Random thoughts about Mexico #2

As I have probably already mentioned, our dramas and puppets and all that were for these programs we'd put on in the evening. Last year we went around to different villages, a different place every night, doing these. This year, we actually went out and trained a local Mexican team to put on the same programs as us, which they are still doing now! That's why we spent a few days in Tecax—to train a Mexican team. So we taught them the dramas and puppets and how to set things up and everything. The first night we did the program ourselves on the town square, then the next night both us and the Mexican team did it together, and then, after we left, the Mexican team did it all by themselves. If you want a more detailed account of how the programs went, go read Hannah's blog. She explains things very well!

Lol, I'm not gonna let Sara get away with this one: On Friday night we were handing out tracts as people were leaving. I was standing with Sara, Megan, Zac and Josh (I think!). Sara was talking about how funny it was that Venancio (our evangelist) liked to say "Hasta la vista, baby!" Now, when we hand out the tracts, we're supposed to say, "¿Lea por favor?" which means "Read please?" So this one elderly lady came along, and Sara handed her a tract, and said, "Hasta la vista, ba... OOPS!!!!! I mean, lea por favor?" It was SOOOO funny!!! The lady laughed (along with the rest of us, lol!). Poor Sara. It was pretty funny, though... and since she was laughing too and we were telling everyone else about it for awhile afterwards, I thought I should write it here for posterity. :D

On the way back to Cancún from Tecax on Sunday, we stopped at Tulum, these Mayan ruins right by the sea. They were so awesome! Sara has a few pictures on her blog, I think. The water looked SOOOOOOO good (especially after not having taken a real shower in a few days!), so naturally, once we were inside, I headed straight to the beach. It felt so good! I had so much fun this year, too. Last year I was just like Hannah. Dave pulled me out into the waves, and the first wave came and I didn't know to jump at the right time, so I was really put off from getting that deep for the rest of the trip. I was very content with being knee-deep. But this year, someone actually taught me what to do, and I went out and had SO MUCH fun. It was awesome!!

I lost track of time, and before I knew it, I only had, like, 5 minutes to look around the ruins! Somehow Nicole and I did it, and took some pictures, too. They were so cool, though it's a little freaky thinking about what they used to be used for when it was a Mayan temple. BAD stuff.

Oh I remember something interesting! Sunday morning was the day we had the pig for breakfast before we left Tecax. The locals fixed it for us. It was actually pretty good, I thought. But a few hours later, when I started having stomach pains (along with a few other people!), it didn't seem so good, lol. In Felipe Carillo Puerto it was the worst. That was where we stopped for lunch, at another missionary's house. I could barely eat, but once I did, I felt a lot better!

Hehe, while we were there, there was this concrete driveway that dropped off a few feet on the edge. I found out it was the perfect place to do elevés, the really good kind where you stand with your toes on the edge and your heels hanging off. That felt SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good. I did, like, 200 of them (a LOT—normally I do around 50!). It's really difficult going from dancing and working those muscles really hard just about every day for a few weeks, and then all of a sudden not for a week. My calves really appreciated that driveway!

After we got back to the mission in Cancún that night, we were all waiting around for the showers (SHOWERS!!! Real showers!!!! Happiness!!), when it started raining. Sara, Stevo, Chris, Caleb, Zac, Seth and I immediately ran over to front railing of the breezeway, where the water was pouring in. It felt so good! We were all having a blast being really goofy and crazy. The floor got really slick, so we started sliding back and forth. We hung our heads out over the railing, trying to get as wet as we could, and calling it our "showers," since by that time we weren't sure we would get any real ones after all (it's hard for 29 people to take showers in a row with such a limited water supply. Actually it's impossible.). We made a lot of noise, I'm sure. Of course we got a picture. It's hilarious. See it here: http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2005-06-19%2018.16.54%20-0700/Image-A360F6F2E12511D9.jpg From left to right is Seth, Zac, Sara, Chris, Caleb, and me. Stephen's the one in the air. ;D

Well, there I've told you about the first part of the week. I'll write more tomorrow!