7/2: Another trip to El Centro + Mexican Dancing!

Today after our classes got out, our group decided to go to el centro, specifically El Colon, to get ice cream/sorbets for Laurita's birthday! :) Yesterday she turned 19 years old, so naturally we had to party to celebrate it. Unfortunately, Natalie and I arrived a bit late to El Colon, but we still were able to eat yummy ice cream! :) I tried the banana flavor this time, and it was really sweet and really good; it kinda was like eating cold yet delicious banana bread.

Natalie and her delicious strawberry ice cream

Laura, Thomas, Caitlin, and Brad

A hand, Rebecca, Alannah, Aaron, and Laura

Lindy and the birthday girl Laurita!

When we finished our ice cream the boys went back to their house, and I went with Natalie, Laura, Caitlin, and a few other girls to look through the stores around the area. I ended up buying a few things, like a Mexican style dress and a coin purse that says "Merida, Yucatan" on it, and the process to get both was VERY interesting. See, down here it's super common to attempt to barter in order to try and get the price lower (at least when in the market areas or at a stall - that kind of thing is less common in actual stores). When I got my coin purse, it was while a salesperson was trying to convince Caitlin to buy a backpack. He was being VERY persistent about it, and it's a no-brainer why. She was saying how she wasn't sure if she wanted the backpack (which I can understand; it looked really cool, being woven and such, but she already had a good backpack with her), and he kept trying to get the price to one he thought she'd like. I think my buying the coin purse (which I wanted anyways) helped take pressure off of her. With the Mexican dress, mostly there was a bit of difficulty in finding a dress I liked AND that was my size.

I want to get a bag with little dolls all over it like this one, only smaller. Doesn't it look so cool?

Later that night we went back to el centro to watch some traditional Yucatan and Mexican dancing. I wore my new Mexican dress just for the occasion, and I got a bunch of compliments about it from people in my group - as well as from some native Mexicans. It was sweet! Also, the dancing was amazing! I took a LOT of video of it, more than I thought I would, and definitely got more video than pictures. Seriously, it'd be fun to try some of that style dancing sometime

Me out in front of the cathedral

This picture of us is kinda dark, but at least you can see Caitlin and Brad in there.

Brad, Ryan, Ryan the Camera Guy, Cody, Jackie, and Rebecca

A good picture of the building behind me...

...and a good picture of me in front of the building

Now here are all the good pictures I took of the Mexican dancing. Between each dance, a couple of men would talk through a microphone and explain about each dance, but unfortunately, I couldn't understand either of them very well. Regardless, the dancing was amazing, and I loved watching it.

Here I am totally enjoying the dancing

Natalie, Laura, Ethan, and others in my group taking pictures or cheering or simply watching the dancing with plenty of enjoyment

It was kinda late when we took the bus back, but man, it was so worth going! Apparently it's something that goes on every week, too, so I want to go back and watch more of that dancing!

Laurita and William

Natalie and me

Hasta la vista, ya'll!