Overheard (aka "Faking it!")

F overheard one of my respected colleagues talking to yet another job applicant. The colleague knows very well that most of our graduate students are preparing for careers in industry and do not do research. Said colleague pointed to F's office where F was helping two of our graduate students with their homework. "They are having a research meeting" he whispered to the candidate.

Turkey

It has been a month and a half since we returned from Mexico, but we still have more photos and sounds in store for you. Oh, you lucky readers!



The next stop on our travels was a little village near Xpujil. We stayed at a very friendly cabana, and spent the evening enjoying our rural surroundings.



There were turkeys everywhere and they were horny like hell. There were competitions for who had the most disgustingly blue colored neck flabs, paired with lots of loud gobbling. Sadly we also saw several incidences of turkey rape.

All in all, a very pleasant evening (although perhaps not for the female turkeys).

Maya Stuffz

As I am sure all guidebooks mention these days: When traveling, it is very important to coordinate the color of your outfit with your iPad cover.




After the beach at Xcalak (where we spent no time at all) we headed for the Mayan ruins further south.



We fulfilled our tourist obligations by posing for photos with ruins in the background, as well as taking numerous photos of said ruins.

We especially like this upperclass living complex called the 27-steps. I sure hope they had an elevator in those days. Imagine lugging your groceries up those stairs...

Blah blah blah Yada yada yada. I am sure there are some very interesting facts about this old sculpture that I forgot. You will just have to enjoy the fact that it is beautiful and well-preserved.

Another blog post completed!

Xcalak

We spent the next days on the Costa Maya in Mahahual and Xcalak. The sea was too rough for scuba diving, and maybe this was a good thing because my head hurt for 3 days after our previous dives. Instead, we took a snorkeling tour from Xcalak. It was beautiful!



Xcalak is so laid back that we waited 45 minutes for these fish tacos and panuchos to be made by the lady running the "restaurant".

And finally, here is the mangrove that forms the border with Belize. It is supposed to have manatees, but all we saw were some egrets. Still, we did not have any regrets (pun courtesy of F).

Valladolid

Ok, we will stop bitching about Virginia and our coworkers, and start posting some more of our Mexico pics. After picking up the car, we drove to Valladoild, a very nice colonial town. We had an awesome Italian dinner, and the next day we visited the market.

 

Not sure about the cow's head, but the pork crackling looked and smelled amazing.

 

For lunch, we had the most humongous orange juice ever (certainly too much acid for my digestive system, but the vitamin C boost must have made the old body quite happy all the same).

We also had some disappointing tacos. Fortunately, they were small, so on our way back we stopped at two busy street vendors for some really good tortas. Hmmmmmmmm.

I am sure we must have done more that day, but all we have to show for it is this photo.