A work week and various adventures

So things have not been too exciting (don't get your hopes up). This update will mostly be about my work, which I find interesting, but which you, dear reader, my not care about in the slightest. If you want, skip ahead 3 paragraphs to get to actual adventures. Sorry for the lack of pictures here too; I feel so touristy with a camera out that I only want to take pictures if things are really pretty, and I haven't gone anywhere too cool this week.

Since the reason I was employed here was because I said that I could do GIS on my resume, it is not surprising that they gave me GIS files to work with. In truth, I have worked with GIS a few times in classes, but I only know how to deal with the most basic issues - none of the hard things that a real GIS technician person would understand. However, I am dedicated, so I've been learning about GIS quite a lot in the last few days. The biggest thing I've been working on is the process of assigning projections. The data I've been given is in many different projections - the way you project, or change, a round globe onto a flat surface - so my main goal right now is to align all the projections into one file. I think I've gotten it down, but there are a lot of little edges that need aligning. I've really been enjoying learning GIS - it's really seems like the sort of program that's tailored for me to like. The main components are data organization (sorting), which I've always loved, and effective communication, which I truly value. End result? Today I accidentally worked until 5:30 because I was wrapped up in what I was doing and din't notice. If strange legal reasons don't prohibit me, I'll try to post a few finished maps to this blog to share my work with you.

Thursday evening, I went to a meeting with several nonprofit groups and the Yucatan state environmental secretary that are trying to get an area declared a state protected area (I mentioned this in my first post). Despite the fact that this is a completely symbolic gesture, as the state protection does not affect the land or what you can do with it in any way at all, there's still opposition to it from people who have this idea that it somehow represents "big government ordering us around." So the meeting was mostly about their plans to talk to people and convince them that this won't hurt them in any way. It was interesting, but 2 1/2 hours of talking in Spanish killed my brain. I can follow generally what people are saying, but I'm not used to having to spend so much attention listening and thinking about what people are saying, and it's really quite tiring.

Today I decided to go out to downtown Merida, thinking Saturday would be more busy and interesting. It was - there were lots of little shops open, all selling this same dress in varying colors, as well as a few other articles of clothing. I wanted to look around, but every stop I went into, it was non-stop salespeople following me around saying, "Have you seen this? You should buy this. Where are you from?" I tried being polite, but that just encourages them to try to ell me more. Ironically, if there had a been a shop where the workers left me alone, I would've bought from there. But that seemingly does not exist, so I didn't buy anything, despite the fact that I've been wanting some souvenirs.

At one store, I must've smiled and nodded at the wrong guy because he FOLLOWED me into the next place, very obviously. Mind you never said a word to him, just smiled like a normal polite person. Now the whole area was very crowded with lots of families, so it wasn't particularly scary, but I'm not a big fan of having strange older men follow me, so when he wasn't looking, I hurried out of that store and around the corner, and ducked into the first place I saw. So by this time I'm getting really discouraged. I clearly need to be much ruder to people or they will continue to talk to me, but I just can't bring myself to do that. I also realized that I don't know how to say, "leave me alone" or a less-polite equivalent in Spanish, so that's something I clearly need to learn.

The place I had randomly ducked into turned out to be a Mayan cooperative that sells goods made by the peasants there. Unsurprisingly, the guy at the store starts trying to convince me I need a hammock (I actually do want one for our apartment next year, but I don't have any need for it right now, so wasn't planning to get one). He turned out to be much nicer than the other sales people I had talked to, and gave me a lot of information about the local Mayan groups that the co-op works with. He also gave me a brochure about the cenotes nearby, some of which were WAY bigger than the one I went to, and much prettier, too. This is one of the ones from the brochure, the guy told me that it's about 3 hours from here, and I want to find some way to go; it looks so beautiful. They also had some weird things for sale, such as live beetles with little rhinestones glued to their backs. When I asked what you would do with them, he told me that you wear them on your shirt as broaches!!! I cannot picture anyone thinking that would be a good look, but apparently someone must. I also asked how you keep them from crawling away; he showed me one that also had a little 4-inch chain glued to it and told me you would pull the chain if it started to get away. What?!

So he was very nice and less creepy than most other guys I've met, though he did both offer to show me Mayan massage techniques, which he claims are based on ancient shamanistic rituals, an to take me for a moonlit walk on the beach. Since I had already told him I had a boyfriend, he's either genuinely nice or extremely persistent - perhaps both. Not likely if I'll take him up on the offers, though a massage sounds really good; the bed in my apartment is the #1 hardest bed I have ever slept on (no exaggerations, I'm serious) and I've been waking up sore every day. But showing up around 10 pm Monday night for the massage, as he suggested, sounds like a particularly bad idea, so unfortunately I think I'll just stay sore. I did get the impression that he is some kind of teacher, though, and that he gives massages regularly to people. But since I'm never sure where to draw the line between adventurous and foolhardy, I'm planning to err on the side of caution with things like this.

So I asked him directions to the nearest good restaurant and headed out for dinner. The place he recommended turned out to be closed, and as I'm walking back to another restaurant I had seen on the way, this guy comes up to me and asks me if I speak English. I'm thinking maybe he wants directions, so I say yes, and out comes this bizarre story, which I can't even totally recreate. He tells me he's a missionary from Australia, and that he's here with his brother, but that he got a flat tire while he was driving around, and as he was repairing it some robbers come out and demand his money. Sounds reasonable so far, but THEN he says that some cops show up and run off the robbers and then they take all his money, wallet, keys, truck, everything he has, and STAB his brother. Now, I've heard horror stories about Mexican police taking advantage of foreigners and demanding bribes, but stabbing someone seems a little extreme, so there were clearly some serious edits to this tale. But it ends with him saying that all he wants to do now is go back to Australia, but he has no money, and his passport is in the hotel and the hotel won't let him have it till he pays his bill, which he can't do because he has no money. I suggest he talk to the embassy, he says they won't give him anything without his passport. So of course his goal is asking me for money - he claims he needs 200 pesos to pay the hotel bill. I'm pretty skeptical of this tale, but he will not stop talking me, and does genuinely seem stressed out, and some of the things he's telling me seem true. So eventually I give him 100 pesos (about $10) and tell him that I'm "just a student" so I can't offer much more. Luckily believable, but this then makes him ask, "You're a student? Wait, how old are you?" I tell him 21, and he's all shocked, claiming, "I thought you were 16, same age as my daughter, but wow, at least your of age then, right? Hahaha, oh actually, sorry, I mean, um, not that I was, um, I'm a Christian, you know, I just, um..." Wow. So finally I just tell him I'm leaving, and he's all nice (of course, I gave him money). Probably went and spent it on beer and is just a clever con artist, but I'm such a sucker, so there you go. My only real regret was that I thought afterward about how much I'd've rather given money to the nice guy at the co-op... seems like he deserves it way more.

After this, I ate dinner, and then had been planning on going to the cathedral downtown and looking at some of the nice architecture, but after all my awkward encounters, I'm pretty frightened of walking around at night alone, so I decided to head back to my apartment before the sun went down. This whole evening has illustrated the most frustrating thing to me: as a young girl by myself, no one who helps me or talks to me seems to have good intentions. It's all guys who appear to be rather badly hitting on me, and I don't know that there's any way to change that. I have never in my life wished I wasn't a girl so badly; I really feel like I can't even get out and explore the city effectively because I literally have to worry about guys following me. Extremely frustrating. I'm going to keep trying because I don't want to be a shut-in, but today's events were very discouraging. I think things would even be better if I had other people with me, no matter who they were, but being by myself makes people think I'm looking for someone to talk to.

Well, enough complaints. Other than that, things have been good. Yesterday, it rained for the first time since I've been here. They warned me the rainy season was starting soon, and boy, this was a real tropical storm. One minute I'm working and hear a few drops, within 10 minutes there is a MONSOON outside, with the wind whipping in every direction, the trees thrashing around into my building, and the water is just POURING down. I was worried about walking home in the downpour, but it stopped as abruptly as it started, and within 2 hours, the sky was totally clear. Lesson learned, though - looks like I need to start bringing my umbrella with me to work.

I have more stories, but these are all the interesting ones. I miss my friends and family quite a bit, so if you're ever on gchat or skype and want to talk, it would make me very happy. Also, if you have money and time to spare, then I would absolutely love to have people visit. If I just had a partner in crime, I really think it would improve my experience of Mexico tremendously. Unrealistic to assume anyone would take me up on that offer, but if you're looking for a vacation, I'll soon know all the best tourist spots! Till next post!