these little town blues

Hello everyone!
I am taking a break from the lavadora (washing machine) crisis. For a few days I have been saying that I want to do my laundry and asked where I could do it. Although I saw that my family has a washing machine, for some reason my host mother kept saying that I had to bring my clothes across town so that another lady could do it. I couldnt really imagine lugging my huge laundry bag across town in the heat would be too fun so I brought out my woolite and asked my host mom if i could do it by hand here. she said yes, then finally "we have a lavadora, use it!" So we went in the back to use it and discovered the water was not draining. Yiliana (my host mom) and i tried to clean it out for a while and then a man showed up to fix it. He wound up taking it like all apart. i watched and helped where i could but when they put the machine down on its side to start taking apart the wires, i decided it was time for me to go inside and get some stuff done. So everyone, appreciate your working and high tech lavadoras!

This week has been full of fun stuff. Some highlights:

1. On wednesday my group took a trip to a small town which had a beautifullll cenote. a cenote is basically a natural hole in the ground (sinkhole) that has a natural pool under ground. The water in the cenotes are connected to an underground river. The water is very cool and clean. To get into this one, you could use an intense ladder or jump, so most people in the group jumped the 20 feet or so. It was so much fun. There are small caves surrounding the interior of the cenote. After this, we went to nearby ruins. They are not well known but they were amazing and it was cool to be the only people there.

2. Exercise classes. I decided to join the lovely active ladies in Piste this week and went to aerobics classes. The class is a mix of step, kickboxing, ab work, etc. The teacher has more energy than i have ever seen anyone have. The classes are intense but thats not the hard part for me. Instead, there is no air conditioning or fan in this small room. I sweat at these classes more than i have ever sweat in my whole life. I mean during the day, when i am just sitting, working on my computer i am sweating a bit (like now) but then add an hour of intense aerobics in a small room with 8 people. wow! but i really like the class and it only cost 50 pesos (about 4 dollars) for the whole week, as many classes as i want to attend! dont worry mom and dad, i am hydrating plenty afterwords!

3. my host sister is teaching me to ride a bike! i am excited but i feel a lot of pressure on me to learn because the whole family is into me learning.

4. i wrote the research proposal for my project. it is about how people in AA talk about creating a "new life" (nuevo vida is a slogan written on the buildings) i am interested to see the peoples ideas about the importance of anomyity and the role of religion in these life changes. my friend here is going to introduce me to his uncle who goes to the meetings so that i can go with him to my first one and he can introduce me to the group members.

5. today is Gaspar's (my host father) mothers bday. Last night, the family (maybe 20-25 people including me) showed up at her house at midnight. We stood outside silently, while a few people played guitar and sang until the woman woke up and opened the door. We all walked in and made a small party. It was an amazing suprise. I think i want to bring that tradition to the US. Tonight I am going to a dinner for her birthday. It is also a surprise!
Gaspar, his father, and his grandfather all work or worked in Chichen Itza. Their family is an example of an antiguo, who are people who have worked in chichen since the beginning of the excavations in the 1930s and whos jobs are passed down through the family. They are kind of an elite group here. They work for an organization that takes care of the land and the ruins in many ways. I read an article last week on these families. Gaspar's father told me many stories last night about his work in Chichen, it was really interesting and amazing to have those first hand perspectives.

There is more to tell but I need to check on the lavadora situation and start on my homework. we have the whole weekend free to make some progress on our work. i am very appreciative of this!
te mando mi amor a todos!

p.s. this town and its workings are definitely growing on me!