Palenque

Wednesday January 9

Took the cheap bus to Palenque that afternoon, we were so stoked about saving so much money we didn’t stop to think about the things we might be sacrificing, but I can sure tell you now what they were:

1. Air Conditioning, minor detail in 85 degree weather with humidity

2. A classic (I use that term roughly) American film dubbed in Spanish

3. Personal space, I really got to know my neighbor, luckily it was just my husband or things could have gotten really awkward…

4. Shocks, as in the kind on the frame of the bus itself, we were in the back row and I literally shot all the way up to the ceiling and almost made a couple new sun roofs in the top of the bus

5. Apparently the cheap bus that travels across the country also doubles as public transport as we stopped for anyone and everyone who flagged us down along the way.

6. People coming on the bus to sell their various wares including but not limited to talmales, frozen slushy things, sandwiches, drinks, etc… Ok let’s be honest that was actually a bonus not a negative….

After we arrived in Palenque we took a taxi to our hostel which was located right at the gate that goes in to the Pelenque park, which has all the ruins. We stayed in a nice little private Cabana that had a big shared grassy area and there were a bunch of people camping in tents as well. I think we must have gotten there in the middle of some big rendezvous because there were seriously hippies all over the place and it smelled like pot everywhere we went.

That night we were just hanging out in our room and all of a sudden we hear this super loud growling animal noise. It sounded so close and my first thought was seriously, how strong are these walls and are they going to protect us when this thing attacks! It went on for a good 15 minutes and I was legitimately scared, my one consoling thought was I hadn’t heard any screaming from people yet, so either the animal was so fast it silenced you before you had a chance to scream or it was only marginally dangerous. McKay finally decided to go check it out, I was very torn between letting my husband go out and die and I would still have no idea what was going on out there or go out with him and risk my own death….

This was a video we took while exploring the scary noise, if you skip to about the 35 second mark that’s really where all the action starts!

After taking this video we walked over to our hostel check in where two armed guards were hanging out (at that point we thought, there is some real danger here if they brought in armed guards and everything) and asked them what the noise was. They said something in Spanish I didn’t understand and after seeing my look of confusion they repeated, “You know, a monkey.”

Sadly this is the tiny creature that all the fuss was about. It’s called a Howler Monkey and I think it’s endangered, probably because it sounds like a Jaguar mating call and when the Jaguar shows up and sees it’s been tricked it probably just eats the monkey in retaliation.

Thursday January 10

Headed up to see the ruins first thing in the morning. As we were getting in the combi to go through the first gate they made us buy what you think is a park ticket for 25 pesos each, however once you actually reach the park entrance you found out that the 25 pesos were just to save the rain forest and you still have to buy you park ticket. So lame that they pull this trick wherever they can, but I guess when it’s $2 you’re talking about you can’t get too upset.

They weren't sure the purpose this building had in Mayan times, I think it was solely there to stand in front of and take awesome pictures!

In the background is the main city center for Palenque, it was one of the major cities at the height of the Mayans and was still being built up to the time of their decline around 850 AD. 

See all those steps behind us, we decided we wanted a little workout and climbed up and down them at least 5 times.... Or we would have had it been open. :)

We went in to the town of Palenque after seeing the ruins walked around and ate dinner. You can’t help but eat at a place like Mr. Taco when you’re in Mexico. Looks like a classy joint right? WRONG! This restaurant was almost the death of both of us, read on to find out more…

In the middle of the night Thursday poor McKay woke up and seriously threw up everything he had eaten for the last four days! Luckily he threw up over the little deck of our cabana down in to a little stream so it only smelled like throw up for a little while… I felt so bad but secretly thought, “Sorry your stomach is so weak and mine is so strong” until…..

Friday January 11

We changed hostels early in the morning (we found somewhere cheaper but with the same amount of bugs so it was a no brainer) and then met our tour bus to head out to Misol Ha and Agua Azul. I woke up not feeling 100% but thought nah I’m just having sympathy pains this will pass. So in the bus we went, and on to the windiest crazy road you’ve ever seen did we go and up decided to come my dinner…. Luckily we had a nice clear Ziploc bag for me to puke in, only instead of gracefully throwing up and getting it over with my body decided it wasn’t quite time so I had to spend the whole day being sick and looking on the verge of throwing up. When we finally got to Agua Azul it was so nice to get out and walk around and breathe some fresh air. We spent 3 hours there and by the end of that time my confidence was building so I drank some Coke and had a little empanada with beans. All I can say is clearly I must be a rookie because that was a choke and I paid for it the whole way home, this time I wasn’t faking it and in to the clear Ziploc bag everything went,… Talk about how to win friends and influence people. The good news was I had plenty of space to myself  on that trip, no one wanted to sit next to the girl who smelled like throw up. :)

This is Agua Azul, it was seriously so pretty and had little waterfalls like this that went on forever. All the indigenous people who live in the area use this river to wash their clothes and food and literally live within 25 yards of the path.

This is one of the lookout views as you're hiking up, they had swimming holes all along the way as well and there were tons of Mexican families there enjoying their afternoons! I still don't get why they call it Agua Azul though?.... (Agua Azul translated for those of you who don't know is Water Blue)

This is at Misol Ha on our way to Agua Azual, this was an awesome swimming hole and you could climb behind and on to the other side of the waterfall as well. It was super safe and legit with slippery wet rock and no railing or handholds to support yourself with. That's what I love about Mexico!

Apparently this guy could not make it even one step further so he just gave up and died right there in the most inconvenient spot he could find in the middle of the trail…

This was the restaurant right by the two hostels we stayed at, it’s called Don Mucho’s, I’m pretty sure because every time you eat there you spend “Mucho’s” you money! :) They had live entertainment every night and it was a pretty happening place!

Saturday Jan 12

We headed out of Palenque on Saturday but by the time we got in to town at 11 the next bus wasn’t for 3 hours. So we hung out in town, avoided Mr. Taco like the plague and grabbed something to eat. It took 6 hours to get in to San Cristobal and first it was so hot we were sweating to death and then as we got closer to S.C., because it's high up in the mountains, it was so cold and we were shivering like something that shivers a lot. Apparently us gringo's are impossible to please.

This was the second hostel we stayed in Palenque, and upon further inspection of my backpack in this picture, it definitely does not look nearly as heavy as it feels every time I have to carry it more than 5 steps down the road….

This was the bathroom of the restaurant we ate at while waiting for the bus. It brings going to the bathroom with your friends to a whole new level.

Villahermosa

Monday January 7

Well here we are another day another story about how much I love the Mexican families down here! We tried to wake up early and head to the bus, of course the rooster outside our window was much obliged to help with that, but we couldn’t get going nearly as early as we had planned (shocking right?). So by the time we were all packed and headed downstairs Mario and Jose had run to the store to grab a few things for breakfast and had brought back peanut butter (which is crazy expensive) and jelly for our pancakes cause they knew that McKay loved peanut butter. Mayra made us the pancakes, which were really a mix between a crepe and a pancake but still so delicious, and wouldn't, as usual, let us help with a thing. Which if I’m being honest is the only thing that stressed me out about being here. I mean I can’t even communicate with you but please keep serving me all hours of the day! 

Later Mario insisted on taking us to the bus station and put up a big fight when we tried to give them money. He was very emotional and told McKay that he was his family and we could come stay with them anytime we wanted! 

Rode an ADO bus in to Villahermosa, they are supper fancy buses and felt like I was riding high class! We watched 500 Days of Summer…. In Spanish… All I can say is way better than the English version… Or so I would assume if I could have understood all the words. 

Got to Villa and checked in to our super classy Hostel, located directly across from what smelled like a sewer plantation, but hey it was $12 and within walking distance of the bus station, so who am I to judge?

We then headed to La Venta, which as McKay told me is the one must do in the city! La Venta is kind of a zoo slash outdoor museum. They have monkeys and birds and jaguars etc. but the main attraction there are all the Olmeca Carvings from a couple thousand years ago. They found a bunch of them in Villahermosa but have shipped most of them off to other cities, what is left is displayed at La Venta.

Two Olmeca heads.... :)

They completely misrepresented my jawline in this one...

I'm pretty sure this is a picture of two men carrying deformed babies that represent something crazy... I'm also pretty sure when you have the whole story, the representation makes more sense...

Tuesday Jan 8

Woke up bright and early and, after a mostly freezing cold shower, it was mostly freezing until I decided to try the hot water nozzle at the very end and it worked,  headed to the outskirts of town where McKay served his mission. We started in La Rosas and after finding the correct family and setting up a time to come see them later that day we started walking down the highway to our next stop, McKay told me oh it’s not too far.... 5 km later (but seriously though) we made it. I was so mad because of the intense hardship he made me endure by walking and told him he needs to change his definition of not too far! 

We ate lunch that day with such a sweet family, Ana and Masiel and Masiel’s little baby boy Derik. We had the best Spaghetti Mac N Cheese ever, I loved it! Maciel was so sweet, when McKay gave her a tie to give to her husband she was like, I have a gift for your wife also and then she ran upstairs and came down with a little bag that had a cute bracelet in it. It was so sweet and I just can’t get over how giving these people are.

After lunch we headed back to La Rosas and met up with the Palacio family who McKay baptized on his mission. They were so excited to see him and tell him they had gone through the temple! The mom Laura was so cute and animated and they called her sister for McKay to say hello and she was so animated and crazy as well, I couldn’t help but think of my aunts and their crazy ways! :)

This was part of the 5km stretch that we walked, I'm pretty sure I could hear the bus driver yelling, "10 points for the gringos" out the window as they passed, swerving to get as close to us as they could!

This was the little taxi McKay finally let us take that is basically a motorcycle with a cab sitting on top of it. Our driver was clearly enthused to have his picture taken!

This is the road straight off the highway where we walked to Ana's home.... I'm pretty sure it's safe, I mean we had a 50% success rate, that's not too bad right?

There must be something in the water, because for some reason we look like we come from the land of giants in this pic.... That has never happened to us before!

This is Ana, Masiel, and baby Derik!

La Familia Palacio! This is basically right at their backdoor which is set up in a big courtyard type area with houses surrounding it, everyone just has their laundry hanging up to dry and there are dogs and cats just wandering around like crazy!

Have you ever seen The Illusionist? He's got nothing on McKay!

We stopped by the temple on Wednesday morning to check it out. Temples are so pretty anyway, but this one especially stood out to me in the middle of the city where everything is dirty!

This does not give nearly enough credit for the amount of skill required to take it, no person, tripod, or timer were used (or hurt) in the making of this picture.... We spent way too much time playing with the panoramic settings on our camera!

Hola! Como Estas?....

These are just a few of the many words I hope to perfect during my time abroad. And after a long 3 days hanging with families who only speak Spanish I realized how far I have to go! :)

Ciudad Del Carmen

Friday January 4
We finally arrived in Ciudad Del Carmen at 11:00 in the afternoon after 19 hours of straight airport slash flight time, needless to say we wanted to crawl in our beds and sleep the day away. However, when in Mexico do as the Mexicans do, whatever that means, so in to town we headed! The airport in Carmen is super tiny, we were the only plane in sight and as we got through customs we were hounded by taxi drivers more than willing to offer their services, so McKay asked how much to the city center and the taxi driver told him 120 pesos (about $10) to which I thought, "Sure that sounds pretty reasonable, anything to get this ridiculously heavy back pack off my shoulders" but McKay scoffed at the idea and made us walk out of the airport and all the way down to the closest intersection. Naturally I was complaining the whole way until we found another taxi and hitched the same ride for a mere 25 pesos! That's like an 82% discount, can you say BUENO?!!

We headed in to town and went to the home of the Perera's, they're a family McKay knew from his mission and were so amazingly kind and sweet! It was very humbling to see how the people down here live and yet how generous they are with everything they have.

We visited a few other families that day and on our way to see one of the members of the branch down here we were walking past a house and McKay recognized a guy in his yard and told me hey that's one of my investigators who never got baptised then yelled, "Hola" the guy looked over and said, "Weber?" (because that's how they say Weaver) His name was Wilbert and he made us come in to his house with his brother and mom and they went out and bought some Coca Cola and gave us a nice plate of cookies. I was so full and wanted to die if I took another bite but didn't want to be rude. The whole time we were there they were a little bit strange and Wilbert just kept laughing randomly like someone just told him an awesome joke, I couldn't understand what he was saying but thought oh he must be saying something really funny that no one else is fully appreciating (I mean I understand because that happens to me all the time). Once we were out of there McKay told me oh by the way the two brothers are both schizophrenic! So, I guess the joke was on me! :)

That night we were so tired and all we wanted to do was go to sleep, but we were waiting for all the family to get home so we could eat dinner. We finally left to grab some dinner at 11:30 pm and everyone was joking is this dinner or breakfast? :) After ordering our Tacos we went to get back in the car and it wouldn't start and of course it was raining like crazy! So McKay and I got out and had to push the car down the middle of busy street until we got enough speed to pop the clutch! I actually think there was nothing wrong with the car, but they just wanted us to have an authentic experience! :)

 This is Ale and Karem, both members that McKay baptised. They had us over for lunch on Friday and we had amazing bistec and homemade guacamole! They are so dang sweet and gave us Mexican candy to try and a Mexican sim card for our phone for us to take for the rest of trip! We offered to take one of Karem's 3 daughters off her hands, but apparently that was her limit to giving... :)

This is the family home where McKay washed his clothes every Monday on his mission, can you believe it? Me either, McKay washed his own clothes at one point! :) Jesus in the middle is also a massive Glee fan, so there was no lack of conversation between the two of us!

This is Said (Sci-eed) my "Novio de Carmen!" He was so shy when we first met him he was just hiding behind his mom, but as we were talking he started to get brave and would sneak a peak, after a little while he said to his Mom, "Muchacha Guappa" (pretty lady) and then pointed at me, it was so sweet and melted my heart. After that he started calling me his Novia (girlfriend) and when they told him I was already McKay's wife he said that's ok she can be my girlfriend too! His Mom said she's in trouble because he's only two and only thinks about two things in life, dulce's (sweets) and chicas (girls).

This is the sweetest video of Said catching and blowing kisses to me! We were all just hanging out outside talking and Said was showing off. When his Grandpa came out to say hello Said yelled, "Abuelito esta es mi Novia" (Grandpa this is my girlfriend)! So fun, I wish we could bring him home with us! After he was done blowing kisses the first thing he said was, can I have my candy now. :)

Apparently in Mexico they celebrate Christmas on Dec 25th and Los Reyes Magos (the Magic Kings or 3 Wisemen) on Jan 6th. Both require letters from good boys and girls to the proper authority and both days see all the children receiving an abundance of gifts.... I think my parents forgot to tell me about this holiday on purpose.....

Friday night Marianna (daughter in law to the Perera's) took us all over the island and showed us all the parks that were completely decked out with lights for Christams and Los Reyes. Behind us is the horse in the life size Nativity they had set up directly across from Christmas Mickey and Minnie Mouse.... Who I am to judge the priority of their Christmas decorations?

Ana Luisa Perera, host mom slash cook extraordinaire!

Here is the rest of the Perera family that we stayed with (Mayra, Jose, Mario) they seriously waited on us hand and foot and Mayra even gave us her room and she bunked with her brother so we would have somewhere to stay!

Saturday January 5

I don't remember falling asleep Friday night because I was so tired. I do however distinctly remember being woken up over and over again Saturday morning because of the Rooster right outside our room that was so excited for the day to start it would not stop crowing! That along with 3 Parrots that just kept repeating "Bueno, Bueno, Bueno" "Hola, Hola, Hola" after one another made for a pleasant(less) wake up call.... Needless to say we slept with the window closed the next two nights. 

Spent the day hanging out with the Perera's and visiting a few other members. That night we went in to the city center and walked around. Because of Los Reyes they were having a big celebration with dancers, and magicians and the 3 Kings. We were the only gringos in sight and we stuck out like a sore thumb!

What's that? You wanted a morning workout without an ocean view for free? Need I show you more? This is on the Malecon, which has a big walkway right along the oceanfront and they have workout equipment like this at a couple different places.

This is the Casanova family (Daniel, Diego, Yadime, and Dana), we ate lunch with them on Saturday. They are so incredibly awesome and I seriously fell in love with them! We stopped by to say hello in the morning and they insisted we come eat lunch with them in the afternoon where we had incredible chicken tacos! (If I ever thought I was going to lose weight on this trip because I wouldn't like the food, I was wrong...)

If that's not a big ball of cheese I don't know what is! That night we were playing soccer on the patio with Said and every time he would score a goal he would run around for two minutes yelling, "GOOOOOOOOOAL" and waving his arms all around and then we would start back up he would say "Utah contra Mexico" (verses).

Sunday January 6

For any of you who think 1 regular 3 hour block of church is enough, I triple dog dare you to sit through 4 hours of church in a language you don't fully understand, that'll teach you what enough is! :) 

We decided to attend two different wards this Sunday so McKay could try and catch up with anyone we might have missed. We went to Sacrament in the morning and then came home and went back for more with the Perera's in the afternoon. It was Fast and Testimony meeting this week and it was amazing to see how eager everyone was to share their testimony. Literally the second the Bishop said it was time for testimonies there was a dead sprint to the pulpit as if a race gun had just sounded and it was obvious that it was each man for himself as the race started. I'm pretty sure I even saw a few grandmas using their walkers to shield the little kids out of the way! At first when I saw that there were so many people I thought, oh good we're going to hear from the ward choir. :) In all seriousness though it was so refreshing to see so many people so excited to share their testimonies and even though I couldn't understand what they were saying, you could see the sincerity in their eyes! 

That night the Perera's made us another wonderful dinner and McKay gave Jose and Mario ties that he had brought down from the states.While we were eating dinner Said told his Mom he had to go to the bathroom, but when she checked he had already peed his pants. So she told him, "You already went to the bathroom you're wet" and he looked down and said, "No that's just water, I didn't go to the bathroom yet." We were all laughing so hard and as Marianna was cleaning him up she kept saying, "Que pena (how embarassing) don't even look at your girlfriend" and then he would look down and shyly try to sneak a peek at me. It was so stinking cute!

Jose and Mayra whipping something up awesome in the kitchen!

After dinner we went over to the Casanova's again to say goodbye. Dana the youngest had been so excited to see us in church that day that after she bore her testimony she ran down the aisle where we were sitting and gave us big hugs. She was also so excited when we got there to show us all of the presents the Kings had brought her. We played Polly Pocket dress up, had a tea party, then she brought out all her stuffed animals and wanted to take a posed picture with them on her new camera. I didn't understand everything she was saying so every time she wanted to make sure I got the point she would run over to McKay and ask him to tell me what ever it was. 

We made it!.... Out of Utah! Wahoo! Well our trip started out with bang, not of the literal kind of course, but we arrived at the airport on Thursday at 3:30 with an overabundance of anticipation for our flight to Mexico! However, fate had a different idea for how our night would go, for we soon learned that our flight was majorly overbooked and they were going to take us all up in the air and then start picking people off one at a time until there were enough seats to go around. Needless to say you could taste the tension in the air! Nobody wanted to step up to take the hit but it had to be done, before I knew what was happening McKay emerged out of the group and yelled, "I volunteer as tribute...." or something along those lines... And before we knew it they were showering us with gifts and we were rerouted to Houston via Las Vegas (with a 3 hour layover) instead of Denver. Our pockets were slightly bulging from the $200 flight credit we each received, we decided we were going to put it all on Black and double our money once we hit Vegas but unfortunately the steep $7 shuttle fee to the strip brought our high rolling plans to an abrupt hault, so this is what we did at the airport instead....

Those Kardashians better watch their backs, I think these may be the new faces of reality TV...

Since we haven't made it to the real beach yet, this naturally seemed like the next best thing!

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, except when you take a ridiculous picture with your webcam and then upload it to your blog for all the world to see...

The rest of our flights went smoothly from there and other than getting no sleep Thursday night we arrived in Ciudad Del Carmen Friday afternoon with no hiccups. I'm so excited for the chance to see McKay's mission and where he served for two years! There's lots more to come so stay tuned for future updates...