She's sleeping in a hammock tonight!

So Lindsay arrived in Merida today!  She called us this morning when she got to the mission home to let us know she had arrived safely.  She said the President told her she would probably be staying in the city.  So we all breathed a sigh of relief.  Of course when she emailed us later, she had different news.  She is going to Oxkutzcab a small city in the middle of a jungle about two hours away from Merida.   Pretty much the heart of the what’s left of the Mayan culture.  She will be in an area with lots of ruins and famous caves.  This should be interesting!  

My time at the CCM is over... I woke up today at una de la madrugada to go to the aeropuerto. It was actually really sad to say goodbye to my district. We all got along so well, they were so fun. We arrived like two hours early for our flight so we waited for a long time. I talked to the man next to me and I actually understood everything that he said and we had a real conversation. I slept the whole plane ride, which was only an hour an a half; I was quite surprised by that. When we arrived in Mérida and stepped off the plane I was immediately hit with water instead of air. Even inside the airport. It is so ridiculously humid here. And so hot too. This morning was nice but the sol is piercing and the wind is like a fire breathing dragon. You know when you eat too many hot cheetos or takis or something and you're trying to cool your mouth down but nothing works and you're like dying? Yeah that's what my whole body feels like right now.

I was greeted by President and Hermana Garcia and they are super sweet and awesome. They were so excited to see us. Also there was a newspaper reporter there who took our picture and interviewed Hermana Garcia so I am going to be in some Mexican newspaper! I am already famous!!!! haha My companion is super sweet. Her name is Hermana Romero and she is from Ciudad Mexico. She knows a bit of English. And she is super cute. I can understand her easily and she can understand me. I think we are going to get along well.

So the city is really cool. The only way I can describe it is like the site for every Anthropologie catalog shoot ever. It's this whole Urban Outfitters/Anthropologie phenomenon that things that were once beautiful are somehow much cooler when they are slightly destroyed faded and falling down. The buildings have like cool molding all over the windows and the roof but are all these fun colors so it really is Spanish colonial mixed with Mexican bright colors. It really is super cool though. The city is a ton nicer than anywhere than I saw in Mexico city. There are way less cars and less people so it is way less crowded and dirty. 

I got a glimpse of the Mérida temple. It is really pretty. It is right next to the mission offices. We went there today and I got to pick out my hammock! They only had a few choices so mine is pink purple blue and green striped. They're different than other hammocks that I have seen before. They're like woven but with really thin strings. They don't have huge holes in them like others. 

I am going to my area in an hour or so. We are taking a very crowded bus for the two hour trip there. I am very scared because Hermana Romero said that we might not be able to sit down for the whole time. I actually might pass out. AH! I am going to learn Mayan though so that is way cool. I have a Mayan Book of Mormon it is awesome. It is actually like half the size of a normal one which really surprised me. It looks crazy. 

The pueblo is very small and there are lots of cucharachas. Wish me luck. 

We will see how this goes. 

You may or may not hear from me again. 

Love, 

Hermana Keeler