Book of Mormon Tour 2011

Ok here it is. The lowdown. This will be a very long post. Just warning you.

Prologue:

Ok so the week before my adventures I had spring break, therefore was staying up late and getting up late. So on Friday I knew it would be a short night becasue I had been going to bed at 11 or 12 and we had to wake up at 2 to get to the airport. So at 8 I started The Importance of Being Earnest. mine as well do somthing becasue there was no way I was going to bed that early. I love this movie. So good.

So it ended at like 10 well I laid in bed for an hour witch doesn't seem that long  but its an eternity when you are trying to go to sleep.

Day 1

So, 3 hours later, I woke up. It was like taking a nap. Anyway we flew to Houston and then to Mexico City. There we met up with the rest of the tour group including my aunt Lisa, aunt Laura, aunt Kerri, Uncle mark, Uncle Greg, my Grandpa and Grandma. I liked Mexico City. Kymber would have hated it. It was NOT America. The streets were dirty and there was lots of poverty. But on the other hand, the houses were colorful, in fact everything was colorful, and the people seemed happy. There were lots of people walking. I liked it. Our hotel was very nice. Once we got there we went out on the street and walked around and went and got dinner that was not so great. Something that I found interesting was how much porn there was on the street. it was everywhere you looked. Anyway here are some pictures of the city from our hotel room.

This is my hyper self. Don't forget that I only got 3 hours of sleep and had been on a plane all day. I was a little bit crazy and Lisa can attest. End of day 1.

Day 2

Ok so today we started with the Anthropology museum in Mexico City. It was amazing. It is said that is the best in the world because it has so much and is organized. So these were the highlights:

Ok so this was my favorite. This was a tapestry that was done when the Spanish were in Mexico. the Spanish had asked the people were they had come from and they did this to illustrate it

 ^^^^So this is the whole thing

 ^^^They said they had come in 7 boats but the boats were slealed and were like caves. With them they had an oracle that had had a sacred object that lead them. ( Sound familiar? to me it sounds like a mixture of the nephties and jaredites)

^^^^ I thought this was super cool

^^^^One of the many Olmec (possibly apostate Jaradite?) Heads

 

 This would have been a god. They gods were always unatural; to be feared

 Another Olmec head

 Befuddlement is universal

Childrens toys?

 I dont know about you but to me these look like toilet seats.











I thought these were so cute!  

 

Ok this is fascinating. You have to understanding though that all the stuff we saw was apostate. So this is a carving of a king with a stick in his tongue. pleasant. Well the belief was that Every year the king would bleed himself then burn the collected blood to appease the gods and save his people from the gods wrath. in essence, he had to bleed to save his people.

Some Myan glyphs

Anciet roller stamps.

 See? These are the stamps in use

Welcome to the underworld.

This is Pekal. Everyone say 'Hi Pekal'

Good class

Pekel's tomb is the most rich and comlete tomb they have found. it was found in Planque. We go there later

I just thought this was a funny pose. Talk about a bad day!

You have left the underworld

This is an Aztec Calender. Ok CLARIFICATION

The Myans were what most mormon archiologists think were lamenites and by there classic period the nephies were gone. So the Myan civilization was from like 2000 BC to when the spainish came and the Nephies fit right in that time piriod. Its the same sort of thing with the Olmecs. They were around 1500 BC to like 400 BC. The Jaridites fit into that time pirod. The Aztecs were after both of those civilizations so was really lamenitish and apostate. We didn't really focus on the Aztecs becasue they have almost nothing to do with the book of mormon; it was so much after that time piriod.

 This is the temple of Quetselquatel or feathered serpent. It is generally accepted that the feathered serpent is Christ becasue of the writing that discribe Quetselquatal as a god that shone as bright as the sun that came down from the clouds and healed people.

 ^^^^^^Does this look chinese to you? because it does to me

 ^^^^The temple of Quetsalquatal

The pyramid of the sun and moon ( the sun being the larger one the moon the smaller)

This is the temple of the moon. we couldn't climb all of this one.

This is the pyramid of the sun and this one we climbed to the very top. My legs were killing me.

It was a windy day

The veiw of the pyramid of the moon from the pyriamid of the sun

The pyramid of the sun

end of day two.

Day 3

Today we got on a plane and flew to Villahermosa (said vee a mo sa) These are some pictures from the plane. It was so green and lush, very different from the mexico city witch was dry and dusty.

Then we visited an outdoor meuseam that had lots of Olmec artifasts.

Look! a happy Olmec head!





Then we went to an indoor meuseam that was all about planque

Then we went to our amazing Hotel. This and the hotel after this was probably my favorite.

.

end of day three.

Day 4

Today was Palenque and waterfall day! 

This is were Pekal was buried. In fact he is still there

My wonderful aunts

The Mayan Arch

Welcome to the jungle. Prepare to be eaten alive by mosquitoes, become more hot and sweaty than you would like to admit and be more grateful for air conditioning and shade than ever before. 

We went on a nature walk and saw some waterfalls

 We returned to our hotel room to find a bird on the bed.

Next we went to this beutiful natural waterfal and went swimming.

hot and sweaty

Day 5

Today was the driving for three hours, get on the river for one, go to Yaxitlan, get back on the boat and then drive for three more hours. That's 6 hours of driving.

My sleeping relations

The boats on the Usamacinta river

Look at the doorways! my mom felt tall!

So Lisa and I decided to go on a little hike up this trail. It had obviously once be a staircase but it was most definitely now. It was very steep.

It was 300 feet

Proof we reached the top

The top

Ok so I am idiot and took the video the wrong direction.

Today we cossed the bourder into Guatamala

Day 6

Today was Tikal day!

This an unexcavated pyramid

Star wars #6

We all thought people were getting really close to the edge and they were freakin us out but then we realized.....

We were at a weird angle and couldnt see the stairs. They are making fun of us

So this is partly excavated, part original, part rebuilt pyramid

The amazing leafcutter ants

A guatatmalan sunset

Our little cottage thingy

Clever

Day 7

Today we drove to Flores than got on a plane and went to Guatamala City. There we went to the temple, the MTC, and then to Kaminaljuyu (kah mee nalh hoo yoo).

The Guatamalan Temple

A cool statue in the MTC

A catholic gothic cathedral

Kaminaljuyu

Guatamala skyline from my hotel window

Day 8

Lake Atitalan and shopping day. Day was really cool but our of the entire trip this day was the most uncool. we drove 3 hours and got on this boat for and hour than shopped at this one village for 2 hours then we get back on the boat for an hour then drove back to the hotel witch took 3 hours.

Day 9

Leaving day! Today we got up at 4 and flew to Housten and then to Pheonix. In houstan we went through customs and the guy said 'welcome home' and I wanted to cry. I had a great time but I was so happy to be back in the US. Being in those countrys gave me a new perspective of living in the USA. I had 'proud to be an american' stuck in my head. ya. thats how bad it was.

:)