This past weekend the Merida program went on its last excursion together. We started the weekend on Friday by going to Chichen Itza for the morning. It was a warm morning but not too bad. When we got to Chichen Itza pretty early in the morning there was no one there. However, as the morning went on, many more people showed up. On any given day, the site can have 5-15,000 people come through. Right now it is about 7,000. These first few pictures are from the mayan site.
Me standing in front of "El Castillo" or The Castle. There is a smaller pyramid inside this one. It is also considered one of the 7 wonders of the world. That is one of the reasons why Chichen Itza is so popular for tourists.
Where they performed human sacrifices. They would do this as an offering to the gods but before doing it, they would have to drug the person in order to get them up the stairs. Otherwise, they probably wouldn't have been able to do it.
Archaeological findings over the past 5 months. Archaeologists are and were working on this when we were at the site. It is amazing that they discovered all this in such a short period of time!
El Cenote Sagrado. This is the cenote that they did human sacrifices in as well. Kind of creepy!
After going to Chichen Itza we headed to a small village called Tinum. It was about 30 minutes away. The purpose of us going there was to stay with a mayan family for 2 days and nights. When we arrived when got an orientation about what to expect from the family and the experience. The few things we talked about were the bathroom and shower situation, eating alone at the guest table while the family at at the tortilla making table, and to also just enjoy ourselves. Our connection to Tinum was Lisa and Schulze. Schulze is a retired psychology professor from Central and his wife also worked at Central. Friday afternoon and night was spent with the family. I was fed right when I got there and it was ok. I started talking to the mom and just finding out what their family was like and she was asking what mine was like. Luckily there were 4 kids in the family and 3 of them were pretty young. The family consisted of a grandma, her two sons, (one was single and the other one was married), the wife of the married son and their four children. The kids were 11, 7, 4, and 2. I absolutely loved them. After eating a little at each meal because the food was very different, I went to bed and slept really well in my hammock. The next morning (Saturday) we got up and met as a group and went out to a milpa (farm), a molino (where they grind the corn into tortillas), and la panaderia (bakery). The following pictures are from Saturday on.
When we were at the farm we got to learn the process of de-graining the corn, planting, and harvesting the crops. This is the corn that we got to de-grain by hand since they don't use any sort of machines like we do in the States. It was such a fun experience to participate and really learn how their farming careers are much tougher than the farmers have it in the states. The corn shown above is 2-year old corn! That was crazy in my mind after coming from the previous saturday being back at home and harvesting about 600 acres in 3ish hours. This farmer that we spent time with only farms 5 acres. It takes about 1 month to harvest all the crops in that one piece of land.
They plant all the corn the same--the good corn goes for eating and the bad corn goes to the animals. They said that these other four types of corn taste all the same and that the white corn offsets the red corn to make it clearer. Interesting! We told them that we spend quite a bit of money on this color of corn for fall decorations and they just harvested it from their field!
They plant by hand as well about 1 meter apart. So, we got to try ourselves! The bucket that is hanging from my neck has the biggest kernels from the middle of the corn cobs that are used for planting and just put right back into the ground. They have tried to use seed like farmers buy in the states but it doesn't work in their rocky soil. So, they are sticking with what works and what they know. They plant 3 corn kernels in each hole along with bean and squash seeds. The beans grow up the corn stalk and the squash protects the bottom of the corn stalk.
I'm trying to aim 5 kernels into the tiny hole I made, but I only made 2. =( Oh well! It was fun.
This is where they house the corn cobs (still in the husk) after they have been harvested. It sits there for quite some time!
Once the corn stalks are tall enough, and before the rainy season starts (August-November) they bend the stalk in half so that the corn cobs are facing the ground. This prevents the birds from eating the crop and the heavy rains from ruining it.
Along with harvesting corn, they harvest the beans and the squash. The farmer was harvesting the squash in front of us. They wear the basket hung from a strap that is on their head. They then throw the squash, corn, or beans in there. But, they only harvest one crop at a time.
We got to try it, so of course I took up the opportunity!
The farmer also set up his hunting stand so we could see how he does it. It wasn't that interesting to me because I am not a fan of hunting but I learned his way of doing this is way different from the hunting stands in the states. I am completely clueless about hunting, if you can't tell! Haha.
After leaving the farm, we went to the molino (mill) where they grind the cooked corn from the fields into masa (dough) and if they want to, they can have the molino make the masa into actual tortillas. This is the final step in the milling process.
After going to the molino, we went to the bakery where they make all the bread by hand.
They also bake it in a wood-brick oven! I would love to have one of those someday. It gives the food such a better flavor!
The sweet bread they made and just came out of the wood-brick oven.
Now I'm going to show you pictures of the very rustic house I stayed in while in Tinum. Before going to Tinum, we had to fill out a questionnaire about what our preferences were. I decided since it was going to be my last weekend in Mexico on my own (without my parents and Neal here) I really wanted to live with a very traditional mayan family. I told Val I wanted to live in a very rustic home and that I didn't care about the bathroom situation (may or may not have an actual toilet). However, when I got there, I was surprised to find that they did have a shower, toilet, and sink! It had just been added two years ago, but that was a big deal for their family!
As you can see, the house was very rustic. This was their kitchen.
This is where I ate alone at every meal. It was weird eating by myself especially since I didn't enjoy the food. It was just very different with very strong smells and tastes. But even though I didn't eat a lot, I still got to experience the typical mayan/yucatacan food. After comparing with the other students, I think my food wasn't as much (in quantity) and as good was because of their financial situation. They had dirt floors, thatched roofs, and the walls inside of the lined sticks that made the walls were only cardboard. I think you can see it in this picture. But, if you can't in this picture, you will in the next one.
This is part of the family I stayed with. The husband and other guy (brothers) as well as the oldest child were not present for the picture. The single guy works in his milpa while the husband (other brother) works for the police department. To earn some extra money, the family has 2 pigs in the backyard and will be selling the meat for money. The wife also weaves hammocks (which she taught me how to do) and also crochet's the bottom part of the skirt that goes under the traditional mayan dress that the grandma is wearing.
While there, I also got to attend a meeting by the hammock makers. I had no idea what was going on before we got there because we just kept walking toward the edge of town on Friday night. We ended up going to two meetings. There was a candidate that wants to become the president of the hammock worker's project. It is a microfinancing project. A guy gave them the yarn to start making the hammocks and took the hammocks to Chichen Itza to sell. However, he never gave them the money back. He came to Merida and just took the money for himself. So, now the women have no way of making money for the work they do. So, in turn, this other guy was asking for their votes to become their president and was promising to do the job that the other guy (that has now passed away) was doing but that they money would be brought back to them. I wonder what will come of all that!
This weekend was a great experience. It was definitely an eye-opening one! After staying with the family for 2 nights and 2 days in the very rustic home, I don't know if I could do it again. It was way out of my comfort zone, but I am so glad I did it. It was something that I will probably never experience again. This past weekend will never be forgotten. Thanks for reading this long post!! =)
Me standing in front of "El Castillo" or The Castle. There is a smaller pyramid inside this one. It is also considered one of the 7 wonders of the world. That is one of the reasons why Chichen Itza is so popular for tourists.
Where they performed human sacrifices. They would do this as an offering to the gods but before doing it, they would have to drug the person in order to get them up the stairs. Otherwise, they probably wouldn't have been able to do it.
Archaeological findings over the past 5 months. Archaeologists are and were working on this when we were at the site. It is amazing that they discovered all this in such a short period of time!
El Cenote Sagrado. This is the cenote that they did human sacrifices in as well. Kind of creepy!After going to Chichen Itza we headed to a small village called Tinum. It was about 30 minutes away. The purpose of us going there was to stay with a mayan family for 2 days and nights. When we arrived when got an orientation about what to expect from the family and the experience. The few things we talked about were the bathroom and shower situation, eating alone at the guest table while the family at at the tortilla making table, and to also just enjoy ourselves. Our connection to Tinum was Lisa and Schulze. Schulze is a retired psychology professor from Central and his wife also worked at Central. Friday afternoon and night was spent with the family. I was fed right when I got there and it was ok. I started talking to the mom and just finding out what their family was like and she was asking what mine was like. Luckily there were 4 kids in the family and 3 of them were pretty young. The family consisted of a grandma, her two sons, (one was single and the other one was married), the wife of the married son and their four children. The kids were 11, 7, 4, and 2. I absolutely loved them. After eating a little at each meal because the food was very different, I went to bed and slept really well in my hammock. The next morning (Saturday) we got up and met as a group and went out to a milpa (farm), a molino (where they grind the corn into tortillas), and la panaderia (bakery). The following pictures are from Saturday on.
When we were at the farm we got to learn the process of de-graining the corn, planting, and harvesting the crops. This is the corn that we got to de-grain by hand since they don't use any sort of machines like we do in the States. It was such a fun experience to participate and really learn how their farming careers are much tougher than the farmers have it in the states. The corn shown above is 2-year old corn! That was crazy in my mind after coming from the previous saturday being back at home and harvesting about 600 acres in 3ish hours. This farmer that we spent time with only farms 5 acres. It takes about 1 month to harvest all the crops in that one piece of land.
They plant all the corn the same--the good corn goes for eating and the bad corn goes to the animals. They said that these other four types of corn taste all the same and that the white corn offsets the red corn to make it clearer. Interesting! We told them that we spend quite a bit of money on this color of corn for fall decorations and they just harvested it from their field!
They plant by hand as well about 1 meter apart. So, we got to try ourselves! The bucket that is hanging from my neck has the biggest kernels from the middle of the corn cobs that are used for planting and just put right back into the ground. They have tried to use seed like farmers buy in the states but it doesn't work in their rocky soil. So, they are sticking with what works and what they know. They plant 3 corn kernels in each hole along with bean and squash seeds. The beans grow up the corn stalk and the squash protects the bottom of the corn stalk.
I'm trying to aim 5 kernels into the tiny hole I made, but I only made 2. =( Oh well! It was fun.
This is where they house the corn cobs (still in the husk) after they have been harvested. It sits there for quite some time!
Once the corn stalks are tall enough, and before the rainy season starts (August-November) they bend the stalk in half so that the corn cobs are facing the ground. This prevents the birds from eating the crop and the heavy rains from ruining it.
Along with harvesting corn, they harvest the beans and the squash. The farmer was harvesting the squash in front of us. They wear the basket hung from a strap that is on their head. They then throw the squash, corn, or beans in there. But, they only harvest one crop at a time.
We got to try it, so of course I took up the opportunity!
The farmer also set up his hunting stand so we could see how he does it. It wasn't that interesting to me because I am not a fan of hunting but I learned his way of doing this is way different from the hunting stands in the states. I am completely clueless about hunting, if you can't tell! Haha.
After leaving the farm, we went to the molino (mill) where they grind the cooked corn from the fields into masa (dough) and if they want to, they can have the molino make the masa into actual tortillas. This is the final step in the milling process.
After going to the molino, we went to the bakery where they make all the bread by hand.
They also bake it in a wood-brick oven! I would love to have one of those someday. It gives the food such a better flavor!
The sweet bread they made and just came out of the wood-brick oven.Now I'm going to show you pictures of the very rustic house I stayed in while in Tinum. Before going to Tinum, we had to fill out a questionnaire about what our preferences were. I decided since it was going to be my last weekend in Mexico on my own (without my parents and Neal here) I really wanted to live with a very traditional mayan family. I told Val I wanted to live in a very rustic home and that I didn't care about the bathroom situation (may or may not have an actual toilet). However, when I got there, I was surprised to find that they did have a shower, toilet, and sink! It had just been added two years ago, but that was a big deal for their family!
As you can see, the house was very rustic. This was their kitchen.
This is where I ate alone at every meal. It was weird eating by myself especially since I didn't enjoy the food. It was just very different with very strong smells and tastes. But even though I didn't eat a lot, I still got to experience the typical mayan/yucatacan food. After comparing with the other students, I think my food wasn't as much (in quantity) and as good was because of their financial situation. They had dirt floors, thatched roofs, and the walls inside of the lined sticks that made the walls were only cardboard. I think you can see it in this picture. But, if you can't in this picture, you will in the next one.
This is part of the family I stayed with. The husband and other guy (brothers) as well as the oldest child were not present for the picture. The single guy works in his milpa while the husband (other brother) works for the police department. To earn some extra money, the family has 2 pigs in the backyard and will be selling the meat for money. The wife also weaves hammocks (which she taught me how to do) and also crochet's the bottom part of the skirt that goes under the traditional mayan dress that the grandma is wearing.While there, I also got to attend a meeting by the hammock makers. I had no idea what was going on before we got there because we just kept walking toward the edge of town on Friday night. We ended up going to two meetings. There was a candidate that wants to become the president of the hammock worker's project. It is a microfinancing project. A guy gave them the yarn to start making the hammocks and took the hammocks to Chichen Itza to sell. However, he never gave them the money back. He came to Merida and just took the money for himself. So, now the women have no way of making money for the work they do. So, in turn, this other guy was asking for their votes to become their president and was promising to do the job that the other guy (that has now passed away) was doing but that they money would be brought back to them. I wonder what will come of all that!
This weekend was a great experience. It was definitely an eye-opening one! After staying with the family for 2 nights and 2 days in the very rustic home, I don't know if I could do it again. It was way out of my comfort zone, but I am so glad I did it. It was something that I will probably never experience again. This past weekend will never be forgotten. Thanks for reading this long post!! =)
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