Mexico!

On November 17, Justin and I hopped on a plane and flew south to Mexico! It was a conference on Pediatric foot deformities for Dr Johnson. Every year several Dr's around the country go to Merida and help children through the Yucatan Crippled Children's project. I was happy to tag along while Grandma Mickey held down the fort at home. We flew into Cancun and then drove west to Merida. We had a map to direct us to Merida but not to our hotel. Justin was sure he could find it and find it he did...after just a few wrong turns. I would never have been confident enough to drive into a strange city in a foreign country with no map and very little knowledge of the language and be able to find my hotel. Just proves Justin's love for adventure!

Wednesday the 18th we went on a group tour of Chitzen Itza which is a Mayan city from about 600 AD. We saw amazing architecture and learned how the Mayan people were extremely mathematical and astronomical. Chitzen Itza is a major tourist stop and the locals take advantage of this fact by selling their wares throughout the entire city. There were vendors EVERYWHERE! They were entertaining to listen to as they tried to sell you their merchandise. You would here things like "Only one american dollar" which our tour guide said translated to closer to $20. "Cheaper than Wal-Mart" and "Blue light special" were popular phrases but our favorite was "Don't forget to buy something for your neighbor's wife!"

That night we went to a local restaurant called La Giraffe. It was not a tourist type place so the waiters spoke no English and the menu had no translations. Justin and I got pork burritos which turned out to be very tasty. We knew they were good when after one bite we could feel a layer of grease on our lips.

Thursday the 19th was conference time for Justin and I took the day off to relax and do nothing scheduled! I slept in, worked out in the gym, ate a late breakfast, (we had a delicious continental breakfast with all kinds of fresh fruit, meat and cheese, bread, cereals, and scrumptious sweet pastries with a cream cheese center...YUMMMMM!)layed out by the pool, napped, and read. It was perfect until about 3 or 4 when I started to get bored. I unpacked everything and even chose to iron clothes just for something to do. I wasn't complaining though...it was exactly what I needed! A day off!

That night we went to a place for dinner that catered more to tourists but was still fairly authentic to Mexico. My only complaint was they blasted american music. It was decorated with all kinds of Mexican pictures and such and the wait staff were dressed in authentic clothing but the american music was so loud we could hardly talk! I got a steak which was probably the best meat I have ever had. I love steak but usually enjoy it with a little A-1. This meat required nothing!

Friday the 20th was another conference for Justin so I hit a nearby beach with one of the other Dr's wives, Janet Brink. It was a beautiful sunny day. We layed in the sand, talked, and walked along the water. I had fun exploring. I wished La-La had of been with me as she is the one who loves to find critters and treasures. I found a colorful collection of sea treasures in her honor. There was hot pink sea weed, orange corral, blueish purple jelly fish and sea shells. La-La would have been in heaven! Janet was grossed out by my loot but I loved it and I know it is because I was seeing it through my daughter's eyes even though she wasn't with me.

Janet and I talked about sunscreen and how on some people like me and her husband, if you miss one tiny spot it shows in a bright red burn. I asked her to put sunscreen on my back and I swear she covered it well; at least it felt like she did. Then that night my back started hurting and I laughed so hard when I looked at it. She had missed huge random spots and they were indeed bright red burns.

Before dinner we went to explore Merida with Dr Dale Brink and his wife Janet. They are from the Chicago area and we had a ton of fun with them! We took our rental car and attempted to go to the the town center. Only problem was we didn't know it was the celebration for Mexico's revolution which would be like our 4th of July. We finally found a parking spot and walked to the town center. They had security check stations and Justin received a thorough frisking because he had on cargo shorts with lot's of pockets. I was nervous to go in after him but I must have looked safe because the guards didn't even touch me. The streets were lined with thousands of people waiting for a parade. The police officers all had big machine guns and looked like they meant serious business! We didn't get to stay to watch the parade because we had to get back to our hotel for dinner but it was fun to see all the people showing their pride for their country.

That night we went to a fancy restaurant which used to be a hacienda that famous people have been known to go such as President Bush and Madonna. It was beautiful! They have little cottages that you can stay in on gorgeous grounds. Plus the food was really yummy too. I had another steak and it was just as good as the night before. I decided beef in Mexico is a good thing!

On Saturday the 21st Justin had to give a presentation so I went to cheer him on. He did a great job and even came up with a funny joke to cover a video that was recorded sideways. He said we all just had to watch it with our heads turned like we were eating a taco...we were after all in Mexico!

After lunch Justin and Dr Brink, decided to skip the last 2 hours of the conference. So the four of us (Dr Brink and his wife Janet) headed to another Mayan ruin. This time we went to Uxmal (pronounced Ooshmall). Justin had been here before and said he liked it better than Chitzen Itza. We took our tiny rental car that had been parked 90% of the trip and hit the road. We realized almost too late that we were really low on gas. Thankfully we found a gas station just in time! We made it to Uxmal and I saw immediatly why Justin liked it better. There were NO vendors within the city! It was not as restored as Chitzen Itza but it was more beautiful because it was amazing architecture in it's natural wonder, there were not as many people, and it was greener with a lot more trees and grass. It rained just enough while we were there to make it super sticky and humid and brought out the biting bugs. One of the coolest parts of Uxmal was that we could climb the buildings and explore much more. The stairs were so steep and it was very nerve wracking to climb down with no hand rails and hard limestone everywhere. Nerve wracking but so worth it! On the way back to Merida, it started pouring rain and it was dark. This made it hard to figure out where we were and it took a little longer to find our hotel.

Dinner that night was supposed to be a pool party but because of the rain, the party was moved inside. It was a huge buffet of all kinds of yummy mexican food. The only food I wasn't a huge fan of was the desserts. They were not as sweet as what we american's eat. After dinner we watched an american football game in the hotel lobby. One of the teams was the Oregon Ducks which Justin loves and he was quite vocal during the game. It was funny when he would cheer really loud and local people would come over to see what he was cheering for and then they would walk away when they realized it was not soccer but football! Oregon won in overtime!!

Sunday morning we checked out of our hotel and headed back to the airport. On our way, we passed two hitch hikers and decided to give them a ride. It was a man and woman so we felt safe picking them up. They were from Germany and did not understand their bus driver and got off at the wrong stop. It was a hot and humid day so they were very grateful for the ride. It was fun to talk to them and added a little adventure to the drive! We took a slight detour so we could see one more Mayan ruin on the beach. Tulum was so beautiful! Incredible architecture with blue green water for the backdrop. We went down to the ocean for a just a bit and the sand was so soft and perfect and the water was so warm! We couldn't stay very long because we had to hurry to turn in the rental car and get to the airport.

We left Tulum about 12:30 after a quick stop at Subway for some sandwiches and then we had to go quickly to make our flight at 3:30. The speed limits on the highway changed all the time so we basically just traveled with the flow of traffic. All of a sudden the speed went from 80 kmh to 40 kmh and there was a cop. We slowed down behind the car in front of us and right behind us, a red car had to slow down too. The cop pulled out and we started to get nervous. We thought he was going to get the car behind us but no...he wedged himself between us and the red car and pulled Justin over. My heart was POUNDING! The cop spoke pretty good english and took Justin's license and said he would get a ticket for speeding. He said Justin wouldn't get his license back until he payed $200 at the police station and he told Justin to follow him to the station. At this point of the trip, we were down to $22. Justin told the cop we didn't have time to go to the station and we didn't have $200. Then the cop said if we payed in cash right then, he would lower the ticket to $100 and send a receipt to our american address. We told him we didn't have the money and asked if we promised to slow down if we could just get a warning. Finally the cop agreed and we were on our way again. I was so relieved but still shaky from all the adrenaline. We know Justin was pulled over because we were white and in a rental car...obvious tourists! Guaranteed if we had $100 to give him, he would have pocketed the cash and gone on his merry way. Made me so mad!

We made it to Cancun and stopped at a gas station to put gas in the car before we turned it in. We only needed to put $5 in so now we had 1500 pesos and $2. The car rental place was only a block away from the gas station but we had to find a place to turn around because we were headed the wrong direction. I was bending over to tidy up the car so we could turn it in quickly and I had not put my seatbelt on. I sat up and was reaching for my belt when we passed a cop check station. The cops started whistling and waving and jumped in their car and pulled us over AGAIN! This was only about 45 minutes from the last time. This cop did not speak english and was not very nice. He kept asking for Justin's license with a really strong accent so we played the stupid americans and pretended to not understand. We did not want him to get Justin's license and see that he had already been pulled over that day. We figured there would be no way out of it! After a few minutes, we had to hand over Justin's license. After all, a cop with a big machine gun strapped to their chest is more than just a little intimidating! The cop told Justin to get out of the car and at first he said no but once again...big black machine gun on a cop in a foreign country. Justin went to the back of the car with the cop and repeated over and over that we will wear our belts and to please just let us go so we don't miss our flight. The cop kept insisting on money so finally Justin showed him that all he had was the 1500 pesos (which is about $15 )and $2. The cop made Justin hand over the pesos and then grabbed the $2 too. Then the cop came to my window and made me show him my wallet. All I had were a couple quarters and he said "No good!" At this point he must have realized he wasn't getting anything more from us and he finally let us go. I was shaking like a leaf with a pounding heart and I was mad! Yes, I should have had my seatbelt on but once again I am confident we were targeted because of our race. Plus I know he pocketed the money. Could you imagine what would happen if an american police officer did that? They would lose their job so fast!

We finally made it to the car rental place and caught a ride to the airport. We checked in and the airport employee took our ID's. He looked us up on the computer and said, "We have a problem here." Justin and I both instantly thought the cops had turned Justin's name in. Thankfully the problem was just that we didn't have seats together. Big deal, just get us back to the USA! 6 hours later we landed in Seattle and it felt so good to be home - well, almost. After a layover in Seattle, we had a quick one hour flight and a friend from church was there to drive us home! It was close to 1:am so we went to bed and were awakened bright and early by some very excited kids. Of course they missed us but they were dying to see what we had brought them. The girls got necklaces, Jaco a jaguar statue, and we got Mickey a mask. Mickey said the kids were really good for her and they all seemed to have a lot of fun. We were able to talk to them using webcams and Skype while we were gone and that was a lot of fun. Plus it was free! If we had of used our cell phones, it would have cost $1 a minute. That adds up fast!

It was really good to be home until we began experiencing Travelers disease or Mexico's revenge. We never drank any water that didn't come from a bottle so sometime on the trip we ate some contaminated food. After some immodium, antibiotics, and several days we were all better.

Mexico was beautiful, humbling, and a ton of fun. Americans have so much to be grateful for. I hope I can always remember that!