- The turns on the chicken buses feel like you're riding a roller coaster
- Met a guy from La Crosse, Wisconsin that was running on of the chicken buses
- The twin mountains look like the letter M
- I wore the same sweater everyday because it was all I had to be conservative for work
- The kids at the daycare had a talent show it was the cutest
- Giovanna (2 years old) would say the name of an animal when shown a stuffed animal so when we showed a duck, she said "pato" and with cow, "vaca" but when shown a dog, she starts to bark instead
- I can bargain or barter really good at the artisan market, I got a pair of shorts, keychain, and dolls for nine American dollars
- Hung out with some teachers at the coffee plantation tour
- Zip lined and learned about the coffee process at Yalu Coffee Farm (could have rode horses but I chose not to)
- Instead of saying cheese for the camera, you say "whiskey!"
- Antigua was beautiful, not too big and not too small with the traditional culture alive
- You'll see women in the traditional clothing and threads carrying a basket on their head and a baby on their back
- Recent activity at the volcano we just hiked (Pacaya)
- Had sweet bread
- They have apple soda I guess and I'll be buying Valentina hot sauce for now on
The day we were suppose to leave Antigua, we didn't...well, I didn't. Our airport closed down because it rained so hard that the runway was flooded and broke. Michaela got in the air once they fixed it and stayed over night in Miami. I met this wonderful person who is American and moved to Guatemala a few years ago to be with her husband. They are missionaries and they let me stay with them because they have several beds available. We both thought that instead of catching one of our flights to Mexico City and spending the night in airport was a bad idea so we asked for our flights to be the next day. Oh yeah, she was heading to Merida as well. It was perfect. She told me about some stuff though that terrified me and thankfully I am alive. The chicken buses that Michaela and I were riding everyday are tinned by the cartel and they do extortion. It happens daily, where they would raid a bus and rob everyone. And the driver usually gets shot. Also, a bus recently was going too fast on the curves and tipped, killing over 80 people so they were picking up bodies on the road. And the reason that the majority of the cars are tinted is because the cartel will go up to cars and demand money but if you have a tinted window you are less likely to be robbed because the cartel won't be able to see what's in your car (weapons). Up north, they decaputate people, strip them and hang the bodies on the bridges just so people are aware the cartel are in power. I'm so happy that I'm leaving early, that I canceled my trips to Oaxaca and Mexico City. Oaxaca just had shootings and riots because the teachers were on strike or something about the education system. Someone in the news referred to the soldiers coming in by saying it was like being in Iraq. Now I am completely not regretting spending more money for a flight back home. Anyway, Merdia is safe. Really safe. And it's more modernised. Apparently the cartel's families live here so they don't want to cause any problems where their loved ones live. But I walk alone and machismo culture is barely a thing here.
I met another girl at the airport (Katla) with the same flights and I went out with her on Wednesday for ladies night. The Jose Cuervo isn't like the American version, it's called traditional. Real good. I tried a margarita, a shot of traditional, Modelo, and Corona (not all in one night though). I went out last night (Friday) with the people at the volunteer house. I was actually very social with these people and made a bunch of friends. I am going to list things but I probably forgot a bunch of stuff so I'll make a reminder for the next post.
- Karla told me that tacos can hold any meat here, like pig's feet or ears and etc.
- The driver that picked me up at the airport played Drake, he was an architect and told me about the Mayan stuff he finds before he builds and told me that if people take any of it, they will get haunted by the ancient Mayans and apparently, there are little bush people that are Mayans that'll haunt you too
- Oxxo store
- Showers here (or at least in this house) doesn't have motors so it's like a lottery system of who gets warm water
- I found my Hawaiian flower here, the one that I got a tattoo of with my grandma
- Tried Pan de Queso (cheese bread) it's a ball of bread with cheese inside
- If I come here again I want to see Izumal ruins and the place with the hundreds of flamingos and the caves and yellow city
- A girl from England (Birmigham) brought Cadbury spread and she's my favourite person ever because she let me use it on my morning toast every day
- A girl adopted a dog and brought it home with her to Michigan
- We got free tacos at a club last night (Friday)
- It's 7 pesos to go into centro (city Center) and every one hundred pesos is equally to $5.50, it's hella cheap down here.
- Bats fly in and out of our volunteer house during the evening
- There are little yellow geckos everywhere in this house. I freaked out the night I got here and one was running up and down the wall but now I'm like whatever (I touched one the other day)
- The orphanage I went to volunteer at this week was ages 4-14 I think. I heard about their stories and it's so sad. Like the moms and grandmothers beat this one girl, a mom was a prostitute and had sex in front of her daughter, one mom just dropped off four of her sons one day because she didn't want them, a girl took a bottle of pills because her mom did, etc.
- On Friday, I went to the animal shelter where two of my roommates go to volunteer so I can help out with the animals and giving them baths
- I was literally going to adopt a cat here but I did the math the next day and it was going to be well over 300$
- I bought two shirts and a pair of jean shorts because they have a huge nice mall for us down the street and my clothes are really smelly
- Finished "Me Before You" and "Before I Go To Sleep", now reading "After You" (the second book of "Me Before You"
- There are like 20 girls in this volunteer house and we have a pool, it gets super hot here
- It's rain season but only for like 15 minutes every other day
- Went to Progresso beach on Wednesday with three girls and a dude
- There are Australians and a British guy and a girl from Columbia
- Madison and I were swimming in the ocean and felt something kept touching us so we swam so days out of the ocean while laughing and freaking out
- Played never have I ever with everyone late one night and it got pretty raunchy as always
- The bar/club I went to with Karla on Wednesday is called Shotimilco
- There are so many old bugs (cars) here
- Opened up a coconut here
- Went to three cenotes on Thursday, cenotes are sinkholes filled with water and they are pretty much underground rivers. We swam in one of them and the water so clear and deep. It was definitely the clearest and purest water I have ever seen and been in. We literally climbed in a hole and swam in it. It was so beautiful.
- The trip to the cenotes was horrible because once we got there, we had to take horses to the cenotes with these handmade nights to sit on. So these starved (ribs showing) and weak horses, exhausted from standing by a tree tied up tight and short had to pull over 800 pounds and they were treated poorly. I literally balled my eyes out. I couldn't look. I've never been that upset about animal rights before
- I bought dog treats for all the strays here, so if you ever come down to Latin America...seriously carry dog treats in your pocket or back pack because you'll be paying it forward and feeding these skinny dogs. The thing that gets me the most is that they don't have names and people down here treat them like how Americans would treat a rodent, shooting them away and throwing stuff, killing them.
- Went to the Chichen Itza Mayan Ruins of pyramids today, it was cool but so damn hot. Tons of iguanas every where. Jaguars are a thing for Mayans so the souvenir sellers had toys that could make a jaguar noise and it was really annoying.
- I already leave in two days (Monday afternoon). I did consider extending my trip but I don't have the money to.
Maria and I had a very eventful night on Saturday. Met two guys we went out with and when they picked us up we ended up racing to a house because their friend's dad was having a heart attack. The guys had to go there to bribe or pay or something to the cops because they were going to take the dad to jail after the hospital because he was drinking and in the car when it happened. After, partied at Malo Vida. Then driving back the cops pulled us over and had Gerado blow air by the cop's nose and he let us go. Gerado was our DD and did not drink but it was still scary because the only reason he pulled us over is because Gerado has a nice car and the police are so corrupted that they will pull people over and demand money or put them in jail for no reason. I'm guessing the cop didn't rob him because there were three of us with him and two us being American girls.
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