Just FYI...

You may have noticed by now that it's been at least 2 weeks since I really updated last. It's not because I don't want to share what's been going on during my Mexico trip. On the other hand, I actually DO want to share my adventures with all of ya'll.

Rather, it's because I'm not immune from life's pressures and being depressed while I'm down here. Just because I'm in another country doesn't mean I won't have bad days. Lately I've simply felt too depressed to write or take the time to upload all of my pictures. I've also been super worried about things going on at home...especially with at least one of my loved ones... Granted, I'm still enjoying myself down here and improving my Spanish, but at the same time I still have bouts of depression. Not all of it is me - truth be told, I found out recently that I have depression anxiety, and I forgot to refill my prescription medication I'm taking for it before I left home. I can't even get it refilled down here right now, because it's a felony to mail medicine pills to Mexico AND it's apparently illegal for me to refill it at a pharmacy here in Mexico, so I'm kinda stuck.

But still, I will write more blog posts about my adventures down here. Some things you'll be hearing about include:

- Visiting Chicen Itza
- Swimming in Los Tres Cenotes
- Going to the temple in Merida
- Taking one of my teachers to church with me and the rest of our class
- Visiting Celestun
- Awesome stuff at the zoo
- Visiting local malls/plazas
- Going to Merida's local institute program

I'll write each blog post in the context of "today" to make the flow of reading easier to follow, even though they obviously didn't happen the day I'll be publishing them. So anyways...

Hasta la vista, ya'll!

7/7: Uxmal Ruins pt. 2 + Light Show!

Yeah, again because of the massive amounts of pictures I need two blog posts for this. Also, because of how many pictures I took, it's easier just to put them all over on the Shutterfly site for this BYU Study Abroad group. If you'd like to see more pictures of my group and Uxmal, go visit that site! :)

Brooke, me, Ryan, and Ethan

OMZ! That's the Rebel Alliance symbol engraved into that rock! Does that mean the Alliance was actually there?! ... I  totally am kidding about that, but that's kinda what I thought when I saw that. XD

Outside of the Uxmal visitor's center were these women selling T-shirts, guayaberas (a men's dress shirt commonly found in the Yucatan peninsula), and Mexican style dresses. I ended up buying a dress from one of these vendors, and I absolutely LOVE that dress!

After the tour of Uxmal itself, we went to a restaurant for dinner. It was a buffet-style restaurant with many interesting types of food. Some of it was good, but a lot of it I didn't think looked very tasty, but hey, I did get some food that I really liked.

Brooke and Audrey being silly outside the restaurant next to some statues of mariachi players

After eating came the best part of the day when it's hot - SWIMMING!!! :) ... Well, I actually didn't swim this time (I can't remember if it was because I forgot my swimsuit or I simply wasn't feeling up to it. I think it was because I had forgotten my swimsuit), but I did dip my feet into the water and chill with Alannah and other peeps.

Alannah and Taylor

 It was sometime before we left to watch the light show that I decided to try my new dress on, the one I bought from some vendors outside of Uxmal. Boy, I loved it so much, and I still do! What do you guys think of it (see the pic below)?

I liked it so much I decided to keep wearing it while we went to go watch the light show. See, every evening right around sunset Uxmal hosts a light show right in the ruins, with audio dialog and sound effects accompanying lighting up various ruins at timed moments. I know it was telling ancient Mayan folklore, but unfortunately because of the sound quaility I couldn't understand much of what was being said other than "Venga la lluvia" and a few other words/phrases. I still enjoyed it a lot, though.

A gorgeous Mexico sunset

Another view of said sunset

Then... we went home on the bus. Not much to say on that, other than most of us were pretty tuckered out.

Hasta la vista, ya'll!