First Post, Settling in
First post describing start of Fulbright-Robles-Garcia
Feliz Día de San Valentine
On January 27th, I left Bangor (Maine, USA) and flew to Merida (Yucatan,Mexico) to begin my Fulbright Robles-Garcia Scholarship. Bangor was -15 degrees F (-26 C) when I left. When I landed in Merida, the temperature was 75 degrees F (23 C). The miracles of modern travel.
Over the last two weeks, I've spent a lot of my time doing logistical things: getting a new cell phone after my Maine cell provider erased my service instead up changing my plan to allow its use in Mexico, getting a place to stay, and sorting out banking. I've met many people who I'll be working with, and been working on short courses I'll be giving to students. Everyone here has been very nice and I'm looking forward to starting up field work in a few weeks.
I'm now living in the Residential Montecristo neighborhood on the northeast side of the city. Merida has very few tall building, few are over 4 stories tall and most of the structures appear to be made of reinforced concrete, stone, and similar materials. Even the telephone poles are concrete, in contrast to the wood used in Maine.
Hopefully my next post will have some more exciting things to describe and better photos than what I include below.
Found while Jogging, the day after arriving
Welcome to Merida, Cathedral of Merida in Background
Cathedral of Merida, taken from back side