In December of 2016, fifteen other UT students and I embarked on a one week trip to the Yucatán Peninsula. During the trip, we experienced the culture, learned about the history of the region, and volunteered in a local village.  I took over 2500 pictures to document our experience and will share some of them on this blog.

Before we have even landed, I am already starting to see the incredible beauty we are going to experience on this trip.  As the plane starts to land, we could already see that we had left behind the frigid temperatures of Tennessee.  We started our trip out right by going straight to the beach and followed that by an all-you-can-eat buffet for lunch.  During our meal, we were entertained by dancers who could balance bottles on their heads.  The next stop was the El Gran Museo del Mundo Maya in Merida.  This explained the history of the Mayans on the Yucatan Peninsula and held many artifacts, pictures, tools, clothing, and other items of interest, including skeletons and insects.

Uxmal was breathtaking – there were iguanas everywhere!  We learned about the Mayan god Chaac, who provided rain to the land and helped the crops grow.

Nearby Uxmal are the ruins of Kabah. We learned how the stairs of Mayan temples were built to form the zig-zag of a snake when the sun cast shadows on them.  Our guide at Kabah was entertaining and absolutely incredible!

The Franciscan convent, San Antonio de Padua, honoring Our Lady of Izamel.  It has the second largest atrium in the world, after St. Peter’s Square in Rome.  There was an ornate and beautifully-decorated chapel at the Convent.

These bike carriages were nearby, ready to take you anywhere.

Travelers rest on the steps to the convent, which was built atop ancient ruins

We then headed out to Chichen Itza; here is the temple, or pyramid of the god Kukulkan.

After several days of fun, it was time to get to work. We helped rebuild stone walls using only the limestone rocks found near the site of the wall, as well as helped clear the way for additional animal pens.

We even washed our own dishes after our home made lunch in the indigenous village of Yaxunah.

Some young entrepreneurs sold us homemade popsicles to help beat the heat.

The next stop was at the seaside Mayan ruins of Tulum.  The view of the Caribbean Sea from the mountainside at Tulum was magnificent.

Andrew found the thing he had wanted the most the entire trip, a sombrero.

It was a fun journey, but it’s so good to be home!