Mexico 2008

Mexico City - Basilica of Guadelupe

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Our Lady of Guadelupe inside the Basilica	Juan Diego unfolds his tilma before the Bishop, the roses he carrys fall out, an image the Lady of Guadalupe appears and the bishop kneels	Lalo expaining that the little rocks in the mortar indicate restoration	Basilica of Guadelupe with life size Nativity scene	Pope John Paul II and Ricardo (bandana)
Andy and Ricardo make ther way towards the Carillon	The Carillon	The old Basilica (which is sinking)	Another statue of Juan Diego, the Bishop and the apparition	Templo del Pocito

Outside of Mexico City - Ancient city of Teotihuacan

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Tara makes friends with some Mexican hairless dogs	Obsidian mask with gem stones	Rich, still alive, stands on the Avenue of the Dead	Joe (brown shirt) swims upstream past Joe (orange shirt) in Palace of Quetzalpapalatl	Christina (pink pack) sees some good photos while Lalo explains the Palace of Quetzalpapalatl to the Cabrillo students
Chelsea, Sarah and the Sun Pyramid	View from top of the Moon Pyramid	View of the Sun Pyramid and Avenue of the Dead from the Moon Pyramid	Rich on the Sun Pyramid with the Moon Pyramid in the background	Tara steps down the Sun Pyramid very carefully

Mexico City - Frida Kahlo - Casa Azul

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Christina begins to read

Christina begins to read

Frida postcards

Frida postcards

Christina and Tara

Christina and Tara

Frida postcards

Frida postcards

Christina and Rich

Christina and Rich

Mexico City

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Palacio de Bellas Artes from above	House of Tiles	Christina, Rich and Tara at the Palacio de Bellas Artes. (Rich, you can open your eyes now ...)	Folklorico Ballet	Diego Rivera painting (was married to Frida Kahlo)
Cinco de Mayo Street	Cathedral	Cathedral	Palace Statues	Cathedral

Spanish Institute of Merida

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Felix and Christian announce weekend trip to Celestun and Chichen Itza	Llimeme talks to Eva	Jenny	Group backrubs	Tara and Joe
Diana I and Bob	Christina	Joe and Andy before break	Joe and Andy after break	Hanging out before class starts
Batteries getting recharged	Bob asks Dr. Dawn a question	Diana II, Kathy, Jim and Neal	Rochelle is very happy to be back	Diana I and Tara buscan the next 30 pointer
Profa Telma and her level III class: Tara, Rich, Ali, Bob, Andy, Ted, Lauren	Profa Telma and Rich	Joe II and Andy exchange telepathic messages (claro, en espa�ol)	Fresh bananas	Another day, another almuerzo
Spanish I class	Spanish II class	Spanish III class	Spanish VI class	Spanish V class

Celestun

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Celestun is west of Merida on the coast	The road west passes through several Mayan villages	Some boats outside the Celestun visitor center	Our class does the northern loop	Andy, una ni�a, and Felix - they are prepared now for bugs and sun
Our boat leaves the dock	Andy II?, Ted, Tara, el capitán, Rich, Jenny	Pirates?, no, one of ours ... Ricardo, Bob and Eva and others	Joe keeps forward watch for pirates	Canadian birds wintering here
The trees are full of large birds	Flamingos, lots of them, off in the distance	Approaching flamingos, Tara moves in for better shot	We are not alone	Flamingos
Water looks like soup here ... very shallow too	More flamingos	Surprise entrance into jungle while heading back	Rich in the jungle	Mangroves
Termite mounds in the trees	We are in good hands	Where in the heck are we going?	The boat docks, and we walk a winding wooden dock into a freshwater spring in the jungle	This is where we swim for awhile - very refreshing!
Class hits the main beach at Celestun, Christina (pink) listens attentively to our guide, Rochelle (yellow) sees the water	Tara collects shells	Gulf of Mexico	Rich is always calling home to talk to his esposita	Dentist?
Need a taxi?	Ni�os	Frida	A street in Celestun	Inside the town church a children's class is in session

Home Sweet Home - La mejor Mam� y mejor hogar en Mérida

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Finu, Eva and Tara. 'Finu' is short for Josefina. Finu and Eva try some of my very strong coffee made using the French Press. I brought fresh coffee for Finu and planned to get a Melitta in M�rida. Finu and I searched countless stores with no luck. I don't think there is a Melitta anywhere is Mexico. Elizabeth saves the day by shipping one from home that arrives on the last day!	�Muy elegante! ... Finu is taking her two ni�os out to her favorite Cuban club	Tara esta pensando BA�O, Pepe esta pensando CONTENTO	Rich, Finu and Tara at the Cuban club well after midnight in M�rida, listening to live Cuban music. Finu is well known here and the owners come by the table to say hola. The gringos are sleepy after midnight but it is still very early for Finu!	My room in M�rida
Finu and Tara	Do I hear the water truck? ... Let me at him!	A Pepe le gusta dormir sobre mi equipaje. �Pepe, no hagas pipi all�!	Perfect for morning Yoga stretches	Don't forget me
Tara waiting for the good ole 52 Norte bus. Frequent, fast, and bumpy on week days ... but it goes really S-L-O-W on Sundays!	Rich and Finu at Trotters.	Finu 'Jr' y Tara, las mujeres guapas, en Trotters.	Wait, I thought that was my brownie!	Angela y su sonrisa
Just a simple memory upgrade, won't take more than 10 minutes, naw, I can do it in 5 ...	Upgrade 256 MB to 512 MB ... piece of cake. I get up really early in the morning so it will be all done before anyone else wakes up.	The swap goes very smoothly. Lets test it now ... Hmmm, after installing the new RAM, this baby is not powering on ?????????	After a whole day of running around town with Finu, missing school, second guessing, clues about past problems from Finu 'Jr', troubleshooting, borrowing tools, tipping techs, finding a new power supply, ...	... the computer is finally back in action and better than ever ... and most important, Finu 'Jr's artwork is still safe and sound (wheww!)

Around Mérida

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Joe and Rich	Jenny and Tara	Best phone booth and bathroom in Mérida ... at the Hyatt. Here is the place I try and call Elizabeth each day during lunchtime.	My favorite sidewalk on the walk into school everyday	Mi puerta favorita
Andy has a lot of work to do around this town	Rich and his week 2 guide, Gabriel	Dante Bookstore	M�rida at night	More nightlife on the weekends as the streets are closed to cars

Chichen Itza

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Chichen Itza is east of M�rida	Rich at Castillo de Chichen Itza, the 8th Wonder of the World	'Basketball' court - teams were motivated not to lose	Wall of skulls	Another view of Castillo
Carved out heart goes here for sacrifice	Chichen Itza is here	Any lead in that paint?	Masks	Iguana
Cenote	Warrior Temple ruins	Joe strolls past Warrior Temple	Another view	Warrior Temple
Columns	Arches	Tic Tac Toe	Joe and Tara	Blue sky
Columns and sky	Rich in a really really old ba�o	Mud wall of building	Very dangerous beyond this sign (hidden vertical cliff drops down to a cenote) Tara heads out to investigate	Jail
Tara at the Observatory	Joe and Jim head up the Observatory steps	Rich at the Observatory (Dad would have really liked this place!)	Some very old steps	Swimming in a cenote

Tulum and Playa del Carmin

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Felix gets the best deal at Hertz. First car has no brakelights, second car also has something broken, but the third car they give us is just right	Rochelle puts on her disgusted face	Christina puts on her disgusted face	Tara tries to put on her disgusted face but can't help smiling	Joe at the wheel, we head east at last!
Christina, Andy, Joe, Tara, Rochelle and Felix in the cabana at Tulum	Tara, Felix, Christina, Andy, Joe, Rich and Rochelle at the El Peque�o Buenos Aires Parrailla Argentina restaurant in Tulum	Tulum is on the east coast	The beach behind the cabana	Joe, Christina and Felix at the Tulum ruins
The castle overlooking the beach	Ruins + warm blue water	The Caribbean	Rich in Tulum	Felix and Christina in Tulum
We head down for a swim	The water is perfect	The castle on the hill	Warm water ...	... and a sailboat
Joe, Felix, and Christina	Joe, Rich and Felix	Christina and the Iguana	This picture of the cabana doesn't show the leak in the roof or the bedbugs!	Felix and Rich head down to the visitor center at the Sian Ka'an bio-reserve.
Nap time	Rochelle and Tara at the Governor's table	Rich enjoys his Mayan breakfast	Very tasty	The room looks much better on the web than it really is!
Playa del Carmin	Felix and Tara hit the beach	Joe and Andy running slow	Christina and Rochelle	Bob and Jim appear
Class reunion	Fishing boats	Very european ...	... and expensive too	Nice beaches but lots of tourists

La boca cerada, no entran moscas

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��xito!	�Donde los estan?, Hay ~~tres~~ dos monedas de 10 centavos más para entcontrar	We learn new words: Spanish ... my cats, my bunnies, and Mayan: chu chu, baboosh, and much more. Why do you answer the phone with 'well' and stop at 'tall' signs in Mexico?	Little baby from the Three Kings cake ... now I must host the next fiesta!	Tarea
�No me friegas!	Twenty new words every day ... like floja, picadura, bicho,	Folklorico, movies, Casa Azul, Leon's compound, Mau's card, art gallery, and the little bus receipts, archeology, student ID	New letters in Spanish Scrabble. No one but me has heard of the blank swap rule ... (Mom, I know you remember!)	Great advertising slogan

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