Monkeys, Thanksgiving, and the Planning of a Trip

Hola Maren's People:
My name is Kurt. I am representing Maren in this blog entry because I was complaining to her about how bored I was and she gave me the "look" of someone who has been working very long hours and doesn't want to listen to things like that. She then kindly suggested I upload a few pics and update all of you of what we have been up to lately. I am more than happy to oblige her request.

Last Saturday Maren, Luc and I visited a nature reserve called Punta Laguna, I know she spoke of this in the last blog but now we have pictures.
The monkeys weren't quite as hilarious as I thought they might be, but it was quite satisfying just the same.














A major highlight was eating delicious chicken prepared by this really friendly Mayan family just off a street in Coba, I believe a whole chicken with tortillas and everything else was 60 pesos. Fantastic.
















Sometime later that week was Alex's birthday. (Alex is an American woman who has been down here with CEA for years) We sat on the roof from about 4:15 on and watched the sunset and drank very effective margaritas. The party continued that night and people got pretty loud. A good time was had by all.
















Then on Thursday, Nov. 24th was Thanksgiving. Of course this is an incredibly American holiday where the main event is stuffing oneself with more food and drink than a human is designed to hold. Basically all of the CEA staff and volunteers (which are just Maren and I right now) turned up at the place where our director is staying right now to exploit the chance to eat huge delicious turkey with all sorts of traditional additions. Stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, green bean cassarole, with plenty of wine, beer and, to keep it somewhat Mexican, tequilla. All in all it was a fantastic meal and I must say very close to the real thing.







Since then Maren has been working very hard to finish her Web site project, in order to have it finished in time for her and I to begin our little tour of southern Mexico and Guatemala. We are planning to leave early Saturday heading North to Merida. One night there and then over to Camphece, a city we have both wanted to visit since we've been here. From there over to the Mexican state of Chiapas to Palenque, and then down into Guatemala to see for sure Tikal and possibly anything else we have time for. The following weekend we plan to be in Oaxaca to visit Vanessa, a Spanish girl who was volunteering here at CEA when we both arrived, but has since moved on to Oaxaca City to volunteer with kids. After that we head up to Mexico City to visit Maren's friend Peter, and then we only have a few days left before we both must return to our respective cold countries.
Goodbye and gute Nacht,
Euer Kurt