Adios for a while... But not for forever.

Right now I am sitting in the airport waiting for my plane and I am so sad… I feel like Merida is my home, I don’t want to leave! I always laugh at people who fall in love so fast but in just these short seven weeks I have fallen in love with Mexico. There is no place in the world more beautiful than here! These past seven weeks have been the best seven weeks of my life. There wasn’t a day that went by that Caitlin and I didn’t do something fun. Every single day when we got home, without a doubt, I always thought, “Wow… that was the best day of my life!” And I’m not sure how it happened but somehow every single day was better than the day before. I feel like everything was perfect. I don’t have a single regret, just tons of memories! In the first part of the trip we worked on getting to know the language, the city, and our family, but by the end we loved getting to know the people! I was so lucky to live with the family that I lived with! They are the coolest Mexican parents in the world. They are so so so loving and caring, but also are hilarious and fun. We always have really fun conversations together and they will always have a special place in my heart. Saying goodbye to them was horrible, but it’s not goodbye, just a see ya later! I need to come back and visit them soon. Everyone here is so amazing! The worst part about leaving is knowing that I can’t bring all my new friends with me! I made some of my best friends here, and I hope that one day I can come back to Merida and visit them.

I was so so so so so so so lucky to have Caitlin as my roommate! I never thought I would come to Mexico to meet my best friend, but I definitely did! She is my best friend soul mate or something because I don’t think that ever in the history of the world have two people ever gone to Mexico and had more fun than we have. We seized EVERY opportunity and made the best out of every moment. Caitlin has the best attitude, and is the sweetest, nicest person in the world. Somehow she was an amazing example to me while also being my partner in crime. I love her to death and I can’t wait to see what other adventures are out there for us in the future.

Ahora, cuando personas me preguntan “De donde eres?” siempre respondo con “Mérida! Soy yucateca” =) Siento que Mérida es mi hogar. Cada momento ha hecho increíble y tengo muchas memorias de mi viaje (y mas que 10,000 fotos jaja). Voy a extrañar cada cosa sobre México; la comida, la gente, la clima, las playas, la idioma y todo es riquísimo! Estoy muy suerte que he tenido la oportunidad que vivir aca. Todos mis amigos nuevos son padres y ojala que somos amigos por siempre! No puedo creer como rápido aprendí la idioma. Se que mi español no es perfecto pero he aprendido mucho en un tiempo corto. Si estas leyendo este ahora, es probable que hablas español. Avísame porque quiero practicar mucho cuando estoy en la escuela. Ojala que nunca olvido mi español! Además, quiero decir gracias a todas las personas que me ayudaron que tener esta experiencia. Estoy muy agradecida por las bendiciones en mi vida.

Thank you to everyone who helped me have this experience. It is the best thing I have ever done in my life and not only did I learn Spanish and a new culture, but I learned so much about myself and life in general. I will always remember everything I learned here. But, this is only the beginning! I can’t wait to come back to Merida and also continue travelling to as many Spanish-speaking countries as I can! I know that there are so many secrets to discover and I can’t wait to do it! Goodbye Mexico! I am going to miss you! Besos! 

I left my heart in Mexico

Every single day that I was in Mexico was better than the day before. Somehow everything was just more fun and I learned so much so just when I thought it couldn't get any better it did. Today however, that was not the case. Today was one of the worst days. We had to pack all of our stuff and then we played games and hung out with mama and papa for a while. Mama made us panuchos, our favourite food, and we just talked and talked. I was so sad knowing that I had to say good bye. So I wrote them both letters and I gave them some treats and presents that I had brought from Canada for them. They loved it and we were all crying our eyes out. Caitlin and I also gave mama and papa a picture of us with them and put it in a frame and they loved it. They put it in their office where they have pictures of all of their kids and they put it right in the front! I've never loved two people so quickly in my whole life...

I feel like we're part of the family now! 

This is one of my favourite pictures of us. The two crazies together (mama and me) and they two cute, happy ones together (papa and Caitlin).

Then Caitlin and I went to our rooms and had to finish packing. We were up all night procrastinating it because we just didn't want to leave. Then we laid in our hammocks and listened to Spanish music forever and just reminisced on all of the great times we had here. It still kind of feels like a dream to me because it was so perfect. But finally the morning came and we had to catch our bus extremely early so it was time to go....

On the driveway of my favourite house in Mexico with my favourite place in Mexico. I wasn't ready to say bye.

Then they dropped us off and left. I remember the first day in Mexico when I barely spoke Spanish and was trying to figure out how to get to school on the busses and I felt so alone and lost. But at this moment I felt more alone and lost than I ever have. It's not like Mexico is just around the corner and you can come visit anytime so I was not handling it too well.

I left my heart in Merida.

I Hate Goodbyes...

Today was my last day of church! It was so sad! All of our friends came to our ward though to see us and it was so cute. I seriously love these people! They are the kindest, most sincere friends in the world. They wrote us little letters and Kemish drew us a picture and Daniel made us all these fake diplomas with our names on it that he signed haha. It was the cutest. Love them all! 

The cutest brother and sister best friends I ever had! The only thing missing in this photo is Coco.

Kim sandwich! 

Apparently this is how boys say bye to each other... just gotta wrestle I guess.

We were so lucky to have Profe as our facilitator! He and his wife were so fun and easy to talk to about stuff. They really took care of us and made sure that we were safe, but at the same time were relaxed and wanted us to have fun. And oh my goodness, I love each and every one of their kids so much. Isa, Marcus, and Lily will always have a special little place in my heart.

Group pic! Best group ever! 

Precious things.

Beautiful girls! 

I had so so so many fun times with Zuri! She just makes me laugh ALL the time! No way I could ever forget her!

Best friends! We were crying so much when we had to say bye! 

All the villas girls with Zuri! 

Hugs for everyone! 

She was so happy to get her diploma! haha 

Lovers... bahaha! Everyone was so sad!

Haha all the Mexicans loved Alannah and her red hair!

Dream team! 

Our salsa dancing crew! 

Had to get this final treasure. We had such an interesting relationship. Daniel is definitely the definition of crazy, but that's why we love him! 

Famosos

Today Caitlin and I were on our way to church when we had a little surprise. All over the streets in the morning there are little vendors selling newspapers. We were just walking by when all of a sudden Caitlin stopped and pointed at one of the papers! Her face was on the front page! We were dying! It was sooo funny. So then we started looking through the papers and realized that our picture was in SEVEN different newspapers and that we made it on the front cover of two of them! So we might have broken the sabbath by buying all of the newspapers but whatever. When we got to church we showed profe and he was dying too. Funniest day ever! 

This picture was in the online newspaper!

Front page! You can see my little blonde head sticking out in the middle haha 

Caitlin on the front page of the biggest newspaper in the Yucatan! 

Hahahaha this is why I love her. 

Isaac and Gabby made it in this one! 

Tons of pics in Al Chile!

I spy with my little eye...

This newspaper even wrote a whole article just about Caitlin and I! 

Dancing for the people! hahaha

"La fiesta la hicieron dos gringuitas, una de ellas portando orgullosa una playera de la seleccion nacional que bailaron, gritaron y se tomaron fotos!" (There were two white girls at the party. One of the girls was wearing a national jersey, showing her Mexican pride. They danced, cheered, and took pictures!) hahaha 

More in la I! 

Okay and this one is the best.. When Caitlin and I went to Chichen Itza we met this random guy from Mexico City. He was our age so he added us on Facebook. Then today after church we were on our computers and he sent us an email with this picture! We made it in the newspapers in a different state!! 

Caitlin and I also got in an newspaper in Quintana Roo but we never got a copy of it sadly. Mama also told us that while we were out yesterday she was sitting at home watching the news and then all of a sudden Caitlin and I appear on it! When we  showed her the newspapers too she was laughing so hard. She said that she has had students for over 30 years and this is the first time any of them have made it in the news! She said that we'll always be her chifaldisimas (crazy girls).

Also, check out this youtube video. Yupp that's us getting crazy! haha 

The Best Day of my LIFE

Today was without a doubt the most fun day of my entire life! I think I had a permanent smile on my face the whole day! Wow, all I can say is that this was definitely the best way to spend my last day in Mexico! I have the best friends in the whole world, I can not believe that I have to say bye to them =( 

This morning Mexico was playing Brazil in the gold medal olympic game! Mexico wasn't even favoured to go to the end and so everyone was super excited! We went to Elier's house to watch it with all of our Mexican friends and I even bought a jersey for the occasion! 

Let's go MEXICO! 

All the lovely ladies... seriously love these girls! 

And the boys haha... they love each other. 

Mexico was up 2-0! We were screaming our lungs out! It was such a crazy game! 

Soccer fiesta! 

Mexico WON! 

Ayyy ayyy ay ay! Canta llores! 

Time to P-A-R-T-Y! 

We're number one! 

So then we hopped in their truck and drove around the city waving our giant flag! 

Mexico! Mexico! Mexico! 

So much Mexican pride that day! 

Hahaha Gabby's face is the BEST.

Everyone was ready to celebrate! 

Some of my favourite people in the whole world right here... Mauricio and Paola! 

They came to party! 

Then we parked and ran through the streets and cheered! 

We ran all the way to la estatua de la bandera (Flag statue) and we were some of the first ones there so we got the party started! 

This guy had the sweetest giant gold medal ever! 

Couldn't have been there with better people! 

Then the news started showing up and took a million pictures of us! 

We were the only white ones there! 

Luckily our friends taught us the soccer songs and chants and so we led the crowd in singing... they LOVED us! 

...And then the paparazzi shots started. People were grabbing us from all angles trying to get a picture with us!  

Hahaha! This guy. 

Okay this guy was hilarious and super creepy! He asked his son that was like four years old to take his picture with us! 

Feeling so famous! (and these were only a few of the pics we caught on my camera... there were at least thirty more!)

We were laughing sooo hard! 

Don't worry, Elier had our back (literally) haha... he was pretty protective to make sure that nothing bad happened to us. 

And then the best part of the day happened... Caitlin and I were so busy taking pictures that we didn't even realize what was happening. We turned around and saw a dance circle and heard everyone chanting "Que baile la guerita!" (dance white girl)! Then we realized that everyone was looking at us and jumping and cheering us on! So what did I do? ... I jumped right in the middle of the dance circle!! 

This is probably my favourite picture of my whole life! So happy and surrounded by thousands of people cheering us on! Everyone had their cameras out and there were flashes everywhere. The news cameras ran over and oh man... I was having the time of my life! 

We love to entertain the people hahahah

Alright people.. show's over! After about three minutes of straight dancing we were sweating like crazy so we closed up the circle. It's tough being so famous. Hahahahaha!

Posing for more pictures! The whole time I was thinking "oh man, what if profe drove by and saw this?" hahaha

Best friends! 

MEXICAN PRIDE!

Me and my people haha... you can barely see me! I'm behind the guy in the red.

Coolest place I've ever been! 

Then people started crowd surfing and throwing each other up in the air. They wanted me to go up there so bad but Elier wouldn't let me because he said that there were too many dunk people. Probably a good thing that he was with me because I was having so much fun, I probably would have jumped on up. 

Then more people started pouring out from the bars and all of them wanted to grab us and get pictures and it was just getting so crazy because we were attracting so much attention and so we decided to leave before it got out of hand. 

When we got there, there were only about 50 people there. When we left, there were over 5000! 

Merida's newest celebrities!

We were driving and then Mauricio noticed a flag on the floor! So he pulled over the car in the middle of the street and jumped out to save it! 

He got it! 

Oh Mexico =) He's the hero!

Then we went to Burger King because if Mexico won the gold they were giving away free burgers!

Too bad the commercial lied! You had to buy a burger to get a free one! Booo to false advertising!

But it was still fun and we were still sooo happy that we didn't even care! We still got a picture for good times. Haha la casa del whopper! Gets me every time. 

VIVA MEXICO! 

Haha Roberto... he's like the coolest Mexican that the world has ever seen. 

Cutest couple alive. 

Then we went back to Elier's house and his mom made all of us lunch! So nice of her! We were starving after all of our dancing haha

Issac! He's Elier's 16 yr old brother and one of the coolest kids I know.

Chifladas! 

We put on some music and so the boys were showing off their dance moves. 

We couldn't let them show us up though! 

Backyard pool party! The music was blasting and we were dancing like crazy! 

Having WAY too much fun !

Nina Bonita dance! They boys hated it haha but we were loving it! 

Then we jumped back in the truck and headed to the beach! The fun never ends! 

Soooo hot! 

Getting close in the back ;) hahaha 

Mauricio's turn to serenade us! 

We played the djembe all the way to Progreso! 

And then it was Roberto's turn to serenade us! 

Oops out of gas! We were just having too much fun! 

A little bit of gas music hahah (gas music?)

Besties. Also please note that I am darker than the Mexican lol

Just having fun ALL DAY! 

So sitting in the back of the truck was fun until we started going 120 km/hr on the highway... it was a little windy! 

Look who we found in Progreso! CONY! 

If this isn't paradise then I don't know what is. 

Amigas! 

Paparazzi shot haha 

Then we went to their private beach and chilled on the beach! We swam a lot and I had a long talk with Elier in the waves. He gave me the best compliment and told me that I have the perfect Yucatecan accent! So it's official, I'm a yuca! 

Love these two and love being on the beach! 

Mauricio hates the sun haha... he obviously lives in the wrong place. 

Then we went to the main part of Progreso and walked down the Malecon to watch the sunset with Elier and Isaac. 

It was such a pretty sunset! Merida is beautiful in every way! 

Picturesque.

GM sandwich 

Best place to watch the sunset in all of Progreso. 

Adios sol. 

Good thing there were so many people to take pictures of us! 

God has created such a beautiful world! 

Then we decided to jump in the water! A ton of people were fishing and so were were a little scared to jump in the water, but YOLO!

The tide was kind of strong... probs not the best idea. But too fun to care. 

But then we kept doing it over and over again!

But then it started POURING! So we ran for cover and found this fish on the bridge.

Creepy, nasty, little fish.

So then Isaac and Caitlin tried to save the fish and they threw it over the edge.... and then a fisherman ran over and got mad because we threw his fish away. So then we ran away. Oops! 

So we hung out at the beach for a while until it stopped pouring. Then we hopped back in the truck and headed back to Merida. Time to eat! We went to this tiny restaurant and had such yummy food! All the pastor we could eat! Gringas al pastor, tacos al pastor, and nachos al pastor! 

Great end to a great day! 

Then at last it was time to go back home. We were so sad to say bye! Especially to this one! Mauricio is my new Mexican boyfriend and I love him to pieces! 

She secretly loves him I think. 

I am so blessed to have the best friends in the whole world! They are the nicest, sweetest, funniest people I have ever met. I can't believe how accepting they were of us. I can't help but imagine if I were in their situation and a bunch of foreigners came to my ward how I would treat them. I doubt that I would give up my whole weekend to spend time with them, but they did! We had so much fun together, didn't speak any English, and made memories that I will NEVER forget! 

I was so blessed to have met them. Just thinking about the fact that I have to say goodbye to them tomorrow makes me cry. This group of friends is one of the best groups of friends I have ever had. I love each of them so much and I feel like I've known them my whole life. I need to come back as soon as possible to see them! 

I'm so glad that Caitlin is my roommate! So many people in our group kind of stuck to themselves and didn't go out of their way to meet the locals. Caitlin and I though took EVERY opportunity we had to be their friends and love them, and in return they just loved us back even more. I think that hanging out with them was the best part of my experience here. The locals know all of the cool places to go and all of the fun things to do. We were really able to experience Merida in the best way we could! And on top of that, our Spanish improved so much! At the end of today I was just talking without even having to think about it. We were making jokes and I felt like my normal self. It was such a great feeling!

I am one lucky girl.