playa del carmen

in playa del carmen, which is super close to cancun.

and you can tell.

this place is, naturally, hot and humid. but the beach is beautiful, and i can see the waters hitting the shore from the terrace of our hotel room.

but it is a city full of tourists. i took out money yesterday and the atm gave me u.s. dollars. in a weird way, being here feels like foreign territory after two-plus months of living and travelling in generally non-tourist cities.

i'm afraid the overabundance of english-speaking mexicans here will break down my spanish-speaking drive when it comes to interacting with people outside of my friends in the program. we'll see.

i'm on the beach until sunday morning, when i'm going to take a plane to mexico city and enjoy mexico for one last night before my international flight on monday. i can't wait to be in mexico city one last time before home.

but more that anything, i'm happy to be coming home so soon. excited for seattle, and my family and my friends, and seeing hudson, and going to dinner, and walking around in places that i know and remember, and yakima, and sitting around and relaxing without lugging around a bag full of clothes and computer for once. i'm just ready to be home at this point.

in the meantime, though, i'll enjoy the beach...

chichén itzá

another day. another incredible set of ancient ruins.

monday morning we took a two-hour bus from merida to chichén itzá.

there, i found an incredibly touristy spot (it's only a few hours from cancun and playa del carmen) that was yet again amazing and humid and hot to a point of irritation.

but the ruins and famous, large, pyramid were astounding. there was an incredibly well-preserved court for the juego de pelota that i remember learning about in school (notable in my memory for the execution or torture of the losing team).

the large pyramid was immense and imposing. it was such a sight to behold in that i had been seeing recreations of it for years, especially in the last few months. and there were so many small details of the pyramid that were incredibly interesting. there is an odd echo when anyone in the grassy area that surrounds the pyramid claps their hands. there is a strange squeak that is emitted from the top of the pyramid. really weird. and i loved the long serpents that were carved into the pyramid sides, with the head of the snake protruding from the base.

just an amazing place to see in person. yet again. i feel terrible that the last two weeks, and months in general, have left me jaded to seeing such historically-rich and beautiful places. i have been spoiled by what mexico has had to offer me. i'm sure it will hit me the second that i sit down on the plane monday morning to come home that i am no longer within short driving distance of pyramids and art museums and the history that i have ultimately come to claim as my own. i know how lucky i am to have seen everything that i have in this country, and i am so amazingly grateful.

palenque, day 2

our second morning in palenque, we hopped onto another van and drove out to the archaeological site a little bit outside the city that contained the immense ruins that i spent the morning and early afternoon climbing up and down.

so amazingly cool.

and humid and intense and hot. it was worth it, but i'm almost certain i sweat out every single bottle of water that i had drank within two days of the trek.

but such an amazing place to be. it is so incredible to have walked around in these sites that hold so much history in every single stone and etching in the walls. there is a certain closeness to an age that usually seems so far away.

in lieu of attempts at explaining the experience, i'm just going to include more photos...