Mérida, México: Take me out to the ball game!!

What a wonderful day here in Mérida! During my Spanish class, Ana's daughter-in-law had her baby - Ana's third grandchild! A baby girl! We took an evaluation exam, the same one we took the first week here in Mexico, to see how we've improved! I don't know the results yet - but I felt so much more sure of answers and was able to notice where I probably made mistakes last time - so that was a good feeling!

It was a beach day today! In Mérida it was supposed to feel like 115 degrees - so there was no way we were staying in the city! Progreso was fantastic, with the nice breeze and fresh water! Our sun and sand days are winding down... so it was a much needed day of soaking up the Vitamin D! Before we got on the bus for Progreso we went to Mega and bought some snacks, but we were all in the mood for fruit, so I bought half a cantaloupe, Katelynn bought a section of a watermelon, and other people bought oranges and grapefruits! People were staring at us strangely when we were all devouring our fruits as we sat on our towels, but it was so tasty!

When I got home, my mom was excited to share with me what she bought for dinner! There is a stand that sells tamales near a bakery we go to, and we've eaten them before - since she knows I love them! But tonight she brought home not one, not two, not three, but FOUR different kinds! She told me "Emily, you need to try tamales that you aren't used to. I can't send you home without you trying new things!!" So I ate my way through two of them, and the other half will need to wait for another day! They're all good - no surprise!!

Tonight we did the greatest thing!! A Yucatán Leones BASEBALL GAME!!!!!!! I've been wanting to go al semester and tonight it finally came to be! The team plays at Kukulcan (meaning god of the sun), which is a little far away from our school/homes. But this afternoon Cinthya invited us to go with her! Cinthya, a native to Mérida, was a language assistant at Central in Iowa last year so she knows a few of the students in my group - five of us went with her tonight, along with Miguel (the Spain student who was also a language assistant with her). SO FUN! We jammed to Skakira on the way to the stadium which was half the fun! The stadium was actually quite nice. Okay, it doesn't even touch Target Field, but it was a simple and pleasant park! Very full, which was good to see! Cinthya is a huge baseball fan, and said baseball is more popular here in the south than it is in other areas of Mexico. Totally new and different experience than baseball games I've been to in the past. Instead of hotdogs and BBQ sandwiches, vendors walked around selling kibis (which I've mentioned in a recent post) and churros. I was so in my element - loving watching the baseball, and being surrounded by the screams of enthusiastic fans! They have a lot of the same organ tunes that we have in the states, and actually use a lot of our "lingo". Home run, pitcher, catcher, umpire, hit, out, etc are all in their vocabulary - as they've adapted our phrases in the game. Cinthya got us all excited for the 7th inning stretch, where they do indeed sing "Take me out to the ball game" in English - but she nearly threw a fit when for some odd reason they didn't do it tonight. Cinthya was so cute, all dressed up in her jersey, and of course in true Mexican fashion, her wedge high heels. Her family has season passes, so she knew all about what was going on! Her cousin is even married to the catcher! The Leones provided us with a win tonight!!! 8-4, against Cancún! The Leones are the professional team for the Yucatán state, just like the Twins are for Minnesota! Some things were quite different about tonight. The "ball boy" was in fact a young woman, barely dressed. There were cheerleaders. At the end of the game, all the crowd can run onto the field. We wanted a group picture, and Cinthya thought nothing wrong in asking the pitcher to take it for us... Now I'm sorry, but could you ever imagine us asking Carl Pavano to take a picture for us (not be in the picture) while at Target Field?? What a night! The people sitting around us I think were very happy we joined them tonight - we provided some entertainment, were very enthusiastic about everything, and chatted with them! The sweetest family in front of us even gave us some snacks they had brought from home!! Gotta love Mexico. It was fun to be on the field after the game, and we got some great pictures!

Tomorrow we head on a extra excursion that got planned since our group loved the last cenotes so much! We're going to caves and then two cenotes! YEA!