7th/8th grade Spanish Trip to Yucatan

Greetings Yucatan blog followers!
Here is our flight information:
CO 1017I 14OCT TU MSPIAH HK11 2:55P 5:56P
CO 1842I 14OCT TU IAHMID HK11 6:55P 8:58P
CO 265Q 20OCT MO CUNIAH HK11 7:00A 9:18A
CO 1816Q 20OCT MO IAHMSP HK11 11:15A 2:05P

According to our itinerary, our hotel is called the Hotel Misión de Fray Diego. Here is their website.

And our itinerary:
DAY 1 T Oct 14 Travel day to Mérida
DAY 2 W Oct 15 Following breakfast, depart for Hacienda Sotuta de Peon. Guided visit to the Sisal Factory, Main House, Plantations, Cenote and Mayan House. Lunch at the Hacienda. Return to Mérida. Dinner at Case de Frida. Overnight Mérida. B L D

DAY 3 Th Oct 16 After breakfast, depart for the Wildlife Reserve of Río Lagartos. Here, our group will travel through the local esturaries by boat. Lunch at a local Seafood Restaurant. Return to Mérida in the afternoon. Dinner at Portico del Peregrino. Overnight Mérida. B L D

DAY 4 F Oct 17 Following breakfast, we will travel to Mani and visit the local Monastery. Our group will then continue on to the Mayan site of Uxmal, where we will have a Guided visit of the Archaeological Ruins found here. Late this afternoon, return to Mérida, where we will have dinner at La Parilla. Overnight Mérida. B L D

DAY 5 Sa Oct 18 After breakfast today, our group will depart for Ek-Balam. Guided visit of the Mayan Archaelogical Site found here. We will then ride bikes (1 mile) to the Xcanche Cenote, where our group will swim and learn rappelling techniques. Lunch at a local Mayan Cooperative, where the food will be local Mayan Yucatán cuisine. This afternoon, we will return to Mérida and have dinner at Casa de Frida. Overnight Mérida. B L D

DAY 6 Su Oct 19 Following breakfast, we will have a City Tour of Mérida, Mexico, included will be a visit to a Museum and the Main Square. Our group will then have lunch at a local restaurant. This afternoon, we will check out of Hotel Misión De Fray Diego and transfer to Cancún. After checking in at a local hotel, our group will have dinner at a local restaurant and overnight. B L

Note: This dinner is NOT included in the price of the program.

DAY 7 M Oct 20 Early wake-up today! 300a transfer to the airport in Cancún for your return flight to the U.S.

Note: Due to weather conditions and circumstances beyond the control of our Field Course Staff, certain activities may be changed or done on different days in the best interests of your group.

Everything has started very well on our trip to the Yucatan. Our flights out of Minneapolis and out of Houston were both on time which put us at arriving in Merida at 9pm CST. Soon after getting through customs and immigration, we were whisked off in our two minivans to eat a fabulous meal at Hotel Mision Fray de Diego. We have had a change in hotels and we are now staying at Hotel San Luis. This is our new hotel. You can find the phone number on the site for Hotel San Luis.

Tomorrow we will be heading to the sisal (henequen) hacienda and a cenote. We are all very excited for tomorrow, and already feeling the heat and humidity!

-Srta. Gleason and Sra. Kunze

Day two went off without a hitch. We got up early and headed to Casa de Frida for an authentic breakfast of chiliquiles (tortilla, goat cheese and green salsa). After that, we all headed downtown to change money and then get in the vans for our hennequen hacienda visit. Hennequen, which is a string like material made from the green agave plant, was very important in Yucatan history as it was a huge money maker in the early 1900s. There are few haciendas still in existance and we got to see one in action! After the tour, we headed to an underground cenote where we swam and relaxed. Lastly we enjoyed our wonderful lunch at the hacienda before embarking on our return trip to Merida to do some shopping. Some kids took naps while others went around bargaining at local stores. Our dinner at 8pm was also delicious. Around 10pm everyone was ready for bed.

Today we are headed to Uxmal, a historic Maya ruin site and Mani, a small town important in Mayan history as it was the site of the burning of many of the Mayan´s codices.

Here are some pictures thus far from the Hennequen Hacienda

On Friday we headed to the historic city of Mani where we walked around and soaked in the feelings of the small town as well as heard about its importance in Yucatan´s history. Following our visit, we hopped back in the vans to continue our drive to the ruins of Uxmal, where there is the pyramid of the dwarf, said to be created in one day. We toured the incredible ruins and raced up one pyramid to the top. Lunch at a nearby hotel with a dip in the pool was definitely refreshing. We arrived back in Merida late that evening.

Yesterday, at the break of dawn, we headed to Ria Lagartos, a mangrove on the coast of the penninsula. It was a relaxing day as we took in the flamingos, comorants, black hawks, fresh water manta rays, and we searched for a crocodile. The highlight of the day was the salt flats where we floated around in Dead Sea type water, being sure not to get salt in our eyes. We got back late for late dinner at a local restaurant where we were serenaded by Carpenter´s covers in Spanish.