Oaxaca

We visited Oaxaca, one of the poorest places in Mexico. This is me with a couple kids who were living on the street with thier family. It is so sad to see that there are so many people in other parts of the world who don't even have their basic needs provided for. It was a good experience though because it helped me see how much I have and that I need to be more grateful and give ot others.
This is Lalo. Rachel and I met hm at the Zocalo (central park). He was studying English in school and heard us speaking so he came up and talked to us. He was really nice and helpful. He spent 2 hours just showing us around and practicing Spanish with us. The people in South America don't pay a lot of attention to time. People are a lot more important to them so even if they have an appointment, they will stay with the person they are with and miss the appointment because that is more important to them. This was an example of that.
Hey, It's my middle name!
This was so cool. We went to a black pottery shop. This guy is the son of Dona Rosa (any of you who have taken ceramics). He made this vase in about 15 minutes with just to plates made out of clay for spinning, clay, and water! It was incredible. He has taught all of his kids how to make hand made pottery and is now teaching his children. It is so cool how everything down there is hand made and unique. The people are very talented when it comes to crafts.

This was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip. We went a baboon sanctuary right after the zoo where we had already seen howler monkeys. I thought we were just going to see them again, but our guide was one of the guys that founded the sanctuary so he brought bananas and let us feed the monkeys out of our hands. It was so awesome! I wish I could have brought one home.

We went to a really cool zoo in Belize where Jen and I got to hold a snake. I guess I was feeling brave that day because I have never held a snake and I wasn't planning on ever holding one.

This is the Chichen Itza Temple. I think this is where they got all the models for the Book of Mormon Temple.

My friend Lindsey got a huge sunblister after we went snorkeling in Belize. It was her birthday that day so Pete drew a face on it with a party hat. It looked really painful, but she didn't complain at all!

This was a really pretty Cenote we got to swim in. It is this natural water hole thing.

My friends and I had a blast swimming at the beach in Tulum and Playa del Carmen at the end of the trip. This is Rachel, Jen, me, and Nikki posing with our awesome hair and sunburns.

Arielle and I rode in the back of our host family's dad's work truck going about 60 mph. It was an interesting experience and we got lots of weird looks. It took me 1 1/2 hours to brush through my hair after I had showered and conditioned it.

This is the host family my friend Arielle and I stayed with. We are standing in front of the Tuxtla Gutierrez Mexico Temple. It was really interesting to see how families live day to day. The biggest surprise was to find out that middle class in Mexico meand lower class in America. It was awesome to see that even though they seemed poor to us, they had everything they needed and they were satisfied with just their basic needs.

This is Agua Azul where we were able to swim. It was so gorgeous and such a blast.

This is me and my friend Rachel standing next to the ancient Aztec Calendar

My Trip to MesoAmerica

I had the opportunity to travel with a group from BYU-Idaho for a study abroad to Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize. It was an awesome experience. We were able to stay in a lot of the rural places and see how people live day to day in a 3rd world country. At the end of our trip we were able to experience more of the touristy part like snorkeling and hanging out on the beach.

Fall Semester 2007 BYU-I

This is my roommates and me at the new Rexburg Temple. From left to right: Jovauna, Nicole, me, Amy W., Celeste, and Kim.