On Thursday morning the class drove to the reserve in which Millsaps owns, and a man named James took us for a tour around the reserve. In addition to the land being absolutely beautiful, there are Mayan ruins all over the property. James explained to us what the different symbols meant and also what each ruin used to be. When we were done, two very nice ladies cooked some very delicious tamales for us to eat! After that, it was off to bed. We slept in hammocks, which Kelly and I found to be a little challenging. We woke up to fluffy pancakes with honey, an abundance of fruit, and freshly squeezed orange juice.
Most of us had trouble sleeping in the hammocks, so we were a little grumpy on the ride home. We stopped in Uxmal to see the Mayan ruins there. This place was extremely touristy, which was very different from what I have been seeing for the past 4 days. A guide took us around and explained in great depth what everything was, its initial use, and what all of the symbols meant. It was so interesting to see what the Mayan culture used to look like. The pyramids and temples used to be so small! We even got to see the sport that they used to play, which was similar to our game of basketball. Something really interesting to me was that the winner was sacrificed to the gods, instead of the loser. Winning was seen as such a great honor and so was the opportunity to sacrifice yourself to the gods, which was the meaning for that ritual.
We then journeyed to find food (which Harvey apparently doesn't like to give to us...just kidding), where we ate some great Mexican food. After, we drove to see an old hacienda that is now toured. It was the house of rich Mexican families, so as you can imagine, it was so gorgeous!! Overall, it was a fantastic two days!
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