Family Chapter One: The Adventures of Theo
The Fernandez-MacGregor familia from Los Angeles visited us in May, stayed with one of our lovely Mexican-Maya host families, and fully immersed in the language and culture. Journalist mom Hilary, screenwriter dad Jonathan and sons Theo and Benji all wrote about their experiences in travel blogs that they're keeping up as they continue an amazing adventure through South America. They’ve kindly allowed us to publish excerpts from their entries describing their experience at Na'atik and in our town, Felipe Carrillo Puerto. Below, Theo (age 12) eloquently recounts what he learned about the modern Maya.So much!We have done so much in the last 2 days. First of all, I am in Quintana Roo in a language school called Na’atik. I am learning a lot of Spanish. We (My brother, Spanish teacher, and I) went to buy some fruits (frescas) and a Loteria board. We learned how to play (it is like Mexican bingo). There are 3 different ways to play. One way is a riddle in Spanish (Only the teacher was that good), one was numbers (that is the least fun way in my opinion), and one way was the Spanish name (The way we played most and was most fun for us). We also ate the ripe mangos and will eat the fresh jicama, papaya, mame. Those mangos were so good. There is also a bakery across the street. The breads and pastries are very good and are only 3 pesos (15 pesos to the dollar).Two days ago we also went to Mayan Ruins and had a Mayan tour guide. He spoke English, Spanish, and Mayan. We are actually staying with a Mayan family (and sleeping in hammocks). But anyway, the Modern Mayan showed us through the Mayan ruins. It was amazing. He knew a lot about the culture. Like, did you know that the Mayans didn’t actually think 2012 was the end of the world, they just start the calendar again. They also put white plaster over their roads so that they could see the scorpions, snakes, tarantulas. They also Pok-a-Pok (Poe-ka-Poe-K). The object of the game was to get the rubber ball in the hole on the other side. Each side had teams of three and had to use their hands, hips, knees, heads, and feet (sort of like soccer). The winning teams captain also performed self-sacrifice. The tour guide also said that the mortar they used to build the pyramids was made of gum (from the gum tree) and honey.Speaking of honey, bees were a big part of culture. The Mayans bred stinger-less bees for their honey. They used the honey for its curative properties and building. They also built a temple to the honey bee god and it took 300 years to build. It towers over the surrounding forest. Stairs go to the top and there is a picture of the Honey bee god. Every year some tourists fall off and die. It was very amazing.Some random facts… a) Avacados just randomly fall down all around the school. b) There are much more comfortable ways of lying down in a hammock than like a Banana. c) You have never had an amazing fruit juice until Mexico.You can read the rest of Theo's blog, here: theadventuresoftheo.wordpress.com
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The best way to experience the Mexican lifestyle is in person, with a Na’atik Immersion experience. Not only do you live with a local Mexican-Maya family, sharing home-cooked meals and free time, but also receive expert instruction in your chosen language at our school. Best of all, every immersion experience helps fund our subsidized and free local education program, helping local students to access opportunities and make their own futures.