Ecotourists Unite!

Lately, Kelly and I have been doing some research on cool places to go while here in Mexico. It didn't take to long to run into a lot of references to the "Mayan Riviera". The term refers to the stretch of coastline surrounding Cancun and seems very fitting. Just imagine breathtaking ruins right along sandy white beaches with crystal blue water. Not bad, right?

Anyways, in one of our searches we came across the Travel Channel review of Maroma Resort (pictured above). While I was reading the review (Not that we'd dream of staying there. I think we'd need to sell quite a few organs to afford a night's stay...) I found something that has had me laughing for days now:

"Handmade Hospitality" is the philosophy the resort operates under, referring both to the passion to meet guests' every need and the machine-free method of construction used in creating the resort. Eco-travelers will delight in learning that every building on the property was made by hand, without any machinery or electricity, and only 1/10 of Maroma's property will be developed in order to preserve the ecological balance.

I repeat: without any machinery or electricity

Now, I am as much an "eco-traveler" as the next guy (in fact my sea turtle punching has gone down 70% since 2010) but this one really has me stumped. I still can't fully picture the tourist who revels in the fact that his "eco-cabin" was built by a hot sweaty day-laborer in the most difficult way possible. Something tells me the construction workers didn't stay after work for yoga and candlelight reflection.

In my attempt to discover who it really was that was "delighting" in the Amish approach to resort building, I decided to Google "ecotourist". On the very first page I found a website with the Two Step Guide to Becoming an Ecotourist. I clicked on the link and this is the first thing I saw:

I can only assume that this is Step One. It begs the question: Am I already halfway to becoming an ecotourist?

Pretty Fly For a....

Güero [ˈweɾo] or [ˈgweɾo] is a word used in Mexico to denote a person with blond or red hair or of fair complexion. The feminine form is güera. Although Güero/a typically refers to a blond person, in Mexico, it can mean anyone of lighter skin and hair, even a person with light brown hair, especially auburn hair. This is opposed to "indio", "moreno" or "prieto", who are of dark brown or black hair and of browner skin tones and/or Amerindian or Afro-Mexican origin.

Let's brainstorm here. Who might get called "guero" on an hourly basis? Hmmm.......


So one of the funniest things we have encountered so far here in Mexico is the open use of terms referring to skin color. I would need to borrow a few friends' hands in order to count the number of times I am called "white guy" during the course of a single day. What's awesome, though, is that it's not meant to be derogatory (I think ....) so it doesn't offend and it's actually kinda nice. I mean at least I know that they are talking to me right?

This morning I got curious and decided to Google other "chosen ones" that have been lucky enough to merit the title "guero". In their honor I present "El Salon de Gueros":


So this guy is actually a famous singer called "El Guero". Maybe I should get one of those jackets he's wearing...


I lie to you not! This comes up when you Google image search the word "guero". I just keep telling myself "It's not derogatory. It's not derogatory.".

Jackpot! I present to you "El Guero Loco" (The Crazy White Guy or, if you prefer, The Crazy Guy With an Unusually Fair Complexion)! Forget the jacket. This is really what I need! Anyone else think he looks like a chubby Randy Johnson?

Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, I stumbled upon a nugget of priceless information. "El Guero Loco" has a brother who is also a wrestler. His name is "El Leon Blanco" which means "The White Lion". Now if we could just figure out which one he is in this picture...

Be a Mexican not a Mexican't!

This gives you a small idea of what happens here just about every day. The rain starts at about 7:00 PM and three streets flood in the entire city of Tehuacan. It just so happens, though, that those three streets are the street our school is on, the street we live on, and the street that connects the two. Needless to say, it is an adventure every time we walk home. (Our favorite part of this picture is actually the baker that you can see leaning out from behind his door in the background...)


Well.... Kelly looks great. Sadly, this is somewhat reminiscent of how we first met (not the kissing part; just the awkwardness). Anyways, this photo is in celebration of a great victory won this last week. Shorts are now permitted for the male teachers. Since I am the only male teacher, this rule exclusively benefits me. Don't feel too bad for the other teachers though. They get to wear skirts.


I was able to show off my major nursing skills here when our lovely roommate Gina fell into a construction hole on her first walk home from class in the brown water. Poor girl. She is terrified of shots but definitely had to get a tetanus shot after the massive gash that was put in her leg. Brian also came to the rescue by reentering the battle ground to find some band-aids. What a trooper! Especially considering he did not know the word for band-aid and had to try and find "bandages that are sticky around the edges but not in the middle" instead. Gotta love second languages!


Because of the previous pictures you can probably guess we are in need of some serious rain gear. Lucky for us, Kelly took a trip out to the Bodega Aurrera to get some ponchos. Apparently the kids section is not very well separated from everything else because when we tried them on they became lovely little pea-coat rain frocks. On the plus side, our top halves have never been drier!


Como se dice Krabby Patty?



The other day we got into a real bind and had to send our laundry away to get cleaned. It's a little more expensive (a whopping 6 dollars total) but the scent of a freshly washed and pressed shirt is priceless. I promise that I do have other shirts besides this red striped one...



We had a "little" visitor the other day. This is what the Mexicans would call "muy grande". This moth could have honestly carried away a small child.



Get that corn out of my face! We found it! It's real! Corn vendors galore! Even more interesting, Tehuacan has a long history with it's corn. Who knew that we were going to be living in the corn capital of Mexico. The particular corn man that we visited constantly yells (in the loudest voice I have ever heard, seriously you can hear him for blocks) "Joven!" which means young person... I don't really understand. In fact I must say that it made me not want to buy corn from him at all. It really was delicious, though, so I guess the corn man knows best.



Yay for monthly temple trips to Oaxaca (Wa-ha-ca)! It was so cool to be able to go to the temple and much needed. The actual temple experience was mostly the same but everything leading up to it was very different. We payed our 220 pesos to the bishop for the bus fair, got to the church at 6 a.m., took our 4 hour bus ride, and didn't make it home until 7:30 p.m. It was totally worth it. It made us realized just how spoiled we are living literally 3 minutes from the temple in Provo.





There are many things that I love about this sign. It is meant to help you know what to do in case of a fire or earthquake and the captions explain everything. If you just look at the pictures, however, the steps seem a little different:
3.) Punch someone in the stomach
5.) Obey the Chinese
9.) Read a magazine underneath a flock of birds



Okay so we may have added one more small adventure to our temple trip. Burger King has never been so desirable, and how could we resist the BK Club Crowns... it's almost as if they were made for us.




So... I may have liked the icecream cone a little too much. I was craving one all day and so I ordered a shake, but when my shake turned out to be more milky than ice-creamy I had to supplement it with this bad boy, and I enjoyed it to it's fullest! Brian on the other hand just looks frightened;)



We had to share the joy of Burger King with our roommates Gina, Ramon, and Tere. They are the newest members of the BK Club (now known as the Brian and Kelly Club) and they couldn't be happier. Although the paper crowns were probably not what they had in mind when we told them we brought them presents from Oaxaca...

Read This Post From The Bottom Up!

What's the most triumphant song you've ever heard? Whatever it is, play it right now and look at this awesome picture of Brian finally conquering his fear. Roaches are pretty much an everyday occurrence here in Tehuacan and Brian has done everything within his power to stop them from coming into the school and our apartment. No matter what, they still seem to foil him every time. Today, 12 days after arrival, he finally killed his first roach! Within a matter of hours he even progressed to stepping on one with his own foot. They just grow up so fast....







This guy was amazing. He drove us everywhere throughout our entire trip, found us a way cheap place to stay, braved some insanely curvy mountain roads, and held in-depth discussions with Brian about the prevalence of public transportation in North and Central America. Can you ask for anything more?






Our beautiful beach. Rocks, sand, water, and free boogey-boards included. It sure pays to be in a travel group with 11 young American girls!





We were told that women at La Bocana would spread mud on us to help clear out our pores and cleanse our skin. We decided that throwing mud at each other was probably just about as good.





Please just take a moment and bask in all of our farmer's tan glory. Feels good doesn't it? You know what else feels good? Paying 4 bucks to go snorkeling with a personal tour guide! Viva Mexico!






"And it came to pass that the ILP Mexico group did sally forth unto the land of Monte Alban and their minds were greatly affected by the scene which was before them."








If you look closely you can see the cockroaches underneath us. That explains our serious hops.





Could we really claim to be on a service abroad program with ten 18 to 22 year old girls if we didn't take this picture?





Cartwheels Around The World
To: Stacee and Andres
From: Brian and Kelly





You'd think with how much cacti appear in cartoons and movies about Mexico that it would be one of those stereotypes that is completely not true. But it totally is! These things are everywhere. We even ate it for dinner a few nights ago...





Sure it's 98 degrees but it's never too early to start practicing for the Winter Olympic Qualifiers for couple's figure skating. That gold medal is ours!





We had our first weekend trip a few days ago and we stopped at Monte Alban; the home of some seriously impressive Zapotec ruins. We learned that many of the statues portray defeated enemies that were captured by Zapotec leaders. Apparently they used to torture them by, as Kung Fu Panda would say, damaging their "tenders".





Adios Taco Bell! Honestly, I don't think we will ever be able to eat "Mexican Food" in the States anymore. The tacos here are amazing, cheap, and everywhere. Pretty much everyone experiences some "Mexican stomach" about 20 minutes after eating but we all agree that it's worth it.





This is about as accurately as we can pinpoint our location right now but, wherever Tehuacan actually is, we love it!

Sorry guys, we didn't know that Blogger would upload the photos backwards. We have been running around like crazy and getting settled at our apartment and the school. We are hoping to post more on here soon but this is the best we can do for now. Just know that we are safe, happy, healthy, and enjoying a hot Mexican summer!

A Few of Our Favorite Things

In light of the end of Winter semester and the start of school break, here are a few of the things that have helped us keep laughing and deal with the stresses of school and work.

1.) Snow Camping

So we went camping in Bryce Canyon a few weeks ago and were surprised to find everything covered in snow. We persevered, however, and managed to build a fire to keep warm. Unfortunately, though, we didn't realize that our fire would melt all of the surrounding snow and flood our fire pit about every five minutes. It was a classic!

2.) Just Like Dad

I don't know if anyone else remembers these Little Critter books but they were a key part of my childhood. I decided to read one the other day and this page made me laugh for days. In this book Little Critter is explaining how he will be "just like Dad" when he grows up. I guess in this particular instance he will follow in Pa Critter's footsteps by experiencing irrational rage in the grocery store (Do his eyes terrify anyone else or is it just me?). I have tried to imagine what other things Little Critter could possibly be holding in his hand that would actually merit the eyes of hatred on Dad Critter's face and I have come up with a few possibilities: bomb, Al Qaeda training manual, President Obama's latest book, etc. Any suggestions?

3.) Mexico Culture Training

The program that we are volunteering with always does some culture training with the volunteers before their departure date. This happened a few weeks ago and was actually really really useful. I couldn't stop laughing, however, as they were explaining how Mexican romance is different than in the United States. There are very few guys that normally go on this program so, during this part of the training, everything was geared toward the girls. I just couldn't stop imagining what my trip would be like if the warnings about men calling you beautiful applied to the guys as well as the girls. (Sometimes, when you are a man, you wear stretchy pants in your room. It's for fun...)




4.) Nightly Prayer





Kelly and I have had some pretty long days this semester but we still do our best to have prayer before bed every night. It really is a great experience and important to us but it has provided us with lots of laughs too. Because we are so tired we will occasionally start to dream and our prayers turn into some sort of stream of consciousness rambling that would even give Miss Teen South Carolina 2007 a run for her money. Over the course of the semester we have given thanks to God for "our many nominations", asked for help in "putting that stuff in the closet", and endured five minute spells of complete silence. The prayer to end all prayers, however, was offered by Kelly about two months ago. She started off strong but faded fast and ended her prayer with this beauty: "We are grateful for ham and this wonderful reception." Amen! Ham has been underappreciated for far too long and, to be fair, I'm sure the reception in her dreams really was wonderful.

Inside of a Blog is its ... nucleus ...

Hey Everybody! Welcome to Kelly and Brian vs the World! As many of you may know, we are getting ready to spend the summer volunteering in Mexico. With that in mind, we decided to start our blog off right with a Nacho Libre theme. Now every time you check for updates you can think to yourself "Get that blog out of my face!". We can't promise high quality posts but we can promise that we will be amused by everything we put on here. Thanks for visiting our blog and check back soon for more updates!