A Quick Update

Hola todos,

I hope everyone is doing well on this fine Wednesday.

I have an update about the military officers I saw yesterday. Mexico is holding some sort of political election on the fourth (I don't know much about it. I apologize. ) and one of the leading candidates had a strong platform against drug trafficking. Well...he was assassinated on Monday the 24th somewhere in Northern Mexico. Apparently the officers that I saw yesterday were accompanying another candidate on his trip to Guadalajara. The circumstances of the assassination were terrible, but the scene here looked a lot worse than it was.

Other than that, today has been rather relaxed. I've been working on a paper for my English class for quite a while now. The goal is to finish it before dinner so I can go out for a while tonight. But, we'll see what happens.

I still need to pack. I'm going to Guanajuato tomorrow. It should be interesting. I don't know much about the city except that it is famous for it's "kissing balconies" and mummy museum. I am very excited to see a more traditional Mexican town that isn't geared as much toward tourism. It'll be a fun weekend.

Until next week...

Love,

Katlynn

An Update from the US Consulate

Hola Todos,

Today has been quite the interesting day.

I woke up at my normal time and had a breakfast of papaya, hot dogs and eggs and a strawberry milkshake. It was quite the combo, but I don't think I will be exactly craving it when I get back to the states (not at 7:30 in the morning at least).

I went to school as usual. Nothing too exciting there...Until the bus ride home. Kayla, Emily, and I are usually on the bus for about 10 to 15 minutes after school. About 5 minutes in today, I looked out the window. Now, I'm used to seeing cops walking around Mexico with huge machine guns. It was a little disturbing at first, but it is an every day occurrence down here. Today, was a little different. When I looked out the window of the bus I saw about 40 to 50 military officers in full uniforms blocking the street with some pretty scary looking weapons. The street was closed for about a mile and cars were backed up all around it. People were running around the closure and trying to see what was going on. It was surreal, like something you'd see in a movie. Luckily, it didn't affect our bus route, and we made it home at our normal time.

After lunch, a nap, and hanging out with Kayla, Emily, and Kevin, I checked my email. And, guess what. I had a notice from the US Consulate in Guadalajara. Apparently there has been increased violence and drug problems surrounding the city of Guadalajara, and has been moving closer in the past week. They didn't give the details, but said that there was a shooting on the 24th just outside of the city that involved drugs and civilian hostages.

It sounds scary, but right now they are saying to just play it extra safe. Don't drive, go out at night alone, or really travel on your own in general. Don't worry. I am safe.

I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that the violence dies down. Until then, it's dinner time.

Love,

Katlynn

Cancun and Corona

Hola Todos,

I hope everyone had a good weekend. I definitely enjoyed my time in Cancun. I share the short version of my travels:

On Thursday, we arrived at out all inclusive resort. It was completely insane. There were pretty much no walls in any of the hallways. They were just lined with trees. And it was basically a zoo. There were flamingos living a few feet away from me! Check the picture if you don't believe me.

Tulum

After lunch on Thursday, we went to the ancient city of Tulum. It was huge and beautiful and right on the ocean. The entire place was covered in iguanas.

Friday, I went zip-lining, rappelling, and snorkeling in a freshwater cave. I wasn't able to take many pictures of the action because it was raining all day (which in my opinion made it that much more fun). I did get the chance to use my underwater camera in the cave. It was pretty dark though, so we will just have to hope that the pictures turn out well.

Chichen Itza

Saturday, we went to Chichen Itza. One of the Seven Wonders of the World. It was an entire city that had been preserved or rebuilt. It was breath-taking. My favorite part was the giant sinkhole at the heart of the city. Apparently, they used it as sacrificial water, and scuba divers have found human remains in it's many underground tunnels.

Sunday was very relaxing. We hung out at the pool for most of the day. We tried to spend some time in the ocean, but there is a nasty tropical storm coming in and all the beaches were closed. I wanted to go snorkeling in the coral reef (it's supposed to be the place to go), but all the boat trips were canceled too.

But oh well. It was still a good weekend. I would recommend Cancun over Puerto Vallarta any day.

I had a little bit of an adventure today as well. I went on a tour of the Corona Beer factory in Guadalajara. It was really interesting. It was like being on the show How It's Made. My favorite part was seeing the bottle filling. They moved so fast!

Anyway...That is all for tonight.

I miss you guys. Less than three weeks and I will be home!

Love,

Katlynn

Almost Half Way

Hola todos,

I hope everyone is doing well on this fine Wednesday. I had a pretty chill day myself.

We have a shortened class schedule this week because of midterms. No class tomorrow! I did have one big test today in my communications class, but I think it went well. My other class is all writing so we don't really have to worry about a midterm, just more essays. My guitar teacher was talking about our end of the semester performance today. We are going to play "Guadalajara," "La Bamba" and "Cielito Lindo." All pretty good choices if I do say so myself. I almost have the singing and playing at the same time down. I know you're all super disappointed that you are going to miss the big event, but don't worry. Our teacher is going to record it and put it on CD for everyone in the class.

After school, I hung out with Emily for a while and worked on one of my English essays. I feel like that class takes up a good chunk of my free time. But what can you do? At least I enjoy it.

Emily pointed something out to me today that surprised me. Tomorrow, the 24th, marks the half way point for our summer program. We will have been here for 24 days, and have 24 days left. It's kind of bittersweet to think about. Part of me is ready to come home and see everyone again and continue living my "normal" life. But, at the same time, this trip has flown by and I realize that there is still so much that I haven't done or seen. I will have to make the best out of my few remaining weeks.

It's almost time for dinner, so I will have to leave you for now. I won't be writing again until next week. I have a 9am flight to Cancun tomorrow. Should be an exciting weekend!

I love and miss you,

Katlynn

Puerto Vallarta

Hola todos,

I hope everyone had a good weekend. I was hoping to get these pictures posted last night, but I had a bunch of homework and started talking to people and lost track of time. I hope the suspense wasn't too much. I have to admit that I didn't take a ton of pictures this weekend. I spent the majority of my time on the beach or at the pool and water and digital camera seemed like a bad combo to me. I do have a disposable waterproof camera, but I was super smart when packing and forgot to bring it to Puerto Vallarta with me. I guess I'll just have to take twice as many pictures this weekend in Cancun.

Overall, Puerto Vallarta ended up being a pretty relaxing weekend. We stayed in a beach side hotel, so Thursday night and most of Friday was spent hanging around by the pool or the beach. And, yes I went into the ocean. It was warm and salty and I loved it. Friday night we went out downtown for a while, but ended up calling it a (somewhat) early night because we had big plans for Saturday.

We took a 9am boat to a secluded island about 20 min. away. It was a little touristy, but absolutely beautiful. We got to go snorkeling and kayaking and got all the food and drinks we could handle.

I did have a little excitement during the kayak trip. A small fishing boat went past us pretty fast and splashed waves into our kayak. It just so happened that at that moment we were surrounded by hundreds of tiny jellyfish. When the water came over the side of the boat, so did a quarter-sized jellyfish. It landed right on my leg. And guess what. I got stung. My friend Johnny was overly eager to pee on the rash, but luckily I was able to find a bartender with some Cortozone lotion before I had to accept his offer. It didn't hurt too bad. It felt a lot like a bee sting, but it was more irritated and hurt longer. But, now I can say I survived a jellyfish attack.

And now for a few pictures:

(above) Beach by the hotel

(below) I sat next to him at the secluded beach. And, yes. If you were wondering that is a wild boa constrictor. The lifeguard said he was about a year old.

(above) Me and my new Mexican boyfriend

(Below) View from the boat

Today has been quite the adventure as well. I did my laundry. Which doesn't sound too exciting, but I walked to the laundry mat alone. I didn't know exactly where it was, and to tell you the truth my Spanish is a little lacking. When I successfully finished I felt like I had accomplished something huge. It's funny how a little language barrier can make every day tasks seem like huge achievements.

Anyways, I think it's time for a little pre-dinner nap. Have a good night, everyone.

Love,

Katlynn

Don't worry. I hand washed my underwear.

Hola todos!

I apologize, but this one will have to be quick. I have a paper to write tonight (told you I was going to get slammed with homework today) and I want to go to bed early because I'M GOING TO PUERTO VALLERTA TOMORROW!!! I'm pretty excited, if you couldn't tell. There aren't really any beaches around Guadalajara, and I've been dying to get out in the water. Not to mention, it will be my first time swimming the in ocean.

But let's see about today...It was actually pretty relaxing. Emily and I hung out for a while after school. We walked to Walmart and tried to find the laundrymat, but failed. Part of me kind of wishes I would have over packed a little-like pretty much everyone else here-just so I don't have to do my laundry so often. It's cool though. A little laundry never hurt anyone. Oh and don't worry. I hand washed my underwear so I won't have to go commando this weekend.

Anyways, I'm going to get started on my homework. I will have pictures for everyone next week. I hope you all have a fun and safe weekend.

Love,

Katlynn

Chill Night with a New Roomie

Hola todas!

I hope everyone is havening a good evening. I just got out of the shower. It was pretty hot today and I wanted to cool down before bed time. But, all in all today was a good day.

The program I am with does a community service project with one of the local orphanages. We raise money, donate toys, and-best of all-we get to go play with the kids once a week. The plan was to go today after school. I was really excited, but something came up. Kayla and I got a new roommate! Her name is Emily and she was having some issues with her original host family and roommates. So after school Kayla and I took a taxi to her house and helped her move into ours.

After a delicious ice cream welcome (we know how to do it around here) the three of us went for a walk in the neighborhood. We ended up at Kevin and Brian's house. They only live about five blocks away and are on our bus (and Brian is in my guitar class). We hung out for quite a while. It was a good time. We ended up watching the first half of the Laker's game because they are basically obsessed.

Eventually we did have to leave though, because our senora had dinner waiting. We ate fresh tamales that she bought from some nuns. They were really delicious. They reminded me of the cornbread my mom makes, and made me miss home.

But, like I said it was an overall good night. I've been trying to enjoy my lack of homework the best I can because I know I'm going to get slammed in the next couple of days. I think I'm going to take some time for myself and do a little recreational reading.

Love,

Katlynn