...Down a Raging River of Death!

Today's blog was brought to you by the letter S and the word Monte (which means woods/area outside of a civilized area).

*Ahem*

The day started out wonderfully (and ended wonderfully too).  I went to my 7 AM class and...get this, stayed awake the whole time!  I decided that I wanted to super pay attention today, so I wrote down all the words on the slides (in Spanish) and then, when I didn't understand a word, I looked it up on my Spanish/English dictionary (conveniently located on my phone).  Basically, my mind got blown.  We learned about the whole Mayan agriculture system.  In a nut shell:  the Mayans realized that the ground here, as it was, is not fertile enough to grow crops.   But then they had an idea!

(Though I am sure they did not look as white as this guy, lol).  Looking at the trees around them, they realized that all the nutrients were in the trees.  So, using the slash and burn method, the Mayans were able to get the tree nutrients into the soil.  Of course, also being smart enough to realize that they still needed the trees for later, they left enough stump so that the trees could grow back and they could do it all again.  (They had to wait 16 years for the trees to go back.  My guess is they rotated plots).  Anyway, what's mind blowing is that this method sustained the Mayans for thousands of year!  Thousands of Mayans for thousands of years.  Mayans = intelligent.  It's a shame that the Mexican government has not made use of this knowledge.  But I'm sure there's a complicated reason for why they haven't yet.

Anyway, I also learned that June 16-20th the Mayans have a festival of rain called Ch 'a chaak.  (There's your Mayan word for today).  Needless to say, I could on and on and on about this topic, but I shall save you from my boring rants and move on to the next topic.  Which would be the fact that my next class gave me a LOT of homework (4 assignments).  Luckily I have until Tuesday to do it.  (Speaking of that class, I gave a presentation today and it went pretty well :)

*side note:  our first class always starts late, and then, consequently, ends late - generally running into our next class (which is saying something seeing that we have a 15 minute break between classes.  I guess Profe talked with the director of that class, so hopefully that will be better on Tuesday!*

Random picture:  This is the bus we take to and from school.

Another side note, I tried this delicous treat at school today (when I left my second class to go to the bathroom, I stopped by the vending machines.  It was either eat or sleep, lol):

After that class, Conner, Christina, Raquel, and I went and worked on the homework assignment (well, one of them).  That was exciting.  I didn't know Spanish accent marks were so...confusing.  But I think I understand?  Yep.  I was about to go into what we learned, but then I realized you probably aren't reading this blog to learn about Spanish grammer *ahem* moving on.

Following homework, we returned to our homes.  Originally, Conner came home with Christina and I as we were gonna watch a movie.  But then we ran into MM and ended up having lunch instead.  So Conner went home, but then returned about 30 minutes later to watch the movie.  Meanwhile, while he was out, and before we ate lunch we cuddle with the kittens :)  Which were born a day before Christina and I arrived.  Aren't they precious???

The middle kitten was having some troubles, lol.  He may be the first to have his eyes open, but he sure was hard put when trying to feed!  (He's also the only kitten that looks like his mama color wise).

Also of note, we found these in our rooms when we arrived home!  (The woman who comes in on Wednesdays works at a hotel, so she's learned how to fold things into cool shapes!):

A flower made out of toilet paper and a safety pin.  As Riley in National Treasure would say, "Genius"

After pulling ourselves away from this adorable little things (which, I found out that I'm not allergic to this type of cat, oddly enough.  I didn't get itchy eyed or anything), we had this for lunch:

Pork, rice, and salad

After lunch, we went back to the kittens.  That's when Conner arrived.  And that's also when I noticed this lovely scene on the office wall (the office is where the kittens were feeding):

It was kind of cool to see the little ants moving such a big piece of, uh, meat up the wall.  And it was gross too.  Really gross. 

This is the green stuff they put on the light fixture (which is where the ants were coming from) to keep at bay the little boogers.  *shudder*

 Moving on...I then had these adorable pictures taken of myself (I guess the kitten is cute too :P):

Anyway, after all that jazz, Conner, Christina, and I sat down to watch El Dorado (you know, to prepare us to go see Chichen Itza tomorrow.  Because that movie is TOTally historically accurate).  After that, I can't quite remember what I did.  But I know one thing I did was watch the PTX movie (SOOOOOOOOO awesome).  And then it started raining.  So I decided to take the opportunity to take pictures and a video to explain how the heavy rain drains (well, doesn't drain) from the roads here:

See how high up that water is on that car tire?  It takes about an hour ish to get to that point?  Maybe less.

This is a video of a cup I saw floating down the street. 

This is me explaining the roads :)

While it was raining, I skyped my daddy!  And it was the bestest!  We talked bout what I learned today and everything.  It was nice to see him and his lovely smile :)  (I got to skype my mommy a few days ago, and that was also fun!!  And I got to see my grandma then too).

After skype, I went and ate dinner.  Which was this deliciousness seen here:

Grilled cheese!  With ham and tomato and mayo.

After that I talked with Elisa for about 15 minutes about music and different things (See dad?  I followed your advice, went forth, and spoke!  I should also note that I spoke with the maid today as well.  That's when I found out that the reason we where shoes during storms is because if the house gets struck by lightening, there's less of a chance of being shocked or something.  Guess they don't have lightening rods.  This trip just came to a new level, lol.  Don't worry, mom, we'll be safe!).

Fun culture notes:

*The sewage system here can't process toilet paper.  Soooooooo, instead they have little trash cans here where you throw away your used toilet paper.  (If anything will make you miss the states, it's that).   Luckily, at our house here, we can put it in the toliet (thank goodness!).

*My roommate learned today that they don't have anything larger than size 7's at the shoe stores here.  Still...I hope I can find some new flip flops at some point.  Maybe they shall have some at el Centro.  If not, I shall buy guy sized shoes!

*Guys here only where pants.  (Now that's what I can manly)  Girls where pants or dresses.  Though I've seen some wear capris.

*Watch out when climbing walls (not that you would be, but if you were...) some of them have broken glass mounted/cemented into the tops of the walls (I'll have to get a picture of that sometime!)

This is the money they use:

And we totally have a closet that locks, as well as a dresser drawer, and a side table drawer that locks :)  Here's a picture of my side table (and lovely key chain):

That's it for today!  I can't wait for the excursion tomorrow!  Chichen Itza here I come!

'Til Tomorrow,

With love (and this song):

R J Carr