merida, yucatan

the internet at the hostel has been busy day and night so i am just now able to write. yesterday we went to chichen itza! it was one of the most amazing places and felt like a mayan disneyland, without rides. it felt like another planet actually, the ruins were so awesome! it's really hard to put into words how i felt when i was there. the ruins are a bunch of old buildings/structures from the height of the mayan empire. the main one is a giant four sided pyramid with 364 stairs called the kokulkan temple. there are many other temples used for different purposes. there was even a hot steam bath, not that you need it in this weather. there was a cenote sinkhole of limestone. a pool of green water lay 60 m below the edge of the round hole. it was pretty amazing. one of my favorite parts was the ball court. they used to play a game with a ball and you hit it with your hips and the goal is to knock it into a ring that is high up on a wall. i'm not sure how it would've worked, maybe like basketball-soccer. at the end of the game someone would have their head cut off as a sacrifice to the gods, a real game of life and death. they seemed to be kind of a brutal civilization and were pretty sophisticated at one time. they have an intricate and very accurate system of time and had their own calendar. i definitely need to read up more on the mayan people. also, i can't wait until i can upload pictures. it may not happen on this trip because i looked for it here in merida. it's the biggest city in the yucatan but i didn't see any electronics stores.

today we walked around the town and it was very very humid. it's raining now so that's probably why. we didn't do much but it was nice to see the city by foot. the main street we walked on was paseo montejo, which is such a cool sounding name! there are pieces of art on every block of this street, many with recycled goods and interesting motifs. one was a vertical corn cob and each kernel had a clear bubble in the center, in which a bunch of real kernels were. another was a futuristic robot/astronaut looking man.

about food - i've been trying everything here. so far i've been very lucky! merida is in the yucatan state, they have many specialties like panuchos and salbutes. here are some descriptions of things i've eaten:
-panuchos - they cook a tortilla until it puffs up, then put some refried beans inside. it closes back up and then they fry it. you eat it with regular taco toppings.
-salbutes - same as panuchos but no beans inside. so basically it's a deep fried puffed up tortilla taco. mmm...
-tamales - usually tamales are made with a corn husk on the outside and is steamed, here they wrap it with banana leaves. (will eat tonight for dinner)
-lime soup - exactly what it is. i believe there are chicken and tortilla chips in this soup, and i am having it tonight also.
-flautas - i guess it's like a taquito, a rolled up taco and fried. i had it at a little market and didn't know what it was but it was tasty. the inside was kind of potato-ey and maybe had beans.
-tacos - i love tacos! i had a taco with probably chicken on it today. i'm really not sure what it was, i kind of just pointed at one of three or four toppings, it was a good choice
-pinada jugo - for breakfast i had a pineapple and coconut juice at the market.. it was refreshing and cooled me off quite a bit. they had all kinds of fruit there to have as juice.

we are leaving soon for guatemala! i am excited. we bought some quetzales (their money) and it is very pretty. money in other countries is so colorful and interesting looking. i don't think that i'm just used to ours, only now we're getting colorful money. so i've got some dollars, pesos and quetzals right now. we are taking a bus through belize to guatemala and hopefully it is not as humid there. i think i am acclimating to the weather but it's still not very comfortable. walking today we had to stop every few blocks and sit in the shade. i drink more water here than ever before too.