Merida and camping

Recipe for Camping in Yucatan:

- 8 Mexican guys
- 2 Mexican girls
- 1 Costa Rican girl
- 1 Ecuadorian girl
- 1 Canadian girl
- 2 camionetas (SUVs) and 1 truck
- 3 casas de campana (tents)
- 104 cans of Mexican beer (for the caballeros)
- a 40 of vodka and 4 L of OJ (for the damas)
- 2 kg of hotdogs
- 2 famiy sized loaves of Bimbo bread
- 20L of purified water
- 4 L of Coca
- 2 iPods wuth musica ‘rock’, reggaeton and banda

Take all of the people and put them in the super super mercado Soriana to buy beer and food (in that order). Take half an hour deciding how many and what type of beer and how much and what type of vodka. Take another hour deciding on food, snacks, resfrescos, breakfast…Collect money from all 14 people to pay for everything…grand total $700, pesos that is…about $75. Drive about 30 munites to arrive at the cenote. Open a beer and turn up the stereos hooked up to iPods and blast Pitbull and Daddy Yankee. Set up the tents, drink some more. Build a fire, drink a little more. Drink, eat, dance, sing, drink, sing, drink, sing, sing, sing, drink, drink, drink...fall asleep. Wake up early in the morning to make the climb down the rickety ladder to bathe in the cenote. Pack everything up and drive back to the city.

I had a really great time camping with Rafael and his friends…lots of good conversation and lots of Mana amd Sublime singalongs. The cenote was really cool, it was exciting to finally swim in once after having learned about them for so long! Many of the people that we were with are studying tourism, like Rafael. However the Costa Rican and Ecuadorian girls are on exhange in Merida studying human ecology…I got long with them very well. I even managed to discuss Mexican politics with some people, in preparation for my poli sci class…but I’m still confused.

I ended up having a great time staying at Raf's. I had lunch with Rafa’s family and I was able to understand and participate in the conversation, which is always nice, I could even understand el abuelo who had no teeth... sometimes.