Coming home

Long day spent in an airport.

Well my friends, we've reached the end of my amazing trip to Mexico.  We flew home on Sunday, January 5, 2015.  It was a day of mixed emotions.  I was really looking forward to getting home to all things familiar, I was looking forward to seeing the kids, I was looking forward to seeing the cats,and  I was looking forward to my own bed; but at the same time I didn't want to leave the sunshine, I didn't want to leave the green, I didn't want to leave the heat, and I really wasn't looking forward to going home to the cold.

When we left to go to Mexico, we hadn't planned on going to church since we were flying home on a Sunday and so we didn't pack any church clothes.  However, after talking to our tour guides and finding out that church was at 8 am and the building was about a five minute walk from our hotel, we figured that we may as well go to church and I was really looking forward to the experience.  And the nice thing was that we would be attending the same ward that our tour guides attend.

So, church started at 8 and went to 11, check out at the hotel was at 11:30 and our ride to the airport was scheduled to pick us up at noon, for an hour drive to the airport putting us there at 1 and our flight was scheduled to leave at 4, leaving us plenty of time to check in, get through security and all that jazz.  Saturday night we packed everything except for what we would need in the morning.

We got up early on Sunday, finished packing and leaving our hotel room looking nice. I once cleaned hotel rooms in Yellowstone National Park and since then, I go the extra mile to make things easier for the cleaning ladies.  I know I don't have to, but experience has taught me that the people who gave me a helping hand were my favorite and so I pay it forward anytime I stay in a hotel.

We got to church and found, to our surprise that it was right across the street from the taqueria where we had our first meal a week earlier.  They are renovating the regular church building and for the time being have rented this particular building to hold their services in until their building is done.

It was comforting to see that the church really is the same no matter where you are.  There were somethings that were a little different, but it was because of culture.  It was Fast and Testimony meeting.  I'm used to Fast and Testimony meetings where there is a lull in between people going up to bear their testimonies.  Not here, there was a line and at one point, a bishopric member had to get up and tell the congregation that there was enough people waiting so no more could come up.  After the last person was done, I got ready for the closing hymn.  At home, the bishopric member who is conducting for the month starts off the testimonies by bearing his testimony.  In Mexico, all of the bishopric bear their testimony at the end.  I did not understand a single word that was said, but I understood the spirit that was there.  I didn't need to understand the language to know what they were saying, because I felt it.  Sacrament meeting ran over.  The people were very friendly and made us all feel welcome and loved.  Everyone loved Meow-meow.

I read my scriptures during Sunday School.  Relief Society was comfortingly the same as at home. Plenty of welcoming, loving sisters, clip boards going around the room, it ran late, and primary kids poking their heads in the door.  The kids all crowded around Meow-meow, they touched his hair, and felt his skin...he loved every minute of it!!

Outside the church

The plan after church was to walk back to our hotel, do a last minute look around to make sure we had everything, haul everything to the court yard, check out at 11:30 and then relax in the court yard until our ride came at noon. We had some snacks to munch on and planned on getting some real lunch at the airport.  It was about 11:10 when we were walking down the last road to our hotel when we saw our ride to the airport was already there and waiting.  We checked the time and thought it was strange that he would be there almost 45 minutes early.  We thought that maybe he had the time wrong or something.  He said he knew pick up was at noon and he knew he was early.  He said that he had nothing else to do and decided to just get there early and wait.  He told us to not rush on his account.

I didn't want to make the poor guy wait and neither did Nathan.  We did a quick check for last minute forgotten things, checked out and were on our way to the airport by 11:30.  As we were driving to the airport, Nathan and I both, at the same time, had a feeling that we needed to be to the airport early.  I still don't know why, but I know it was necessary.  I'm awfully curious though, because our flight ended up being delayed for an hour.

The airport was crazy busy and crazy packed full of people.  We got our luggage checked and made our way to security.  It took forever to get through security.  After that, we got a bite to eat and found a place to sit and wait for our gate number to be posted.  Meow-meow had fallen asleep on the car ride to the airport so it was just enough of a nap to have him wide awake but not enough of a nap to have him happy.

Waiting in line to check our luggage.  He was looking forward to going back to the cold.  Bah!!

After an hour of sitting in a crowded airport in awful seats, I was anxious to find our gate number and go wait there.  I regularly kept checking the board for updates.  I just wanted to cry when the board said our flight would be delayed for an hour.  I did a little dance when they finally posted our gate number.   We booked it down to the end of the terminal to get some seats and wait for boarding.

Sad to be leaving the heat, sun, and green

Happy to be going home.

He kept pointing at the plane. It's like he knew he was going home.

Our gate.

Minutes before boarding.

That's our plane.

Waiting for them to finish loading luggage.

Meow-meow LOVES Alex Boye.  When he's cranky or tired we put on Alex Boye and it calms him right down.  The "nuclear" option is the One Voice Children's Choir and Alex Boye singing "Let It Go".  We knew Meow-meow was exhausted and we weren't looking forward to a four hour flight with a cranky baby.  We hoped that he would fall asleep.  We were in luck because right after take off, he fell asleep and didn't wake up until we stopped at the gate in Salt Lake City.

Watching Alex Boye

Watching Alex Boye's rendition of Lorde Royals

Intense face.

Waiting to push back.

Pushing back.

Screaming down the runway....goodbye Mexico.  Goodbye heat, I will miss you.  

Right after take off, Meow-meow and Nathan zonked out.

Several hours into the flight, the captain came on the speakers and announced that we had just crossed into America.  I looked out the window to find a full moon off the wing.  I took a picture, it's not the best, but cool all the same.

America, I missed you.

We had our neighbors taking care of the house and cats while we were gone, when we came home, we saw "Welcome Home" signs all over the house.  I LOVED it!!  It was so much fun to come home and see the Welcome Home signs everywhere.  

It was an amazing adventure and I'm looking forward to more of them.  It was very nice to get home and sleep in my own bed. 

Playa del Carmen: The sequel

My fabulous sand castle.

On the day we went to Cozumel, I noticed that the beach by the ferry looked like a nice beach and it wasn't too crowded.  I told Nathan if we couldn't find anywhere else to go on Saturday, that I wouldn't mind going to this beach.  It was fairly close to our hotel and easy to walk to.  Our flight home was Sunday afternoon and we had found out from our tour guides that the LDS church was right around the corner from our hotel and Sacrament Meeting started at 8 a.m.  We would leave our hotel at noon with check out at 11:30.  We really wanted to go to church on Sunday and decided that we would need to pack everything we could on Saturday.  We knew we wouldn't want to be gone all day and I didn't want to leave packing for Saturday night just in case we were too worn out and tired from the day or if we didn't get back to our hotel until late.  Plus we decided that we didn't want to go too far away to do something.  After going over all of our options, we decided that this beach would be the perfect thing to do.

We had a lazy morning, ate our breakfast of Zucharitas (Mexican Frosted Flakes) and La-la (Mexican brand of milk).  Mexican Frosted Flakes were very different from what I'm used to and I think I prefer American Frosted Flakes. We packed up everything except for what we needed for the day, night, and morning.  We covered meow-meow in sunblock and headed out for the beach.  Meow-meow wasn't happy with getting himself covered in sunblock from head to toe.

After packing everything we could, we decided that we would walk to the beach instead of trying to catch a taxi.  When we got down to the beach, we found these fresh fruit vendors and decided to have some fresh fruit......oh my word, it was delicious!!  The pineapple was amazing.  Meow-meow loved the fruit....

There was this weird archway to the beach.

We had a fabulous time on the beach.  We found some nice beach chairs and relaxed.  Meow-meow had fun in the sand.  I was daring and ordered fish for lunch, which was pretty tasty.  I wasn't daring enough to venture further than fish.  Meow-meow went down for his nap and Nathan snuggled him and read his book.  Meanwhile, I explored the beach.

Street to the beach.  Also where the fruit stands were.

Ferry docks

Chillin in the beach chair

Soaking up the sun.

Chillaxin

Meow-meow playing in the sand.

Ocean

Seagulls hanging in the wind.

After Meow-meow fell alseep, I hit the beach. I found tons of broken shell parts and so I had to make a heart out of them.

I love sun

I love sand.

And then I got an idea for a sand castle.

Me and my creation

This bird was my buddy.

It wouldn't be a proper day at the beach without a tunnel. It's the tunnel of love.

Barnacles?  I have no clue but they were alive.

I had to take a sad face picture.  It was my last full day in Mexico.  My last day to enjoy the beach.  My last day to revel in the sun.  The next day would take me back to the cold, who wouldn't be sad.

It was a bit cloudy and looked like rain, but it was still a fabulously hot day.  Literally thirty seconds after I got up from the sad face picture it started to rain.  Nathan and I were both highly amused to hear people screaming and running for cover.  The beach cleared FAST.  And we both thought, "but wait, didn't you come to the beach to get wet?"  It rained for about a minute or two and then went away.  By that time it was eveningish and we were done playing on the beach.  We walked along the shops but quickly gave up because we were accosted by store owners wanting us to buy buy buy.  We walked back home to our hotel, showered off the sand, ordered in some dinner and finished packing everything we could.

The magical town of Valladolid, Yucatan.

The Cathedral of San Servacio O Gervasio

Hopefully I'll get around to finishing my blog posts about my adventures in Mexico!!

We said our goodbyes to Ek Balam and wandered our way over to an old Spanish Colonial Town.  Valladolid is apparently one of 83 towns that the Mexican government calls "Magical Towns".  From what I could find out, the Mexican government has a program called "Magical Towns".  The idea is to promote the town and tourism.  A town is considered "magical" if it reaches certain requirements.  I found the requirements on this website: http://www.mayan-yucatan-traveler.com/valladolid-mexico.html

Here are the requirements:

• It must be a small town with a rich historical tradition.
• It must be close to other tourist attractions or large cities.
• It must be reached through excellent highways and roads.
• And of course the locals must be willing to put in some effort and carry out the project. 

Apparently Valladolid is second on that list.  It was a very lovely town.  We went straight to the center of town where the amazing cathedral is.  We were able to go into the cathedral and take as many pictures as we liked but were reminded to be reverent as it is still a functioning church for the local population.   

As for the history of Valladolid, that was highly interesting.....It was founded in 1543 by Francisco de Montejo (the nephew) and he established Spanish rule in most of the Yucatan peninsula.  And keeping in tradition of building temples over existing temples when you conquer, the Spanish built their cathedral right on top of old Pagan temples.  Valladolid used to be a Mayan town by the name of Zaci, which apparently means "White Hawk", and the stones from the Mayan city were used to build the colonial buildings.  The main park is right across the street from the cathedral and it is called, Park Francisco Canton Rosado.  Valladolid was a part of both the Caste War in 1847 and the Mexican Revolution in 1910. 

I found this interesting tidbit on Wiki:

Named after Valladolid, at the time the capital of Spain, the first Valladolid in Yucatán was established by Spanish Conquistador Francisco de Montejo's nephew on May 27, 1543 at some distance from the current town, at a lagoon called Chouac-Ha in the municipality of Tizimin. However, early Spanish settlers complained about the mosquitos and humidity at the original location, and petitioned to have the city moved further inland.

On March 24, 1545, Valladolid was relocated to its current location, built atop a Maya town called Zaci or Zaci-Val, whose buildings were dismantled to reuse the stones to build the Spanish colonial town. The following year the Maya people revolted, but were put down with additional Spanish troops coming from Mérida.

Valladolid had a population of 15,000 in 1840. In January 1847, the native Mayans rioted, killing some eighty whites and sacking their houses. After a Mayan noble was shot by firing squad, the riot became a general uprising. It was led by Jacinto Pat, batab of Tihosuco and by Cecilio Chi of nearby Ichmul.^[3] The city and the surrounding region was the scene of intense battle during Yucatán's Caste War, and the Latino forces were forced to abandon Valladolid on March 14, 1848, with half being killed by ambush before they reached Mérida. The city was sacked by the Maya rebels but was recaptured later in the war.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, Valladolid was the third largest and most important city of the Yucatán Peninsula, (after Mérida and Campeche). It had a sizable well-to-do Criollo population, with a number of old Spanish style mansions in the old city. Valladolid was widely known under its nickname The Sultana of the East.

Naturally, I explored every inch of the cathedral and park.  I took pictures of every statue, nook, and cranny in the cathedral.  I tried to look up the cathedral online but couldn't find much.  I was curious to find out what each of the statues represented.  I'll keep digging around...Nathan says we can try doing a reverse image search.  If anyone reading this blog has any ideas, I'd love to hear them. 

I did find out a little about the cathedral.  Construction started in 1543.  It was first dedicated to the Assumption of our Lady but then after the conquerors arrived, it was renamed to San Gervasio.  It is one of the oldest churches in the new world. 

Here are the pictures I took of the outside.

The poor and the crippled gather on the steps to beg for money.

View of the cathedral from the public bathroom that still cost five pesos and had no toilet paper!!

There were many statues and alcoves in the cathedral and curiosity is killing me to figure out what each statue was all about.  

This is a mannequin.  It threw me for a minute when I first saw it.

I had an amazing experience in this cathedral.  A woman came in to pray while I was wandering about snapping pictures.  I noticed her but didn't think anything of it.  I was reverent and moved away as to not disturb her as I could tell she was in fervent prayer.  As I was walking a way, I got a very strong impression that I needed to pray for her.  It puzzled me for a moment and I got the impression again that I needed to pray for her.  I thought to myself, "but I don't even know who she is or what she is in need of, how can I pray for her?"  And the impression came, "you need to pray for her." I found a quiet corner and prayed for her.  After I finished my prayer, I realized that every time I go to the temple, I pray for strangers and I don't know what they are in need of.  I have a testimony of prayer, but this experience changed it and made it stronger.  I learned a valuable lesson about prayer that day, one that I will NEVER forget.

After I took all of the pictures of the cathedral I wanted, we made our way over to the park to get some Churros.  I saw this guy training his dogs, it was a lot of fun to watch.  He would command them all to sit and then he would walk away once he got a distance away, he would call to them and they would walk to him.

It was a lovely park with tons of birds in the trees, their chirping was almost deafening.  I tried a thin, crispy waffle thing with banana's and Nutella.....it was amazing.  I also got to eat the most amazing churros I've ever had the pleasure of coming across.  

It was so good that I had to take a picture of it....I ate four of them.

The other half of our tour group was staying in a different part of town than we were, so we met up at a gas station and played "musical cars".  On our way back to our hotel room, we came upon an accident that had just barely happened.  It was an auto/pedestrian accident and sadly the auto won.  Crowds were gathered around and the body was just left laying unattended on the ground.  It was a very sobering thing to see.  I know auto/pedestrian accidents even happen here in Utah, but this one hit me really hard.  We have cross walks here, we have traffic lights here, and we have laws against Jay Walking here.  Down there, it's a free-for-all.   It hit me just how fleeting life is.  That man woke up completely unaware that it was his last day on earth.  We wake up like that each day, unaware of how the events of the day will unfold.  This day was a day full of wonder for me and a day that some very important truths made me a stronger and better person.