Well time is now starting to fly by quickly. Really wish I could post pics right now, but there will be tons when i get back. We´ve already stayed with our host families. The family I was with had a son who just got back from the Colorado Denver North Mission. That´s the same one I served in! At least his English was better than my Spanish.
I admit i miss the U.S. I could totally live here as well... as a hippie selling my poetry imprinted on leather or something. We bumped into some travelers from Germany and Guatemala selling handmade journals out of banna tree paper and old bike tires, flowers, wood, and other cool granola-type materials.
My favorite part of this trip is also the part I hate the most.. we move around too much. Yet I LOVE the fact that we get to see so many places cuz each one is different! We only stay in a hotel for a day. We spend soooo much time on the bus.. 7 hours today. Then we have to find out how to do homework. So we never know what to expect and our activities so far have been shopping with street vendors on the cobblestone streets, getting sick with nausea and some stupid head-cold that the whole bus is getting, being uber-tourists at museums and ruins (ruins are better), and trying to speak spanish to people who only know spanish as a second language (down here they speak Mayan and then Spanish). Not quite a Spring Summit experience, but definately a cultural one.
Speaking of culture, two days ago we saw orphans who survived a mudslide last year. I gave one a ride on my shoulders. He was pretty cool. Another kid showed us the scars on his back and legs from when he was pulled from the mud by the rescue team. His parents didn´t make it out in time. We gave them some toys and some money. The mudslide was caused by rapid erosion which was caused by deforestation. The rainforest is not being destroyed by logging companies. Rather, the natives were "sent away" and given the rainforest to live in. With nowhere to go they burned and cut down the trees and turned it into agriculture land (crops for corn, etc.). Pretty much half the rainforest down here is gone. It´s a tricky situation. You can visibly see where rainforest used to be. There´s people living there now. It would be like us telling the natives on the reservations they have to leave because our favorite trees are growing on the reservations. Where do they go? What about the dying species in the Rainforest and the rising CO2 levels?
Oh yeah we hiked a volcano and saw flowing lava! we had to come down early because it started flowing a lot. i got video!
28 April 2007
Veracruz
This is a place where there a lot of tourists. So far the trip has been improving as we have been doing more things outside and less things in museums. We saw some cool pyramid ruins surrounded by tropical stuff that made it look like we were in some kind of movie. Once again, sorry i won´t be posting pictures up.
Veracruz is very humid and hot, on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, and prices are higher. However the hotel is the nicest one we´ve been in. One thing that is different is that you do not throw your toilet paper in the toilet... it has to go in the trash can! We´ve had to do that the entire trip so far. This is also a party town... last night I went to an outdoor rap concert next to the seaport. There were little two year olds collecting old beer cans with their mother... probably for money. After the concert we asked this guy who pulled up with his boat if we could get on (there were 8 of us and we are always in groups) and he let us. It was fun. We danced for about 10 minutes then left.
Today I went to an Aquarium which was pretty cool... saw some exotic birds, some big fish, and some sharks. While eating dinner back at the restaurant some old guy with an old violin came in and started playing. He had a stiraphome cup in his shirt pocket with which to receive tips. He played really good and I wanted to take a picture but my camera was in my room.. bummer! Things can be so random like that here! I love it! People are doing anything they can to make money. There are street vendors everywhere you look. Certain items you see all the time and other´s are rare. Í´ve bought a few souvineers but it´s hard because i really don´t like buying things i won´t use.
The last thing i want to say is that we saw an old prison today which was built on the seaport and was also used as other things. There wasn´t any bars but the rooms were made of corral and stone mortar, and were rounded with one seam on top. The tour guide told us how the rooms echo singing very well, in fact when he sang, he hit notes that resonated the stone and kept on humming as he started singing the next words in his song! It was almost mystical. After the tour we went back to the room and sang hymns. Other Latin tourists heard us and stopped to listen. It was a great moment as the walls resonated our voices.. the most wonderful choir experience ever. Perhaps an experience which touched some of the people who were gathered to listen to us. Later, one old lady asked Chad to sing "Yesterday" to her (by John Lennon), which he did with style as he wore his pilot sunglasses. hahaha! Well I gotta go now. Hasta!
Veracruz is very humid and hot, on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, and prices are higher. However the hotel is the nicest one we´ve been in. One thing that is different is that you do not throw your toilet paper in the toilet... it has to go in the trash can! We´ve had to do that the entire trip so far. This is also a party town... last night I went to an outdoor rap concert next to the seaport. There were little two year olds collecting old beer cans with their mother... probably for money. After the concert we asked this guy who pulled up with his boat if we could get on (there were 8 of us and we are always in groups) and he let us. It was fun. We danced for about 10 minutes then left.
Today I went to an Aquarium which was pretty cool... saw some exotic birds, some big fish, and some sharks. While eating dinner back at the restaurant some old guy with an old violin came in and started playing. He had a stiraphome cup in his shirt pocket with which to receive tips. He played really good and I wanted to take a picture but my camera was in my room.. bummer! Things can be so random like that here! I love it! People are doing anything they can to make money. There are street vendors everywhere you look. Certain items you see all the time and other´s are rare. Í´ve bought a few souvineers but it´s hard because i really don´t like buying things i won´t use.
The last thing i want to say is that we saw an old prison today which was built on the seaport and was also used as other things. There wasn´t any bars but the rooms were made of corral and stone mortar, and were rounded with one seam on top. The tour guide told us how the rooms echo singing very well, in fact when he sang, he hit notes that resonated the stone and kept on humming as he started singing the next words in his song! It was almost mystical. After the tour we went back to the room and sang hymns. Other Latin tourists heard us and stopped to listen. It was a great moment as the walls resonated our voices.. the most wonderful choir experience ever. Perhaps an experience which touched some of the people who were gathered to listen to us. Later, one old lady asked Chad to sing "Yesterday" to her (by John Lennon), which he did with style as he wore his pilot sunglasses. hahaha! Well I gotta go now. Hasta!
25 April 2007
¡Hola Mexico!
Well here i am on the... third day in Mexico City. I have no idea where to begin and I hardly have any time to say what I want to say. First, picture down town LA with cobblestone streets and tons of street vendors. That`s where i´ve been. So far we´ve seen Aztec ruins (Right here in the middle of the city!), Museums (which were really cool but I was getting tired of being in them ALL DAY). Sat in the bell tower of a Cathedral while they rang the bells at NOON, walked around the Mexico City Temple, met the Missionarios, ate the food (I actually feel BETTER after eating all this spicy food, not worse, and NO diahhrea), and part of the best part was today... we went to an LDS school and watched a dance show! I wish I had pictures to show... which I do, but none of them are online right now. Oh yeah, I LOVE learning the language, but i HATE the fact that I can hardly talk to people. Actually tonight I felt pretty good about myself because I went up to a guy at a nice hotel and asked ¨Donde esta bano?¿) p.s. the keyboards here are partly in espanol so i´m not typing too well. Anyways, the guy pointed me in the right direction. haha!!!
So far the people are great, my camera takes cool pictures even though it´s heavy... (I feel like Steve Kugath on Spring Summit). We leave Mexico City tomorrow. I´m kinda glad. It´s very noisy here and I hardly sleep. We have a window that faces the street and there is noise all night long! I miss the country, but I´m so grateful to experience the city right now! one more thing before i go... the missionaries we met showed us where this sweet restaurant is where a member is a cook. it was a three course meal for only 35 pesos, which is about 3 dollars and thirty cents! Dang good food! Well, take care yáll! Hasta La Vista!!! Maybe next time i´ll find a way to get pics up here, if not, when i get home. i´ve taken 200 pics already!
So far the people are great, my camera takes cool pictures even though it´s heavy... (I feel like Steve Kugath on Spring Summit). We leave Mexico City tomorrow. I´m kinda glad. It´s very noisy here and I hardly sleep. We have a window that faces the street and there is noise all night long! I miss the country, but I´m so grateful to experience the city right now! one more thing before i go... the missionaries we met showed us where this sweet restaurant is where a member is a cook. it was a three course meal for only 35 pesos, which is about 3 dollars and thirty cents! Dang good food! Well, take care yáll! Hasta La Vista!!! Maybe next time i´ll find a way to get pics up here, if not, when i get home. i´ve taken 200 pics already!
16 April 2007
LIfe at BYUI
Going to make this short: I'm loving being here at school right now... the MesoAmerica classes are keeping me very busy... it's good to see friends again... can't wait to go climbing... I fly to Mexico City on April 23rd (Monday)... I'm looking for an internship for Rec Leadership this Fall... I don't want to stop... The End.
12 April 2007
Jumping Into Mesoamer... uh Homework actually
Whew... these past four days have been soooooo busy! I guess I never figured that the two weeks of classes before the Mesoamerica tour would be so cram-packed! I've had between 6-9 hours of classes each day, plus homework in between, 150 pages of text to read, and three test so far. I almost forgot why I'm even here. It feels like we'll never get to Mexico because we have too much homework to do! Our "midterm" starts next week. I've been INSIDE all the time since I got here! Even if I could go outside and go rock climbing or something, it's been cold here (compared to Arizona); still freezes at night and gets into the 40's in the daytime. I'm not used to this (97 degrees in AZ) so I'm inside anyways!
Hmm, obviously I don't have time to be updating my blog. Everybody in my classes are also going on the Mesoamerica Tour. So far we are all just "acquaintances" with each other but I'm sure that will change once we have time to talk instead of doing so much homework. I love the subjects we are learning and I think we have some of the best teachers (I'm taking English: Introduction to Literature, and Field Biology (more like study of ecology)). I miss having people I'm familiar with here with me: Jo, Angela, Sven, Mary, etc.
Well, here is a poem I wrote a long time ago. I will probably be embarrassing myself by putting this on the Internet, but it's interesting to see a struggle I was thinking of three years ago...(I just learned in class that this is a Sonnet - 14 line poem :)
Hmm, obviously I don't have time to be updating my blog. Everybody in my classes are also going on the Mesoamerica Tour. So far we are all just "acquaintances" with each other but I'm sure that will change once we have time to talk instead of doing so much homework. I love the subjects we are learning and I think we have some of the best teachers (I'm taking English: Introduction to Literature, and Field Biology (more like study of ecology)). I miss having people I'm familiar with here with me: Jo, Angela, Sven, Mary, etc.
Well, here is a poem I wrote a long time ago. I will probably be embarrassing myself by putting this on the Internet, but it's interesting to see a struggle I was thinking of three years ago...(I just learned in class that this is a Sonnet - 14 line poem :)
Outside is my life
Outside is my reason
This place I am in is mine no more
They see me as a wanderer; a floater
I am a man of direction; of steady perseverance
I cannot feel free when I lie to myself
The judgments of others keep us in bondage
In bondage to a mental prison in a false world
And in our houses, office, and cities
Concerned with what they think, and not who we are
I want no more to be concerned with this
I will go outside
Outside is my life
Outside is my reason
11 July 04
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