Mercado Lucas de Galvez

UBELONG Team Leaders Leo and Martina strongly encouraged me to visit the big market that's located near the hostel and I thought, hey why not?! After walking for about twenty minutes, Hemi (my roommate) and I arrived at a local square with tons of little tiendas lining the streets. I was about to give up on finding this elusive supermarket when we finally saw the glorious sign indicating that we had arrived at Mercado Lucas de Galvez! I was so excited to see what was past the entrance since I was expecting to see a super-sized supermarket like the Soriana Supermarkets (or the Stop & Shop and Trader Joe's stores we see in America haha).

The first thing we encountered were little shops selling local Yucatecan food, toys, and other miscellaneous goods. Upon further exploration, we started to see vendors selling vegetables and fruit. I was super excited because I had an intense discussion at the food bank about the local fruit and whether it'd be possible to try them before I left Mérida. Luckily, I found vendors who sold mamey and piñuelas and jumped at the opportunity to buy some (only 10 pesos for a cup full of piñuelas and 10 pesos for a whole mamey!).

Piñuelas in their cup portions

Mamey cut to show its freshness

All of the vendors sold a variety of goods and as tempting as it was to buy a little bit of everything, living off of 600 pesos for the next couple of days forced me to restrain myself :( I did stop by a stand that sold different spices for cooking, such as relleno negro, achiote, and condiments for escabeche. My experience in this market reminded me of when I visited Taiwan and Shanghai and went to their night markets, where the "halls" of vendors seemed to never end and there was plenty of food to try!

It was quite an adventure walking through this labyrinth of a supermarket because there was no organization at all in this place; I wish I took better pictures in this place but unfortunately I didn't capture any great shots to show here! Just imagine a flea market, indoors, selling anything from household goods, spices, vegetables and fruit, to fresh pork rinds, aquarium fish, to geese, chicks, bunnies and even puppies! It did break my heart when I encountered this animal section of the market because it was the last thing I expected to see there :( I hope all of these little critters will be sold to good homes and not for food >< We explored the market for about two hours before we returned to the hostel to rest our tired feet haha.

I thought time was going to go by so slowly here in Mérida since the lifestyle is a lot more lax in comparison to in NYC, but I am returning home this weekend!! I'm excited to be going home but it's sad to say goodbye to the great people I had the chance to work with at the food bank, along with Martina and Leo :'( Tonight we'll be having a little farewell dinner with some of the staff from the food bank to celebrate my time here and wish me a safe trip home, so excited! :)

My Humble Hostel Abode

If any of you are new travelers such as myself, you've probably only experienced living in hotels or with family members while you're away from home. I have heard of hostels and how living in one is a new experience entirely from what one may normally be accustomed to. When I signed up to teach English with UBELONG the first time, I stayed with an Ecuadorian host family for three weeks; they were so hospitable and it was as if they were my extended family.  I learned so much while I was there since I was (literally and figuratively) immersed in the Ecuadorian culture! I was forced out of my comfort zone and practice Spanish every day while at the local schools, and come home to speak Spanish with my host family. I was even invited as a guest to one of their family member's weddings in a nearby city, and boy was that an interesting few nights haha.

My second project with UBELONG put me in Mérida helping out at a local food bank. Unlike my living arrangements in Ecuador, I was placed in Mérida's Nómadas Hostel which, let me tell you, was a COMPLETE shock the first night I arrived! I may not have shown it in front of my fellow UBELONGers, but boy was I dumbfounded by what I was to call my home for the next three weeks. Whenever I traveled with family in the past, I got to stay in nice hotels which had free cleaning service, private bathrooms, and sometimes a mini-fridge and a coffee maker. Let me tell you about what a hostel is really like...

Imagine what a hotel looks like, and what your hypothetical room looks like. Now take that image out of your head as I share with you the real details of the hostel arrangements haha. (Note: This was my initial reaction to living here, my perception of this place has changed for the better these past couple of weeks (thankfully haha)!)

• Bathrooms and Showers: I can only speak on behalf of the girls, but I feel as though the guys have more comfortable bathroom arrangements since they have multiple stalls per bathroom! *Jealous* For the girls, you share a couple bathrooms with maybe 50-something other girls (4 outdoor stalls to be exact, and 2 other indoor ones you can use if the dorm doors are unlocked). There are 2 outdoor showers that all the girls have to share (and 2 other indoor ones you can use IF the doors are unlocked). People who know me are aware of my somewhat OCD/germophobe tendencies and can understand why I would be a little peeved out by sharing a bathroom with so many other people. They get cleaned every day, but the plumbing isn't the best here and so they request that all papers should be thrown in the garbage bins (gross... haha).

Girls' dorm and two of the outdoor bathrooms

• Dorm Rooms: Maybe people who had the opportunity to dorm while attending college may be more accustomed to sharing rooms, but this was something that was completely new to me (somewhat). When I volunteered in New Orleans with Habitat for Humanity, I stayed at a local center which might have been a shelter. They had an enormous cafeteria-sized room with dozens of beds, so I should've expected a similar kind of arrangement here at the hostel. For the Kentucky and Wisconsin female groups, they stayed together in rooms with 6-8 bunk beds and a communal bathroom. I was lucky enough to have a single room for the first two weeks I was here, and then I got bumped into a shared room with three beds (but thankfully just one other fellow UBELONGer!)

My room for the duration of my stay at Nómadas Hostel

• Kitchen: I was pleasantly surprised to see the kitchen here. It comes fully stocked with a fridge (that is 90% always packed and unusable lol), a two-part sink, and an 8-burner stove and a bunch of communal kitchenware.

• Outdoor Pool: No complaints.  I love the pool. :3

• Outside Lounge Area: This is a nice area for people to hang out to eat, listen to live music, or use the (intermittent) WiFi we have here. Normally when I traveled around, I stayed in the confines of my hotel room or followed my family around to explore the city, but here at the hostel, it's almost as if we are a community all our own. I'm not exactly the most outgoing, social person there is, but I have met some pretty interesting people during my stay. I've met someone from the UK, Australia, Russia, Canada, Texas, and Iowa!

I think staying at the hostel has been a really rewarding experience even though I was afraid I would dread my three weeks here. I purposefully choose to travel and volunteer abroad because it pushes me out of my comfort zone of NYC and makes me see the other aspects of the world that I have yet to see. I loved that I was able to meet someone who was backpacking around Central America, someone who is exploring the cities of Mexico, someone who quit his job to relax before taking on a job as an optometrist in Ecuador, and someone who formerly worked for the UN and in disaster relief. As diverse as NYC is, I am so grateful that I met these individuals who share similar interests in public health, exploring and traveling as me. Prior to staying at the hostel, it was hard running into a random person in NYC just to talk about my career goals and hear advice about graduate school and what jobs I should pursue in the future unless I specifically worked at an organization dedicated to public health. I was pleasantly surprised to talk to these strangers and be able to spend an hour discussing goals and where we wanted to accomplish in life. I have Cedric and UBELONG to thank for my experience at the hostel. As a volunteer, I am in the "Immersion Project" and I definitely feel immersed in the Mexican culture here! :)

From talking with more experienced hostel residents, they said that this hostel is one of the best ones they've lived in. It doesn't hurt that they have free yoga, live music, free salsa lessons, and affordable cooking classes (where you can eat your food!) for 25 pesos. My overall thoughts of the hostel? It's livable, even for the OCD/germophobic-types! Once you accept that nothing will change your living situation, you get used to the idea of living here and you start to grow comfortable and enjoy it.

¿Qué haces en tu tiempo libre?

My UBELONG mentor, Cedric, reminded me prior to my service project that although I will be coming to Mérida to volunteer, I am on an immersion project which puts me in a location with lots of culture to experience and many places to explore. With hard work, we should all get rewarded with some free time and play, right?!

My first week of volunteering at the food bank was fun and very different from my experience teaching English in Ecuador. As usual, I had to touch up on my Spanish since I hadn’t actively practiced the language since my project in 2012. The people at Banco de Alimentos en Mérida, A.C., are super welcoming and supportive and, beyond the jokes about how I can’t understand some of their conversations, they are so eager to teach me everything there is to know about their culture, their language, and most importantly, about the work they do at the food bank. I’ve touched upon a little of everything so far, from working hands on with the people in the warehouse sorting fruit and packing bread, to translating documents into English! On a later post, I will talk more in detail about the departments at the food bank after I’ve learned more on the project J

In the past weekend, I spent over $80 USD on excursions in the Mérida area T_T Unfortunately, I did not budget going to these awesome sites when I packed for this trip! (Once this service project is complete, I will create another post of all the things I should’ve done in hindsight and tips for people who wish to travel or go abroad for some period of time J). From Friday to Sunday, I went to Dzibilchaltún, Uxmal and El Museo de Chocolate, and the cenotes in Cuzamá. I’m glad I went to each of these attractions in this order because each one was better than the next!

Climbing one of the Dzibilchaltún ruins

Overlooking the Uxmal ruins from the top of another ruin

At the Chelentún cenote!

For anyone who is eager to travel but is afraid they will be lost and not know what to do, trust me, I’ve felt all of your sentiments and more while on my volunteer trips. This is an amazing opportunity to meet new people (at the hostel, in the community, at local shops and workplaces, etc.) and experience cultures different from your own. Every time I visit another country, I am humbled because of the disparities I see and how people make the most of what they have. It amazes me how happy these people are in comparison to the people I see in NY (including myself, haha). The people at the food bank love what they do, although they probably don’t make a fraction of what we make at an hourly rate. Their mentality is so positive and laidback, and we can all learn a thing or two from visiting other countries and living the way they do.

Although I have less than 1,000 pesos (the equivalent of about $66 USD) for the next two weeks, I have no regrets for spending 1/3 of the cash I brought with me on the excursions. There is so much to see and do here, and I had the chance to see not one, but TWO Mayan ruins and swim in the beautiful cenotes that Mérida is known for. If I had the funds, I’d probably visit Chichen Itza, one of the 7 Wonders of the World, but the two that I visited shall do (for now!). It’s opportunities like visiting ancient archaeological sites and swimming in natural sinkholes that make exploring other countries all the more exciting ^_^.

Here’s some helpful advice: Don’t be like me and remember to pack at least $100 extra in case of emergencies and bring a debit card and credit card that won’t incur overseas charges when used!