Toto, I've a Feeling We're Not in Utah Anymore

Today was a chillax day, which was nice (all this running around has made me quite tired, even if said running has been enjoyable).

Started out by arising late at 10 AM (mainly because I could.  Mainly because I'd stayed up late writing my blog last night :) ), getting dressed, and eating breakfast.  (My MM came into the kitchen as I was eating and said, "You woke late today" or something like that.  I just smiled sheepishly at her).  After that, Connor, Brandon, Scott, Christina, and I decided to go to the city center, where Wal-Mart was (Scott needed to buy pillows).  So we walked to where we catch the bus for school, and caught the Copo Route 3 bus to the city center.  Here's some pictures from the walk to the bus stop:

Isn't it pretty?  It's important to note this is not the flower on the plant.  These are just the leaves.

This little tiny white flower is the actual flower :)  (Cool huh?  And they have this plant everywhere in Merida, in lots of different colors).

Here's a picture of a lime tree - they also have these everywhere, I believe.

This is another pretty flower I found, growing under a window.

Here's some other flowers, actually growing on a tree.

Another another tree flower.

And Another.

And a tree with colored leaves that only look like flowers.

 Anyway, after the bus (on which, I accidentally sat on my pack the wrong way.  By that I mean, I sat in such a way that I hit the spray button on my sunscreen.  I don't know how long I sat on it, but by the time I noticed, my bag and dress were soaked.  Luckily, it dried pretty quick), we headed into Wal-Mart.  Let me tell you, Wal-Marts in Mexico are not like the Wal-Marts in the US.  For one, everything is in Spanish.  (As seen here).  Well, not everything.  Lots of stuff is in English because it's been imported. Which suddenly explains why everything in the United States is in English and Spanish (#lightbulb).

Another difference is the products.  I don't believe they sell mopeds in the American Wal-Marts...

Or sell, "pack it yourself" meat.  (There are gloves, Styrofoam, and wrap provided.  The meat is kept in these chilled boxes).

Or whatever this comfy, swingy thing is...

 They also don't play catchy Latino music (which was SO fun to listen to.  I had to resist the urge to dance).  Annnd, in the Wal-Mart they have little "try this!" vendors everywhere, which was fun.  I didn't try anything, but we did ask one if they knew where the umbrellas were.   Anyway, at the end of the Wal-Mart escapade, I ended up buying a Sunny D tasting drink and this delicious treat:

It's marshmallow with a Strawberry jelly on top.  (Can you say yum?)

 We then walked out of the Wal-Mart and proceeded to stroll through the 'outdoor' mall connected to it.  I have outdoor in quotations because the walk way, playground, a food court, and stuff was outdoor, but you still went indoors to the different stores.  It was fun.  Again, there was booming Latino music playing (though actually, I've come to notice that most times, there is English songs playing.  Kind of interesting).  I think the reason the walk way is outside is because it's cheaper and cooler.  It's cheaper because, well, they don't have to pay to AC an entire mall.   It's cooler (temperature cooler) because if they had it indoors, but were unable to AC it, it would have been roasting.  An outdoor mall is better than an indoor mall with no AC.

Anyway, after that (and after two of our group members got shooed away from the playground meant for the 6-12 year olds) we came back to our bus stop (which looks like this.  Yes, we are standing under and overpass):

This is where it gets exciting.  So, we get on the bus, all confident that we'll be able to get off the bus at the right time.  Which, well, we would've, if not for the fact that the bus was jammed full by the time we got to our stop.  See, normally, the bus driver knows to pull over because you stand up.  Well, when you have a whole isle of people standing up (when the seats are full, you can stand in the aisle, holding onto the metal bar above your head) that kind of goes out the window.  We found out later that there is a little button you can press to let the driver know to let you off.  We shall definitely remember that for next time.  So, long story short, we ended up getting off at the end of the line.  Luckily, the end of the line was el Centro.  So, we just walked the four or so blocks to the buses we used last night (luckily Connor had it all mark on his google maps on his phone.  #ilovetechnology).  Here's a pigeon I saw at the bus stop (the one to take us back home).

And this is a picture of us on the bus ride home (with Scott doing a true rendition of what we felt like).

Left to Right:  Me, Scott, Connor

 When we finally got home, MM had lunch waiting for Christina and I.  It.  Was. DELICIOUS.  See?:

All this food here was mixed into a bowl of broth (MM left it separate cause she didn't know if we wanted it mixed together or not).  So, at the end, there was broth, cilantro, onion, pork (delicious, succulent pork), beans, rice, and sauteed tomato.  This is actually a traditional Mayan dish.  And it was YUMMY.  (Oh my yum).

 After lunch, Connor came over to do homework (memorizing a sexy poem - at least, that's what our teacher calls it - and doing a vocab reading thing) with Christina and I, as well as to get help with his blog (because, totes obvs, I am a pro at this).  We tried to do it up here on this balcony, but there was no good WiFi.  So we ended up going into the classroom off the balcony (which is where MM's husband teaches English).  Here's a pic of the balcony:

The popcorn our MM brought us while we were blogging.

The spicy dip MM brought us to try with our popcorn.  It was actually pretty good!

 After our homework was done, we (Scott, Brandon, Chrstina, Connor, and I) headed out to a fiesta in the calle montejo!  Which apparently happens every Saturday night (and we are TOTALLY going.  Every.  Single.  Saturday).

A bad pictures of the dancers performing there.  Next week I'll try to get a video posted!!

The sketchy vendor food I ate :P  Just kidding, it wasn't sketchy.  And it was a yummy cheese tamale!  (We're gonna go with that because I can't remember the real name of it, lol).

The enormous ice cream I bought.  You should've seen the look on everyone's faces when I rejoined the group.  Conner exclaimed, "What did you get??" (Also, note the charro on the left side of the bowl there).

The best part of the night happened as we were sitting eating our different desserts.  So we were sitting there and this vendor comes up, and he's selling these hand fans.  He asks me if I want one, for 50 pesos, and I say, "No gracias."  He then said, "Ah, you speak Spanish - very good" as he was walking away.  I then burst into laughter, and had to try to contain myself as I shared the story with my other four companions who were like, "wait, what?"  THEN this guy comes back and asks Connor if he would like a fan for 50 pesos.  Saying he could give it to his girlfriend.  Then Connor said, "But I don't have a girlfriend," and the guy was like, "Okay, then 40 pesos."  Still unwilling to buy, the man made such a funny, classic face -  kind of a big *sigh*/comically exasperated face - and says, "35 pesos."  Sold!  Connor, Scott, and I bought one.  I half bought it because the seller was SO funny, and it was such a treat to do business with him.

After all that, we decided to head home as it was getting late.  So we caught the bus home (we didn't get lost this time, thank goodness).  MM had dinner waiting for us (well, she told us she'd have dinner waiting if we needed food when we got back) but we ended up not eating it (I was stuffed, mostly from ice cream).

And now it is time to hit the sack (sleep sounds SO good right now).  And to randomly mention that something else I noticed today is that in Mexico, instead of .com on the end of website addresses it's .mx.

'Til tomorrow!

~R J Carr