God is good all the time, all the time God is good!

"Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him."
Hebrews 11:6

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

"I'm that star up in the sky, I'm that mountain peak up high... hey I made it"



I climed a mountain today! That's right... a mountain, huge mound of dirt and rock and vegitation and I conquered it! I didnt think i would make it a few times. I was tempted to just sit and rest my tired bones and say I tried but nope, I actually made it up to about 800ft altitude in about 45 minutes. Wow! What a rush it was to actually make it to the top and see the amazing view! What a high... literally!

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Stranded in Mexico

May 29, 2008

Today we left Playa del Carmen. It was a sad day… it is the last time we will see the beautiful Caribbean Sea.
The bus was of course about an hour late so we were behind schedule… no big deal though. So we head out, in route to Chichen-itza. About two hours or so into our trip, we are all pretty much asleep, being lulled by the moving bus, we hear a loud beeping noise coming from the front of the bus. We realize it is coming from the dashboard. It is some sort of alarm telling us that the bus is overheating or that there is some sort of malfunction and we need to stop. So about 15 minutes of driving with the loud annoying beeping sound we stop on the side of the narrow Mexican road to check out the problem. We are stopped for probably about 30 minutes or so and then its “on the road again.”
No less than 30 minutes on the road the delightful beeping noise comes back.
So we eventually stop at a small gas station in the middle of nowhere to check the problem again. This time we were stopped for over an hour. We entertained ourselves by way of games, a short jog to the end of the street and back and anything else we could think of to make the time go by. Luckily the weather was cloudy and pretty cool because it had just rained. It was a perfect day to be stranded at a gas station in the middle of nowhere with only $1 bag of chips that the Mexican gas attendant sold us, that really should have been like $0.25, and water. Haha
After the bus driver worked long and hard on the radiator we head out, yet again. We barely make it to the town we were suppose to stay the night in, Valladolid, before the beeping, yet again, filled our ears. So with our plans already really messed up we just stopped at our hotel and checked in.
This town is a good picture of a Mexican town. There are very few, pretty much none besides us, milling around the streets and staying in the hotel.
The hotel entrance is just a large double door in the side of the building front, just like any other store entrance on the small crowded street. When you enter the hotel you go right into the dinning area of the restaurant. It is all open air, so the heat and humidity just follow you wherever you go. As I said before, it is cloudy so that makes it nice. The décor is what I consider authentic Hispanic décor. Diego Rivera paintings on the wall, fountain in the middle of a courtyard, high arcs, plants everywhere.
I really feel like I’m in Mexico now. But it is a good thing. I like it.
Across from the hotel is a little park. It is beautiful with trees all around and a fountain in the middle. There are vendors lining the sidewalk selling all sorts of Mexican trinkets. I was a tourist today… I bought a Mexican dress from one of the ladies. It is beautiful. The dress part is white with beautiful big colorful flowers embroidered around the top around the collar and around the bottom. The underskirt or slip is hand sewn embroidery and is only white. Many of the women walking the streets are wearing this type of –vestida- dress. I’m so excited about my authentic Mexican moo moo! Haha
We made our way round to a beautiful old Catholic church that was filling with people as it was about to hold mass.
We found lots of Mexican stores, like the ones we learn about in the Spanish books like la Panaderia- bread store, la Zopateria- shoe store, la joyeria- jewelry store, la paleteria y halederia- ice cream store, even a pet store selling baby chicks.
We tried some amazing strawberry sherbet type ice cream.
It was a pretty uneventful day as far as going and doing things but it was still an exciting day!

"Everything's better, down where it's wetter, under the sea"


May 28, 2008
Talum- Mayan ruins : The first sight seeing excursion of our trip.
Well it was a hot one today! Whew! We walked a little less than a mile to the site of the ruins from where our bus let us off.
We didn’t get to stay very long but while we were there we listened to the guide tell us the history of the Mayan ruins. We learned about the different gods, specifically the main god – the honey bee god, which is an upside down figure representing fertility.
The Mayans built their temples at the top of a cliff to be closer to the gods. We got to look off the cliff into the Caribbean Sea. It was beautiful! The view from on top was amazing. The blue water as far out as you could see and the waves crashing against the cliff on the edges of the little inlet and there were people swimming in the area directly below us.
When we got back from our exciting ruin sightseeing a group of us went snorkeling. That was another exciting adventure. We got on the boat and rode for about 10 minutes along the shore out to a spot on the reef. We were only about 200 ft off the shore. We put our equipment on which was quite an interesting feat. I had never worn flippers before so I was having a really tough time working them. When I got in the water it took me a little while to get use to them as well as the snorkel mask. I had never been snorkeling before so it was all so new to me. Its rather exhausting! It was really neat though just staying on top of the water and being able to see everything in the reef so clearly. We had to be really careful because it was pretty shallow, only about 6 ft, less in some places. We saw all sorts of different fish. Tan fish with black stripes- I named them zebra fish. Fish that looked like the rainbow fish from the book. There were rainbow fish with bright blues and green colors, some with light neutral colors, and others with reds and browns. It was really fun to see them all swimming around in their natural habitat, to be able to swim with them and follow them around. I enjoyed finding schools of fish and trying to follow them. I felt like Ariel from The Little Mermaid as I flipped my fins and swam around. It was great! Several times I saw schools of a certain type of fish, like the zebra fish and then there would be one random pretty rainbow fish that stuck our amongst them. I also saw a Dori fish that looked like Dori from Finding Nemo swimming with a school of zebra fish. The reef was pretty too and all different shapes and heights.

After about 30 minutes of swimming with the fish we made it to the boat which had moved down to the other side of the reef and we ended our underwater adventure. I was pretty exhausted!

We ate a really fancy dinner at one of the restaurants you have to make reservations for. Everyone looked so nice all dressed up. We were learning propper ediqate as we enjoyed our fancy meal. It was really fun. White wine, soup, salad, fish and steamed vegetables and flan for dessert. It was very good and very fun! This country girl is breaking out of her shell more and more every day! haha
It was a fun day full of new and exciting things. I just love getting to do things I dont normally get to do!

Vivo Mexico! And so it begins...

This summer is going to be one like never before...

5 weeks in another country... Woo hoo!! How exciting is that! Not only do I get to experience something new, learn about a culture first hand, improve my Spanish skills and get credit for doing it... I get to serve the Lord in a whole new place! Did I mention I am excited?! I dont know what the Lord has in store for me down in Cuernavaca, Mexico but I am puttiong my complete trust in Him that He is in control and He is worthy. I cant wait to see how the days unfold and where the Lord calls me to meet Him in his work. I am truly blessed at the opportunity to do this! So... with my bags packed, my passport pages longing to be stamped and my camera ready to capture every moment... voy a Mexico!!
May 25, 2008

We arrived in Cancun today. When we drove up to the resort I had to push my jaw closed because I was in such disbelief at where we were staying. The beautiful Cancun Palace. Never before in my life have I felt so ritzy and luxurious. As we were checking in they had yummy and pretty refreshing drinks already waiting for us at the counter. There were even wet towels to cool us off from the heat outside. I pretty much walked around in shock the whole time we were there. Not really of course but I felt like such a country girl because every time I would find something else that was cool or fancy that I had never seen before I got very excited, and that was a lot!
(i didnt write a lot after this for a while so I will have to go back and fill in the gaps...)

May 27, 2008

Today we went to the Centro Mercado near our resort in Playa del Carmen. We walked about 15 minutes into town. It was really hot. My friend Kelly and I found some really neat shawl/wraps for only $7.00. They are really neat and made of very soft material. They work good as a swimsuit coverup, skirt, dress... it has many uses. We came across a Starbucks which was really exciting! They had free internet access and we took advantage of that for a while. I bought some freshwater pearls from a pearl shop that had all kinds of different pearls. I was so excited! I could have bought them all, but I limited myself to one strand and a pair of earrings to match. They are a pretty grayish blue color.
As we made our way farther in we came across the typical Mexican vendors that stood outside their stores trying to lure you in to buy all their “very pretty things… quality made… you come look!” We made it through without too much difficulty. Surprisingly we saw a live statue as we were going to the shops. He was painted sliver with glitter from head to toe. Bling Bling!! He was definitely blingin. It was really cool and unexpected. I tried to get him to move by saying things to him but he never did. He made a good statue.
At dinner we were serenaded by a Mariachi band. They did a great job. I was glad to finally see a real Mariachi band.

The show of the evening was a professional Mexican dance group. They performed the Baile foclorico. It was amazing! They did so good. Their colorful dress and perfectly in step routines to go with the various songs was quite a show. It makes me want to be one... mostly just because their dresses are so stinkin cool! I want one of those multicolored, multilayered dresses that look so pretty when you twirl them and dance with them. haha