Merida is one noisy place, let me tell you. That has been one of the harder things to get used to, maybe more so than not having a car or not being able to use the phone or the language barrier. And by noisy, I mean, all the time noise. This noise doesn't stop when the work day is done nor when the sun goes down or even after a certain point in the middle of the night. This noise continues, round-the-clock. Cars zooming. Cars honking. People yelling at each other. The turkeys that live beneath me from dawn til dusk. Music being pumped at varying decibels at all times, from cars and from doorways, even on public buses. The bus drivers here love their merengue! Drunks wandering down the street at all odd hours of the night, singing very loudly. (Public drunkenness is a-okay here.) Dogs barking. Frogs that sound like birds and windchimes. And the pollution, which is another kind of noise. The por puestos (public buses) spew exhaust all over the road and I've had a sore throat every day since arriving. I've gotten used to it somewhat but there are moments when it's too much to take in, and I just want to find some private place to hide myself.

Then there are moments like this weekend. A bunch of people went to a National Park called Sierra La Culata. It's in the Andes and you get there by driving through a beautiful valley surrounded by the mountains. We took a rocky trail up through the valley, passing by groups of cows and houses with scary looking dogs tied up outside. And then I got stomach cramps and felt dizzy and almost passed out and had to stop. Which was really frustrating... but it's good that I didn't try to push it, as everyone else who went on ended up stopping as well. And Anna stayed with me while everyone continued on, and we just sat and watched the clouds roll by. They were so close it looked like you could touch them, and the air was so clean and it was so, so QUIET. Absolutely quiet. I also took a nap on some very soft grass, in between a couple of petrified cow pies, which was lovely. I imagine that's probably why the grass was so soft...

This is a place of such contrasts that it almost fails description. Things like that - the noise of the city and the secluded calm to be found only a half hour away - seem so normal here. It rained during the night on Saturday and when I woke up, there was snow up on the peaks of the mountains, and yet it was 77 F at 10 a.m. down in the city. Maybe it's just a big contrast for me... for instance, going up in the mountains I'm used to seeing things like pine trees and such... here, there are banana trees and riotous overgrowth of tropical plants and colorful flowers.

Anyway, classes have been fine (one was cancelled today, hence the blogging) and I would like to announce that so far, I am parasite-free! And injury-free! Hard to believe, I know. Alexis went to South America and has gone hiking and gone out dancing and has yet to hurt herself? Fascinating. You would be even more amazed if you could see the sidewalks here and what I navigate on a daily basis... tree roots have broken through the cement making the sidewalks a crazy rollercoaster ride for your feet. It's a good time.

Anywho, I have another class in a few minutes and I should get going. Chao!