we were waiting for the storm to pass. 

 Peralta... best player on the team! He just scored! And they ended up winning the whole game actually which means that they're going to play Brazil in the finals on Saturday! I can't wait!

Biggest soccer fans around... they made sure that they had a spot for the game!

 Everyone was skipping class to watch it, it was lots of fun! 

 As soon as the game was over the storm passed so we went down to Centro to catch the bus and get some lunch. We discovered this quesadilla place on the corner and I don't know how we didn't discover it before because it was DELICIOUS! 

 Pulled pork (chicharrón) and cheese quesadilla right off the grill (or spinny hot thing).

Best lunch ever! We need to come back ASAP! 

 Yumm yumm yumm! 

 Next stop.. Progeso! Today when I got off the beach I was so confused... there were white people everywhere and everyone was speaking English! Progreso is not a very touristy beach and so I'm used to being the only white person there and speaking Spanish the whole time. But today the beach was covered in tourists! I felt like I was in Cancun or something. It was a really really really weird experience. So, we asked some of the locals what was going on and they told us that the hurricane was passing through Cancun today and the cruise ships couldn't land there so they brought them to Progeso instead. I'd never seen the beach like that! There were vendors everywhere and every shop was open... it was like we had gone to a whole new beach or something!

 Hahaha... epitome of the typical American tourist. Think you've got enough sunscreen bro? haha. It was weird seeing tourists everywhere, it was like they were invading our home or something. I always forget that I'm not Mexican, so these white people seemed so strange to me. After living in Merida for so long now I don't think that I will ever be able to go on a normal vacation again. I'll skip the vacation packages and guided tours any day... chilling with the locals and making your own adventures is the way to go! 

We love 20th birthdays! Happy Birthday to Brooke! 

 Party girls! Since there were so many vendors out today we all bought a few things. We were obsessed with these headbands so of course we all bought one =) 

 We tried to convince Tyler to get one too but he didn't think that guys could wear them... I beg to differ. He totally pulls the bandana off! 

 Jumping pics! Also, I must give a shout out to Tyler. He hates pictures but he was so patient and took like a million jumping pictures for us until we got a good one. Love that boy =)

 Look Brooke! It says 20!! Haha

 We hate pants... who needs them? 

Me and the birthday girl! Love love love!

Progreso is one of my favourite places to go to. Besides it being a beautiful beach, one of the main reasons that I love to go to Progreso is because I have so many friends there. Every time I go I always stop and talk to all of the beach vendors and now they're all my friends! Now when I walk down the street all of them call my name and wave and say hi to me. I have so many jokes with all of my vendor friends now, and they love when I visit them. 

My favourite of them all though is definitely Gabrielle. He's the cutest old man I've ever met. Sometimes we'll just get talking and I'll stay for an hour or so. He always has lots of stories for me and he loves to tell me about his kids and show me pictures and stuff. I just love him! Once I went and bought these really pretty hand-painted bowls from him and there were seven bowls that I really liked, but I only had enough money for six. So today when I was leaving he told me that he had a present for me and he gave me the seventh bowl that I wanted for free =) He wrapped it all up and put it in a little bag for me. He's so cute. I'm going to miss that guy so much! I have been so lucky to have met so many great, and extremely kind people here. I can't believe that I only have a few days left in Merida... I hate that the goodbyes are already starting. 

Me with my bestie Gabrielle and his daughter Gabriella who is learning English and Chinese right now. She's awesome. She's also a ballerina and dances professionally.

Today was such a fun day on the beach. I stayed all day with the Homun crew (Brooke, Tyler, Caitlin, Aaron, and Lyndy). We tanned, swam, tanned, and then swam again. I love the Homun crew! They're so much fun to hang out because they're all so chill and always want to do fun things. We're all so close  now too and so we talked forever today and all told each other funny secrets about our adventure here. There may or may not have been some skinny dipping with the birthday girl in the ocean too ;) haha. Always a good time in Progreso!