Day of relaxation

I can't really remember what we did today. Lacey, if you have any photos from this day. You should post them and maybe we'll remember what we did.

Day of Relaxation

We left Tulum yesterday and decided to have a nice relaxing day today. The sun seemed to take it out of us, so we napped for part of the day. While Adam napped, I took pictures of our hotel courtyard. It looked like a jungle (as you can see from the picture above). It was so neat to hear the birds all day chirping away.

That evening we went to an Italian Restaurant on Quinta called Antica. It is owned by a gentleman who moved from Italy to purchase it. He takes lessons at Adam's school so we went with his friend Alejandra and Sarah, since they recommended the place. We also ran into two more people from the school. The picture is of Adam and Alejandra in front of Antica.

Sad to leave Tulum

Lacey and I left Tulum today. We relaxed in the morning and wondered around on the beach a bit before catching the taxi (supermafia) and then the colectivo back to Playa. I highly recommend you try the colectivo when you are in Mexico. It's an experience.


We were sad to leave Tulum and I have to tell you we highly, highly recommend it for folks who want to see amazing natural beauty, but hurry I think it´s going to be overrun by Americans and Europeans in a few years.

Tulum may be the most beautiful place in the world

no text yet but wanted everyone to see these photos in the meantime.

Mezzanine

We stayed at Mezzanine in Tulum, which was pricy but fantastic.

Mayan Ruins in Tulum

Lacey and I had a fantastic day today! We got up early and took out a sea kayak to check out the ocean. We paddled out to the closest reef and found a small wreck. The prow of the the boat just stuck up above the waves.

Then we paddled a few hundre meters down the reef to find a reef ball where we could tie up and I did a little snorkelling. The reef was really nice, shallow with plenty of coral and fish.

We had breakfast at the hotel restaraunt when we got back, eggs benedict and huevos rancheros, before getting cleaned up and heading off to the ruins.

The ruins were small but really neat, right on the ocean with an amazing view. The color of the water looking down the cliffs from the ruins is just indescribably beautiful and blue.

We had a long hot walk back to the hotel before we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and reading on the beach. I actually managed to study a bit. It's been different because I've been speaking a lot of Spanish but not thinking about grammar which means more mistakes but more practice. Today I even noticed someone using the the past subjunctive after cuando to express future past time, I think it's the first time I've heard that from a native speaker.

We had more thai food for dinner and then watched the stars from the beach. It's really amazing how much better we could see them. The Milky was literally a dim white band across the sky.

Tulum!

We made it to Tuluum todday. Wow, this place is amazing. It's definitelly more expensive to stay on the beach ($40 for an average room in Playa, more like 2-4x ). it's so desolate and beautiful here.

The day started out a little rough as Lacey was sick. She of couse pulled through it. I was particularly impressed that she made it through a 45 min van ride with 15 other people.

Speaking of whuch, the colectivo was pretty cool. It's a local van, common in Mexico, that for about $2 runs betwwenn cities about an hour apart. It doesn't have degined stops, other than at the beginning aand end. Instead, you just stand on the road annd wave. If there's room, they stop and you pile in and off you go.

While the colectivo was awesome, the taxi driver we took from the Tulum grocery store to our hotel was a jerk. He tried to overcharge us, and although he lowered his price when he discovered I spoke Spanish, he still overcharged us. Then to make it worse, he got lost and couldn't find the hotel. For anyone who sees just how small Tulum is, you'll understand how ridiculous this is. We tried saying our hotel name in three languages and spelling but got nowhere. Lacey thinks he was illiterate, he even tried to drop us off at a national park, saying itt was our hotel. We finally got out next to an abandoned shack, got help from some locals picnicing at the beach, and walked to our hotel.

Our hotel, mezzanine, is awesome. We highly recommend it if you want to pay more and get more. The photo of me is 5 min after we arrived . We were so happy to be here.

After we got here, we sat on the beach and relaxed. There's a picture of Lacey with someone's pet turtle, Quita. If you look, you'll see his owners painted his shell with nail polish. We turned in pretty early, but not before seeing the stars. It's so dark here (the beach is off the power grid) that the stars are amazing. I only wish a picture of them would come out.

El Nativo

This is our absolutely favorite restaurant in Playa. I highly recommend it!

Leaving my first South American Home

Lacey and left our first South American home today. We left Carolina´s for our hotel and tomorrow we´ll go to Tulum for two nights. They don´t have reliable power in Tulum so we´ll have to tell you about it when we get back.

Carolina´s house is fantastic and she taught me tons of Spanish. I know my next few stops we´ll be fine but it always makes me nervous to venture off to some new place. Check out the photo of Frida giving Carolina a kiss.

Drinks with Daniel and Alejendra

Lacey and I went to Deseo to have drinks with Daniel and Ale, but it wasn´t nearly as cool as Basico. I think they have the same owners but Deseo is targeted at Americans and I don´t recommend it. We left so that we could find a quieter place to talk.

Ale went home because of her headache, but the three of us had a beer at the Establo Grill. Daniel told us all about his trip to Cuba. I think he lost 5 or 6 pounds in 15 days because of the food, but he wanted to see the country before it changed.

On the beach with my toe

Today turned out fine, but started out a little rough. After school, Lacey and I were headed to the beach, when I kicked a piece of metal embedded in the sidewalk. Didn´t work out well for my toe, but we managed to bandage it up and I think it´s going to stay closed without stitches.

Bummer that I have to stay out of the water and sand for a few days but should be fine. No trip to Cozumel, but Carolina advised us against going anyway.

Lacey is here!

Lacey arrived yesterday afternoon and we want to basico last night and enjoyed the weather and the view.

Cool Rooftop Bar

Janet came back from Cuba and we met up with her at this cool rooftop bar at 5 avenida and 10 calle. I highly recommend it...definitely have to go back with Lacey.

Starting to get it

I still make errors in almost every spoken sentence, but it's getting better I think I should at least know all the grammatical rules by the time I finish in Chile. Hopefully by the time I'm in Argentina I'll be focussing on speaking and listening without talking like a child. Vamos a ver.

Carolina's Art Work

Carolina, my host, has been an artist all her life. She paints on silk and creates mostly scarfs and pillows with either local flora and fauna or local indiginous symbols. Here are some examples of her work. She mixes the dyes to create the colors herself.

After she draws and then paints the silk, the dyes have to be fixed. I took a picture of the apparatus she uses to heat up the chemicals and drive the reaction. It looks like she's cooking meth or giant pasta noodlles right on her stove. After the dye is fixed the silk goes through one more wetting and drying cycle to create the finished product.

Thanks for your comments :)

I just wanted to say thanks for all the comments. I really enjoy reading them..

Rainy day for studying

Today is rainy and gray. So, I think I'll try to use the day to study and do my laundry. I'm goung to go see another movie, I am Legend, in Spanish this week. Hopefully I'll be able to understand a little more.

Real Mexican Party

I went out to real Mexican party with Sarah and Alejandra. It was pretty intimidating at first, but it turned out well and I got to pracctice plenty of Spanish.

Franzi leaves, just me now

Franzi left this morning for Germany. Now it's just me until a new roommate, from the Czech Republic, gets here and then Lacey is here on Thursday!

Week 3 ends, almost, with Karaoke

Finished my 3rd week of classes today. It was just Renato and I and hhe leaves tomorrow for Cancun. Don't who I'll have for classmates or teachers next week.




I was hoping to go to Cuba but it wasn't possible, so I'm just hanging out on the beach this weekend.

Party at school at night. After the party we walked to a bar near my house with karaoke in Spanish (of course). I was pretty nervous, especially once Janothan told me he had his nose broken in a fight there. It turned out to be fine, Alejandre and I signed up for two songs, one in English and one in Spanish. The wait turned out to be too long though, awe leftt at 2 AM before we got to sing.

10,000 Little Ideas in Cleveland

Hey everybody. Check out the event Kiley put together (in Cleveland) at http://www.cleveland365.com/10000littleideas/ It will feature Brazilian music and
the Red Orchestra.

Monsoon

Rained like crazy off and on today. Not much else to report, guess I´m starting to get into a routine. I´m going to send Jesus an email and see if we can get together this weekend in Cancun.

Nicolas Cage in Spanish

Janet, Alejandre, and I was the most recent lost treasure/Nicolas Cage film tonight. I understood maybe 40% of the dialogue which I suppose isn´t too bad. I hope one day I´ll watch a movie and understand everything in Spanish. I definitely have to get in the habit of watching Spanish TV and movies with Spanish subtitles when I get home.

Almost private classes this week

Only renato and I this week. It´s almost like a private class.

Lots of wind and rain today so I went to the beach but it wasn´t too spectacular.

Tomorrow I´m going with Janet, a student from Switzerland, and Alejandre, a teacher, to watch a movie in Spanish. We´ll see how it goes.

Que pasada...what a great day I had

Today was the best day so far of my trip. It was fantastic!



Franzie and i woke up early and walked to the pickup point for a van to go snorkeling at the Isla Mujeres (island of women). We grabbed smoe coffe and then waited around for 30 or 40 minutes for our van to Cancun.



Cancun is crazy. It´s so much more built up than Playa and there are so many American tourists and English signs that it feels like Daytona Beach in Florida.



The snorkeling part of the trip was only ok. The reefs I´ve seen in Hawaii and the Dry Tortugas were much better.



But, I met some locals (Jesus, Julio, Gaby, Alejandre, and Fani) and they are fantastic! They are all originally from Mexico City but most of them live in Cancun now. Jesus and Julio work for a local dive shop and that´s what brought them to Cancun (If either of you want to post your contact infor for people visiting, I highly, highly recommend hiring them. They are awesome.)



We talked tons in Spanish. We probably spent around 2 - 3 hours talking almost exclusively in Spanish. It was so amazing. After we hung out on the beach for a while, the boat took us back to Cancun and we danced salsa on the deck. I have photos of Gaby and Julio dancing and Julio teaching Franzi how to dance. I really hope they can make it to visit me in the US. You have to come to the US, but come to Cleveland in summer.



Ustedes tienen que vener a mi casa in Los Estados Unidos, pero por favor vengan en verano porque hace muchisimo frio ahora. Mi casa es tu casa. Y por favor mandeme las paliculés de nosotros en el barco. Tu me las mandar por email o hacer un post aqui.



I really hope that we can all get together in Cancun before I leave. Maybe Franzi and I can head up this weekend or Lacey and I can come back when she arrives.

Hot Day on the Beach and Tigers in the Streets

Today was a beautiful hot sunny day on the beach. I wondered around a bit today. During lunch the folks advertising the local circus came by. As you can see they drive around in trucks with the animals. Tigers in the back of a truck is not something I would expect to see in the US!

Another different I noticed was making reservations. I finally made a reservation at a place that was recommended to me but only after I went there 3 times, because only one person there knows how to use the reservation software and she´s not always there.

All right, it´s off to bed early so that Franzi and I can get up tomorrow to go snorkeling.

Shrimp Tacos, Underground Bars, and Beach Parties

I finished off my 2nd week with a great Friday. First, I went for lunch after class to a place (La Floresta) on the other side of the highway. It´s really local and there was only one other group of non-Mexicans while I was there.



They have the best shrimp and fish tacos in town, which I sampled for myself.



After dinner, I went with Tanja and Wendy, two other students, to this cool bar/restaurant called Aluxe (Pronounced Aluxe, it´s spanish for gnomes or fairies).



It´s built underground in dry cave formed in the limestone by rain water. You can see from the photos that it´s quite cool and full of different rooms, some have tables, some have bars, and others have furniture like couches or beds to lounge on with a drink.



I´m definitely looking forward to when Lacey and I go back. I also tried my first Michelada, which is kind of like a bloody mary made with beer. People are definitely into spicy drinks. I´ve seen people adding pepper to their bottle of beer before they drink it.





After Aluxe we went to a beach party with some other students and some teachers. It was a really chill beach called Pharoah beach after a local landmark. It was pretty dark and I could see the stars well. We walked down the beach a little bit and also saw a cool fire show. Here´s a good picture that Tanja took. My host told me that several years ago they accidentally burnt down several buildings when the fire show got out of hand.

Adios Daniel

Daniel left this morning for the States. He should be home by the time I post this. We took some photos this morning with Frieda, the parrot who lives with us on our shoulders.


Frieda isn´t crazy about either of us but Daniel definitely isn´t crazy about her. Check out how he´s trying to keep his head away from her in the second photo. If you let here, she´ll come nibble on your eyebrows when she first gets on you shoulders...maybe to figure out who you are? Don´t know.

This morning stated out really hot, probably 80 F, but it turned into a fabulous day, sunnay and warm.

Last night Daniel, France, and I went to El Nativo. Definitely the best restaraunt I´ve been to so far. They have fantastic food and smoothies. I had a great conversation with the waiter in Spanish about which smoothie I should get and what the ingredients were. There were some fruits in the one I wanted (payas) that no one knew the English word for. Maybe it doesn´t exist. So the waiter had to explain to me that it was a small, black fruit that grows on trees that he likes. It sounds crazy but it was my best conversation so far. I also had grilled fish with tortillas....fantastio.

After dinner the three of us bought some beer and sat in hammocks and drank it with some of Daniel´s other friends. On the way, we saw the oldest Ford truck I've ever seen and took a photo. Check it out.

Riccardo´s Blog

Hey check out the post my friend Riccardo made after my going away party. http://lorcaandfriends.blogspot.com/2007/12/adios-adam.html While you are at it, check out Riccardo´s blog and his music.


Ciao,

Adam

slomo

Everything felt like it was in slow motion today. It was really hot and the mosquitos were out after a heavy rain.

Daniel and I tried to go to el Fagon, which is simultaneously one of the best places to eat and a chain, not quite fast food but sort of. Unfortunately Fagon was closed so after waiting for a while in the heat for Daniel, I headed home.

Daniel leaves tomorrow and I´ll miss him. He and I speak for probably 1 or 2 hours a day in Spanish and he can understand everything I say because my accent is not as strong to him.

Getting closer to housing in Chile. Hopefully I´ll have that figured out in a week or so. I actually felt homesick for the first time today.

Dinner with the Magic Kings

Tonight I had my favorite dinner so far. Carolina made enchiladas of chicken and cheese with onions with black beans and garlic. Then for desert we had rosca de reyes (¨The sweet bread of the three wise man¨) to celebrate the end of Christmas. It´s made of sweet bread covered with sugared and dried fruit and eaten with a specific kind of Mexican hot chocolate.

As we ate the cake, we were each looking for a tiny baby jesus figure. Whoever finds the figurine has to have a party for everyone else on February 2nd with tamales to ensure a prosperous new year.

Daniel found the figurine, so anyone who wants tamales should go to his place in Pennsylvania in 4 weeks :)

Rastafarians and Acrobats at the Beach

Today was fantastic! We finally had really good weather. So I spent some time at the beach with Daniel and Franci and then later with Marek. The guys drumming in the photo are Italians who played reggaetone and Samba most of the afternoon.


Towards night fall some local teenagers came out (some of them were the same ones from breakdancing) and did acrobatic tricks to the music, just for the fun of it. It was largely locals and not too many Americans.


These kids did tons, I mean tons, of crazy tricks, but I only managed to get two good photos, one of a flip and the other of a back flip. I would love to do some of the stuff these guys were doing.


















The drums went on until the sun went down. I left once it started to get cool and dark to go home and practice some Spanish with Daniel before we had dinner. I theoretically know something like 15 tenses but I can only conjugate a couple reliably and can´t use most of them correctly.

There are whole modes of tenses, like the subjunctive, that just don´t exist in English so it´s pretty difficult to use them correctly. So, anyway Daniel and I use them practicing with each other but I think I´ve only ever used 4 or 5 tenses in an acutal conversation.